The secret life of money revealed

Workers at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing surrounded by piles of money (Discovery)Have you ever wondered what happens to all of the damaged dollar bills floating around the economy? How long does paper money actually last before it disintegrates into torn shreds or a pulpy mass that is indistinguishable from regular old paper? And at what point is paper money just too damaged to be used as legal tender?

On March 30 9 p.m. ET/PT, the Discovery Channel will give viewers an inside look at ?The Secret Life of Money,? which seeks to answer these questions along with offering many other insights into the world of money, including the history of how gold became a standard form of currency around the world.

David Kestenbaum and Jacob Goldstein from NPR?s "Planet Money" contributed to the special and chatted with Yahoo News about some of the stranger things they?ve learned about cash.

?To me, what?s most interesting is that there is a bigger idea at work here: Money is this thing that we take for granted,? Goldstein said. ?When you stop and think about money, it gets really weird, really fast.?

For example, if your money is damaged, you can legally exchange it with the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. But only to a point. The bureau says it receives upwards of 300 envelopes per day, containing ?torn, blackened, blood-soaked, shrunken or otherwise maimed money.? However, so long as 51 percent of that blood-soaked bill remains intact, you can get a freshly issued replacement bill.

?It?s not paper the way we normally think of paper. It?s 75 percent cotton and 25 percent linen. It?s like a T-shirt,? Kestenbaum says, explaining why money is actually more physically durable than some might think.

Still, that hasn?t stopped thousands of people each year from testing its limits in strange ways.

For example, one Florida man attempted to dry his money after it became wet by putting it in the microwave. But instead of returning to its crisp, clean form, the money was crisped and burst into flames.

These sort of incidents resulted in the bureau exchanging $28 million worth of paper money in 2011 alone.

Of course, Goldstein and Kestenbaum note that similar incidents are on the decline as money moves toward becoming a predominantly electronic transaction between buyer and seller.

?There is no truck full of dollar bills going from my employer?s bank to my bank,? Goldstein says, noting that the very basic idea of money is really more about trust than physical value. ?The U.S. dollar is already basically an electronic currency.?

And with the advent of independent currency providers such as Bitcoin, some people are trying to establish that trust without relying on a government.

Still, Kestenbaum says that for all its shortcomings, paper money is likely to stay with us for years to come. ?I am more bearish on the future of physical money,? he said. ?At some point, we won?t be using cash at all. Not in the next year, but in 50 years? Probably.?

Ironically, one of the reasons Goldstein and Kestenbaum say the U.S. dollar has a future in its physical form is its popularity outside of America. They note that there are currently more $100 bills outside the U.S. than within the borders of the country that printed them.

If you add up all of the cash, "there?s a lot missing because of how much is used overseas,? Kestenbaum said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/secret-life-money-revealed-172617707.html

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The Climate Crisis: Breaking the Fossil Fuel Habit - Boston University

In this weeklong series, BU researchers explore the science behind Earth?s environmental changes, and what they mean for our future.

Think of it as worldwide addiction. At least 80 percent of the energy people use to drive, heat their homes, and power gadgets comes from fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas, and the consumption of all of the above contributes to global warming.

Kicking that addiction will be hard. Cutler Cleveland, a College of Arts & Sciences professor of earth and environment and director of the Center for Energy & Environmental Studies, says the transition from fossil fuels to low-carbon alternatives like wind, solar, and nuclear power will require speedy technological advancement, huge capital investments, and the political?and personal?will of ordinary people. Cleveland, who has written or edited six books on ecological economics and energy transitions and is the founding editor-in-chief of the online reference source Encyclopedia of Earth, is convinced that if we hope to ?avert the more dire scenarios, there needs to be radical surgery now.?

Cutler Cleveland, a CAS professor of earth and environment, says the time is now to convert to alternative energies. Photo by Christine Ward

Cleveland?s convictions come not only from his own research, but also from a series of eight seminars that brought environmental experts from universities in the United States and Europe to BU throughout the 2010?2011 academic year. The John E. Sawyer Seminars on Energy and Society were sponsored by the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future and supported by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

?We will have to engineer the transition,? says Cleveland. ?And we?ve never really done that in the history of humanity.?

Some countries, however, have done better than others. In 2011, China invested $51 billion in alternative energy technologies and led the world in renewable power capacity with 70 total gigawatts, according to the international nonprofit Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century. That same year, the United States put $48 billion in such technologies and achieved total generation of 68 gigawatts. Germany, the third greatest investor in alternatives, spent $31 billion and reached total capacity of 61 gigawatts. Most other countries lagged far behind. No country has sworn off fossil fuels.

Germany?s production of alternative energy, which provides nearly 11 percent of the country?s energy needs, leads G-20 (a group of finance ministers and central bank governors from 20 major economies) members, states a 2012 report by the National Resources Defense Council. Indonesia follows, with roughly 6 percent, and next is the United Kingdom, at about 4 percent. The United States came in seventh, with only 3 percent of its electricity coming from renewables.

Worldwide investment in solar power has increased sharply in recent years, including in places like Israel, where the Arava Power Company, headed by Yosef Abramowitz (CAS?87), installed 18,500 photovoltaic panels. Photo courtesy of Arava Power Company

Cleveland?s research suggests that not a single country will flip its dependency completely to renewables within the next 50 years. Still, he says, there is encouraging growth in some sectors. Government subsidies and technological improvements in the manufacture of turbines have lowered the cost of wind energy, so that it now competes with energy produced by natural gas and burning coal. But solar, which has also benefited from subsidies and technological advancements, and wind account for only a couple of percentage points of total power generation in the world.

And while the federal government has not established benchmarks for wind and solar production, many states have. Here in Massachusetts, the legislature passed the Green Communities Act in 2008, requiring that 15 percent of the commonwealth?s electricity come from renewable energy by 2020. Massachusetts plans to generate 2,000 megawatts of wind energy within the next seven years and 250 megawatts of solar power by 2017. While far from reaching its wind energy goal, the commonwealth reports that it?s 90 percent of the way to accomplishing its solar goal. The commitments have helped Massachusetts tie with Texas for fifth place nationally in a 2012 Ernst & Young report on promising renewable energy markets.

A look at world energy consumption by fuel type in 2010. Source: Energy Transitions by Cutler Cleveland

Nuclear power, another low-carbon energy source, currently provides 3 percent of the world?s energy, Cleveland says, but its hazardous waste disposal and safety risks make it less desirable than wind and solar. ?Nuclear energy has a higher life-cycle cost than wind and fossil fuel, because it?s very capital-intensive,? he says. ?A routinely operated nuclear plant is benign, compared to a coal plant, but it does have this small possibility of going Fukushima on you.?

The United States has 65 operating nuclear power plants, most of them concentrated along the East Coast and in the Midwest and all of them built more than 30 years ago. Cleveland says that makes planning a new one relatively unknown territory, because there are no current price comparisons. It?s also politically risky, as most communities don?t want one in their backyard and are hesitant to adopt a technology that produces radioactive waste with a half-life of thousands of years.

Biomass?such as switch grass, corn, or sugar cane converted to biofuel?is another alternative source of energy, but Cleveland is discouraged by the carbon exchange of the biomass process. ?It involves removing vegetation from the Earth?s surface,? he says, ?and humanity has a very poor track record of causing lots of other environmental problems when you start monkeying with changing land cover.? As a source, he prefers energy-rich sugar cane to corn-based ethanol, because corn is grown industrially with large inputs of oil, which increases carbon emissions.

A look at world renewable energy consumption in 2010. Source: Energy Transitions by Cutler Cleveland

?When you compare the energy in the ethanol and all the energy it took? to plant, cultivate, transport, and process it, ?it?s only a very modest win,? he says. ?It?s certainly way less than the energy gain you get from just producing oil directly from crude.?

What does Cleveland?s research tell him about the best way to break the fossil fuel habit? The first step, he says, should be using fossil fuels to build a sustainable energy infrastructure. ?You need to shift away from coal and oil to natural gas in the short run, and probably leave a lot of coal in the Earth?s crust,? he says. ?And you need to use fossil fuel to radically ramp up renewables and/or nuclear.?

That means ?sticks and carrots, a lot of them,? he says. ?If you want the transition to happen faster than it otherwise would, you?re going to have to alter incentives. And you?re going to have to change the price of carbon.?

Gas tax hikes, like the one Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick recently proposed, or divestment from fossil fuels are moves in the right direction. Cleveland thinks federal legislation taxing carbon or an international cap-and-trade system would put a bigger dent in emissions.

Finally, he says, politicians have to address the ?third rail of U.S. energy policy??demand. People need to know that their choices can have a negative impact on the environment. ?Living 30 miles from home and driving a Hummer to work alone in the morning is probably one of the most absurd, extravagant behaviors,? he says. ?We?ll look back and say, ?Oh my God!? The excesses of the Romans will look like Romper Room.? Commuters can do that only because ?energy is dirt cheap. People are going to in the long run live closer to where they work and play.?

And perhaps more people should start thinking like Howard T. Odum, Cleveland says. The ecologist and author of A Prosperous Way Down argues that to survive, the human species must learn how to decline prosperously.

?No one wants to think that way, because we connect happiness and well-being with increases in the physical consumption of goods and services,? Cleveland says. ?It?s a conversation that should be had, but good luck getting elected on that platform.?

The Climate Crisis

Tomorrow, in part five of our series, professors of environment and economics discuss how taking action to mitigate climate change could affect the economy.

Source: http://www.bu.edu/today/2013/the-climate-crisis-breaking-the-fossil-fuel-habit/

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North Korea to cut communication channels with South

Mar 26 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $3,787,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $2,859,920 3. Matt Kuchar $2,154,500 4. Steve Stricker $1,820,000 5. Phil Mickelson $1,650,260 6. Hunter Mahan $1,553,965 7. John Merrick $1,343,514 8. Dustin Johnson $1,330,507 9. Russell Henley $1,313,280 10. Kevin Streelman $1,310,343 11. Keegan Bradley $1,274,593 12. Charles Howell III $1,256,373 13. Michael Thompson $1,254,669 14. Brian Gay $1,171,721 15. Justin Rose $1,155,550 16. Jason Day $1,115,565 17. Chris Kirk $1,097,053 18. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/north-korea-cut-channels-south-war-may-break-090941398.html

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'Dancing With the Stars' judges rob Andy Dick and D.L. Hughley

ABC

"Dancing With the Stars" pro Sharna Burgess with celeb partner Andy Dick on Monday night's show.

By Ree Hines, TODAY contributor

"Dancing With the Stars" originally kicked off with a simple premise: Take a group of non-dancing celebrities (or former celebrities ... or almost celebrities) and train them to move and groove from scratch.

Sure, over the years a few ringers have joined the ballroom bash, and it's always fun to see their near-perfect performances. But nothing is quite like watching someone go from left-footed fumbler to passable hoofer -- even if the judges don't always recognize the progress.

Case in point? On Monday night, just two weeks into the competition, comedians Andy Dick and D.L. Hughley showed just how serious they are about turning their reps around, and it was a treat to behold the ballroom comebacks.

Actually, Andy's week-one performance wasn't really a problem for a first effort; he outshined several competitors. But one thing was obvious -- he was scared. The rehabbed celeb shared his fear of the ballroom and of the bottle, and the fright showed on the dance floor.

For his second performance, it was like a new man hit the stage. Dressed as the Mad Hatter and claw-dancing through Lady GaGa's "Poker Face," Andy's jazz routine entertained and raised his personal bar. Of course, he still has room for lots of improvement, but his newfound confidence and his daring approach put him way ahead of some (such as Ingo Rademacher and Sean Lowe, both of whom matched Andy's score of 20 points for less impressive routines).

As for D.L., although the judges were unduly cruel in how they delivered their reviews last time, the truth is he was just awful in week one. In fact, had he simply come out and not delivered the worst dance of the night on Monday, it would have been considered a big improvement.

But he did more than that. After a tough round of rehearsals -- featuring plenty of expletives and more than one remark about his "humiliating" treatment from head judge Len Goodman and the gang -- D.L. put his all into a quickstep that wouldn't have seemed possible just last week.

"It doesn't matter where you start," Len said, remarking that it's all about improvement.

Then again, Len's comments might have made more sense if he and the other judges didn't follow them up with a score of just 16 points. Those odd marks put D.L. two points behind three lesser dancers -- Wynonna Judd, who slowly moved her way through a quickstep;?Lisa Vanderpump, whose jive lacked big kicks and solid footwork; and Victor Ortiz, who proved he really needs to find his own comeback after giving the jive a try.

Of course, some contestants didn't need a comeback at all. Last week's leaderboard topper, Zendaya, continued to wow with a fast, precise jive that earned her 26 points and praise from the panel.

"A star is born -- big time," Bruno Tonioli told her.

But someone else is hot on that star's heels.

Kellie Pickler, who showed promise with her cha-cha-cha last week, completely won over the judges with a modern jazz routine that showed off her near-perfect form. Carrie Ann Inaba called it "freakin' amazing," and the others must have agreed -- after all, she earned 26 for the dance.

Relying less on form and more on fun, Super Bowl champ Jacoby Jones wowed the crowd with one heck of jazz number. The slightly goofy dance -- which got him 23 points -- played to his personality and showed that he can get the audience out of their seats. (And it was certainly more entertaining than the fine but forgetful 24-point quickstep Aly Raisman delivered.)

Firmly in the back of the pack was for figure-skating great Dorothy Hamill. The gold-medalist was feeling pain in rehearsal thanks to a cyst and accompanying nerve pain, and when it counted, it showed in her jive. Missed marks and sloppy steps dominated the 15-point dance and left the judges little choice but to kindly mention all of the problems.

To Dorothy's credit, when Len heard boos for his criticism, she defended him.

"It's true," she told the crowd of her shortcomings.

That was it for Monday's ballroom action. As for what's to come Tuesday night, someone's got to go. Will it be D.L., whose combined score for both weeks landed him in last place despite his turnaround? Or will Dorothy go for a more flubbed routine? Frankly, there are plenty of far from perfect hoofer hopefuls who won't be able to rest easy while they wait to find out the results.?

What did you think of the week-two routines? Tell us on our Facebook page.

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Dow hits fresh intraday high; S&P nears record

JeeYeon Park , CNBC ? ? ? 1 hr.

Stocks added to their losses in choppy trading Monday, after the head head of the Eurogroup said the Cyprus rescue represented a new template for resolving euro zone banking problems and that other countries may have to restructure their banks.

Major averages opened higher as Wall Street initially cheered the last-minute bailout deal in Cyprus, pushing the S&P 500 within a point of touching its all-time closing high.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average turned lower, dragged by Caterpillar and Bank of America, shortly after hitting a fresh intraday high for the ninth time this month. The blue-chip index still remains on track for its best first-quarter percentage gain since 1998.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq also erased their early gains. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, gained above 13.

Most key S&P sectors dipped into negative territory, led by industrials and materials.

Last week, major averages finished in the red for the week, with the Dow snapping a four-week win streak and the S&P 500 logging its second losing week this year.

(Read More: Where's the Long Awaited Market Correction?)

"If there is a risk in a bank, our first question should be 'Okay, what are you in the bank going to do about that? What can you do to recapitalize yourself?'. If the bank can't do it, then we'll talk to the shareholders and the bondholders, we'll ask them to contribute in recapitalizing the bank, and if necessary the uninsured deposit holders," said Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who heads the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers, hours after the Cyprus deal was struck.

The euro fell below $1.29 against the U.S. dollar.

Cyprus and its international lenders reached a deal merely hours before a deadline to resolve the island nation's financial crisis and avert the country's exit from the euro zone. The 10 billion euro ($13 billion) deal involves the winding down of Cyprus' second largest lender, the Popular Bank of Cyprus, and imposes a levy on uninsured deposits over 100,000 euros ($130,000) in Cypriot banks.

(Read More: Cyprus Relief: Why the Rally May Be Short Lived)

"Despite a deal being struck for Cyprus, it will set an unsettling precedent for future bailouts and investors will once again be concerned over the security of their bank deposits," wrote Mike McCudden, head of derivatives at stockbroker Interactive Investor. "Furthermore, investors should question why the regulators allowed the Cypriot banking system to rise to this size, given the experiences in Iceland and Ireland."

"Washington's out for two weeks, it's a holiday-shortened trading week and it's also the end of the month," noted Brian Battle, vice president of trading at Performance Trust Capital Partners.

Among earnings, Dollar General rose after the discount retailer posted earnings that beat expectations and said this year's sales growth could top the strength it saw in 2012.

Apollo Group surged to lead the S&P 500 gainers after the for-profit education company posted a better-than-expected profit and reaffirmed its full-year forecast.

Elsewhere, shares of Dell jumped after the company confirmed it had received competing offers from Blackstone Group and billionaire investors Carl Icahn as the computer giant looks to go private. The offers come as the company agreed to a $24.4 billion deal to be taken private by private equity firm Silver Lake.

Facebook dipped, falling to its lowest level this year, after U.S regulators approved a plan to compensate market makers who lost money in the social-media giant's IPO on the Nasdaq last May.

Apple traded higher after the tech giant acquired WiFiSlam, a startup company that makes mapping applications for smartphones.

Also among techs, BlackBerry extended sharp losses from last week after the smartphone maker's new BlackBerry Z10 launch failed to generate buzz. In addition, Goldman Sachs cut its rating on the company to "neutral" from "buy."

Vodafone rallied amid a U.K.'s Sunday Times report that said telecommunications company was looking to sell its 45 percent stake in its U.S. Verizon Wireless unit.

On Sunday, Reuters reported the International Monetary Fund is planning to cut its 2013 U.S. growth forecast from 2 percent to 1.7 percent, due to higher taxes and spending cuts, citing a draft of the IMF's next World Economic Outlook report seen by Italian news agency ANSA.

Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke and the International Monetary Fund's Olivier Blanchard are expected to speak at the London School of Economics later this afternoon.

In addition, New York Federal President Bill Dudley is scheduled to speak at the Economic Club of New York at 12:30 pm ET.

?By CNBC's JeeYeon Park (Follow JeeYeon on Twitter: @JeeYeonParkCNBC)

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Man gets 18 year jail term for US military center plot

By Bill Rigby

SEATTLE (Reuters) - A man who plotted to storm a Seattle military recruitment center with machine guns and grenades in retaliation for U.S. military actions in Afghanistan was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Monday.

Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif, also known as Joseph Anthony Davis, pleaded guilty in December to conspiracy to murder officers and employees of the United States and conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction.

Passing sentence in U.S. District Court in Seattle, Judge James Robart also gave Abdul-Latif 10 years of supervised release. Under the terms of his plea deal with U.S. prosecutors, he faced a sentence of up to 17 to 19 years in prison.

Throughout an almost two-hour long hearing on Monday, 35-year old Abdul-Latif - who has spent the last two years in solitary confinement - was silent. Long-bearded and wearing a white knit skullcap, he rocked slightly back and forth, declining the opportunity to address the court when offered by the judge.

Before sentencing, government prosecutors argued Abdul-Latif was an active participant in the plot and fully intended to carry out the attack, while defense attorneys argued he was an easily-led victim of entrapment and merely indulged in "rhetoric."

The judge concluded that Abdul-Latif "meaningfully participated" in the attack plot and handed down a sentence in the middle of the range outlined in the plea deal.

Abdul-Latif's co-defendant, Walli Mujahidh, 33, pleaded guilty in December 2011 to conspiracy and weapons charges and is scheduled for sentencing on April 8.

The pair, both U.S. citizens, were arrested in June 2011 and indicted the following month on charges of conspiring to attack the Military Entrance Processing Station, where enlistees are screened and processed, south of downtown Seattle.

In his plea agreement in December, Abdul-Latif admitted he agreed to carry out the attack and made plans for Mujahidh to travel to Seattle from Los Angeles to take part in the assault.

The plot came to light after a person who had known Abdul-Latif for several years and had been asked to supply weapons for the planned attack went to police instead, becoming a paid undercover informant, according to court documents.

The informant told authorities that Mujahidh suggested storming the recruitment station "with machine guns and grenades and killing everyone there," the U.S. prosecutor's office said.

Grenades are treated as weapons of mass destruction under U.S. federal law.

In a "sting" operation, high-powered assault rifles that had been rendered inoperable by law enforcement agents were brought by the informant to the two suspects, who were arrested when they took possession of the guns, prosecutors said.

According to an FBI affidavit, Abdul-Latif told the informant the planned attack was in retaliation for what he said were crimes by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

Abdul-Latif also mentioned a 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, in which an Army psychiatrist is accused of killing 13 people, noting that "if one person could kill so many, three attackers could kill many more," the informant told authorities, according to the original criminal complaint.

Washington state and Seattle city law enforcement officials welcomed the sentence for planning what would have been a bloody attack.

"This defendant planned to attack a military center when there would be the largest possible gathering of new recruits and their families," U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan said in a statement. "He targeted young men and women solely because they wanted to serve our country. His goal: to inspire others with a message of hate."

(Reporting by Bill Rigby; Editing by Tim Gaynor, Scott Malone, Andrew Hay and Andre Grenon)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/man-sentenced-18-years-plotting-attack-u-military-184450935.html

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Britney Spears and David Lucado: Holding Hands! So Happy!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/britney-spears-and-david-lucado-holding-hands-so-happy/

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Meteor lights up night sky over eastern United States

By Daniel Trotta

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A meteor bright enough to be classified as a fireball lit up the night sky over eastern North America on Friday, providing a spectacle witnessed in at least 13 states, Washington, D.C. and two Canadian provinces, the American Meteor Society said.

The society verified more than 300 witness sightings from Ontario and Quebec down to the southern U.S. state of North Carolina with more than 100 reports yet to be reviewed, said Mike Hankey, an observer for the American Meteor Society.

"This was most certainly a fireball seen over a good portion of the eastern states," said Robert Lunsford, the society's fireball coordinator.

"It happened at a good time, around 8 o'clock on a Friday night, when a lot of people were out to see it," Lunsford said.

The society describes a fireball as a meteor brighter than Venus and Lunsford said they can be brighter than the Sun, as was the case with the one that streaked across the sky and exploded over Russia on February 15.

Meteors are small particles from the solar system that burn from friction when entering the atmosphere.

Several thousand meteors of fireball magnitude occur each day, most of them unseen over the oceans or hidden by daylight, the society said on its website.

This one was seen up and down the East Coast and in inland states such as West Virginia and Ohio, the society said.

The fireball's likely trajectory showed it moving east from eastern Pennsylvania and across New Jersey, passing just south of New York City and then over the Atlantic Ocean, based on witness reports to the society.

"I originally thought the fireball was a low-flying plane," said one witness from West Chester, Pennsylvania, whose comments were logged by the society.

Many witnesses called it the brightest meteor they had ever seen. "I'm still in disbelief," said another from Boonsboro, Maryland.

(Editing by Todd Eastham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/meteor-lights-night-sky-over-eastern-united-states-032115107.html

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Investigation launched into death of Putin foe Berezovsky

By Guy Faulconbridge and Maria Golovnina

LONDON (Reuters) - Boris Berezovsky, the Russian oligarch who helped broker Vladimir Putin's rise to the Kremlin's top job only to become his sworn enemy, has been found dead at his home in Britain in unclear circumstances. He was 67.

Police in Britain, where the tycoon fled in 2000 after falling foul of the Kremlin under Putin, said on Saturday the death was unexplained and they had started an investigation.

Associates said the man who personified the ruthless world of post-Soviet politics may have committed suicide or suffered a heart attack following the stress of losing a $6 billion court case to Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich.

He was found at his house in Ascot, a commuter town 25 miles west of London, by one of his bodyguards, possibly in his Russian sauna.

"I can confirm he died in his home. I've known him for a long, long time, we have spent a lot of time together," Andrei Sidelnikov, a Russian dissident living in London who was a friend of Berezovsky's, told Reuters.

"I am shocked. It is the end of an epoch."

A fast-talking former mathematician who scaled the heights of the ruthless world of post-Soviet business and politics, Berezovsky clashed with Putin soon after his election in 2000 and fled for Britain where he became his most vociferous enemy.

From his base in London, Berezovsky vowed to overthrow Putin whom he cast as a corrupt 'bandit' surrounded by venal ex-KGB spies. Once a supporter, he accused Putin of rolling back the freedoms won after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

Berezovsky's court included some of Putin's most wanted enemies, including a former Chechen rebel, and the former billionaire funded opposition leaders and former spies such as Alexander Litvinenko, who was murdered in London in 2006.

Putin fumed at any mention of Berezovsky and his asylum in Britain strained ties between London and Moscow, which cast Berezovsky as a criminal who should stand trial for massive fraud and tax evasion.

"UNRELIABLE WITNESS"

Once cast as the 'godfather of the Kremlin' by foes and admirers alike, Berezovsky was humiliated in 2012 when he lost a legal battle with former partner Abramovich, over shares in Russia's fourth biggest oil company.

The judge, Elizabeth Gloster, said Berezovsky was an "unimpressive and inherently unreliable witness" who would say "almost anything to support his case".

Some associates said that Berezovsky, once one of Russia's richest billionaires, had grappled with the financial impact of losing the case, which lawyers at the time said could open him up to claims for costs of considerably more than $100 million.

Clearly shaken by the verdict in August, Berezovsky said it appeared to have been written by Putin himself but in the months following he kept a low profile and was rarely seen in public.

Berezovsky had sought as much as $6 billion from Abramovich whom he accused of using the threat of Kremlin retribution to intimidate him into selling out of Russia's fourth biggest oil company at a knockdown price. He also accused Abramovich of selling his shares in RUSAL, the world's top aluminum producer, without his permission.

The judge dismissed all of Berezovsky's claims.

In an effort to recoup some of the losses incurred during case, Berezovsky is said to have auctioned off an Andy Warhol portrait of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin to raise cash.

He agreed to pay one of Britain's biggest-ever divorce settlements to his former wife Galina in 2011. Local media said the settlement was believed to be more than $100 million.

"My sources say it was heart failure," said Alexei Venediktov, editor of Russia's Ekho Moskvy radio. "After his recent loss in court against Roman Abramovich he was in deep depression, he was being treated, he was treated in Israel."

"I think it was probably his health, including depression, and his age. Boris Abramovich never took it easy - he was a fighter, he led an active lifestyle, and unfortunately he has left life in this way."

Known for his love of cognac, beautiful women and for his ability to talk well into the night, Berezovsky lived the adrenaline-fuelled life of Russia's A-team of oligarchs.

Whatever the circumstances of his final hours, his death marks the end of an era for many Russians for whom Berezovsky epitomized the oligarch of the 1990s: brash, arrogant and dangerous alpha males who made their own rules.

UNLIKELY OLIGARCH

As a mathematician working in an obscure section of the Academy of Sciences, Berezovsky was an unlikely oligarch.

But the collapse of the Soviet Union helped propel him from academia to the pinnacle of one of the most ruthless, corrupt and violent business environments on earth - post Soviet Russia.

As the Soviet empire crumbled and gang wars erupted in Moscow, Berezovsky forged a profitable relationship with AvtoVAZ, Russia's biggest carmaker and producer of the Lada.

With the rouble worth nothing, cars were a tradeable asset, though to protect his fortune, Berezovsky forged ties with the Chechen gangs - some of the most feared in Russia.

The graveyards of Russia attest to the short lifespans of many businessmen in the 1990s and Berezovsky came close: in 1993 he faced a gun battle in central Moscow and a year later the Mercedes he was in was blown up, decapitating his driver.

But with nerves of iron and flush with cash, Berezovsky went for gold: he paid for the publication of President Boris Yeltsin's memoirs, securing him the goodwill of Russia's leader.

His political clout gave him access to Aeroflot, once the Soviet flag carrier, and then to oil.

After meeting on a Caribbean yacht trip organized by fellow tycoon Pyotr Aven, Berezovsky and Abramovich, then a 28-year-old oil trader, came up with a simple idea: merge Russia's best refinery with some of the top oil and gas fields of Siberia.

The result was Sibneft over which they would clash years later in a London courtroom.

"Everything can be bought and everything on earth has a price," he once said. "Politicians are the hired help of entrepreneurs."

But if Kremlin politics under Yeltsin had helped Berezovsky to the top, Kremlin politics under Putin proved his downfall.

'GODFATHER OF THE KREMLIN'

Facing the prospect of a Communist victory in 1996, Berezovsky helped rally the billionaire barons of Siberia to Yeltsin's side. He won. And the oligarchs carved up more of Russia's vast oil and metals sector.

But as Yeltsin's health deteriorated in 1999 and his popularity plummeted, Berezovsky and others began to look for a protege who could rule Russia for its second post-Soviet decade.

The obscure and quiet former KGB spy they found was Putin and Berezovsky helped pitch him when the powerbrokers of Russia met at their country houses, known as dachas, outside Moscow.

"Boris Berezovsky was certainly the political father of Vladimir Putin. He was the person who found Putin," commentator Sergei Parkhomenko said on Ekho Moskvy radio.

While Putin was happy to receive support, he resented the meddling that Berezovsky and oil oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky felt was their right. Berezovsky could not win. His only option was to flee.

According to Russian journalist Ilya Zhegulev, who spoke to him on Friday, Berezovsky was pining for Russia.

"I should not have left Russia," she quoted him as saying. "He said: I don't know what to do. I am 67 and I don't know."

Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told state-run Rossya-24 television that Berezovsky had written to Putin and asked for help in returning to Russia.

Berezovsky did not return.

(Additional reporting by Peter Griffiths in London and Steve Gutterman in Moscow; Editing by Michael Roddy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/putin-foe-berezovsky-dead-circumstances-unexplained-081514360.html

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Visualized: Microsoft's homegrown 120-inch 4K television

Samsung's $40k work of art has nothing on Redmond's non-existent TV division: Microsoft has built a 120-inch 4K display. Don't start pinching pennies, though -- this TV was created strictly for demo purposes, and won't be coming coming to stores any time soon. Check out Pocket-lint for all the details.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Microsoft

Comments

Source: Pocket-lint

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/4SLEH1F_PvI/

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NAMI-NAMI: a food blog: It's Pasta Time: Tagliatelle with creamy ...

One of my favourite pasta dishes recently is this clean-looking pasta (usually tagliatelle, but I've also used linguine) with seared salmon, fresh spinach and cream, with a light lemon kick. For an extra quick version I've used smoked salmon, but using fresh salmon is much wallet-friendlier and has more kid-appeal as well. Also, it's a great way to use that thinner tail-end of the fish that I usually put aside when baking salmon in the oven.

Note that there's no Parmesan cheese in the dish!!!

Tagliatelle with creamy spinach and pan-fried salmon
(Makaronid praetud l?he ja spinatiga)
Serves 4

?400 g tagliatelle pasta (linguine or spaghetti would work as well)
water and salt, for cooking pasta

400 g salmon or trout fillet
butter, for frying
100 g fresh baby spinach leaves, rinsed
about a cup of double cream
a handful of fresh parsley
1 lemon, zested
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Bring a large pot of water into a rolling boil, season with salt and cook the pasta al dente according to the packet instructions.

Meanwhile heat the butter on a large frying pan over moderate heat. Place the fish onto the pan, skin-side up, and fry for 3-4 minutes. Flip over and cook for another 2-3 minutes. (The fish will be still undercooked, but you'll cook it further in a minute).

Remove the fish fillet from the frying pan:?

Using two forks, break the fish into bite-size chunks:?

Heat some more butter on the frying pan, add the rinsed spinach leaves and cook till wilted.

Add the cream, season with black pepper, parsley and lemon zest. Return the fish to the pan and simmer for a minute or two.

Drain the pasta, toss with the sauce and serve immediately.?

Similar recipes:

Source: http://nami-nami.blogspot.com/2013/03/its-pasta-time-tagliatelle-with-creamy.html

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seobacklinkme.com - Website for Sale on Flippa: PR 3 SEO ...

Professional eCommerce design: Easy to Navigate and Buy!

Premium domain name:?SEOBacklinkme.com (registered on Dec. 2nd 2012)

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$2037.49 in 60 days!

?

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SEOBacklinkme.com is based around offering seo backlinks to online websites.

This kind of business is immensely huge right now. Backlinks are very important when it comes to growing an online business. This helps increase online popularity. The larger the search presence, the more business it will attract. This is because it gives the website an ?authority image? which also brings along trust. When people can trust you, the more they will do business with you.

Not only that, but hundreds of people every single day, business owners, musicians, artist, schools, and thousands of others are actively searching ways on how to attract more Sales! This can be very valuable to any style of business online today!?

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seo backlinks - 18,100 searches per month

buy backlinks - 26,000 searches per month

buy edu backlinks - 27,100 searches per month

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So who are we targeting in this market?

Essentially, just about every business owner, or anyone else who?s looking to increase his/her business online. With all the talk from top marketers saying that in order to attract more people, one must engage in a lot of self-promotion. Now this is very true, but the average person looking to acquire more video views or likes, or even subscribers would not even know where to start. ?This is where my site comes in. My site offers popularity seekers the convenience of hiring SEOBacklinkMe.com as their own personal team whose sole purpose is to get them more exposure.?

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What Do I Have to Do?

Whether you?re a newbie or seasoned internet marketer, this business can be yours. It?s very easy to operate.

1.???? You receive an email for a new order

2.???? Payment is deposited into your account

3.???? You forward the order to the outsource team?

4.???? Your team will email you once the order is complete

5.???? You will then email your customer informing them that the order is complete!?

And you?re done! All of that will probably take less than?1 hr a day.

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??? - Premium, Brandable domain name (SEOBacklinkme.Com)

??? - Top of the line website that is easy to navigate and buy

??? - The complete files and databases for the website

??? - A business that is showing potential?$1,090.89 in 25 days!

??? - The contact details for the outsource team who will fill out the orders for you.

??? - A step by step plan that I use to generate leads for this business

??? - Complete after sales help and support.?

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This site runs itself. All you have to do is continue to drive traffic to it. I will breakdown everything to the new owner.

In addition to transferring the site to you and supporting you with any questions you need answered, I?ll also explain exactly how the site is set up and how the traffic is generated. As part of the auction you'll receive all the information you need to know to understand every aspect of the site, both from the technology used to implement the site to the techniques used to drive traffic & sales. If you've never run a web business before & are looking for a good business to start, this auction will provide you with everything you need to succeed.

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SEOBacklinkme.com?generated?$1,090.00 in the month of January alone!?

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?Backlinks??(over the course of 3-4 days)

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50 Dofollow Links - $65.00 retail (profit $45)

100 Dofollow Links - $95.00 retail (profit $65)?

250 Dofollow Links - $175.00 retail (profit $125)?

1000 Dofollow Links - $525.00 retail (profit $375)

?

15 EDU Links - $30.00 retail (profit $15)

50 EDU Links - $65.00 retail (profit?$50)

100 EDU Links - $95.00 retail (profit $65)?

250 EDU Links - $150.00 retail (profit $75)?

?

1,000 NoFollow Links - $15.00 retail (profit?$10)

10,000 NoFollow Links - $65.00 retail (profit?$60)

25,000 NoFollow?Links - $125.00 retail (profit?$115)?

?

200 Web 2.0 Links - $95.00 retail (profit?$85)

?

?

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Page 1 -?SEO Backlinks

Page 1 -?SEO Backlink

Page 1 -?Buy Seo Backlinks

Page 1 -?buy dofollow backlinks?

Page 1 -?buy nofollow backlinks

Page 1 -?buy web 2.0 backlinks

Page 1 - web 2.0 backlinks

Page 2 -?dofollow backlinks

?

Page 2 -?nofollow backlinks

?

After Sales Support

I am here to help you succeed. I've been marketing online for 8 years now. I have experience in almost every aspect of the industry and did lots and lots of testing. If you have any problems just let me know and I will do my best to help out.

Traffic Details

Most of the traffic on this website comes from organic traffic via SEO and paid traffic. It consists of strategic media buying. This is why I am able to get the sales that I want. And like I also said before, I will be coaching the new owner on this information as needed.

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I've been doing SEO for over 3 years. ?I run a fulltime agency and will continue to do SEO for 3 months on this site if you choose the?bin?bonus. ?I'll also teach you how to maintain it and keep the rankings going up.

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Email me or PM me with any questions!?

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Additional Revenue Details

Total Gross Revenue: $2179.67

?

To express your interest to the seller, or post a public comment, you need to log in or sign up.

Source: https://flippa.com/2897315-pr-3-seo-ecommerce-site-making-1090-mo-no-exp-required

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Ryves Rock to swamp his rivals for speed early in Hove's Coral.co ...

Ryves Rock to swamp his rivals for speed early in Hove?s Coral.co.uk Maiden Sprint

Ryves Rock is easily capable of swamping his rivals for speed in the early stages of Coral.co.uk Maiden Sprint, scheduled to be held at Hove on Thursday, March 07, 2012.

The black dog has done a great job recently. After facing an awful defeat at the start of February, the B. O'Sullivan-trained improved his work to a great deal.

On February 9^th, the son of Head Bound missed the gold medal only a neck?s distance. It was really a confidence boosting victory for the big fellow.

The October-09 continued his majestic work, and sealed a comprehensive win last time out. On February 27^th, he showed great pace all the way through, and eventually took the prize by five and a half lengths.

After leaving the first box, he picked up nice early pace. As a result, he soon led the proceedings. Railing quite nicely afterwards, the maverick hound clinched the victory with ease.

Others hounds in the pack are: Attykitt Legend, Castle Comet, Letsbreakthelaw, Blazing Swallow, and Linwood Rumble. The 285 metres contest is due to begin at 19:31 GMT. A handy prize of 150 pounds is reserved for the successful hound.

Linwood Rumble is running well, albeit in much lesser company. As far as Letsbreakthelaw?s chances are concerned, the home advantage may tempt a few to take plunge.

Blazing Swallow put up an improved effort on second start. The black dog was terrible on the first outing, when completing the order of finish. She showed improvement to get the second place last time out.

Attykitt Legend has just one solitary success from 17 previous ups. The current form is awful. On his last trip, the brindle dog, trained by P. Young, was fifth on the chart.

Castle Comet is unlikely to make an impression. It is difficult to get an exact on handle on value of form. The black dog was second in his previous race.

Ryves Rock is unlikely to give any room to his opponents. The biggest threat is Attykitt Legend. An exciting battle between these hounds is on the cards. We wish the best of luck to all the hounds.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and do not reflect Bettor.com's editorial policy.

Source: http://blogs.bettor.com/Ryves-Rock-to-swamp-his-rivals-for-speed-early-in-Hoves-Coral-co-uk-Maiden-Sprint-a213950

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Chrome beta for Android delivers a proxy-based speed boost, now syncs autofill and saved passwords

As Google continues to work on improving Chrome for Android, today's update for the company's beta build of its browser appears to be a step in the right direction. Aside from the usual stability improvements and bug fixes, version 26.0.1410.26 adds two major additions. Lurking within this new software update is a data compression feature powered by Chrome for Android's recently uncovered SPDY-powered proxy boost. When enabled, this feature optimizes HTTP traffic over an SSL connection and transcodes images to Google's homegrown WebP format to reduce file sizes. In addition to turning your browser into a speed demon, this optional setting also uses Safe Browsing, which checks the sites you're visiting against a list of potential threats for malware and phishing.

Further focusing on efficiency, this new update adds the ability to sync autofill and saved passwords across mobile devices. Google says it will deploy this new feature "in the coming days" and notes that you'll also need the latest version of Chrome's desktop beta in order to successfully sync your account. So, with that said, we suggest you wait at least a day or two before using your smartphone to go on a shopping spree, because those online checkout forms can be downright tortuous.

Filed under: Internet, Software, Mobile, Google

Comments

Source: Google (1), (2)

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/eDZKyYJVC4U/

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Samsung Galaxy S IV design, specs potentially leaked on Twitter

Even as the secret of Samsung's Galaxy S IV has been handed off to some teenager, the @evleaks Twitter account (which has been reliable in the past) just posted a supposed pic of and specs for the phone. Along with what's clearly a rendering and potentially just a placeholder image of the phone, the specs list a Super AMOLED Full HD screen of unknown size, 16GB/32GB/64GB storage options with 2GB of RAM, a 13MP camera and Android 4.2 OS. A second image shows the same mockup lined up with previous Galaxy phones apparently confirming its status as the largest one yet, although that's not surprising given recent trends. Of course, given what we know about the lengths Samsung went to protect the design of the Galaxy S III (multiple designs, hand-delivered prototypes), you'll forgive us for reserving judgement until the real thing is shown off on March 14th.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung

Comments

Source: evleaks (Twitter) (1), (2)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/04/samsung-galaxy-s-iv-design-specs-potentially-leaked-on-twitter/

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BABY FAB - The Young, Black, and Fabulous

Rapper Lola Monroe celebrated the pending arrival of her bundle of joy with a Hollywood Hills baby shower thrown by Cassie. See pics from the party inside...?

Former stripper turned video vixen turned rapper Lola Monroe was spotted glowing during her baby shower in the Hollywood Hills over the weekend.

??

The party was thrown by Diddy's gal Cassie whom Lola thanked for the beautiful celebration tweeting, '"Thaank u @CassieSuper 4 being so special n throwing me such a beautiful baby shower!!ur such a great friend #Rare #Genuine Love u so much! ?"

Casse was all smiles as she rubbed Lola's baby bump. And you'll recall that Lola made an appearance on Cassie's "All Gold, All Girls (Remix)."

Guests included singer Teairra Mari, top model Toccara Jones, rapper Hazel-E and eye lash guru Jammal Buster. ?Lola tweeted,?"So much love today...friends and family..in town to the ones that flew in. Thank you for joining us to be apart of something special."

?

Lola's body hugging maternity dress was by BCBG.?

?

EXTRAS:

1. ?New Orleans rapper Mr. Magic, who was once signed to No Limit records, died Friday night in a car accident. ?The crash, which occured in Hattiesburg, MS, also claimed the life of his wife. ?Reportedly, the couple's 12-year-old daughter survived the accident. ?Story. ?

?

Photos via IG

Source: http://theybf.com/2013/03/03/baby-fab-cassie-throws-lola-monroe-a-hollywood-baby-shower-with-teairra-mari-tocarra

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Skin Tags Removal Treatment | Kristophs Health and Fitness Blog

I used a different improve, tried wart remover pads and short of finding an electric shaver and instantly cut that is about to hurt like a mother, which also can be tested? I analyzed the pores and skin indicate askjeeve disposal and created a variety of products on the net having said that I have no technique to perform if they work. I will not have the funds for a skin specialist at this time. I think I found a solution. Forget tingling, carefully thread and a pair of scissors ?. I put a drop of gasoline nail on my own on a daily basis. After a few days and nights turned crimson blood vessels. A couple of days in the future will knock away. No disease, no blood, no surgical marks. You can purchase gasoline nail on the nutrition store. Keep away from putting them in the future, while at the time, since the aroma helps you stay awake. I realized the bad. All the best. And converted correctly. Kelley

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Source: http://kristophshealthandfitnessblog.com/skin-tags-removal-treatment/

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China tensions with Japan sell fireworks?

Some manufacturers of New Year fireworks are profiting from strong anti-Japanese sentiment related to territorial disputes. Just check out the names of certain pyrotechnics for sale on Beijing streets.

By Peter Ford,?Staff Writer / February 6, 2013

A vendor walks out from a room where boxes of firecrackers with the words 'Tokyo Big Explosion' are stored in Beijing, Wednesday. The vendor said Chinese authorities have asked that the fireworks not be sold due to its name on the package. China and Japan are in a tense dispute over East China Sea islands that have inflamed anti-Japanese sentiment among Chinese.

Andy Wong/AP

Enlarge

Nothing defines Chinese New Year like fireworks. On the stroke of midnight, Beijing erupts in a riotous, deafening barrage of explosions that out-bangs any war zone.

Skip to next paragraph Peter Ford

Beijing Bureau Chief

Peter Ford is The Christian Science Monitor?s Beijing Bureau Chief. He covers news and features throughout China and also makes reporting trips to Japan and the Korean peninsula.

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This year?s celebration, though, will carry ugly undertones of real war in the midst of rising tensions with neighboring Japan. On sale on the city?s streets in advance of Saturday night?s festivities is a box of pyrotechnics called ?Tokyo Explosion.??

Most fireworks here bear more benign names. ?Golden Snakes Dancing Crazily? is expected to be popular, as Chinese welcome in the Year of the Snake. ?Wish You Get Rich? and ?Billionaire? play to traditional desires.

But some manufacturers are seeking to profit from a seething undercurrent of anti-Japanese sentiment that has bubbled to the surface as a dispute with Japan over ownership of a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea grows increasingly bitter.

?I Love the Diaoyu Islands? is one such product, referring to the Chinese name for the islands. In Japan they are known as the Senkakus.

?Aircraft Carrier Shows China?s Might? is another, celebrating the October 2012 launch of the Liaoning, China?s first carrier, which has become a symbol of Beijing?s growing military strength.

Tensions around the islands edged up another notch this week, when the Japanese government revealed that a Chinese naval frigate had ?locked on? to a Japanese vessel with its missile-guidance radar system.

On Wednesday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the incident a ?dangerous? and ?provocative? act ?that could have led to an unpredictable situation.?

On the Chinese Internet, however, angry micro-bloggers hailed the Chinese action.

?We should shoot at Japanese vessels before we warn them,? advocated Li Xu on Sina.com?s popular Twitter-like Weibo platform. ?The only way to punish Japan is to annihilate all Japanese,? added another commentator calling himself Truelove Leo.

The aggressively named fireworks reflect an anti-Japanese mood that the Chinese authorities sometimes seem eager to feed. Government and ruling Communist Party officials orchestrated anti-Japanese demonstrations last year when the island dispute broke out, and Chinese TV is flooded with drama series ? one much like another ? set during the Sino-Japanese war (1937-1945), featuring inhuman ?Japanese devils? as the popular Chinese phrase has it.

There is even a theme park in Shanxi Province where tourists can dress up as soldiers in the Eighth Route Army, the Communist Party?s main military force during the war, sing anti-Japanese war songs, and join in mock guerrilla battles against the Japanese invaders.

A public opinion poll released at the end of last year found that 87 percent of Chinese had a negative opinion of Japan, up from 66 percent a year earlier. And the feeling is mutual. A Japanese government survey in December found sympathy for China at a record low, with less than 20 percent of respondents reporting an affinity for their giant neighbor.

Not everybody buys into the prevailing atmosphere, however. When one Chinese blogger posted a screenshot from a recent TV drama capturing a particularly gory and ludicrous scene of a Chinese man tearing a ?Japanese devil? in half with his bare hands, most of the comments were scathing.

?Another brainwashing drama,? scoffed one. ?The Communist Party is unparalleled in this field.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/wcyelXd30ig/China-tensions-with-Japan-sell-fireworks

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