<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:admin="http://webns.net/mvcb/"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#">
	<channel>

		<title>Instant Breaking News - Breaking News</title>
		<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/</link>
		<description>Instant Breaking News Breaking News</description>
		<language>en</language>
		<pubDate>Sat, 13 Mar 2010 02:00:22 -0500</pubDate>

		<atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="self" href="http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/rss_breakingnews.xml" type="application/rss+xml" />		<item>
			<title>New Technology to Lower Car Insurance</title>
			<description><![CDATA[Brand new site has been created to find the cheapest car insurance for where you live.&nbsp; It uses advanced technology to find the cheapest car insu[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[Brand new site has been created to find the cheapest car insurance for where you live.&nbsp; It uses advanced technology to find the cheapest car insurance providers for your specific location, car, mileage, and driving history.&nbsp; 

The new site has been rated #1 for over 3 weeks now and user ratings have averaged 3.7/4.0.

Click here to check out the new car insurance site]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/752/New_Technology_to_Lower_Car_Insurance</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/752/New_Technology_to_Lower_Car_Insurance</guid>
			<pubDate>Sat, 20 Feb 2010 21:48:12 -0500</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title>Hacker cracks TinyURL rival, redirects millions of Twitter users</title>
			<description><![CDATA[A URL-shortening service that condenses long Web addresses for use on micro-blogging sites like Twitter was hacked over the weekend, sending millions[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[A URL-shortening service that condenses long Web addresses for use on micro-blogging sites like Twitter was hacked over the weekend, sending millions of users to an unintended destination, a security researcher said today.
After Cligs, a rival to the better known TinyURL and bit.ly shortening services, was attacked Sunday, more than 2.2 million Web addresses were redirected to Kevin Saban's blog, which appears on the Orange County Register's Web site. Noticing a dramatic upswing in traffic, Saban -- who uses Cligs in his Twitter messages to shorten URLs -- contacted Pierre Far, the creator of Cligs.
&quot;Quite curious,&quot; was how Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant with security company Sophos, put it. &quot;Our first thought was that it was a spam campaign, that the hack would redirect [users] to a porn site perhaps, but it seems that [Saban] was entirely innocent. Very bizarre.&quot;
Cluley's take was fueled by the assumption that the vast majority of criminal activity on the Internet is based on the profit motive, and here there didn't seem to be one. &quot;Maybe this was a mistake on the part of the hackers,&quot; he said. &quot;Maybe they just got the [shortened] URL wrong, and meant to direct users to a different site.&quot;
That site, he said, could have been a malware-infected address where exploits lay in wait. Or to a spam destination, since spammers have used shortened URLs
Cligs currently doesn't register in the top five shortening services used on Twitter, according to Tweetmeme, which ranks bit.ly and TinyURL in the No. 1 and No. 2 spots, so the hack could have been significantly worse if it had happened on one of those services.
Cluley's point: &quot;There was one single point of failure here,&quot; he said. &quot;They only had to hack one thing, the Cligs service, to affect millions of URLs.&quot;
Early yesterday, Cligs acknowledged the hack, which had exploited a vulnerability in its editing function. &quot;I've identified the hole and disabled all cligs editing for now and I'm restoring the URLs back to their original destination states,&quot; said Far, Cligs' creator, in a blog post. &quot;However, the most recent backup is from early May, and so we may have lost all URLs created since then. My daily backups with my host were turned off for some reason, which is another story.&quot;
Far said that the attacker's IP address resolved to a Canadian address.
Cluley, meanwhile, recommended that users install add-ons to their browsers that expand shortened links to see the actual, underlying destination. &quot;With short URLs, you don't know where you're going until you get there,&quot; he said. &quot;We recommend that you use an add-on which expands the URLs. You get a preview -- they're not 100% protection, of course, because legitimate sites can be infected as well -- but they're better than nothing.&quot;
Twitter, by far the biggest micro-blogging site and user of short URLs, should be doing more to keep users safe, Cluley said. &quot;There's an option to expand the link view when you search Twitter,&quot; he said. &quot;Why don't they offer that in the regular stream?&quot;]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/750/Hacker_cracks_TinyURL_rival,_redirects_millions_of_Twitter_users</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/750/Hacker_cracks_TinyURL_rival,_redirects_millions_of_Twitter_users</guid>
			<pubDate>Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:04:29 -0400</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title>Twitter traffic growth stalls</title>
			<description><![CDATA[Growth for Twitter, the superhot San Francisco  microblogging startup, slowed significantly in May, according to the digital  traffic measurement fi[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[Growth for Twitter, the superhot San Francisco  microblogging startup, slowed significantly in May, according to the digital  traffic measurement firm Compete.
Monthly unique visitors to Twitter rose a mere 1.47 percent, or 285,333, to  19.7 million between April and May, according to Compete. The number of visits  increased just shy of 7 percent.
That compares with an increase of monthly visitors of 5.4 million during  March and 6.1 million in February.
Compete&rsquo;s figures follow closely on the heels of a  controversial Harvard Business Review study that looked at  300,000 Twitter accounts and found the top 10 percent of Twitter users accounted  for over 90 percent of tweets, as postings on the service are called, while over  half of the account holders tweeted less than once every 74 days.
On a typical online social network, the top 10 percent of users account for  30 percent of all production, the study asserted.
At the same time, however, Twitter is proving its worth to some corporate  users, even though Twitter itself has not announced how it is going to try to  make money off its free service.
Dell Computer is reporting that since 2007 more than $3 million in sales have  come through its @DellOutlet account, either through direct purchases or by  channeling traffic to other Dell sites. @DellOutlet has more than 600,000  followers.]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/749/Twitter_traffic_growth_stalls</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/749/Twitter_traffic_growth_stalls</guid>
			<pubDate>Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:39:35 -0400</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title>President Obama's New Twitter Feed</title>
			<description><![CDATA[Update: The White House began tweeting around noon Eastern time on Friday. There&rsquo;s also a new whitehouse profile on MySpace. T[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[Update: The White House began tweeting around noon Eastern time on Friday. There&rsquo;s also a new whitehouse profile on MySpace. The usernames match those of the previously launched &ldquo;whitehouse&rdquo; accounts on YouTube and Flickr. The Obama administration has since announced its initiative as &ldquo;WhiteHouse 2.0.&rdquo;
Since the day Barack Obama took office as President, I&rsquo;ve urged him to keep up his eager use of Twitter. The fast-growing micro-blogging site had helped drive his campaign, both as a fundraising tool and as proof that the candidate had a firm grasp of the new, participatory Internet. But Mr. Obama&rsquo;s Twitter feed has only been updated twice since he took office on January 20th.
Good news: He&rsquo;ll be back, and soon, this time at twitter.com/whitehouse. What&rsquo;s funny is that the President&rsquo;s new feed has been hiding in plain sight since January: &ldquo;Welcome to the official Twitter page of the White House.&rdquo; Here&rsquo;s a screenshot from Thursday afternoon:
&nbsp;

&nbsp;









President Obama&rsquo;s staff is in the process of migrating his Twitter username from the campaign&rsquo;s &ldquo;BarackObama&rdquo; to the more Presidential &ldquo;whitehouse.&rdquo; The name change will allow White House staffers to do the President&rsquo;s tweeting for him without appearing disingenuous. The geeky use of all lowercase letters is a nice touch.
I&rsquo;ve been unable to confirm whether or not Mr. Obama will type some of the status updates himself. But even with two wars, an economic crisis and swine flu taking up his day, an occasional tweet from the world&rsquo;s best-known BlackBerry user would be a quick, easy, Web 2.0 version of FDR&rsquo;s fireside chats. I&rsquo;ve already clicked in my follow request.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/742/President_Obama's_New_Twitter_Feed</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/742/President_Obama's_New_Twitter_Feed</guid>
			<pubDate>Mon, 04 May 2009 07:27:41 -0400</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title>W.H.O. Rasies Swine Flu Threat Level  1 away From Full Pandemic</title>
			<description><![CDATA[MEXICO CITY &ndash; Global health authorities warned Wednesday that swine flu was threatening to bloom into a pandemic, and the virus spread farther i[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[MEXICO CITY &ndash; Global health authorities warned Wednesday that swine flu was threatening to bloom into a pandemic, and the virus spread farther in Europe even as the outbreak appeared to stabilize at its epicenter. A toddler who succumbed in Texas became the first death outside Mexico.
New cases and deaths finally seemed to be leveling off in Mexico, where 160 people have been killed, after an aggressive public health campaign. But the World Health Organization said the global threat is nevertheless serious enough to ramp up efforts to produce a vaccine against the virus.
&quot;It really is all of humanity that is under threat during a pandemic,&quot; WHO Director General Margaret Chan said in Geneva. &quot;We do not have all the answers right now, but we will get them.&quot;
It was the first time the WHO had declared a Phase 5 outbreak, the second-highest on its threat scale, indicating a pandemic could be imminent.
The first U.S. death from the outbreak was a Mexico City toddler who traveled to Texas with family and died Monday night at a Houston hospital. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius predicted the child would not be the last U.S. death from swine flu.
The virus, a mix of pig, bird and human genes to which people have limited natural immunity, had spread to at least nine countries. In the United States, nearly 100 have been sickened in 11 states.
Eight states closed schools Wednesday, affecting 53,000 students in Texas alone, and President Barack Obama said wider school closings might be necessary to keep crowds from spreading the flu. Mexico has already closed schools nationwide until at least May 6.
&quot;Every American should know that the federal government is prepared to do whatever is necessary to control the impact of this virus,&quot; Obama said, highlighting his request for $1.5 billion in emergency funding for vaccines.
Just north of the Mexican border, 39 Marines were being confined to their California base after one contracted what may be swine flu. Senators questioned Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano about her decision not to close the border, action she said &quot;has not been merited by the facts.&quot;
Ecuador joined Cuba and Argentina in banning travel either to or from Mexico, and other nations considered similar bans. In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy met with cabinet ministers to discuss swine flu, and the health minister said France would ask the European Union to suspend flights to Mexico.
The U.S., the European Union and other countries have discouraged nonessential travel to Mexico. Some countries have urged their citizens to avoid the United States and Canada as well. Health officials said such bans would do little to stop the virus.
Germany and Austria became the latest countries to report swine flu infections Wednesday, with cases already confirmed in Canada, Britain, Israel, New Zealand and Spain.
In addition to the 160 deaths, the virus is believed to have sickened 2,498 people across Mexico. But only 1,311 suspected swine flu patients remained hospitalized, and a closer look at daily admissions and deaths at Mexico's public hospitals suggests the outbreak may have peaked during three grim days last week when thousands of people complained of flu symptoms.
Scientists believe that somewhere in the world, months or even a year ago, a pig virus jumped to a human and mutated, and has been spreading between humans ever since. Unlike with bird flu, doctors have no evidence suggesting a direct pig-to-human infection from this strain, which is why they haven't recommended killing pigs.
Medical detectives have not zeroed in on where the outbreak began. Mexico's chief epidemiologist suggested Wednesday that someone could have carried it in from Pakistan or Bangladesh &mdash; or just about anywhere else in the world.
By March 9, the first symptoms were showing up in the Mexican state of Veracruz, where pig farming is a key industry in mountain hamlets and where small clinics provide the only health care.
The earliest confirmed case was there: a 5-year-old boy who was one of hundreds of people in the town of La Gloria whose flu symptoms left them struggling to breathe.
Days later, a door-to-door tax inspector was hospitalized with acute respiratory problems in the neighboring state of Oaxaca, infecting 16 hospital workers before she became Mexico's first confirmed death.
Neighbors of the inspector, Maria Adela Gutierrez, said Wednesday that she fell ill after pairing up with a temporary worker from Veracruz who seemed to have a very bad cold. Other people from La Gloria kept going to jobs in Mexico City despite their illnesses, and could have infected people in the capital.
The deaths were already leveling off by the time Mexico announced the epidemic April 23. At hospitals Wednesday, lines of anxious citizens seeking care for flu symptoms dwindled markedly.
The Mexican health secretary, Jose Angel Cordova, said getting proper treatment within 48 hours of falling ill &quot;is fundamental for getting the best results&quot; and said the country's supply of medicine was sufficient.
Cordova has suggested the virus can be beaten if caught quickly and treated properly. But it was neither caught quickly nor treated properly in the early days in Mexico, which lacked the capacity to identify the virus, and whose health care system has become the target of widespread anger and distrust.
In case after case, patients have complained of being misdiagnosed, turned away by doctors and denied access to drugs. Monica Gonzalez said her husband, Alejandro, already had a bad cough when he returned to Mexico City from Veracruz two weeks ago and soon developed a fever and swollen tonsils.
As the 32-year-old truck driver's symptoms worsened, she took him to a series of doctors and finally a large hospital. By then, he had a temperature of 102 and could barely stand.
&quot;They sent him away because they said it was just tonsillitis,&quot; she said. &quot;That hospital is garbage.&quot;
That was April 22, a day before Mexico's health secretary announced the swine flu outbreak. But the medical community was already aware of a disturbing trend in respiratory infections, and Veracruz had been identified as a place of concern.
Gonzalez finally took her husband to Mexico City's main respiratory hospital, &quot;dying in the taxi.&quot; Doctors diagnosed pneumonia, but it may have been too late: He has suffered a collapsed lung and is unconscious. Doctors doubt he will survive.
Swine flu has symptoms nearly identical to regular flu &mdash; fever, cough and sore throat &mdash; and spreads like regular flu, through tiny particles in the air, when people cough or sneeze. People with flu symptoms are advised to stay at home, wash their hands and cover their sneezes.
While epidemiologists stress it is humans, not pigs, who are spreading the disease, sales have plunged for pork producers around the world. Egypt began slaughtering its roughly 300,000 pigs on Wednesday, even though no cases have been reported there. WHO says eating pork is safe, but Mexicans have even cut back on their beloved greasy pork tacos.
Pork producers are trying to get people to stop calling the disease swine flu, and Obama notably referred to it Wednesday only by its scientific name, H1N1. U.N. animal health expert Juan Lubroth noted some scientists say &quot;Mexican flu&quot; would be more accurate, a suggestion already inflaming passions in Mexico.
Authorities have sought to keep the crisis in context. In the U.S. alone, health officials say about 36,000 people die every year from flu-related causes.
Mexico's government said it remains too early to ease restrictions that have shut down public life in the overcrowded capital and much of the country. Pyramids, museums and restaurants were closed to keep crowds from spreading contagion.
&quot;None of these measures are popular. We're not looking for that &mdash; we're looking for effectiveness,&quot; Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said. &quot;The most important thing to protect is human life.&quot; 

Courtesy of new.yahoo.com]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/741/W.H.O._Rasies_Swine_Flu_Threat_Level__1_away_From_Full_Pandemic</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/741/W.H.O._Rasies_Swine_Flu_Threat_Level__1_away_From_Full_Pandemic</guid>
			<pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:59:33 -0400</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title>Mel Gibson hits the red carpet with girlfriend</title>
			<description><![CDATA[More than two weeks after his wife filed for divorce, a smiling Mel Gibson made a rare public appearance with his girlfriend Tuesday night at the L.A.[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[More than two weeks after his wife filed for divorce, a smiling Mel Gibson made a rare public appearance with his girlfriend Tuesday night at the L.A. industry screening of &quot;X-Men Origins: Wolverine.&quot;
&quot;Mel has been single for almost three years and it's nice to see him getting out and enjoying himself,&quot; his rep tells PEOPLE exclusively.
The actor, 53, dressed in a black suit with a dark gray shirt, stepped out with Oksana Grigorieva, a 39-year-old Russian signer signed to his record label, Icon Records. The couple held hands as they walked the carpet before taking a seat at the screening at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

Mario Anzuoni / Reuters
Mel Gibson and Oksana Grigorieva arrive at an industry screening of &quot;X-Men Origins: Wolverine&quot; at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Calif., on Tuesday.]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/737/Mel_Gibson_hits_the_red_carpet_with_girlfriend</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/737/Mel_Gibson_hits_the_red_carpet_with_girlfriend</guid>
			<pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:11:02 -0400</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title>US Economy: GDP Shrinks, Worst Recession in 50 Years</title>
			<description><![CDATA[The U.S. economy plunged again in the first quarter, making this the worst recession in at least half a century.
Gross domestic product dropped at a[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[The U.S. economy plunged again in the first quarter, making this the worst recession in at least half a century.
Gross domestic product dropped at a 6.1 percent annual pace, weaker than forecast, after contracting at a 6.3 percent rate in the last three months of 2008, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. The report, which reflected a record slump in inventories and further declines in housing, comes hours before Federal Reserve officials decide how much money to pump into the economy.
Smaller stockpiles may set the stage for a return to growth in the second half of the year amid signs Fed efforts to reduce borrowing costs and unclog lending are starting to pay off. The contraction persisted even as lower gasoline prices and larger tax refunds helped bring an end to the worst slump in consumer spending in almost three decades.
&ldquo;We are likely to emerge from this recession very slowly and the recovery will be very weak,&rdquo; said Richard Berner, chief U.S. economist at Morgan Stanley in New York. &ldquo;The aggressive policy response we have gotten will take time to work, but it will counter the still-strong headwinds holding the economy back.&rdquo;
Stocks rose for the first time in three days as bank shares rallied on an analyst report that non-performing assets will peak this year. The Standard &amp; Poor&rsquo;s 500 Index was up 2.1 percent at 872.76 as of 10:50 a.m. in New York. Treasuries were little changed, with benchmark 10-year notes yielding 2.99 percent.
Slump&rsquo;s Magnitude
The world&rsquo;s largest economy has shrunk 3.3 percent since peaking in last year&rsquo;s second quarter, already making this the second-worst recession since the Great Depression. GDP shrank 3.8 percent during the 1957-58 contraction, according to figures from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The median forecast of 71 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News projected GDP, the sum of all goods and services produced, would shrink at a 4.7 percent pace. Estimates ranged from declines of 2.8 percent to 8 percent. Today&rsquo;s advance report is the first of three estimates on first-quarter growth.
Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy, climbed at a 2.2 percent annual pace last quarter, the most in two years. Purchases dropped at an average 4.1 percent rate in the last half of 2008, the biggest slide since 1980.
Part of the improvement may be due to government efforts to stem the recession. In its last meeting on March 18, the Fed pledged to double mortgage-debt purchases to $1.45 trillion and buy as much as $300 billion in long-term Treasuries. That&rsquo;s helped bring down rates on mortgages and auto loans.
Fed Statement
The central bank&rsquo;s statement today, due at around 2:15 p.m., may acknowledge that the pace of economic decline has moderated in the past six weeks and may reiterate it will keep the benchmark rate low for an extended period and continue to boost its balance sheet to revive lending.
&ldquo;Most people are saying we could bottom out in the second half of the year, maybe in the third quarter, and then see positive growth again,&rdquo; Christina Romer, the White House&rsquo;s chief economist, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re certainly looking for some positive news towards the end of the year.&rdquo;
Companies trimmed stockpiles at a $103.7 billion annual rate last quarter, the biggest drop since records began in 1947. Excluding the reduction, the economy would have contracted at a 3.4 percent pace.
Good and Bad
&ldquo;This is one of those good-bad numbers,&rdquo; Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors Inc. in Holland, Pennsylvania, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. &ldquo;Businesses are running about as lean as they possibly can be. It sets up the reality that any sort of increase in demand will cause firms to have to increase production.&rdquo;
As a result, Naroff predicted growth won&rsquo;t &ldquo;be nearly as bad in the current quarter, and will probably be reasonably good.&rdquo;
Companies cut total spending, including equipment, software and construction projects, at a record 38 percent annual pace.
Residential construction also decreased at a 38 percent pace last quarter, the most since 1980.
&ldquo;The hangover from the Bush administration is even worse than we thought,&rdquo; Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney, chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, said in a statement. &ldquo;These numbers reflect a drawdown in business inventories and continued weakness in the housing and commercial real estate markets. Americans are starting to spend more and I&rsquo;m optimistic that we will begin to see the effects of the stimulus next quarter.&rdquo;
Obama Stimulus
President Barack Obama signed a $787 billion stimulus plan into law in February that included increases in spending on infrastructure projects and a reduction in taxes.
One reason for the larger-than-projected decline in GDP was that government slashed spending at a 3.9 percent pace, the most since 1995. The drop reflected a cutback in defense spending and the biggest decrease in state and local government outlays since 1981, reflecting slumping tax revenue.
Recent announcements by companies including General Motors Corp. indicate the economy will shrink again this quarter, albeit at a slower pace. GM last week said it will idle 13 U.S. assembly plants for multiple weeks to trim production by 190,000 vehicles from May through July. Sales in its home market fell 49 percent this year through March.
Still, data in recent weeks, including signs of stability in home sales, residential construction and consumer confidence, signal the recession will ease.
Ford Motor Co., working to avoid a federal bailout, is among companies seeing some improvement. The automaker last week posted a first-quarter loss that beat analysts&rsquo; estimates.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not quite sure where the bottom is,&rdquo; Ford&rsquo;s Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally said in an April 24 Bloomberg Television interview. &ldquo;But we believe with the stabilization of the banks, freeing up the credit, and the stimulus packages we have, both monetary and fiscal, that we&rsquo;re going to see an uptick in the third and fourth quarter.&rdquo;
Source: By Bob Willis (Bloomberg)]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/735/US_Economy:_GDP_Shrinks,_Worst_Recession_in_50_Years</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/735/US_Economy:_GDP_Shrinks,_Worst_Recession_in_50_Years</guid>
			<pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2009 10:47:34 -0400</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title>First US Swine Flu Death</title>
			<description><![CDATA[A 23-month-old Texas toddler became the first confirmed swine flu death outside of Mexico as authorities around the world struggled to contain a growi[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[A 23-month-old Texas toddler became the first confirmed swine flu death outside of Mexico as authorities around the world struggled to contain a growing global health menace that has also swept Germany onto the roster of afflicted nations.
&quot;Even though we've been expecting this, it is very, very sad,&quot; Dr. Richard Besser, acting chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday of the infant's death. &quot;As a pediatrician and a parent, my heart goes out to the family.&quot;
President Barack Obama said this morning that Americans should know the government is doing all it can to control virus. Obama also says schools should consider closing if the spread of the swine flu virus worsens.
Canada, Austria, New Zealand, Israel, Spain, Britain and Germany also have reported cases of swine flu sickness. Deaths reported so far have been limited to Mexico, and now the U.S.
As the United States grappled with this widening health crisis, Besser went from network to network Wednesday morning to give an update on what the Obama administration is doing. He said authorities essentially are still &quot;trying to learn more about this strain of the flu.&quot; His appearances as Germany reported its first cases of swine flu infection, with three victims.
&quot;It's very important that people take their concern and channel it into action,&quot; Besser said, adding that &quot;it is crucial that people understand what they need to do if symptoms appear.
&quot;I don't think it (the reported death in Texas) indicates any change in the strain,&quot; he said. &quot;We see with any flu virus a spectrum of disease symptoms.&quot;
Asked why the problem seems so much more severe in Mexico, Besser said U.S. officials &quot;have teams on the ground, a tri-national team in Mexico, working with Canada and Mexico, to try and understand those differences, because they can be helpful as we plan and implement our control strategies.&quot;
Sixty-six infections had been reported in the United States before the report of the toddler's death in Texas.
The world has no vaccine to prevent infection but U.S. health officials aim to have a key ingredient for one ready in early May, the big step that vaccine manufacturers are awaiting. But even if the World Health Organization ordered up emergency vaccine supplies &mdash; and that decision hasn't been made yet &mdash; it would take at least two more months to produce the initial shots needed for human safety testing.
&quot;We're working together at 100 miles an hour to get material that will be useful,&quot; Dr. Jesse Goodman, who oversees the Food and Drug Administration's swine flu work, told The Associated Press.
The U.S. is shipping to states not only enough anti-flu medication for 11 million people, but also masks, hospital supplies and flu test kits. President Barack Obama asked Congress for $1.5 billion in emergency funds to help build more drug stockpiles and monitor future cases, as well as help international efforts to avoid a full-fledged pandemic.
&quot;It's a very serious possibility, but it is still too early to say that this is inevitable,&quot; the WHO's flu chief, Dr. Keiji Fukuda, told a telephone news conference.
Cuba and Argentina banned flights to Mexico, where swine flu is suspected of killing more than 150 people and sickening well over 2,000. In a bit of good news, Mexico's health secretary, Jose Cordova, late Tuesday called the death toll there &quot;more or less stable.&quot;
Mexico City, one of the world's largest cities, has taken drastic steps to curb the virus' spread, starting with shutting down schools and on Tuesday expanding closures to gyms and swimming pools and even telling restaurants to limit service to takeout. People who venture out tend to wear masks in hopes of protection.
The number of confirmed swine flu cases in the United States rose to 66 in six states, with 45 in New York, 11 in California, six in Texas, two in Kansas and one each in Indiana and Ohio, but cities and states suspected more. In New York, the city's health commissioner said &quot;many hundreds&quot; of schoolchildren were ill at a school where some students had confirmed cases.
The WHO argues against closing borders to stem the spread, and the U.S. &mdash; although checking arriving travelers for the ill who may need care &mdash; agrees it's too late for that tactic.
&quot;Sealing a border as an approach to containment is something that has been discussed and it was our planning assumption should an outbreak of a new strain of influenza occur overseas. We had plans for trying to swoop in and knockout or quench an outbreak if it were occurring far from our borders. That's not the case here,&quot; Besser told a telephone briefing of Nevada-based health providers and reporters. &quot;The idea of trying to limit the spread to Mexico is not realistic or at all possible.&quot;
&quot;Border controls do not work. Travel restrictions do not work,&quot; WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said in Geneva, recalling the SARS epidemic earlier in the decade that killed 774 people, mostly in Asia, and slowed the global economy.
Authorities sought to keep the crisis in context: Flu deaths are common around the world. In the U.S. alone, the CDC says about 36,000 people a year die of flu-related causes. Still, the CDC calls the new strain a combination of pig, bird and human viruses for which people may have limited natural immunity.
Hence the need for a vaccine. Using samples of the flu taken from people who fell ill in Mexico and the U.S., scientists are engineering a strain that could trigger the immune system without causing illness. The hope is to get that ingredient &mdash; called a &quot;reference strain&quot; in vaccine jargon &mdash; to manufacturers around the second week of May, so they can begin their own laborious production work, said CDC's Dr. Ruben Donis, who is leading that effort.
Vaccine manufacturers are just beginning production for next winter's regular influenza vaccine, which protects against three human flu strains. The WHO wants them to stay with that course for now &mdash; it won't call for mass production of a swine flu vaccine unless the outbreak worsens globally. But sometimes new flu strains pop up briefly at the end of one flu season and go away only to re-emerge the next fall, and at the very least there should be a vaccine in time for next winter's flu season, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the National Institutes of Health's infectious diseases chief, said Tuesday. 

Courtesy of new.yahoo.com]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/734/First_US_Swine_Flu_Death_</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/734/First_US_Swine_Flu_Death_</guid>
			<pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2009 07:44:39 -0400</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title>Official who OK'd NYC flyby accused of 'felony stupidity'</title>
			<description><![CDATA[After a YouTube video showed panicked New Yorkers scrambling as a Boeing 747 flew frighteningly close to the lower Manhattan skyline, a former Homelan[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[After a YouTube video showed panicked New Yorkers scrambling as a Boeing 747 flew frighteningly close to the lower Manhattan skyline, a former Homeland Security adviser questioned whether the man who approved the flyby should remain in his White House office.

Witnesses reported seeing a plane circle over the Upper New York Bay near the Statue of Liberty.
Fran Townsend, who advised President George W. Bush for more than three years, called the move &quot;crass insensitivity&quot; in the wake of 9/11.
&quot;I'd call this felony stupidity. This is probably not the right job for Mr. Caldera to be in if he didn't understand the likely reaction of New Yorkers, of the mayor,&quot; Townsend said Tuesday on CNN's &quot;American Morning.&quot;
Louis Caldera, director of the White House Military Office, quickly apologized for Monday's incident after the planes prompted workers and residents to evacuate buildings in New York and New Jersey.
&quot;Last week, I approved a mission over New York. I take responsibility for that decision,&quot; Caldera said. &quot;While federal authorities took the proper steps to notify state and local authorities in New York and New Jersey, it's clear that the mission created confusion and disruption.&quot;
The Federal Aviation Administration said the aircraft, which functions as Air Force One when the president is aboard, was taking part in a classified, government-sanctioned photo shoot.
An angry Mayor Michael Bloomberg said it &quot;defies the imagination&quot; that an agency would schedule the photo shoot so near the site of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center.
President Obama also reportedly expressed outrage. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, said the FAA's decision to not announce the flyby &quot;borders on being either cruel or very, very stupid.&quot;
Witnesses reported seeing the plane circle over the Upper New York Bay near the Statue of Liberty before flying up the Hudson River.
The YouTube video shows dozens of people standing in a parking lot, watching the plane approach. As it nears, they begin to run. Someone unleashes an expletive. &quot;Run, run!&quot; says one person. &quot;Oh my God,&quot; cries another.
Two officials said the White House Military Office was trying to update its file photos of Air Force One. The officials said the president was angry when he learned Monday afternoon about the flight.
&quot;The president was furious about it,&quot; one of the officials said.
On Tuesday, Obama told reporters, &quot;It was a mistake. It was something we found out about along with all of you. And it will not happen again.&quot;
&quot;I'm annoyed -- furious is a better word -- that I wasn't told,&quot; he said, calling the FAA's decision to withhold details about the flight &quot;ridiculous&quot; and &quot;poor judgment.&quot;
&quot;Why the Defense Department wanted to do a photo op right around the site of the World Trade Center defies the imagination,&quot; he said. &quot;Had we known, I would have asked them not to.&quot;
Linda Garcia-Rose, a social worker who counsels post-traumatic stress disorder patients in an office three blocks from where the World Trade Center stood, called the flight an &quot;absolute travesty.&quot;
&quot;There was no warning. It looked like the plane was about to come into us,&quot; she said. &quot;I'm a therapist, and I actually had a panic attack.&quot;
Garcia-Rose, who works with nearly two dozen patients ages 15 to 47, said she was inundated with phone calls from patients.
&quot;They're traumatized. They're asking 'How could this happen?' They're nervous. Their anxiety levels are high,&quot; she said
Garcia-Rose said she is considering filing a class-action suit against the government for sanctioning the plane's unannounced flight.
&quot;I believe the government has done something really wrong,&quot; she said.

Capt. Anna Carpenter of Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland said local law enforcement agencies and the FAA had been given notice of the exercise.
New York Police Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne said the department had been alerted about the flight &quot;with directives to local authorities not to disclose information about it.&quot;]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/732/Official_who_OK'd_NYC_flyby_accused_of_'felony_stupidity'</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/732/Official_who_OK'd_NYC_flyby_accused_of_'felony_stupidity'</guid>
			<pubDate>Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:40:50 -0400</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title>Conficker Virus Attacking More and More Computers</title>
			<description><![CDATA[&nbsp;A malicious software program known as Conficker that many feared would wreak havoc on April 1 is slowly being activated, weeks after being dismi[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[&nbsp;A malicious software program known as Conficker that many feared would wreak havoc on April 1 is slowly being activated, weeks after being dismissed as a false alarm, security experts said.
Conficker, also known as Downadup or Kido, is quietly turning thousands of personal computers into servers of e-mail spam and installing spyware, they said.
The worm started spreading late last year, infecting millions of computers and turning them into &quot;slaves&quot; that respond to commands sent from a remote server that effectively controls an army of computers known as a botnet.
Its unidentified creators started using those machines for criminal purposes in recent weeks by loading more malicious software onto a small percentage of computers under their control, said Vincent Weafer, a vice president with Symantec Security Response, the research arm of the world's largest security software maker, Symantec Corp.
He said that while he believes the number of infected machines that have become active is relatively small, he expects a consistent stream of attacks to follow, with other types of malware distributed by Conficker's authors.
&quot;Expect this to be long-term, slowly changing,&quot; Weafer said of the worm. &quot;It's not going to be fast, aggressive.&quot;
Conficker installs a second virus, known as Waledac, that sends out e-mail spam without knowledge of the PC's owner, along with a fake anti-spyware program, Weafer said.
The Waledac virus recruits the PCs into a second botnet that has existed for several years and specializes in distributing e-mail spam.
Conficker also carries a third virus that warns users their PCs are infected and offers them a fake anti-virus program, Spyware Protect 2009 for $49.95, according to Russian-based security researcher Kaspersky Lab.
If they buy it, their credit card information is stolen and the virus downloads even more malicious software.
&quot;This is probably one of the most sophisticated botnets on the planet. The guys behind this are very professional. They absolutely know what they are doing,&quot; said Paul Ferguson, a senior researcher with Trend Micro Inc, the world's third-largest security software maker.
He said Conficker's authors likely installed a spam engine and another malicious software program on tens of thousands of computers since April 7.
He said the worm will stop distributing the software on infected PCs on May 3 but more attacks will likely follow.
&quot;We expect to see a different component or a whole new twist to the way this botnet does business,&quot; said Ferguson, a member of The Conficker Working Group, an international alliance of companies fighting the worm.
Researchers had feared the network controlled by the Conficker worm might be deployed on April 1 since the worm surfaced last year because it was programed to increase communication attempts from that date.
The security industry formed the task force to fight the worm, bringing widespread attention that experts said probably scared off the criminals who command the slave computers.
The task force initially thwarted the worm using the Internet's traffic control system to block access to servers that control the slave computers.
Viruses that turn PCs into slaves exploit weaknesses in Microsoft's Windows operating system. The Conficker worm is especially tricky because it can evade corporate firewalls by passing from an infected machine onto a USB memory stick, then onto another PC.
The Conficker botnet is one of many such networks controlled by syndicates that authorities believe are based in eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, China and Latin America.

Courtesy of Foxnews.com]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/729/Conficker_Virus_Attacking_More_and_More_Computers</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/729/Conficker_Virus_Attacking_More_and_More_Computers</guid>
			<pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:35:02 -0400</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title>More Confirmed Cases of Swine Flu in US</title>
			<description><![CDATA[Seventy-three cases of swine flu have been confirmed worldwide, the World Health Organization said Monday.




&nbsp;


Later Monday, health o[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[Seventy-three cases of swine flu have been confirmed worldwide, the World Health Organization said Monday.




&nbsp;


Later Monday, health officials in Scotland said two cases of swine flu had been confirmed there.






Hundreds more cases are suspected, especially in Mexico, where as many as 103 deaths are thought to have been caused by the virus, the country's health minister said. More than 2,000 cases have been reported but not confirmed in the country.
Federal officials confirmed 20 new U.S. cases on Monday.
A federal official said they were at the same school in New York in which eight U.S. cases were confirmed earlier. More than 100 students at the school were out with flu-like symptoms last week.
The outbreak is a particular concern because of who it is hitting hard, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday.
&quot;We are concerned that in Mexico, most of those who died were young and healthy adults,&quot; he said.  
President Obama said Monday that the swine flu outbreak is a &quot;cause for concern and requires a heightened state of alert,&quot; but is not a &quot;cause for alarm.&quot;

Courtesy of CNN.com]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/728/More_Confirmed_Cases_of_Swine_Flu_in_US</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/728/More_Confirmed_Cases_of_Swine_Flu_in_US</guid>
			<pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:14:12 -0400</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title>World Races to Battle the Swine Flu</title>
			<description><![CDATA[&nbsp;WASHINGTON&nbsp;&mdash;&nbsp; Governments are racing to find and contain pockets of swine flu around the globe, seeking to stem both the threa[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[&nbsp;WASHINGTON&nbsp;&mdash;&nbsp; Governments are racing to find and contain pockets of swine flu around the globe, seeking to stem both the threat of a pandemic and public panic.
&quot;We're preparing in an environment where we really don't know ultimately what the size or seriousness of this outbreak is going to be,&quot; U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Sunday.
In Mexico, the outbreak's epicenter, soldiers handed out 6 million face masks to help stop the spread of the novel virus that is suspected in up to 103 deaths. Most other countries are reporting only mild cases so far, with most of the sick already recovering. Cases have been confirmed in Canada &mdash; six &mdash; and the U.S. &mdash; 20.
Spain reported its first confirmed swine flu case on Monday and said another 17 people were suspected of having the disease. The European Union health commissioner advised Europeans to avoid nonessential travel to Mexico and the United States.
Other countries, including New Zealand, were investigating whether other people with flulike symptoms really have this new swine flu or something else.

								var adsonar_placementId='1425888',adsonar_pid='151757',adsonar_ps='-1',adsonar_zw=224;adsonar_zh=93,adsonar_jv='ads.adsonar.com';
								qas_writeAd();						

There is not a global pandemic yet, but waiting until scientists know if the new virus is going to spread rapidly and easily would be too late.
The U.S. declared the health emergency amid confusion about whether new numbers really mean ongoing infections &mdash; or just that health officials had missed something simmering for weeks or months. But the move allows the government to ship roughly 12 million doses of flu-fighting medications from a federal stockpile to states in case they eventually need them.
A spokesman for the World Health Organization, Peter Cordingley, said the virus was spreading quickly in Mexico and the southern U.S. and has the potential to become a pandemic and a global threat.
President Barack Obama is set to address the health crisis Monday in remarks to a meeting of the nation's top scientists. His administration sought on Sunday to strike a balance, informing Americans without panicking them.
&quot;We do think this will continue to spread but we are taking aggressive actions to minimize the impact on people's health,&quot; said Dr. Richard Besser, acting chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The World Bank said it would send Mexico $25 million in loans for immediate aid and $180 million in long-term assistance to address the outbreak, plus advice on how other nations have dealt with similar crises. Mexico officials say the flu strain may have sickened 1,614 people since April 13 but laboratory testing to confirm that and how many truly died from it &mdash; at least 22 so far out of the 103 suspected deaths &mdash; is taking time.
Worldwide, attention focused sharply on travelers.
&quot;It was acquired in Mexico, brought home and spread,&quot; Nova Scotia's chief public health officer, Dr. Robert Strang, said of Canada's first confirmed cases.
A New York City school where eight cases were confirmed will be closed Monday and Tuesday, and 14 schools in Texas, including a high school where two cases were confirmed, will be closed for at least the next week. Some schools in California and Ohio also were closing after students were found or suspected to have the flu.
China, Russia and Taiwan began planning to quarantine travelers arriving from flu-affected areas if they have symptoms. Italy, Poland and Venezuela advised citizens to postpone travel to affected parts of Mexico and the U.S.
Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and the Philippines were checking for signs of fever among passengers arriving at airports from North America. In Malaysia, health workers in face masks took the temperatures of passengers as they arrived from a flight from Los Angeles.
Travelers with flu-like symptoms would be given detailed health checks.
Multiple airlines, including American, United, Continental, US Airways, Mexicana and Air Canada, are waiving their usual penalties for changing reservations for anyone traveling to, from, or through Mexico, but have not canceled flights.
Officials along the U.S.-Mexico border were asking health care providers to take respiratory samples from patients who appear to have the flu. Travelers were being asked if they visited flu-stricken areas.
The U.S. hasn't advised against travel to Mexico but does urge precautions such as frequent hand-washing while there, and began questioning arriving travelers about flu symptoms.

Courtesy of Foxnews.com]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/727/World_Races_to_Battle_the_Swine_Flu</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/727/World_Races_to_Battle_the_Swine_Flu</guid>
			<pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2009 08:33:16 -0400</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title>Samantha Ronson on Lindsay Lohan: It's complicated</title>
			<description><![CDATA[Television's Simon Cowell
said on Friday he was embarrassed at his initial reaction to British singing
sensation Susan Boyle, but wa[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[Television's Simon Cowell
said on Friday he was embarrassed at his initial reaction to British singing
sensation Susan Boyle, but warned that just because she is a hit with fans, she
is not a winner yet. Cowell, the creator and a judge on 'Britain's Got
Talent,' said he was fed up with stories about the hair, eyebrows and cats
of the never-married 47-year-old Boyle, and he urged her to focus now on
winning the television talent competition.





If Sam Ronson's Facebook page is any  indicator, the celebrity deejay might still be carrying the torch for former  girlfriend Lindsay Lohan.
Usmagazine.com  reports that shortly after her red-headed ex appeared yesterday on the Ellen  DeGeneres Show stating that the two still talk and hinting towards a  continued friendship, Ronson's Facebook status updated to &quot;It's Complicated.&quot;
Ronson removed her &quot;In a Relationship&quot; status on the social networking site  after a blowout fight with then-girlfriend Lohan earlier this month.
But if Ronson is interested in rekindling their relationship, she might have  to take a backseat to Lohan's planned attempts to take back her career.
&quot;When people are together so much, it gets really difficult, and you forget  who you are because you're more concerned about being with the other person,&quot;  she dished to the talk show host.
&quot;I'm not looking to be with anyone right now,&quot; Lohan continued.
&quot;I don't need to deal with that. It gets too distracting from everything that  I need to focus on. Leaving town, you miss someone too much and you don't want  to go sometimes, but I really care about Samantha and we'll see what happens.  Maybe when we're fully in the right place... I love her.&quot;]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/724/Samantha_Ronson_on_Lindsay_Lohan:_It's_complicated__</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/724/Samantha_Ronson_on_Lindsay_Lohan:_It's_complicated__</guid>
			<pubDate>Sat, 25 Apr 2009 08:00:55 -0400</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title>Facebook Users Approve Terms Of Use</title>
			<description><![CDATA[Facebook members will own and control their own information under the social networking site's new policies. 
Users this week voted[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[Facebook members will own and control their own information under the social networking site's new policies. 
Users this week voted on a new set of terms and conditions, and most users who voted approved of a new set of Facebook Principles and Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. Along with a forthcoming new Privacy Policy, the documents represent a new Bill of Rights, so to speak, for the Facebook nation.

The Web site put forth the terms and statement after an earlier revision of the terms upset members and advocacy groups. The changes increase user control and privacy protection while improving account deletion and limiting sublicenses and reducing data exchanges between application developers. 
The move resulted from online discussions among users and the company. It drew immediate praise from users and advocacy groups. 
&quot;We are pleased with the outcome,&quot; Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said in a statement released Friday. &quot;Facebook addressed several privacy problems that EPIC had identified.&quot; 
EPIC, which had threatened two months ago to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, also praised members who campaigned for increased privacy protections. The group said that the changes reaffirm key privacy principles for Web 2.0 applications. 
&quot;There will always be privacy issues with Facebook and other popular web services,&quot; Rotenberg said. &quot;The need for a comprehensive privacy framework is clear. But this week Facebook took an important step in support of user privacy, and we support the outcome.&quot; 
&nbsp;]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/723/Facebook_Users_Approve_Terms_Of_Use_</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/723/Facebook_Users_Approve_Terms_Of_Use_</guid>
			<pubDate>Sat, 25 Apr 2009 07:55:07 -0400</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title>Lions Reach Deal With 1 Draft Pick</title>
			<description><![CDATA[NEW YORK &ndash; The Detroit Lions agreed to terms with Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford on a six-year, $78 million deal that in[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[NEW YORK &ndash; The Detroit Lions agreed to terms with Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford on a six-year, $78 million deal that includes an NFL-record $41.7 million guaranteed, sources told Yahoo! Sports on Friday. The deal represents the largest amount of guaranteed money for any player &ndash; rookie or veteran &ndash; in NFL history, exceeding the $41 million guaranteed that defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth received from Washington at the beginning of free agency this offseason.
Stafford and Haynesworth are the only players to top the $40 million guaranteed threshold.
Two sources confirmed that Stafford had agreed to terms with Detroit but had not yet signed the deal as of Friday night. The Lions had been intent on having the top pick signed in advance of Saturday&rsquo;s NFL draft. They had reached an agreement with Wake Forest linebacker Aaron Curry earlier in the week as a contingency, according to published reports, but their intent all along was to select Stafford.
Stafford, 21, will be the ninth quarterback in the past 12 years to be selected No. 1 overall, and the 17th since the AFL and NFL established a combined draft in 1967. He threw for 3,459 yards and 25 touchdowns to just 10 interceptions in leading Georgia to a 10-3 record last season.
The Lions went an NFL-record 0-16 in 2008.
The Lions like Stafford as a fit in the offense under new coordinator Scott Linehan because of the quarterback&rsquo;s ability to throw deep. Linehan&rsquo;s offense calls for a strong running game to develop play action for deep passes. NFL personnel people say Stafford has the strongest arm in this year&rsquo;s draft.
The expectation is that Stafford will be a backup for one season to veteran Daunte Culpepper, who is under contract with Detroit for one more year as he continues his effort to revive his once successful career. The Lions also would like to upgrade their offensive line for Stafford once he becomes the starter. Stafford could become part of a strong combination with wide receiver Calvin Johnson, who was the No. 2 overall pick in 2006 and tallied 1,331 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns last season.
Stafford&rsquo;s contract represents an increase of almost $7 million in guaranteed money over the six-year deal that last year&rsquo;s No. 3 overall pick Matt Ryan signed with the Atlanta Falcons. Ryan received $34.75 million in guarantees from Atlanta in a deal negotiated by agents Tom Condon and Ben Dogra, who also represent Stafford. That increase of roughly 20 percent in guarantees could lead to a $50 million guarantee for a high pick next year if this pace continues.
Under NFL rules, the St. Louis Rams &ndash; who hold the No. 2 overall pick &ndash; now are allowed to negotiate with players on a contract in advance of Saturday&rsquo;s draft. There were reports Friday night that the Rams intended to select USC quarterback Mark Sanchez with the pick and had given him a plane ticket to St. Louis, but two league sources said they considered the report a possible bluff by the Rams in hopes of getting a team such as the New York Jets or Washington Redskins to trade with them for the pick. Marc Bulger, who received a contract extension from St. Louis in 2007, is the Rams&rsquo; incumbent starting quarterback. Bulger has thrown 22 touchdowns and 28 interceptions over the past two seasons combined after tossing 28 touchdowns to just eight interceptions in 2007.
The Rams, who fired Linehan as head coach early last season, won just two games in 2008. Sanchez threw for 3,207 yards, 34 touchdowns and 10 interceptions last season for a USC team that finished the season 12-1.




Source: Yahoo Sports]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/721/Lions_Reach_Deal_With_1_Draft_Pick</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/721/Lions_Reach_Deal_With_1_Draft_Pick</guid>
			<pubDate>Sat, 25 Apr 2009 07:45:26 -0400</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title>Facebook Moves Ahead With New Terms of Use</title>
			<description><![CDATA[Facebook, the world's most used social-networking site, will soon move ahead with revised rules for how it operates following a  row with users ea[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[Facebook, the world's most used social-networking site, will soon move ahead with revised rules for how it operates following a  row with users earlier this year.
The company's new guiding documents, called the Facebook Principles and  Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, will be adopted, wrote Ted Ullyot,  Facebook's general counsel, on the site's blog.
Those documents were put to a vote, but Ullyot said the company had hoped for a bigger turnout. Of 200 million registered  users, about 600,000 people participated, with nearly three quarters of those  favoring the new documents. An outside auditor is reviewing the vote, and it's  expected the documents will be implemented in a few weeks.
Facebook set a goal that a vote would be binding if 30 percent of all users  approved the changes, but that threshhold may be lowered. &quot;We are hoping there  will be greater participation in future votes,&quot; Ullyot wrote.
Facebook landed itself in hot water earlier this year after The Consumerist , a consumer  advocacy site, noticed that a change in its terms of use gave the company  control over data that users had deleted.
Shortly after people vociferously complained, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg  reverted to the old terms of use while the company initiated a campaign to let  users contribute and review changes.
Ullyot wrote that several vocal critics of the changes now endorse the new  documents, including Jonathan Zittrain, co-director of Harvard's Berkman Center  for Internet and Society, The Consumerist as well as Julius Harper and Anne  Kathrine Petteroe, who both founded the largest Facebook group opposing the  changes.
Future changes will also be put to public review on Facebook's Site Governance  Page.
Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service&nbsp; Facebook Moves Ahead With New Terms of Use]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/719/Facebook_Moves_Ahead_With_New_Terms_of_Use_</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/719/Facebook_Moves_Ahead_With_New_Terms_of_Use_</guid>
			<pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:05:19 -0400</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title>Why Twitter Advertising Could Be A Huge Success</title>
			<description><![CDATA[I've been using Tweetie's great Twitter app for the iPhone this week (check out the handy bookmarklet for super-easy link[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[I've been using Tweetie's great Twitter app for the iPhone this week (check out the handy bookmarklet for super-easy linking) after moving up from Twitterrific. While I'm scrolling through my recent tweets, I actually notice: There's no advertisement.
And you know what? For the first time ever, in any medium, I sort of missed it. The arguments for and against hosting ads on Twitter are still raging, and the company still hasn't shown its hand when it comes to a real business plan. But I'm betting Twitter will surprise everyone if it can get its act together connecting users with advertisers for a couple of reasons:
It's honest.&nbsp; If you host an ad, mark it as such (Twitterrific does), and no problem. A (small) number of ads don't clutter up my feed and if free services mean a pitch or two, well, I'll suffer through it just like I do on Facebook and The New York Times. I'm not talking about experience-killing ads like Twitter spam or marketers pretending to be users to infiltrate my feeds. Well-defined, unobtrusive ads are a separate animal, and unlike banner ads, I actually notice them when they're mixed in with my tweets.
I can tell advertisers what I want. I'll warily admit it: Serving up advertising based on my hashtags might actually be welcome. If I'm getting excited about #susanboyle, an iTunes link to her (possible) duet with Elaine Paige would actually be a help. Since I'm the one having the conversation and choosing to join a group tweeting the same, why (again) would a single ad nestled amid my latest tweets and addressing something I'm legitimately interested in be a problem? The entire concept of Twitter is so specific and the discussion is so user-controlled that it should almost be a gift for advertisers. I'm telling them what I want. I have to pick the hash, and find out who else is using it. That weeds out inconsistent searches and should eventually wrap up my interests like a gift for anyone who wants to sell me something. So does using multiple hashes per tweet.
As a relative Twitter newbie I know I'm a bit new to this debate, so thoughts and corrections are welcome. Jason Calacanis, for example, wrote back in December:
Imagine if every 10th, 20th, or 100th tweet was an advertisement. Would that be so horrible? No, not at all. &ldquo;your free Twitter account is brought to you by Apple&rsquo;s iPhone&rdquo; would be perfectly acceptable to users and advertisers on the web. These ads will get solid click through if targeted well&hellip;. also they could be display/visual ads that really &ldquo;pop&rdquo; off the page since Twitter pages are text based (as opposed to say Flickr where the graphical ads would compete with the photos).&quot;
Still, compared to the rest of the business models I've seen for Twitter, advertising seems the most promising    .
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
By Kirk Shinkle USNews&nbsp; Why Twitter Advertising Could Be A Huge Success]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/718/Why_Twitter_Advertising_Could_Be_A_Huge_Success</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/718/Why_Twitter_Advertising_Could_Be_A_Huge_Success</guid>
			<pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:05:16 -0400</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title>Twitter's  Global Visitors Shoot Up To 19 Million</title>
			<description><![CDATA[Twitter&rsquo;s march towards world domination continues apace. This morning  comScore released its global numbers for March, 2009. Worldwide visitors[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[Twitter&rsquo;s march towards world domination continues apace. This morning  comScore released its global numbers for March, 2009. Worldwide visitors to  Twitter.com increased 95 percent in the month of March from 9.8 million to 19.1  million, according to its estimates. This compares to 9.3  million visitors in the U.S. alone.
These numbers only count visitors to Twitter&rsquo;s Website, which is not the same  as active users and also does not include people who interact with Twitter via  desktop or mobile clients (a large portion of users). But the comScore numbers  provide a good proxy for Twitter&rsquo;s overall growth, which was helped recently by  Ashton  Kutcher&rsquo;s race with CNN to one million followers, and Oprah&rsquo;s  subsequent adoption of the service.
If Twitter can keep this rate of growth up, it should cross 50 million  visitors by summer]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/716/Twitter's__Global_Visitors_Shoot_Up_To_19_Million</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/716/Twitter's__Global_Visitors_Shoot_Up_To_19_Million</guid>
			<pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:05:23 -0400</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title>Facebook Releases Results of Governance Vote</title>
			<description><![CDATA[The turnout was far under the 30 percent of users Facebook hoped for, but the social networking site said the week-long vote, in w[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[The turnout was far under the 30 percent of users Facebook hoped for, but the social networking site said the week-long vote, in which users determined which documents should serve as the foundation for governing the site, was a success.

Social networking behemoth Facebook announced terms of service changes as the result of a vote the company held to determine whether users supported the adoption of new governing documents. The vote came after users protested previous changes to service, when Facebook seemed to claim users&rsquo; data as their own. 

Approximately 74.4 percent of users who voted chose the proposed documents &ndash; the new Facebook Principles and Statement of Rights and Responsibilities &ndash; over the existing Terms of Use. Although the company said 600,000 people voted, the figure was far below the 30 percent participation rate Facebook&rsquo;s founders were hoping for. The site currently has more than 200 million registered users.

Ted Ullyot, Facebook's general counsel, wrote in a blog post on Facebook that the company hoped to have a bigger turnout for this inaugural vote, but it is important to keep in mind that this vote was a first not just for users but also for Facebook. &ldquo;We are hopeful that there will be greater participation in future votes,&rdquo; he wrote. &ldquo;In the meantime, we're going to consider lowering the 30-percent threshold that the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities establishes for a user vote to be binding.&rdquo;









In essence, the &ldquo;Rights and Responsibilities&rdquo; document would replace the old terms of service, in which Facebook now makes it clear that the company claims only the right to use your content to make backups or to share it with people or applications users approve of. The furor in February was touched off by the use of the word &ldquo;licensing&rdquo; in the original terms of service agreement. This led to user outrage that Facebook would&mdash;or could-- exploit their photos or creative contributions to the site.

Ullyot goes on to explain the &ldquo;significant efforts&rdquo; Facebook made to make voting easy and to give everyone the opportunity to vote. Specifically he cited translating the documents and voting application into several of the most popular languages on the site, showing a message about the vote on users' home pages, and running advertisements and videos across Facebook promoting the vote.

&ldquo;Assuming the auditors confirm the preliminary vote result in favor of the proposed documents, we'll be adopting the Principles and Statement of Rights and Responsibilities as the governing documents for the Facebook site,&rdquo; he wrote. &ldquo;We're pleased that users supported the proposed documents and validated our efforts to respond to their concerns.&rdquo;]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/715/Facebook_Releases_Results_of_Governance_Vote</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/715/Facebook_Releases_Results_of_Governance_Vote</guid>
			<pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2009 08:50:44 -0400</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title>New Report States Over 80000 Iraqis Killed Since 2005</title>
			<description><![CDATA[Relatives grieve over coffin of Salih al-Jibouri, an assassinated Iraqi police offic[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[Relatives grieve over coffin of Salih al-Jibouri, an assassinated Iraqi police officer, during his funeral in Kirkuk, 24 Apr 2009
        
    

The Associated Press reports that the Iraqi government has counted more than 87,000 Iraqis killed in violence since 2005. 
&nbsp;
The news agency said it received the information from a government official who requested anonymity. The source said the death toll could be 10 - 20 percent higher because of thousands more civilians missing or unaccounted for.

On Thursday, three suicide bombings in Iraq killed at least 78 people - making it one of the most violent days in the country in more than a year.

In the deadliest attack, a bomber detonated explosives in a restaurant in Diyala province. Police say at least 47 people were killed, many of them Iranian Shi'ite pilgrims.

In Baghdad, police say at least 28 people were killed when a suicide bomber detonated explosives where police were distributing aid to displaced families.

Top Sunni militant captured

Also Thursday, authorities in Baghdad announced the capture of a top Sunni insurgent, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi.

A security spokesman, General Qassem Mohammed Atta, said al-Baghdadi was arrested in the capital. The detainee is said to lead the al-Qaida-linked Islamic State of Iraq. 

Iraqi authorities in the past have announced the arrest or killing of major insurgent leaders, only to later say the reports were false.

In Washington, Pentagon Spokesman Bryan Whitman said that if the report is true, it would be very good news. &nbsp;

Much of the recent violence has been blamed on Sunni insurgents.

The Iraqi security spokesman said Thursday's blasts that wounded more than 100 people bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida in Iraq.]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/714/New_Report_States_Over_80000_Iraqis_Killed_Since_2005</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/714/New_Report_States_Over_80000_Iraqis_Killed_Since_2005</guid>
			<pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:41:21 -0400</pubDate>
		</item>

	</channel>
</rss>