Singapore police to webcam users: Keep your clothes on; it's a scam

Alex Johnson , NBC News ? ? ? 18 hrs.

Police in Singapore have warned men to be more careful regarding to whom they talk using webcams, reporting an alarming increase in the number of men who've been lured into nude conversations with "foreign" women, only to be blackmailed with video-chat recordings.

In terms of sheer numbers, the increase isn't much ? from 11 incidents in 2011 to more than 50 last year ? but it suggests a burgeoning scam that could ensnare many more men in the future, the national police force said in a bulletin that was first reported by Singapore's Straits Times newspaper.

Police singled out Facebook and Tagged as especially popular vehicles for the extortion scheme, in which "female foreign suspects ... would commence a webcam conversation with the victims and initiate cybersex by undressing themselves first before persuading the male victims to appear nude or perform sexual acts in front of the webcams."

"Unknown to the victims, the suspects had recorded the acts," police said. "These suspects would then threaten to circulate compromising photographs and videos of the victims to extort money from them."

The spike in cases was first noted halfway through last year, leading Crimewatch, a joint program of the national police and the National Crime Prevention Council, to "re-create" the scam in a (safe for work but entertainingly cheesy) video in June.

Graham Cluley, a consultant with the Internet security firm Sophos, reported the bulletin Monday on the company's appropriately named Naked Security blog and warned of another potential hazard:

You can imagine how a man, believing he is being seduced online by a sexy woman, might be all too eager to click on a link she suggests or run a malicious program on his computer. Before he knows it, his computer could be under the control of a hacker.

Police offered these tips to keep your money in your wallet:

• Be wary of messages from unknown people who want to befriend you.
  
• Do not accede to any request that may put you in vulnerable positions, such as performing compromising acts in front of the webcam, or giving personal details about yourself when interacting with other internet users.
  
• If anyone attempts to extort money from you or should you become a victim of such an attempt, call the police immediately.
  
• Do not remit or transfer money.
  

Follow M. Alex Johnson on Twitter and Facebook.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/singapore-police-webcam-users-keep-your-clothes-its-scam-1C8417251

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7+ Taskbar Tweaker Adds Tons of Extra Taskbar Settings to Windows 7 and 8

Windows: Ever wish you could tweak the taskbar's shortcuts, or add other features Microsoft forgot about? 7+ Taskbar Tweaker adds a ton of extra settings and shortcuts to the Windows taskbar, and it works in Windows 7 and 8.

We highlighted this program back when it was called 7 Taskbar Tweaker and only had a few options, but since then it's grown into something much more. Not only is it compatible with Windows 8 (hence the name change), but it has a ton of new options. In the program, you have the ability to:

• Bring up the standard window menu instead of a jump list when you right-click on an icon
• Middle-click an icon to switch to it, minimize it, or close it
• Show a list, tooltip, or nothing when you hover over a button
• Reorder thumbnails in the preview that pops up
• Change how taskbar icons group together
• Use the mouse wheel to cycle between buttons
• Much, much more

You can install the program on your system or, if you're a fan of portable apps, use the installer to extract a portable version to your desktop. Hit the link to check it out.

7+ Taskbar Tweaker | via SRChiP

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/pPSwwdO8i40/7%252B-taskbar-tweaker-edits-tons-of-extra-taskbar-settings-in-windows-7-and-8

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In West Bank, a space for tutus and pirouettes

Ramallah Ballet Center owner Shyrine Ziadeh decided not to leave the West Bank to study dance, but instead opened a space to cultivate talent and hope among local youth.

By Chelsea Sheasley,?Contributor / February 4, 2013

Shyrine Ziadeh leads one of her three classes at the Ramallah Ballet Center, which she opened in December 2011 with the help of her family.

Christa Case Bryant/The Christian Science Monitor

Enlarge Photos

The Ramallah Ballet Center, where girls in white tights and pink tutus twirl in front of a long mirror, seems a world away from the street below, where butchered lambs hang for sale, resentment lingers from the last intifada, and horns blare as cars snake dangerously close to each other in the narrow streets.?

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?Doesn?t the music make you feel so peaceful?? asks studio owner Shyrine Ziadeh, as she surveys her students. ?That?s one of my favorite things about dancing.??

Ms. Ziadeh?s dance studio is the first to open in Ramallah and the only one she knows of in the West Bank, following years of foreign instructors teaching lessons out of their homes or in local schools. (Read more about female entrepreneurs in the West Bank here.)

Ziadeh, who grew up in Ramallah, planned to leave the West Bank to study dance abroad after graduating from Birzeit University four years ago. But she changed her mind after she opened the studio last year and saw how popular her classes are. If she leaves, she fears no one will be there for the students.

?The kids here, they have many talents but no one to support them,? she says. ?So when I find a talented girl, I support her with all my heart.? Ziadeh says part of her motivation was the fact that when people around the world think of the Palestinian territories, they don?t see hope or talent, but violence.

Ziadeh sees her studio as place where local kids ? she teaches between 30 and 40 students a month ? can come to have fun in a safe place.

?I want to show the world that as Palestinians, we have talent and can defend our land not only in violence, but in the arts.?

Ziadeh sees the studio as a success, though it?s not yet profitable. She charges 200 shekels (about $55) a month for two classes a week, but some parents can?t afford to pay. The Orthodox Church that owns the studio space has so far allowed her to pay rent late when needed and she?s still repaying a loan her parents gave her.?

Some Israelis who heard about her business offered to give funding, something she?s so far declined in the hopes that Palestinians will be the ones to provide support.

In a region where the political conflict is reflected in so much of society Ziadeh says Israeli-Palestinian politics have complicated her business. She can?t get the costumes she needs because West Bank stores don?t sell them and she doesn?t have a permit to travel 15 miles to Jerusalem to buy them. Instead, she goes to Amman, Jordan to buy the outfits necessary for performances, or has them made by hand.

Hoping for more boys

Another challenge Ziadeh hopes to overcome is gender. Her classes have been predominately female, but she thinks it?s important to involve boys as well because of the impact dance can have on them. She hopes that boys will start to enroll if she offers hip-hop classes.

?The problem is not with the Arab culture,? she says, citing a friend who teaches more boys than girls in the Egyptian royal ballet. ?I think it?s here, the boys want to be more tough.?

Being ready for an intifada is a prominent part of how boys are raised, she says. ?[They say] ?how can I dance when I have to defend my country?? But they can defend the country by dancing,? Ziadeh says.

Fadia Othman, the mother of one of Ziadeh?s students, says the classes help her 6-year-old daughter to be calmer in school.

Hadeel Kamil, a German-Palestinian gum surgeon who also has a daughter in the class, praises the decision of people like Ziadeh who stay in the Palestinian territories, sharing their talents locally instead of moving to a potentially easier and more lucrative life abroad.

"Palestine deserves people who know how to think," Ms. Kamil says.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/3ipoxDPwvUw/In-West-Bank-a-space-for-tutus-and-pirouettes

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Dubai's Nakheel in talks to extend $2.2 billion loan: report

(Reuters) - Developer Nakheel is in talks to extend 8 billion dirhams ($2.18 billion) in loans due in 2015, the indebted company's chairman was quoted as saying in a local newspaper on Sunday.

Ali Rashid Lootah dismissed concerns over Nakheel's ability to repay its debts, which also include a 3.8-billion dirham sukuk, or Islamic bond, due in August 2016, Abu Dhabi-based newspaper, The National, reported.

The government-owned builder agreed a $16 billion debt restructuring in 2011 and has scaled back grandiose plans such as building a one-kilometer high tower after becoming a high profile corporate casualty of the Dubai property crash.

Debts held by Nakheel, owned at the time by flagship conglomerate Dubai World helped trigger the emirate's 2009 debt crisis. A last-minute bailout by Abu Dhabi helped Dubai avert a bond default on a Nakheel bond in December 2009.

"We are talking to financial institutions to restructure our loan, which is a normal part of business because the original tenure is very short," Lootah said.

"We have time but we are talking to them from now and engaging them from now to get a longer term. We are not worried about the sukuk. Our strategy first will be deal with the lenders. The sukuk is a secondary issue to that."

The bank loans under consideration are thought to be debt restructured under the 2011 agreement. This includes 6.76 billion dirhams in secured facilities provided by, among others, Dubai's biggest bank Emirates NBD as well as 470 million dirhams in unsecured facilities, all due in 2016, according to Nakheel's sukuk prospectus and estimates by Exotix Limited.

"This is all previously restructured bank debt. They (Nakheel) are trying to refinance all of this debt before the majority falls due in 2016," said Gus Chehayeb, director, Middle East and Africa Corporate Research at Exotix, in Dubai.

Nakheel reported a 57-percent rise in annual profit in January. It also made interest and profit payments of around 800 million dirhams to lenders last year and has paid around 10 billion dirhams to various trade creditors and contractors since the start of its debt restructuring.

"We have sorted all the old issues, most of the old issues," Lootah told the newspaper.

But he ruled out re-starting work on Palm Jebel Ali, one of three man-made islands in the shape of palm fronds that Nakheel planned to build off the Dubai coast. Of these, only one - Palm Jumeirah - has been completed.

"Nakheel will grow and grow and grow in a more careful manner and with a more well-studied strategy and plan," Lootah said. "Tourism is booming in Dubai so people are looking for more options, so we are looking at that."

Last week, Dubai gave the go-ahead for a $1.6 billion artificial island, not connected to Nakheel, as it resumes extravagant developments, despite several stalled or abandoned projects commissioned during the previous decade's boom.

(Reporting by Matt Smith and Mala Pancholia; Editing by Helen Massy-Beresford)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/dubais-nakheel-talks-extend-2-2-billion-loan-083745584--sector.html

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Missouri?s Plane Gate Scandal Grounded for Now

Despite a Republican veto-proof supermajority in the Missouri General Assembly, the state GOP won't admonish Gov. Jay Nixon for approving the purchase of a $5.6 million plane used for executive travel. State Rep. Mark Parkinson, R-St. Charles, wanted an amendment to open records legislation that would have prevented Nixon from using the new plane, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch . After the amendment lost support, Parkinson withdrew his request.

* The move was the latest in a contentious standoff between Nixon and his penchant for lots of intrastate travel and the General Assembly's moves to try to curtail state spending. Some media outlets such as Missouri News Horizon have referred to spending for the new plane as "Plane Gate."

* Parkinson told the Post-Dispatch, "A lot of the members of [the house] don't have the stomach to hold the executive [branch] ... accountable."

* Fellow Republican state Rep. Kevin Engler of Farmington told the newspaper he thought it was "stupid that we bought the plane. ... The fact that we have it but would not use it would be further abuse."

* House Bill 256 , to which Parkinson's amendment was attached, extended the state's Sunshine Law pertaining to public records until 2016. The Post-Dispatch states one approved amendment included making the governor's flight logs a public document without Sunshine Law requests.

* The legislation passed a committee vote. The full house votes on the measure sometime later this week. The senate still needs to approve the bill before heading to Nixon's desk.

* State Rep. Jeff Roorda, D-Barnhart, accused Republicans of trying to "pull the governor's pants down" with the plane log amendment. The bill's sponsor, state Rep. Caleb Jones, R-California, said he wanted to ensure Missourians know where their taxpayer dollars are going, according to the Post-Dispatch.

* In late January, Republicans delayed the governor's nomination of Doug Nelson to a key administrative post. Nelson, a Nixon adviser, made the final decision to approve purchase of the plane in December. The move was done without the knowledge or authority of the General Assembly, which angered lawmakers. Missouri News Horizon reveals the plane was the latest tug-of-war between the executive branch's spending and the legislative branch's authority to limit state spending.

* In 2012, Missouri Auditor Thomas Schweich published a report that Nixon spent more than $2.3 million in travel from 2009 to 2011. Of that, $1.7 million was billed to other state agencies instead of coming from the governor's allocated travel budget. In other words, the governor's travel expenses exceeded the allowance from the General Assembly's approved budget.

* The same audit revealed Nixon would have saved the state money had he traveled commercially. Missouri News Horizon has a graphic that shows 121 public school teachers could be hired for one year in Missouri for the same cost as the new $5.6 million plane. With the loss of Parkinson's amendment, "Plane Gate" is grounded for now.

William Browning is a research librarian specializing in U.S. politics.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/missouri-plane-gate-scandal-grounded-now-152700081.html

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'A drop of ink on the luminous sky:' Wide Field Imager snaps cosmic gecko

Feb. 11, 2013 ? This part of the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer) is one of the richest star fields in the whole sky -- the Large Sagittarius Star Cloud. The huge number of stars that light up this region dramatically emphasise the blackness of dark clouds like Barnard 86, which appears at the centre of this new picture from the Wide Field Imager, an instrument mounted on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile.

This object, a small, isolated dark nebula known as a Bok globule [1], was described as "a drop of ink on the luminous sky" by its discoverer Edward Emerson Barnard [2], an American astronomer who discovered and photographed numerous comets, dark nebulae, one of Jupiter's moons, and made many other contributions. An exceptional visual observer and keen astrophotographer, Barnard was the first to use long-exposure photography to explore dark nebulae.

Through a small telescope Barnard 86 looks like a dearth of stars, or a window onto a patch of distant, clearer sky. However, this object is actually in the foreground of the star field -- a cold, dark, dense cloud made up of small dust grains that block starlight and make the region appear opaque. It is thought to have formed from the remnants of a molecular cloud that collapsed to form the nearby star cluster NGC 6520, seen just to the left of Barnard 86 in this image.

NGC 6520 is an open star cluster that contains many hot stars that glow bright blue-white, a telltale sign of their youth. Open clusters usually contain a few thousand stars that all formed at the same time, giving them all the same age. Such clusters usually only live comparatively short lives, on the order of several hundred million years, before drifting apart.

The incredible number of stars in this area of the sky muddles observations of this cluster, making it difficult to learn much about it. NGC 6520's age is thought to be around 150 million years, and both this star cluster and its dusty neighbour are thought to lie at a distance of around 6000 light-years from our Sun.

The stars that appear to be within Barnard 86 in the image above are in fact in front of it, lying between us and the dark cloud. Although it is not certain whether this is still happening within Barnard 86, many dark nebulae are known to have new stars forming in their centres -- as seen in the famous Horsehead Nebula, the striking object Lupus 3 (eso1303) and to a lesser extent in another of Barnard's discoveries, the Pipe Nebula. However, the light from the youngest stars is blocked by the surrounding dusty regions, and they can only be seen in infrared or longer-wavelength light.

[1] Bok globules were first observed in the 1940s by astronomer Bart Bok. They are very cold, dark clouds of gas and dust that often have new stars forming at their centres. These globules are rich in dust that scatters and absorbs background light, so they are almost opaque to visible light.

[2] This quotation comes from E. E. Barnard, Dark Regions in the Sky Suggesting an Obscuration of Light, Yerkes Observatory, Nov 15 1913.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/space_time/astronomy/~3/FBUs8Ko5NX0/130213082424.htm

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Travelin' Joe's five favorite baseball spring-training tracks

Courtesy of Innisbrook

Tour players such as Ernie Els love Innisbrook Resort?s Copperhead Course.

1. Innisbrook Resort (Copperhead), Palm Harbor, Fla.
Ernie Els called Copperhead ?the best course the PGA Tour visits in Florida.? Carolina-style pines and elevation changes, liberally sprinkled lakes and fiercely trapped greens will have you agreeing with the Big Easy. While Innisbrook is normally reserved for resort guests, it's worth a stay, especially since the Philadelphia Phillies' Bright House Field is only a 15-minute drive to the south.

2. PGA National Resort & Spa (Champion), Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
Current home of the PGA Tour's Honda Classic and a former site of the PGA Championship and the Ryder Cup, this watery Tom and George Fazio/ Jack Nicklaus spread is a terror when the March winds blow, most alarmingly at the ?Bear Trap? holes of 15-17. Fans of the St. Louis Cardinals and Miami Marlins have but a 13-minute commute to Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter.

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Talking Stick puts you close to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

?

3. Talking Stick Golf Club, Scottsdale, Ariz.
Both the North and South courses are flat, tribally owned Bill Coore/Ben Crenshaw designs with artfully sculpted bunkers and strategic holes, such as the North's par-5 2nd. The South displays more trees, but from either course, the ride is a mere five minutes across Highway 101 to Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, which serves as home to the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies.

4. The Raven Golf Club, Phoenix, Phoenix, Ariz.
Less than a 10-minute drive from Tempe Diablo Stadium, where the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim spend their spring, this memorable Gary Panks/David Graham design is pure parkland in the middle of the desert. Thousands of pine trees frame challenging but playable holes. Only the mountain backdrops serve to remind you that you're not teeing it up in the North Carolina Sandhills.

5. Streamsong Resort, Streamsong, Fla.
Granted, it's not right around the corner from venerable Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, where the Detroit Tigers hold court in March. But the 27 miles of rural driving are worth the trek when the dazzling destination is the new Streamsong Resort, with its Coore/ Crenshaw?designed Red and Tom Doak/ Renaissance?designed Blue. Both courses are magnificent and weave in and out of massive scrub-covered sand piles, playing as firm and fast as many Open Championship venues.
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Source: http://rss.golf.com/courses-and-travel/best-golf-courses-near-mlb-spring-training-stadiums-arizona-florida

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