The Complete fall 2014 pilot list

Image Credit: Skip Bolen/CBS

In just four weeks, we'll find out if Anthony LaPaglia and David Schwimmer will stage comebacks to prime time, or if Flash will really fly for the CW. Chances are it will, but what about those comic book-inspired dramas in the works at Fox and NBC?

Here's your chance to see all the possibilities, but don't get your hopes up too high: A majority of these pilots won't make the cut for fall.

CBS

DRAMA

NCIS: NEW ORLEANS: The NCIS New Orleans office handles cases from Pensacola through Mississippi and Louisiana to the Texas panhandle. New Orleans with its rich setting of music, fun, and debauchery is a magnet for military personnel on-leave. And with fun comes trouble. It is a natural backdrop for a unique character driven spin-off. Cast: Scott Bakula (Special Agent Dwayne Pride); CCH  Pounder (Dr. Loretta Wade).

BATTLE CREEK: When two detectives with very different world views are teamed up, they must answer the question: is cynicism, guile, and deception enough to clean up the semi-mean streets of Battle Creek, Michigan in the face of a complete lack of resources; or is the exact opposite true – it takes naïveté, trust and a boatload of resources? Cast: Josh Duhamel (Milton Chamberlain); Dean Winters (Det. Russ Agnew); Kal Penn (Det. Fontanelle).

MADAM SECRETARY: About the personal and professional life of a maverick female Secretary of State as she drives international diplomacy, wrangles office politics, and balances a complex family life. Cast: Tea Leoni (Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord); Tim Daly (Henry McCord); Bebe Neuwirth (Nadine Tolliver).

STALKER: Psychological thriller centered around a pair of detectives who handle stalking incidents for the Threat Management Unit of the LAPD. Cast: Maggie Q (Detective Beth Davis); Dylan McDermott (Detective Jack Larsen).

FIELD OF PLAY: When a terrorist event rocks Washington, D.C., a retired CIA operative is pulled back into action, forced to investigate closer to home where the next generation of terrorists are being bred. Cast: Anthony LaPaglia (Coach Holden Weller); Samantha Mathis (Olivia Jordan).

SCORPION: An eccentric genius and his international network of super-geniuses form the last line of defense against the complex threats of the modern age. Cast: Robert Patrick (Agent Cabe Gallo); Eddie Kaye Thomas (Toby); Katharine McPhee (Paige).

UNTITLED CUSACK/McCABE/ELMORE/CAVELL PROJECT: Series set in the world of Wall Street power and money. Charlie Cox (Jackson Holliday); Maggie Grace (Jamie Fields); David Morse (J.D. Conklin); John Cusack (guest star).

UNTITLED DAVID MARSHALL GRANT PROJECT: Soapy medical show centered around quadruplets – three brothers and a sister – who grew up on a reality show. Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis (Evelyn Lang); Ashton Holmes (Jason Lang); Anna Brewster (Dani).

CSI PLANTED SPIN-OFF: Technology, as we know it, has amplified human behavior to the point where faceless criminals are committing crimes at global proportions with a touch of a button.  Avery Ryan, Special Agent in Charge at the Cyber Crime Division of the FBI in Quantico, VA, is tasked to solve high octane crimes that start in the mind, live on-line, and play out into the real world. Cast: Patricia Arquette (Special Agent Avery Ryan)

COMEDY

Image Credit: Getty Images
HOW I MET YOUR DAD: Kindred spirit of How I Met Your Mother, telling the story from a female point of view.  A brand new story with new characters and a new voice at its center. Cast: Greta Gerwig (Sally).

McCARTHY'S: Family comedy about a loud, sports-crazed Boston clan. Single camera. Cast: Laurie Metcalf (Majorie McCarthy); Joey McIntyre (Gerard McCarthy).

UNTITLED JIM GAFFIGAN PROJECT: Jim Gaffigan stars as the happily married and harried NYC father of five as he is in real life. Cast: Ashley Williams (Jeannie Gaffigan); Michael Ian Black (Daniel); Adam Goldberg (Dave).

SAVE THE DATE: Newly single, Katie drunkenly books a wedding venue and is now faced with the task of meeting the right man in time. Cast: Maggie Lawson (Katie); Michelle Trachtenberg (Hillary).

GOOD SESSION: A happy couple decides to see a therapist to help them decide if they should have a baby but quickly discover they have more to discuss. Single-camera. Cast: Mandy Moore (Lindsay); Tracey Ullman (Ellen).

MORE TIME WITH FAMILY:  Tom Papa stars as a husband and father making a career change to spend more time with his family. Cast: Alyson Hannigan (Cindy); Joe Pantoliano.

THE MISTAKE: A couple who just "finished" raising their kids discover they are pregnant.

CUZ-BROS: A successful, suave ladies man's perfect life gets turned upside down when his mess of a cousin needs a place to stay. Cast: Geoff Stults (Nick); Debra Jo Rupp (Merle); Andrea Anders (Stacey).

THE ODD COUPLE: A half-hour multi-camera comedy pilot based on Neil Simon's The Odd Couple. Cast: Matthew Perry (Oscar Madison); Thomas Lennon (Felix); Wendell Pierce (Teddy).
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Celebrate Game Boy’s 25th birthday by playing these 5 Virtual Console titles

Nintendo's original handheld, the Game Boy, turns 25 today. The 8-bit brick launched on April 21, 1989  in Japan, with a U.S. release following on July 31. It wasn't a very powerful device by today's standards — even the very first iPhone ran circles around the original Game Boy — but Nintendo's cartridge-based evolution of its handheld Game & Watch series helped to popularize gaming on the go. It's an extra impressive feat when you remember that the Game Boy's top competitor's – Sega's Game Gear and Atari's Lynx – were technologically superior machines.

Now, two and a half decades later, Nintendo is in a similar spot. The company's wildly popular 3DS handheld – despite its glasses-free 3D gimmick – lacks the power of Sony's PlayStation Vita, and yet it's the dominant gaming-dedicated handheld on the market in terms of sales. And thanks to Nintendo's Virtual Console, you can celebrate the Game Boy's birthday with some actual Game Boy games. Here are our favorites out of what's available.

Super Mario Land

One of the first games released on the Game Boy, Super Mario Land marks the mustachioed plumber's portable debut. The game didn't attempt to reinvent anything, but that's not what it needed to do. The idea of playing something like Super Mario Bros. on the go was all the innovation gamers really needed. Even still, the devs at Nintendo tried out some new ideas with Mario piloting a bi-plane in a couple of levels, a bonus level offering power-ups and free lives, and a Hard Mode that opened up after players completed the game.

Super Mario Land is available in the 3DS eShop for $4.

Tetris

Another "if it ain't broke" sort of situation for Nintendo, the portable version of the Alexey Pajitnov's already-popular falling blocks puzzle game Tetris was actually bundled with the North American Game Boy release, and took the series to new heights with 30+ million units sold. The rules remain the same as they've always been in the portable debut, with players attempting to create unbroken horizontal rows of "tetrominos" for points, with progress being marked by faster-falling blocks. The Game Boy release included a two-player mode in which a pair of Game Boys could connect using Nintendo's proprietary Game Link Cable. 

Tetris is available in the 3DS eShop for $4.

Donkey Kong (1994)

Where Super Mario Land and Tetris stuck to what was safe, the Game Boy release of Donkey Kong took chances. The arcade game in its original form is preserved, with players plugging through the four levels featured in the coin-op release, up to and including the final victory thing. Then things get cute. Donkey bursts in and makes off with Pauline again, leading into 97 more stages that tweak the gameplay, with Mario having to find keys, open doors, and survive Donkey's onslaught in so-called Battle Levels. Donkey Kong's Game Boy release remains a strong game now, 20 years after its 1994 launch. Definitely check it out.

Donkey Kong is available in the 3DS eShop for $4.

Metroid II: Return of Samus

Let's all agree up front that no Metroid can ever top the SNES Super Metroid. Now that we've got the important stuff out of the way, Metroid II – much like Super Mario Land did for Nintendo's beloved platformer – existed to give Samus an on-the-go-friendly adventure. It wasn't just more of the same though. Nintendo's designers had to rethink certain aspects of the game. The difference between Samus' Power and Varia suits had to be fleshed out further, since the original NES game's color-coding didn't work on the black & white Game Boy. Return of Samus also introduced the Spider Ball, allowing Samus' Morph Ball to spin around on walls and ceilings. That was super fun.

Metroid II: Return of Samus is available in the 3DS eShop for $4.

Kirby's Dream Land 2

Kirby's Dream Land 2 is one of the latter-day Game Boy games, but the handheld's age didn't stop the game from becoming one of Nintendo's great hits. At heart, it's a traditional Nintendo platformer, with the mushy, globular hero walking, swimming, flying, inhaling, inflating and leaping through an assortment of bizarre worlds. Dream Land 2 didn't reinvent any of those ideas, but it gave Kirby three friends from the animal kingdom to play with: Rick the Hamster, Coo the Owl, and Kine the Ocean Sunfish. Each mount bestowed certain advantages whenever Kirby hooked up with them. Don't let the cute scare you away, this one's a bona fide classic.

Kirby's Dream Land 2 is available in the 3DS eShop for $4.
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Gang trial defendant fatally shot in Utah court by U.S. marshal

SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) - An accused street gang member standing trial in federal court in Salt Lake City was shot to death by a deputy U.S. marshal on Monday as the defendant attacked a witness who was testifying against him, federal law-enforcement officials said.

Siale Angilau, 25, lunged at the witness wielding what appeared to be a pen or pencil in his hand, prompting a federal officer in the courtroom to open fire to halt the attack, according to Melodie Rydalch, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office.

It is routine practice for federal trial defendants to be unrestrained when appearing before a jury, Rydalch said, and Angilau was not handcuffed.

The FBI said Angilau, who was struck in the chest by the marshal's gunfire, was still breathing when he was removed from the courtroom by stretcher, but later died of his wounds at a local hospital.

By then, U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell, who was presiding over the case, had declared a mistrial, citing the prejudicial effect the episode would have had on jurors who she said were left visibly "shaken and upset."

No one else was injured in the incident, which occurred during the opening day of testimony in the defendant's racketeering trial, Rydalch said.

The identity of the witness attacked by the defendant was not immediately available, but the judge described the individual as a "cooperating witness."

FBI assistant special agent-in-charge for the agency's Utah office, Mark Dressen, praised the response of federal marshals to the attack.

"The marshals did an exceptional job," Dressen said outside the courthouse. "They stopped the threat to the witness. The courtroom was fully secured at that time, and there's not additional threats to the community."

Angilau was the last of several alleged members and associates of the Tongan Crip Gang to stand trial on federal racketeering and other charges. About a half dozen co-defendants were convicted in 2011 and one was acquitted, Rydalch said.

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BMW’s Vision Future concept is a prophecy written in carbon fiber and aluminum

What is the future of luxury? No, it's not flying cars.

Unveiled at the 2014 Beijing Motor Show, the BMW Vision Future Luxury concept describes a vision of the future that should be familiar to car buyers by now, one that uses technology to both improve efficiency and turn cars into large smartphones.

The body is rendered in carbon fiber and aluminum, and features a sleek design that not only looks striking but – according to BMW – reduces drag for better fuel efficiency. It also features the laser headlights set to debut on the 2015 i8 sports car.

The itself styling seems to be borrowed from the Pininfarina-designed Gran Lusso Coupe, and could indicate a new, more evocative direction BMW plans to take with future models.

For the interior, BMW used a process called "subtractive modeling". This involved designing the interior in layers with different materials, including structural aluminum, surface carbon fiber, and wood and leather trim. This allowed designers to "mill down" the layers depending on what was needed in a given area, helping to save weight and conserve material.

The driver interface was designed around the infotainment display, including a new version of the BMW ConnectedDrive concierge and a head-up display that projects information into the driver's line of sight for an augmented-reality feel. Welcome to the Borg-mobile.

Meanwhile, the two rear passengers get a detachable "Rear Seat Touch Command Tablet" that can control all secondary functions, display any information that's available to front-seat occupants, and stream digital media.

The Vision Future Luxury is likely to remain a concept car, but its styling and at least some of its technology will likely be incorporated into the next BMW 7 Series. We're hoping, though, this becomes a 9 Series. But we won't hold our breath
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Okla. Supreme Court stays executions of 2 inmates in drug secrecy challenge

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma Supreme Court has stayed the execution of two death row inmates who have challenged the state's secrecy protocol surrounding the source of lethal injection drugs.

In a 5-4 decision, the high court issued the stay Monday, just one day before death row inmate Clayton Lockett was scheduled to be executed for the 1999 shooting death of 19-year-old Stephanie Nieman.

The second inmate, Charles Warner, was convicted in the 1997 death of his roommate's 11-month-old daughter. He was scheduled to die on April 29.

Oklahoma County District Judge Patricia Parrish last month struck down the state's execution law in a ruling that said the protocol that prevented the inmates from seeking information about the drugs used in lethal injections violated their rights under the state constitution.
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Lawyer appointed for Utah mother accused of killing six newborns

SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) - A Utah mother accused of killing six of her newborn babies over the course of a decade made her first appearance in court on Monday and was appointed a public defender after telling the judge she has not earned an income in two years.

Megan Huntsman, 39, was ordered to return to court in a week for a resumption of proceedings against her, giving police more time to assemble evidence authorities said they need to bring formal charges, Utah County Attorney Jeff Bunham said.

"The judge's expectation is that we'll have charges by then," Bunham told Reuters after the brief hearing in Provo, Utah, south of Salt Lake City. "She did not order that, but she certainly indicated that's what she's expecting."

Bunham said he intended to charge Huntsman by next Monday.

Huntsman was arrested April 13 on suspicion of murdering six newborns whose bodies were found rolled up in shirts, towels and plastic bags and stashed inside cardboard boxes in the garage of her former home in Pleasant Grove, just north of Provo.

Pleasant Grove police said Huntsman admitted under questioning that she strangled or suffocated the six babies just after they were born in a rare case of serial infanticide that ran from 1996 to 2006.

The body of a seventh infant born during that period and disposed of the same way was also found in the garage, but police believe that child was stillborn.

Police said Huntsman secretly gave birth to all seven babies at the house without medical assistance after apparently managing to keep her pregnancies concealed from the outside world.

Police say she explained her rationale for the killings to investigators but they have not revealed the alleged motive publicly.

Adding to the puzzle is the fact that Huntsman has three surviving daughters, ages 14, 18 and 20, who live at the house. At least one of them, the youngest, was presumably born during the period in which the mother is suspected of slaying the babies.

The sisters share the house with the sister and brother-in-law of their father, Huntsman's estranged spouse, who discovered one of the bodies while cleaning out the garage and called authorities, police have said.

Bunham said medical examiners have conducted autopsies on the remains of the infants but it will take time for toxicology studies and other tests to be completed, including DNA analysis to confirm their parentage.

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Netflix U.S. streaming business grows, plans price hike

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Video streaming service Netflix Inc reported higher profit that beat Wall Street expectations and said it intends to raise the monthly subscription price for new customers, sending its stock up 6.5 percent in after-hours trading.

Net income for the quarter that ended in March reached $53 million, Netflix said on Monday, an increase from $3 million a year earlier. Earnings-per-share came in at 86 cents, topping the average forecast of 83 cents, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Netflix said it added 2.25 million customers to its U.S. streaming business during the quarter, in line with the company's earlier guidance.

The company, in a quarterly letter to shareholders, said it plans to impose "a one or two dollar increase, depending on the country, later this quarter for new members only." It did not name the countries. Existing customers would keep their current price "for a generous time period," it said.

Shares of the company jumped 6.5 percent to $371.26 in after-hours trading, up from their earlier close of $348.49 on Nasdaq.

At the end of March, Netflix reported 35.7 million U.S. streaming subscribers. In international markets, its customer base reached 12.7 million, a gain of 1.8 million during the quarter.

"It was an impressive quarter," FBN Securities analyst Shebly Seyrafi said. "They came through on the bottom line and the net subscriber ads were solid."

The company has "room to raise prices" because "they're still seeing a lot of demand" for the service, Seyrafi said.

Netflix suffered from a consumer backlash and stock plunge after it announced an unpopular price increase in July 2011. nL2N0ND154
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'Housewives' star says she may not return to show

ATLANTA (AP) — Kenya Moore says she's seriously considering leaving "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" after her televised brawl with co-star Porsha Williams.

"We all agree that we don't condone violence," Moore said in an interview on Monday. "We've become angry with each other, we've threatened each other and gone to the edge. But at the end of the day, we know there's a line. If there are no consequences, then where does it end?"

Williams surrendered last week to authorities and was charged with a misdemeanor charge of battery for the fight, which was televised as part of the Bravo show's reunion special on Sunday.

Williams and Moore have had friction during the entire season, so it wasn't surprising that the two began to argue and trade ugly accusations during the reunion special. But then things got physical. Both women stood up and Williams grabbed Moore's hair, pulling her down and dragging her across the floor. On the show, Williams said she "blacked out" but was regretful about the fight.

"I think Porsha was in a position to provoke me," Moore said on Monday.

Moore said Williams should have been better prepared for the reunion show, which typically brings up past feuds and confrontations between cast members from previous episodes. The show also stars NeNe Leakes, Kandi Burruss, Phaedra Parks and Cynthia Bailey.

"If anyone is capable of blacking out and not taking responsibility for their actions, they should not be in this type of environment," she said. "They do not need a stage such as this."

Moore, an actress and former Miss USA, said the decision is up to the producers on whether Williams returns to the show. Bravo has not commented on the incident and has not addressed who will be back for the next season.

Williams' attorney, Joe Habachy, said in an emailed statement last week that the battery claim against his client is unfounded and that Williams looks forward to clearing her name. Habachy said Williams plans to contest the charge and file aggravated assault charges against Moore.

A rep for Williams did not return a request for comment on Monday.

Moore said she still hasn't spoken with Williams since the incident.

"She is a granddaughter of a civil rights leader," Moore said of Williams, whose grandfather was the late Hosea Williams. "She does not have the tools to navigate this process. It's just very unfortunate and sad. If I was in her position, the first thing I would do is apologize."

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In weird Brazilian cave insects, male-female sex organs reversed

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - This may be the role reversal to end all role reversals.

Scientists on Thursday described four insect species that dwell in extremely dry caves in Brazil, feed on bat guano and possess what the researchers called an "evolutionary novelty." .

The females have an elaborate, penis-like organ while the males have a vagina-like opening into which females insert their organ during mating sessions that last 40 to 70 hours, the scientists reported in the journal Current Biology.

The researchers said these attributes make the four species of the insect genus Neotrogla unique in the world.

"Evolution of novelties like a female penis is exceptionally rare. That's why I was really surprised to see the structure," entomologist Kazunori Yoshizawa of Japan's Hokkaido University said by email.

Yoshizawa said that although sex-role reversal has been documented in several different types of animals, these insects are the sole example in which the "intromittent organ" - the male sex organ - is reversed, Yoshizawa said.

The Neotrogla insects are small - one tenth to one and a half tenths of an inch long (2.7 mm-3.7 mm) - and superficially look like flies, with nothing particularly unusual about their appearance aside from their genital structures.

The scientists call the female penis-like structure a gynosome. During mating, a female inserts it into a male and receives sperm. Once inserted, part of the gynosome inflates and spines internally anchor the male and female insects together.

Yoshizawa said the females of Neotrogla can hold male mates coercively using their gynosome.

"Because the female anchoring force is very strong, a male's strong resistance may cause damage to his genitalia. Therefore, it is very likely that entire mating processes are controlled actively by females, whereas males are rather passive," Yoshizawa said.

A Brazilian researcher who was studying cave ecosystems first came across the insects, then enlisted an insect expert to examine the previously unknown bugs. It was at that point that the unique attributes of the female Neotrogla were discovered, leading to the current study.

Yoshizawa cited other unusual examples of sex organs among animals, including female seahorses that use an organ to deposit eggs within a male's brood pouch and a kind of mite whose females have a long genital tube.

By the definition of female - an organism that produces egg cells that are larger than the sperm cells produced by males - "even with the penis-like intromittent organ, females of Neotrogla are still female," Yoshizawa said.

But Yoshizawa added: "Females of Neotrogla likely represent the most 'macho' females among animals discovered to date."
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How did teen stowaway survive 5-1/2 hour flight to Hawaii in wheel well?

Christian Science Monitor 11 hrs ago
Mark Sappenfield

A 16-year-old runaway hopped the security fence at San Jose airport in northern California, climbed into the wheel well of a Hawaiian Airlines flight, and was found more than six hours later wandering around the tarmac at Maui's Kahului airport, the FBI said Sunday.

The extraordinary journey is confounding aviation experts, who say they've never heard of such a thing before. But the FBI says it has video of the teen climbing the fence in San Jose. "His story checked out," Tom Simon, an FBI spokesman, told Reuters.

The boy apparently ran away from home after a fight with his parents, according to the FBI. He has not been charged with a crime and is now in the custody of child protective services in Hawaii. 

RECOMMENDED: How safe is flying? Take the aviation safety quiz

Airplane stowaways have been known to survive before. A teen in Nigeria survived in a wheel well during a domestic flight in 2013. But that journey was only 35 minutes and stayed at comparatively low altitudes. 

The Hawaiian Airlines flight reached 38,000 feet and was 5-1/2 hours long. At such altitudes, oxygen levels are low and temperatures can reach minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Authorities say the boy was passed out for most of the flight and awoke an hour after landing. But they said he was unharmed.

ABC News cites a Federal Aviation Administration report that estimates that the chances of surviving as a wheel-well stowaway on a commercial aircraft are about 24 percent. Radiant heat from the plane's hydraulics as well as the wheels themselves can help warm the compartment, the FAA notes. And the plane's gradual ascent and descent allow the body to adjust to the extremes of cold, lack of oxygen, and low pressure.

But some experts expressed shock. Analyst Peter Forman told KHON-TV:

The odds of a person surviving that long of a flight at that altitude are very remote, actually. I mean, you are talking about altitudes that are well above the altitude of Mount Everest. And temperatures that can reach 40 degrees below zero. … A lot of people would only have useful consciousness for a minute or two at that altitude. For somebody to survive multiple hours with that lack of oxygen and that cold is just miraculous. I've never heard of anything like that before.

Other known stowaways have died, including a 16-year-old on a flight from Charlotte, N.C., to Boston in 2010, and a man found on a London street in 2012, who is believed to have fallen out of his plane's wheel well as the Angola-to-London flight descended for landing. It was unclear whether he was alive when he fell.

In San Jose, the local congressman, Rep. Eric Salswell, has raised questions about security:

I have long been concerned about security at our airport perimeters. #Stowaway teen demonstrates vulnerabilities that need to be addressed.— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) April 21, 2014
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U.S. judge dismisses case against Twitter alleging pre-IPO fraud

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Twitter Inc has won the dismissal of an unusual lawsuit accusing the social media company of fraudulently arranging a private stock sale it never intended to complete, with a goal of stoking interest in its November 2013 initial public offering.

U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin in Manhattan said Precedo Capital Group Inc and Continental Advisors SA failed to show that Twitter was responsible for the cancellation of a secondary market offering they had been arranging with another firm, GSV Asset Management Inc.

Filed one week before Twitter went public, the $124 million lawsuit accused the company of using GSV as its agent to arrange the aborted offering as a means to raise more money in its eagerly awaited IPO and justify a $10 billion market valuation.

Noting the plaintiffs dealt directly with GSV and never with Twitter, however, Scheindlin said the complaint "does not plausibly allege that Twitter granted GSV Asset express authority to act as its agent for any purpose.

"Moreover," she added, "the complaint does not allege that Twitter secretly limited that authority contrary to the standard practice in the securities industry."

Scheindlin dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be brought again.

Joseph Baratta, a partner at Baratta, Baratta & Aidala representing the plaintiffs, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Twitter did not immediately respond to similar requests. The San Francisco-based company has said the lawsuit lacked merit.

The lawsuit claimed Twitter had been seeking to avoid repeating problems that afflicted Facebook Inc's 2012 IPO, and sidestep the potential for an excess supply of its shares by controlling transactions in the private market.

Precedo, a broker dealer licensed in Arizona, and Continental, a Luxembourg financial adviser, claimed GSV offered to provide up to $278 million of Twitter shares that they could market to other investors.

But they said that, after the marketing process began, Twitter caused GSV to cancel the offering on October 5, 2013, upon learning that investors were willing to pay $19 per share, above the $17 or less offered in other private transactions.

The firms said Twitter cost them fees and reputational damage and sought $24.2 million of compensatory damages plus $100 million of punitive damages. GSV was not a defendant.

Twitter priced its IPO at $26 per share on November 6, 2013, then valuing the company at $14.1 billion.

Twitter shares were up $1.10, or 2.4 percent, at $46.11 in Monday afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

The case is Precedo Capital Group Inc v. Twitter Inc, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 13-07678.

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Ukraine peace deal falters as rebels show no sign of surrender

KIEV/SLAVIANSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - An international agreement to avert wider conflict in Ukraine was faltering on Monday, with pro-Moscow separatist gunmen showing no sign of surrendering government buildings they have seized.

U.S. and European officials say they will hold Moscow responsible and impose new economic sanctions if the separatists do not clear out of government buildings they have occupied across swathes of eastern Ukraine over the past two weeks.

Washington, which signed last week's accord along with Moscow, Kiev and the European Union, held open the possibility of slapping sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin personally, but suggested no such step would be taken soon.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Monday to help implement the Geneva deal, including by "publicly calling on separatists to vacate illegal buildings and checkpoints", spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

The United States and EU have imposed visa bans and asset freezes on some Russians over Moscow's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine last month. These limited measures, designed not to have wider economic impact and to avoid deepening the crisis, have been mocked as pointless by Moscow.

Psaki said tougher measures may be in store. Asked by Russian radio station Ekho Moskvy in an interview on Twitter whether Washington was considering the possibility of targeting Putin personally, she replied: "Yes. Impt (important) to lay out consequences. U.S. able to sanction people, companies, and sectors."

Psaki said the U.S. goal was easing the crisis rather than imposing more sanctions, but added: "Range of officials under consideration. Plenty to sanction before we would discuss President #Putin."

Washington and Brussels both say they are working on tougher measures they will impose unless Russia's allies in eastern Ukraine back down, although building a consensus is tricky in Europe where many countries rely on Russian energy exports.

In its account of their telephone conversation, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Lavrov had called on Kerry to "influence Kiev, not let hotheads there provoke a bloody conflict" and to encourage it "to fulfill its obligations unflaggingly".

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Kiev, where he is expected to announce a package of technical assistance. The visit is likely to be more important as a symbol of support than for any specific promises Biden makes in public.

MUTUAL ACCUSATIONS

The Geneva accord aimed to lower tension in the worst confrontation between Russia and the West since the Cold War. Its calls for occupied buildings to be vacated under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

But no sooner had the accord been signed than both sides accused the other of breaking it, while the pro-Moscow rebels disavowed the pledge to withdraw from occupied buildings.

An OSCE mediator, Mark Etherington, held his first meeting with the leader of separatists in Slaviansk, a town which rebels have turned into a heavily-fortified redoubt.

He said he had asked the pro-Russian self-proclaimed "people's mayor" of the town, Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, whether he would comply with the Geneva agreement, but gave no hint about the response.

Ponomaryov later told a news conference: "We did not negotiate, we talked. We told them our position, what happened here, and they told us about their plans."

In other signs the Geneva accord was far from being implemented, activists in Slaviansk brought up trucks laden with sand and were filling sandbags to reinforce their barricades.

In nearby Kramatorsk, local media showed masked gunmen taking over the office of the SBU security service and leading away a civilian identified as the local police chief.

Separatists said they would not disarm until Right Sector, a Ukrainian nationalist group in western Ukraine, did so first.

"Who should surrender weapons first? Let us see Right Sector disarm first, let them make the first step and we will follow," Yevgeny Gordik, a member of a separatist militia, told Reuters. "We need dialogue. This is not dialogue. It is monologue."

Russia says Right Sector members have threatened Russian speakers. Kiev and Western countries say the threat is largely invented by Russian state-run media to justify Moscow's intervention and cause alarm in Russian speaking areas.

Moscow blames Right Sector for a shooting on Easter Sunday morning, when at least three people were killed at a checkpoint manned by armed separatists. Right Sector denies involvement, while Kiev said Russia provoked the violence.

One European diplomat said the Geneva deal was a way for Putin to buy time and undermine momentum towards tougher sanctions: "Talks and compromises are just part of his tactics," said the diplomat. "He wants to have Ukraine."

PROTECTING RUSSIAN SPEAKERS

Putin announced last month that Moscow has the right to intervene in its neighbors to protect Russian speakers. He then annexed the Crimean peninsula.

Moscow has since massed tens of thousands of troops on the Ukrainian border, and Kiev and its Western allies say Russian agents are directing the uprising in the east, including the "green men" - heavily armed, masked gunmen in unmarked uniforms.

In his latest move, likely to be seen by the West as a further threat to the post-Cold War order, Putin signed a law on Monday making it easier for Russian speakers across the former Soviet Union to obtain Russian citizenship.

Eastern Ukraine is largely Russian-speaking and many residents are suspicious of the pro-European government that took power in Kiev in February, when Moscow-backed President Viktor Yanukovich fled the country after mass protests.

Separatists have declared an independent "People's Republic of Donetsk" in the east's biggest province and have named themselves to official posts in towns and cities, setting up checkpoints and flying Russian flags over government buildings.

There is also some support for Ukrainian unity in the region, but pro-Kiev activists have had a lower profile since the separatists took up arms.

One activist who helped organize a unity rally in Rubizhne, a town in the eastern Luhansk region, told Ukraine's Channel 5 television that separatists attacked it, forcing the rally to disperse. Local police said a policeman was hurt when unidentified people tried to disrupt the rally.

In the regional capital Luhansk, Interfax-Ukraine news agency said a meeting of about 3,000 people in the local SBU headquarters had elected a "people's governor" and voted to hold a two-stage referendum next month on union with Russia.

Ukraine announced an operation to retake rebel-held territory earlier this month, but that modest effort largely collapsed in disarray.

Kiev has declared an "Easter truce", though it is far from clear it could muster any real force if it tried. The army is ill-equipped, untested and untrained for domestic operations, while the government in Kiev doubts the loyalty of the police.

The OSCE, a European security body that includes both NATO members and Russia, has so far deployed around 100 monitors and mediators in Ukraine and expects their number to rise.

An OSCE spokesman said the mediators were visiting separatist-occupied buildings with copies of last week's Geneva accord to explain it to the people inside.

"It's a mixed experience dealing with checkpoints and so forth and there is a varying reaction to teams. There is a hardened attitude in Donetsk or Slaviansk but some other areas are more accommodating," spokesman Michael Bociurkiw said. "When teams go to smaller centers people are more willing to talk."
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Law school graduate in Macon, Georgia, admits killing classmate

ATLANTA (Reuters) - A 28-year-old law school graduate in Georgia pleaded guilty on Monday to killing and dismembering a fellow graduate and disposing of her remains in a trash dumpster outside an apartment building where they both lived.

Prosecutors said Stephen Mark McDaniel faces life in prison for killing 27-year-old Lauren Giddings in Macon in central Georgia in June 2011, the same year that both graduated from the Mercer University School of Law in the city.

In a statement in Macon-Bibb County court on Monday, a week before his trial was to begin, McDaniel said he entered Giddings' apartment in the early morning hours wearing a mask.

He choked her to death after she woke up and returned later and dismembered Giddings' body with a hacksaw, McDaniel said.

"It is difficult for me to explain why I killed Lauren," McDaniel said in his statement. "It lies in my own inability to understand it myself."

McDaniel was initially charged with breaking into two apartments in the building using a master key he somehow obtained, according to police. McDaniel and Giddings lived in neighboring apartments across the street from the law school.

At the request of Giddings' family, prosecutors did not seek the death penalty, Macon-Bibb County District Attorney David Cooke, Jr. said. Giddings had hoped to work as a defender in death penalty cases, Cooke said.

As a law student, McDaniel worked briefly for the county prosecutor's office, according to Cooke. McDaniel will not be considered for parole until 2041, Cooke said.

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Why Vice President Biden is visiting embattled Ukraine now

Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Kiev Monday for a two-day show of support for Ukraine's pro-Western government as the Obama administration weighs whether to impose additional, broader sanctions on Russia over its actions in support of pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Prospects for Ukraine's stability – as well as for US-Russia relations – appear to be dimming. The Ukraine crisis shows no signs of easing, despite an international de-escalation accord reached last week, and many analysts consider some kind of armed confrontation, if not a full-blown civil war, to be increasingly likely.

Mr. Biden, who is playing an increasingly active role in the Obama administration's foreign policy, was set to meet with senior Ukrainian officials and pro-government activists, while trying to find ways to reduce tensions with Russia. But at the same time, aides traveling with the vice president suggest that sanctions on sectors of Russia's economy, including the all-important energy sector, could come as early as this week.

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Biden's trip aims to show US support for "Ukraine's democracy, unity, and territorial integrity," an administration official traveling with the vice president told reporters. At the same time, Biden will be signaling that "there will be mounting costs for Russia if they choose a destabilizing rather than constructive course in the days ahead," the official said.

Last week President Obama said Russia faces tougher sanctions and increased international isolation if it does not act quickly to halt its support for pro-Russia "provocateurs" in eastern Ukraine and pull its troops back from the Russia-Ukraine border.

But Russia shows no signs of doing either – instead suggesting that it is the government in Kiev that is illegitimate and at the root of Ukraine's troubles.

"Not a single step has been taken by those who have seized power in Kiev to eliminate the reasons for this deep crisis inside Ukraine," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a Moscow news conference Monday.

Mr. Lavrov, who was on hand in Geneva last week as Russia, the US, the European Union, and Ukraine reached an accord designed to defuse the Ukrainian crisis, also appeared to have a message for Mr. Obama and the members of Congress who are pushing him to punish Russia with a new round of far-reaching sanctions: It won't work.

"Before giving us ultimatums, demanding that we fulfill demands within two or three days with the threat of sanctions, we would urgently call on our American partners to fully accept responsibility for those who they brought to power" in Kiev, Lavrov said.

"Attempts to isolate Russia have absolutely no future, because isolating Russia from the rest of the world is impossible," Lavrov added, describing Russia as "a big, independent power that knows what it wants."

Russia does not recognize the government in Kiev that replaced pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovich, who fled the country in February in the wake of pro-Western protests that had turned violent.

Russia sought to turn the tables on those laying the blame for Ukraine's turmoil on Russia, with Lavrov blasting Ukrainian authorities for "not lifting one finger" to restrain violence in southeastern Ukraine or to reduce tensions with pro-independence protesters in largely Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine.

At least three people were killed in a shooting at a checkpoint in eastern Ukraine Sunday. The government blamed protesters who have seized government buildings in a dozen eastern cities for the violence, while the pro-Russian groups instigating the seizures said Ukraine's far-right political forces were behind the attack.

Russia has for weeks blamed Ukraine's crisis on what it says are far-right and "fascist" forces in the country, and it continues to maintain a right to move into eastern Ukraine if necessary to protect the pro-Russia population it says is under attack.

Lavrov's comments suggest to some regional analysts that a push by Russian forces into eastern Ukraine may be imminent – although others point out that Russia has been threatening action for weeks and may prefer to keep Ukraine and in particular its pro-Western leaders on edge and fearful of a military incursion.

A growing chorus of voices in Washington is calling on Obama not to wait for Russian military action but to impose the threatened additional sanctions – potentially on energy, mining, and financial interests – in response to activity many say is aimed at destabilizing Ukraine and derailing its march toward closer association with the European Union.

On Sunday, two US senators – a Republican and a Democratic member of the Foreign Relations Committee – called on Obama to move beyond the steps the administration has already taken against some Russian individuals and one bank after Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea province.

Sens. Bob Corker (R) of Tennessee and Chris Murphy (D) of Connecticut said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that the US should impose sanctions on Russia's energy and banking sectors.

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Drone strikes alone won't stamp out al Qaeda in Yemen: analysts

Mohamed Ghobari and Yara Bayoumy

By Mohamed Ghobari and Yara Bayoumy

SANAA/DUBAI (Reuters) - An intense two days of air strikes on al Qaeda in Yemen may have killed or wounded some of its commanders, but drones alone are unlikely to eradicate the threat the group poses to Yemenis and the West.

A weak central government, a rivalry-ridden and poorly equipped security force, endemic poverty and corruption have made Yemen the ideal haven of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), whom U.S. President Barack Obama has described as the group "most active in plotting against our homeland."

Desperate to prevent AQAP from planning more attacks like its attempt to blow up a U.S. airliner in December 2009, Washington has used drones to kill group members and leaders.

A U.S. national security source said on Monday that the U.S. government believed that AQAP is currently plotting attacks against American targets, including the U.S. embassy on Sanaa.

But analysts say drone strikes do only limited harm to AQAP.

They say the group will remain a serious menace unless the government can address challenges such as poverty and inadequate security forces, and curb the occasional civilian casualties inflicted by drone attacks that inflame anti-U.S. sentiment.

"The U.S. can't simply kill its way out of the terrorism threat," said Letta Tayler, Human Rights Watch's senior researcher on terrorism and counter-terrorism.

"The U.S. and other concerned nations should address all the drivers of terrorism including poverty, illiteracy, political marginalization and lack of opportunity for young people."

DRONES WON'T END WAR

The drones' main success has been to severely limit AQAP's movements and ability to hold territory as it did back in 2011.

"When they move from A to B, they have to think 100 times. They've lost their freedom," said Mustafa Alani, a security analyst with close ties to the Saudi Interior Ministry.

"It (drones) is very effective, but this is not going to deal with the problem. These people are replaceable. You can kill 10 of them and there's 10 more in the pipeline. (So) it's a success that won't end the war against AQAP," he said.

On Saturday and Sunday, several air strikes - presumed to be

carried out chiefly by U.S. drones - were launched on central and southern provinces of Yemen.

Yemen's interior ministry said 55 militants were killed on Sunday alone, which would make it the biggest strike against al Qaeda militants since at least 2012.

It said three of those killed were leading members of al Qaeda. Yemen said 10 al Qaeda militants were killed in Saturday's attack.

A senior security source said investigations were being carried out into the identities of those killed, but confirmed that "leaders in the organization" had died.

Rumors have been swirling that those killed include AQAP leader Nasir al-Wuhayshi and Saudi bombmaker Ibrahim al-Asiri, especially after several eyewitness reports emerged that at least one helicopter had landed after a late Sunday night strike in the restive southern Shabwa province.

Tribal sources told Reuters on Sunday that five suspected militants were killed in that attack.

"Minutes after the car (with militants) was hit, we saw helicopters hovering overhead and military cars spreading. Soldiers were seen disembarking from one of the helicopters," said Obeid Awad.

"After they left, we found the struck car but we could not find any body parts," he told Reuters.

Local and tribal sources over the weekend said unmanned drones had been circling for days prior to the attacks. Yemen is among a handful of countries where Washington acknowledges using drones, though it does not comment publicly on the practice.

Faris al-Saqqaf, an advisor to the Yemeni president, told Reuters that Yemeni fighter MiG-29s joined in the operation in Shabwa.

CIVILIAN CASUALTIES, RECRUITMENT OPPORTUNITIES

"Drone strikes are never the solution. It is a tactical band-aid but it can be quite an important one if you don't want to see planes dropping from the sky in the West," said Magnus Ranstorp, a terrorism expert at the Swedish National Defence College.

Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi praised the anti-terrorism unit in Yemen's special forces for their strike in Shabwa, which he said targeted "dangerous leading elements of al Qaeda" and described the operation as one "that represents a strong message to the elements of evil and terrorism."

But the use of drone strikes has inevitably meant that civilian casualties are sometimes inflicted.

The government acknowledged that three civilians were killed in the air strike on Saturday in the central al-Bayda province. That same province was the site of a controversial strike in December in which security officials said 15 people on their way to a wedding were killed.

Yemeni political scientist Abdulghani al-Iryani points to the sharp increase in the number of al Qaeda elements from when the drone campaign started in 2003, when they were a few hundred to the several thousand they are believed to be today.

"There are many reasons for the increase of membership of al Qaeda, but we cannot rule out that the use of drones and the popular backlash it produced has increased the recruitment opportunities of al Qaeda," Iryani told Reuters.

"The fact that both the Yemeni and the U.S. governments have relied too heavily on the use of drones as an expedient way to postpone the resolution of the problem rather than having a proper, comprehensive approach to the problem, has contributed to the expansion of al Qaeda in Yemen," he said.

RECIPE FOR DISASTER

Yemen said the attacks were carried out after intelligence that the militants were planning attacks on "vital civil and military and installations."

Underscoring the threat militants still poses against security forces in the country, police sources said on Monday the head of Sanaa's police survived an assassination attempt, while one of his aides was killed by armed men. This came hours after an intelligence officer was killed and an aide to the manager of Sanaa's airport.

The appearance of an online video a month ago in which Wuhayshi appears brazenly with hundreds of other fighters, vowing to attack the United States while celebrating the escape of al Qaeda prisoners from Sanaa's central prison, may have helped provide some clues.

Saqqaf, the president's adviser, described the video as "provocative" and said it showed the location in which al Qaeda elements were present.

But the army's weaknesses in providing security in swathes of the country helps gives AQAP more freedom, making drones "an easy option to attack specific targets in a timely manner", said Charles Lister, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Centre.

"But the lack of on-the-ground military presence means a lack of localized intelligence, which by extension means strikes have inevitably struck civilian targets on occasion. In a deeply tribal and conservative society, such incidents are a recipe for disaster," he said.

"While a drone strike might represent one step forward, more often than not, it also means two steps back."
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Syria calls presidential vote, defying Assad's opponents

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria announced on Monday a presidential election for June 3, preparing the ground for Bashar al-Assad to defy widespread opposition and extend his grip on power, days after he said the civil war was turning in his favor.

Western and Gulf Arab countries that back Assad's opponents have called plans for an election a "parody of democracy" and said it would wreck efforts to negotiate a peace settlement.

U.N.-backed talks in Geneva collapsed in February with both sides far from agreement - not least over the question of whether Assad should go.

Monzer Akbik, of the Western-backed National Coalition opposition group, told Reuters the election was a sign Assad was unwilling to seek a political solution to the conflict.

"This is a state of separation from reality, a state of denial. He didn't have any legitimacy before this theatrical election and he will not after," Akbik said.

"We do not know what actor he is putting up as an opponent but we are not taking this seriously."

Infighting has fragmented the anti-Assad forces, and several major opposition figures did not attend the Geneva talks.

The European Union reiterated its stance against holding an election now. It said such a vote "conducted in the midst of conflict, only in regime-controlled areas and with millions of Syrians displaced from their homes would be a parody of democracy, have no credibility whatsoever, and undermine efforts to reach a political solution."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: "Such elections are incompatible with the letter and spirit of the Geneva communique," referring to a June 2012 agreement on seeking a political transition in Syria.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said: "The Syrian regime under the Assads has never held a credible, free and fair election and has taken legal and administrative steps to ensure that this vote will not be fair.

"Calling for a de facto referendum rings especially hollow now as the regime continues to massacre the very electorate it purports to represent," she added.

The three-year-old rebellion against Assad has killed more than 150,000 people, forced millions to flee their homes and caused the government to lose control over swathes of territory.

PREPARATIONS FOR ASSAD

On Monday, 11 government and loyalist fighters were killed near Talbisah, an Alawite town north of the central city of Homs, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an anti-Assad group based in Britain.

Alawites are followers of an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam. Assad is Alawite and the bulk of his opponents are Sunni Muslims, who form the majority of Syria's population.

On Sunday, dozens of people were killed in air strikes in the northern city of Aleppo, the Observatory said, including 14 people in the Baeedeen neighborhood killed by "barrel bombs" - highly destructive improvised explosives dropped by helicopter, a tactic that Western countries have condemned as a war crime.

Gun battles, shelling and air strikes continue daily and the weekly death toll from the conflict regularly exceeds 1,000. The Observatory put Sunday's death toll at 273.

The U.S. State Department said on Monday it had indications a toxic chemical, probably chlorine, was used in the Syrian town of Kfar Zeita this month.

We are examining allegations that the government was responsible," Psaki told a regular news briefing. "Obviously there needs to be an investigation of what's happened here."

Syrian opposition activists reported that helicopters dropped chlorine gas on Kfar Zeita on April 11 and 12.

In Damascus, which has been spared the worst of the fighting, two people were killed by mortars fired by "terrorists", state news agency SANA said.

Although Assad has not said explicitly he will run for office again, preparations for his candidacy have already begun in state-controlled parts of the capital.

Announcing the election on state television, parliamentary Speaker Mohamed Jihad al-Laham said requests for nomination would be accepted until May 1. Syrians outside the country would be able to vote at Syrian embassies on May 28, he said.

Parliament set residency rules for presidential candidates in March, a move that would bar many of Assad's foes who live in exile.

Assad said last week the conflict had reached a "turning point" because of military gains against the rebels.
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Nokia sees Microsoft deal closing this week

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Nokia said on Monday it expects the sale of its handset business to Microsoft to be finalized on April 25, as it had received all the required regulatory approvals.

The closure of the 5.4 billion euro ($7.5 billion) deal, which was agreed in September, had been delayed due to pending approvals, but earlier this month the companies won a crucial nod from Chinese regulators. ($1 = 0.7228 Euros)

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AT&T looks to expand high-speed fiber network to 21 cities

NEW YORK (Reuters) - AT&T Inc said on Monday it expects to expand its ultra-fast fiber network and TV services to up to 21 U.S. cities, including Chicago and Atlanta.

AT&T, which is fighting rivals such as Google Inc as well as cable companies with its fiber-based product, is considering providing broadband Internet speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second and its U-verse television service in cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami.

Before the company can enter these markets, it must make agreements with local leaders in each city.

The services are currently available in Austin, Texas and some surrounding communities, and will be rolled out in parts of Dallas this summer, the company said.

AT&T also said it may consider expanding its reach to 100 cities eventually.

Earlier this month, AT&T announced it was in discussions with North Carolina Next Generation Network to bring U-verse with high-speed internet to North Carolina.

U-verse launched in 2006 and currently has 10.7 million combined Internet and TV customers.
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Italy awards world’s best pizza maker title to Australian chef

Pizza may have been invented in Italy but the country's annual competition for the world's best slice went to an Australian chef.

The Campionato Mondiale Della Pizza, aka Pizza World Championship, singled out chef Johnny Di Francesco for his margherita pizza. Di Francesco, owner of the 400 Gradi restaurant in Melbourne said he now plans to open a second restaurant location after his victory.

And while his restaurant has seen a spike in business in the days following his victory, Di Francesco says he won't raise the current prices on his signature pizza ($19.30).

However, he also won't be heading back to Italy next year to defend his title.

"I'm not allowed to compete in Australia anymore, and once you win at Parma it's not encouraged to compete again," Di Francesco, 36, told Hospitality Magazine after his win. "They like to have winners on the panel so I think I might pursue that."

His victory wasn't just over Italians. CNN reported that Di Francesco topped more than 600 chefs hailing from 35 countries to take home the championship.

"It's been an amazing reaction," he told CNN. "Honestly, I just went to Naples to do what I love. I didn't think it was going to make such a stir."

Compared to some other pizzas, a margherita may sound like a simplistic recipe to judge as the world's best. But the competition organizers say that's exactly why they have such rigid specifications, to prevent chefs from using elaborate toppings to mask the flavors of other ingredients.

Di Francesco told ABC News that the only toppings competing chefs can use are basil leaves, garlic, olive oil, mozzarella, salt and tomatoes.

"A lot of people think it is easy to produce a margherita but it is one of the hardest (pizzas) to produce," he said in a separate interview with the Australian website Good Food. "With a margherita there is no hiding anything that isn't right."

You can read more about Di Francesco's specific advice for making your own version of the world's greatest margherita pizza here.

Follow Eric Pfeiffer on Twitter (@ericpfeiffer)
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Seven more girls escape from Boko Haram captivity

Seven more girls out of the 100+ girls that were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School Chibok, Borno state on April 14th have escaped the Boko Harem den. According to the Borno State Governor, Kashim Settima who revealed this during his Easter message to the state, the girls escaped between Saturday night and Sunday evening and have reunited with their families. He said out of the 129 that were kidnapped, 52 have reunited with their families while 77 are yet to be found.
 
The Governor described the last one week as the most troubling of his tenure since he assumed office
"I have seen very serious moments since I became the Governor of Borno State in 2011 at a period of insurgent crisis. I have seen many innocent lives lost for no reason and I mourn every life lost with empathy and high sense of responsibility.

But the last one week have been my worst days as a Governor and even the worst in my life. I am troubled as a father, as a leader and as a politician.

So much is being done by rescue teams. There is very high commitment on the part of the Federal, State and Chibok local government authorities in working for the freedom of these innocent daughters of ours that are future leaders and mothers of future leaders" he said.
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Vote for Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde Nominated As TV Personality Of The Year

Nollywood actress, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, has been nominated for the Personality of the Year award at 2014 MTV Africa Music Awards Kwazulu-Natal.

She has been nominated along side Chimamanda Adichie (Nigeria) Trevor Noah (South Africa), Lupita Nyong'o (Kenya) and Yaya Toure (Cote d'Ivoire).

The award ceremony will take place on June 7 at the Durban International Convention Centre, South Africa and winners will be determined by the public's voting.
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What we’ve heard about the Galaxy Note 4

Samsung's greedy when it comes to flagship smartphones. One simply isn't enough. The Galaxy S5 represents the pinnacle of its smartphone endeavors, and the Galaxy Note 3 is its current top-of-the-range smartphone/tablet hybrid. Announced in September 2013, it's already halfway through its life, and it'll inevitably be replaced by the Galaxy Note 4 around the same time this year. It's early days, but rumors, speculation, and gossip are already giving us some clues about the next big thing from Samsung, so let's take a closer look.

It'll almost certainly be called the Galaxy Note 4

Samsung likes numbers, and if the Galaxy S5 has proven anything, it's that the company isn't afraid to keep counting upwards. We doubt it'll start adding meaningless code numbers to the title, or the word "new" to its title, so expect the Note 3 sequel to be known as the Galaxy Note 4.

When will Galaxy Note 4 be announced?

Samsung likes to show off its Note hybrid devices at the IFA tech show in Berlin, which takes place September 4-10 this year. If it's to stick with tradition, we'll see the Note 4 during an Unpacked event around this time. However, there is a chance it'll be revealed a little earlier, if Samsung follows the strategy it employed with the Galaxy S5. 

At the beginning of April, anonymous Samsung sources told the Korea Times the company was considering holding an event during the IFA show this year, and was "in the middle of finalizing the specification" for the Note 4.

What will GN4 look like?

Aside from looking very big, we don't know yet. According to Samsung executive Yoon Han-kil, who spoke to Reuters on a variety of subjects, this year's Galaxy Note will have a new design, but he didn't elaborate any further. However, he did talk about the company's need to break into the premium market. Does this mean we'll finally get a metal Galaxy phone, or will the Note 4 take on the curved screen seen on the Galaxy Round?

How big will the screen be?

A massive screen is the Galaxy Note range's claim to fame. The original Note had a 5.3-inch display, the Note 2 upped this to 5.5-inches, and the Note 3 has a giant 5.7-inch screen. It seems the only way is up for the Note 4, and if it's another 0.2-inch rise, then it will have a 5.9-inch display.

The size of the display may not be the headline feature though. At the beginning of January, a Samsung patent was uncovered showing what could be the Note 4, complete with a curved-edge display, making it look like the screen doesn't have a bezel. The design is different to existing Note phones, due to there being no hardware Home button on the front panel. There is a slot for the S Pen stylus, though. A source inside Samsung told this Korean publication a curved screen was "one possible option" for the Note 4.

What about the resolution?

The Note 3 has a 1080p resolution screen, just like the Galaxy S5. However, by the end of the year, phones with a 1440p resolution will probably be more common, perhaps starting with the LG G3 before the summer. Will Samsung opt for a 2560 x 1440 pixel resolution for the Note 4?

Rumors spread that Samsung would use a 1440p screen on the Galaxy S5, which didn't happen, so one on the Note 4 is certainly possible. A Chinese source posted a basic spec list for the Note 4 at the start of April, showing the device with a 1440p display.

Another report suggests Samsung may go down the same route as Oppo, offering a standard Find 7 smartphone with a 1080p screen, and a premium version with the full 1440p display. We heard similar talk related to the Galaxy S5, but in relation to the materials used for its construction.

Handwriting recognition could change the way the Note 4 is unlocked

A Samsung patent has hinted the Note 4 may come with advanced handwriting recognition, which will make better use of the S Pen stylus. The first aspect of this new feature may improve security on the phone. Instead of using a PIN code to unlock the phone, or a pattern system like Knock Code on LG smartphones, the Note 4 may recognize a signature drawn on the lock screen using the stylus.

Additionally, by writing the name of an app, or a specific command, the phone could be unlocked with the app automatically opening, or the command being carried out. For example, calling the office, or your partner, without having to do anything other than writing their name and the word "call" on the lock screen.

How about the other specs?

Snapdragon 805 Processor: Let's start with the processor. Samsung has chosen the Snapdragon 801 for the Galaxy S5, which it could also repeat with the Note 4. However, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 805 is expected to be ready for the second half of 2014, making it a possible candidate, too. Some reports have linked the Note 4 with Qualcomm's 64-bit Snapdragon 810, but its 2015 release date makes this highly unlikely. No matter which of these processors it has, it will be a very fast phone.

4GB RAM: In the past, Samsung has stuffed plenty of RAM inside the Note phones, and this year may be no different. Its newly developed LPDDR4 mobile memory – smaller, faster, and more energy efficient than current options – could make 4GB of RAM possible on the Note 4.

128GB Memory and a huge battery: A Chinese report agrees, and adds the Note 4 may also come with 128GB of internal memory, and a battery between 3,600mAh and 3,800mAh in size. It also mentions 4G LTE, 4K video recording, and dual-band Wi-Fi.

Waterproof: Like the Galaxy S5, there's a good chance the Note 4 will be waterproof. Samsung reportedly cancelled a large phone antenna order in favor of ones that would be easier to waterproof, but the technology wasn't available at the time the Galaxy S5 was in production. It could make it into the Galaxy Note 4, though. We'd also expect Android 4.4 KitKat to be installed as the operating system. Compatibility with the Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo, and the Gear Fit is also almost certain.

20.7-megapixel camera: Finally, rumors have suggested Samsung will fit a 20.7-megapixel camera to the Note 4. We've seen evidence Samsung is planning to introduce 20-megapixel cameras across its high-end devices in 2015, but stated it would stick with 16-megapixel cameras throughout 2014, so we'll have to wait and see on this one.

We're still several months away from the Galaxy Note 4′s official launch, so we'll be updating this article as more news emerges.
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Can the government regulate Internet privacy?

The headlines are becoming so common we almost tune them out: major credit card breaches at Target and Neiman Marcus; a major security bug at the heart of Apple's operating systems; the "heartbleed" bug at the heart of OpenSSL … on and on. This week it's arts and crafts chain Michaels, which looks to have been taken for up to three million credit and debit cards over two eight-month periods. (Not that we're judging.) And let's not forget the ongoing Snowden revelations.

Are you numb? Or do you want the government to "do something" to protect your data?

The court of public opinion

Privacy problems and security breaches are battering some people's confidence. A recent poll by market research firm GfK found that one in three consumers claimed to have been directly impacted by misuse of personal data in the last year, with 60 percent saying their concern about data privacy has increased in the last year.

(Almost nine out of ten now say they're at least "a little" concerned about the safety of their personal information.) Further, over half of respondents say the U.S. government is not doing enough to protect their data, and almost 80 percent said there should be strong regulations governing how data brokers and others can repurpose personal information.

Similarly, a survey conducted last year by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found 66 percent of adults said current privacy laws are "not good enough" to protect Internet users' privacy – and, intriguingly, the concern was uniform across respondents' reported political affiliations. Didn't matter whether folks were liberals or Tea Party supporters: most were concerned about their online privacy.

In January, a separate Pew survey found 18 percent of respondents had had important personal information stolen (like a credit card or Social Security number), while 21 percent – that's one in five – had had an email or social networking account hacked.

There oughtta be a law!

Folks crying for regulations over how corporations handle our data and manage privacy breaches will be relieved to know there are laws. It's just that they're mainly state laws. Currently, forty-seven of the fifty states have passed varying forms of privacy protection legislation, with Kentucky getting in line just this week and New Mexico looking like it'll be next.

"The biggest concern is that a federal bill might actually be weaker than a lot of the state laws."

State requirements vary widely, and are mostly concerned with the conditions under which residents must be informed that their personal data has been (or might have been) compromised. In one state, a single consumer might be informed immediately if his or her personal information was exposed, but in another state businesses might not have to inform anybody unless a certain number of consumers are known to have been impacted, or where risk analysis finds a breach was likely to have caused actual harm. In some states businesses have to contact consumers directly; in others, they can just post a notice on some dim corner of their Web site.

It's not as if the federal government is totally out of the picture. Section Five of the Federal Trade Commission Act prohibits "unfair or deceptive practices," which the FTC has determined can apply to lax data security procedures. In fact, the FTC's assertion was upheld up last week in a case against Wyndham Hotels, which stored credit card information as plain text, failed to change default passwords…and got taken to the cleaners by Russian hackers on several occasions. However, the FTC can't assess penalties for violations; at best, it can force companies into settlement agreements in which they modify their practices, pay damages, and promise to play nice for a few years.

What if the feds got more involved?

Proposals for national data protection regulations have been around for years – but so far haven't gotten much traction in Congress, and there's little agreement on standards, thresholds, or requirements. Should suspicion of a data breach be enough to trigger notifications, or does actual harm have to have occurred? For instance, a 2011 proposal from the Obama administration would have required any business with information on more than 10,000 people to disclose breaches affecting more than 5,000 people, but only to credit agencies and the federal government, not to actual consumers.

"The biggest concern is that a federal bill might actually be weaker than a lot of the state laws," said Justin Brookman, Director of Consumer Privacy at the Center for Democracy & Technology. "One of the main points of data breach notification is not necessarily to let everyone know, it's to impose a liability cost on companies when they have these terrible situations. That way there's a strong incentive not to have breaches. If a federal law makes that cost less, that's not a great results.

Speaking on background, executives at two nationwide retailers indicated American businesses might support a nationwide data breach law – even if it came with liability. One likened the varying state privacy laws to the sales tax situation in the United States, where rates, reporting, and collection vary widely by state, county, and municipal laws. A single privacy and data protection standard would be easier for businesses to manage and — in that executive's view — exceed.

However, the other executive was wary of reporting requirements. If businesses were mandated to report every possible data breach for any number of customers regardless of whether any harm occurred, they might become the companies that cried wolf, he said. Consumers might receive so many warnings they simply tune them out – which also wouldn't be a great result.

You mean we'd just get notices?

The approaches described so far focus on informing people whose information has been compromised after a breach. Surely, the better approach is to prevent data breaches in the first place. And what about data brokers, who collect and sell information about us to anyone with two nickels to rub together?

Don't expect the federal government – or states, for that matter – to attempt to legislate data security practices. The bottom line that that laws and regulation move much more slowly than technology and business practice, and while governments may have requirements for particular contracts or services performed with the private sector, no one expects the government will try to broadly dictate how companies protect consumer data.

Much of the online economy is driven by tracking, analyzing, and reselling information about consumers.

What about data brokers? Consumers are wary of information being traded about them. That GfK survey mentioned earlier found the majority of people in every measured age group distrusted marketers with their personal data, and last year's Pew study found 86 percent of consumers have taken some steps to minimize online tracking.

Some data security bills introduced before Congress have had provisions addressing data brokers, potentially obligating them to let consumers see, correct, or even delete information that has been collected about them.

However, much of the online economy is driven by tracking, analyzing, and reselling information about consumers – think of all the targeted advertising and personalized services we see every day. Companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon are likely to be wary of any requirement to let consumers control how data is collected and generated about them.

What are the chances of federal regulations regarding data brokers?

"Congress is so ossified, there's so little floor time to move bills, it's hard to see anything that's not utterly uncontroversial getting traction," said Brookman. "It's possible something could move, but I think Republicans, Democrats, consumer advocates, and business probably want somewhat different things."

So don't hold your breath.
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