Spain arrests Serbian 'Pink Panther' jewel robber

Madrid, Feb 12, 2014 - Spanish police have arrested a Serbian member of a gang of robbers known as the Pink Panthers, wanted for a multi-million-euro jewellery heist, authorities said today. The man, Borko Ilincic, 33, has been sentenced to life in jail in the United Arab Emirates for a ram-raid in a Dubai shopping mall in 2007, "one of the most famous robberies in history", Spanish police said in a statement. They arrested him in the suburbs of Madrid under an international arrest warrant. The Pink Panthers are suspected of robbing items worth 330 million euros ($450 million) in luxury stores around the world since 1999, cross-border police agency Interpol says on its website. They got their nickname from British police in 2003 when gang members in London hid a stolen diamond in a pot of beauty cream, a trick used in one of the "Pink Panther" comedy films. Of the gang's estimated 220 members, most are thought to be from the countries of the former Yugoslavia, including some former members of the military.

Regulatory Actions against 4 Indian Drug Companies

New Delhi, India, August 30, 2013 - US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has taken certain regulatory actions in respect of violations or deviations of US FDA regulations applicable in that country in the cases of the following Indian Pharmaceutical companies:- 1. M/s Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd., 2. M/s Wockhardt Ltd., 3. M/s Hospira Healthcare India Pvt. Ltd., 4. M/s RPG Life Sciences Ltd., The Drugs Controller General (India) [DCG(I)] has taken appropriate measures to ensure that the said firms manufacture drugs in compliance with the standards and Good Manufacturing Practices prescribed for them under the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945 through the system of inspections and testing of drugs. This information was given by the Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad in written reply to a question in the LokSabha today.

Over 50 Percent of Viewers Consume Video Content on Their Mobile Phones

NEW DELHI, August 23, 2013 - sonyliv.com, the ultimate online entertainment destination, owned and operated by Multi Screen Media (MSM), has announced the release of its two-quarter report. The report establishes the fact that the maximum number of video content is consumed on mobile phones. 

Based on the observations, it is learnt that 53 percent of viewers watch videos on their mobile phones, 32 percent view them online and 15 percent on their tablets. The report is derived from sonyliv.com Sony LIV user data.

Audience: Another important insight pertains to the type of audience viewing digital content. The report reveals that general entertainment content while towards skewing male viewers, has higher consumption by females compared to the overall Internet video consumption in India. On sonyliv.com, video consumption trends 47% female viewers and 53% male; compared to the overall Internet video consumption split of 71:29, male to females. Additionally, it is interesting to note that elderly people also watch videos online. Though the number is comparatively less, a 3 percent, but it puts forth the fact that an upward shift in video consumption is witnessed in this bracket of audience. About 46 percent of viewers are from the age group 15 to 24 years, 32 percent from the age bracket of 25 to 34 years, followed by 17 percent between the age group 35 and 44 years.

Genre: The analytics also reveal that comedy and daily dramas have a higher viewership on digital platforms. Nearly 78 percent of the videos consumed are comedy, drama and thriller. Comedy is viewed by 30 percent of the audience, followed by drama at 25 percent and thrillers at 23 percent. Reality shows and other genres of shows are watched by the remaining 22 percent.

Nitesh Kripalani, Executive Vice-President - New Media, Business Development and Digital/Syndication at Sony Entertainment Network commented, "At sonyliv.com, we are captivated with data and analytics and believe in leveraging the insights to drive a superior world class viewing experience. We publish insights based on real data that we study every hour of the day. This is done by monitoring the consumption behavior of over 50,000 unique visitors on an average who log on to sonyliv.com, across all platforms i.e. online, mobile and tablet."

Format: It is clear that today's viewers increasingly prefer short content formats on digital platforms. They are opting for formats like Catch-up episodes, Quickisodes and Short crunch episodes. As per the report, 64 percent of viewers watch Catch-up Episodes, whereas more than one-third of viewers consume shorter crunched Episodes, called "Quickisodes".

As per the sonyliv.com report, the average time spent by consumers per video has increased from 8 minutes to 11.5 minutes (73 percent of average duration of content) and the maximum number of videos is being watched between, 1:00 to 4:00pm and 9:00 to 11:00pm.

About MSM

Sony Pictures Television (SPT) backs Multi Screen Media Private Limited, which is India's leading television network. It comprises of Sony Entertainment Television and (SET), one of India's leading Hindi general entertainment television channels; MAX, India's premium Hindi movies and special events channel; SAB, a family comedy entertainment channel; PIX, the English movie channel; MIX a refreshing Hindi music channel, SIX, India's Premier Sports Entertainment Channel and LIV, the digital channel. Multi-Screen Media's channels are available across the Globe and influence over 400 million viewers in the Indian sub-continent, and the South Asian Diaspora worldwide.

NASA Prepares for First Virginia Coast Launch to Moon

WASHINGTON, Aug. 23, 2013 - In an attempt to answer prevailing questions about our moon, NASA is making final preparations to launch a probe at 11:27 p.m. EDT Friday, Sept. 6, from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va.

The small car-sized Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) is a robotic mission that will orbit the moon to gather detailed information about the structure and composition of the thin lunar atmosphere and determine whether dust is being lofted into the lunar sky. A thorough understanding of these characteristics of our nearest celestial neighbor will help researchers understand other bodies in the solar system, such as large asteroids, Mercury, and the moons of outer planets.

"The moon's tenuous atmosphere may be more common in the solar system than we thought," said John Grunsfeld, NASA's associate administrator for science in Washington. "Further understanding of the moon's atmosphere may also help us better understand our diverse solar system and its evolution."

The mission has many firsts, including the first flight of the Minotaur V rocket, testing of a high-data-rate laser communication system, and the first launch beyond Earth orbit from the agency's Virginia Space Coast launch facility.

LADEE also is the first spacecraft designed, developed, built, integrated and tested at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. The probe will launch on a U.S. Air Force Minotaur V rocket, an excess ballistic missile converted into a space launch vehicle and operated by Orbital Sciences Corp. ofDulles, Va.

LADEE was built using an Ames-developed Modular Common Spacecraft Bus architecture, a general purpose spacecraft design that allows NASA to develop, assemble and test multiple modules at the same time. The LADEE bus structure is made of a lightweight carbon composite with a mass of 547.2 pounds -- 844.4 pounds when fully fueled.

"This mission will put the common bus design to the test," said Ames Director S. Pete Worden. "This same common bus can be used on future missions to explore other destinations, including voyages to orbit and land on the moon, low-Earth orbit, and near-Earth objects."

Butler Hine, LADEE project manager at Ames, said the innovative common bus concept brings NASA a step closer to multi-use designs and assembly line production and away from custom design. "The LADEE mission demonstrates how it is possible to build a first class spacecraft at a reduced cost while using a more efficient manufacturing and assembly process," Hine said.

Approximately one month after launch, LADEE will begin its 40-day commissioning phase, the first 30 days of which the spacecraft will be performing activities high above the moon's surface. These activities include testing a high-data-rate laser communication system that will enable higher rates of satellite communications similar in capability to high-speed fiber optic networks on Earth.

After commissioning, LADEE will begin a 100-day science phase to collect data using three instruments to determine the composition of the thin lunar atmosphere and remotely sense lofted dust, measure variations in the chemical composition of the atmosphere, and collect and analyze samples of any lunar dust particles in the atmosphere. Using this set of instruments, scientists hope to address a long-standing question: Was lunar dust, electrically charged by sunlight, responsible for the pre-sunrise glow above the lunar horizon detected during several Apollo missions?

After launch, Ames will serve as a base for mission operations and real-time control of the probe. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., will catalogue and distribute data to a science team located across the country.

NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington funds the LADEE mission. Ames manages the overall mission. Goddard manages the science instruments and technology demonstration payload, the science operations center and provides overall mission support. Wallops is responsible for launch vehicle integration, launch services and operations. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages LADEE within the Lunar Quest Program Office.

Even US has Dangerous Doctors

California Ballot Measure Will Mandate Medical Board Action Against Doctors Found Abusing Drugs or Alcohol

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Aug. 23, 2013 - USA Today analyzed a decade of physician discipline records and found endemic problems at the nation's medical boards that have failed to take action against thousands of dangerous doctors despite "findings of serious misconduct that puts patients at risk." California was singled out as one of the problem states. An initiative measure proposed in California for the 2014 ballot would enact strong new oversight and discipline of dangerous doctors.

USA Today looked at data from the National Practitioner Data Bank, a federal database of incidents of physician malpractice and patient endangerment. It found that state medical boards had failed to take any disciplinary action against more than half of doctors who had their hospital privileges suspended, including 234 cited as "an immediate threat to health and safety" and 120 who were "unable to practice safely," including substance abuse problems.

The "Troy and Alana Pack Patient Safety Act" would address these problems by requiring random drug testing of physicians to identify dangerous doctors; mandating suspension of physician licenses until a physician identified as a substance abuser can practice safely; and, requiring physicians to report colleagues they suspect of substance abuse or malpractice to the medical board.

Read the story: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/20/doctors-licenses-medical-boards/2655513/

"State medical boards have repeatedly failed to keep bad doctors from endangering their patients, not just for the last decade but over the last 30 years. Soon California voters will have a chance to take on this patient safety crisis and enact reforms that will serve as a model for every state," said Carmen Balber, executive director of Consumer Watchdog.

The "Troy and Alana Pack Patient Safety Act" is sponsored by Bob Pack, who lost his two children in an accident caused by a drug-abusing driver who had been over-prescribed pills by physicians.

Read Bob's story: http://www.38istoolate.com/stories/alana-pack/

The ballot measure's reforms of patient safety and doctor discipline laws in California include:

• Mandatory random drug and alcohol testing for physicians and mandatory physician drug and alcohol testing after reports of adverse events;
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• Mandatory use by physicians of the electronic CURES database, a searchable system that tracks prescriptions dispensed in California, which Pack developed for the state of California in the wake of his family's tragedy;
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• Adjusting for inflation the 37-year-old $250,000 cap on recovery for medical negligence victims, which has not changed since 1975, and as the author of the original law recently came forward to support;
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• Requiring doctors who witness substance abuse by physicians or medical negligence to report it, and protecting those physicians from lawsuits by other doctors when they do.

The measure is awaiting a title and summary from the Attorney General, and will need 504,760 valid signatures from California voters to go before voters on the November 2014 ballot.