London, EN, United Kingdom (4E Sports) – Serena Williams is reaching out to the family of the Steubenville rape case victim after making comments that she calls “insensitive and hurtful”, which were quoted in a Rolling Stone article.

She said that by no means would she say or insinuate that the girl was to blame.

“What happened in Steubenville was a real shock for me. I was deeply saddened,” added Williams.

Williams is in England preparing for Wimbledon.

WTA CEO Stacey Allaster said that if Williams was accurately quoted, then her comments were both insensitive and wrong.

“We disagree with the statements and have made that clear to her,” Allaster said.

Serena Williams drew criticism for noting that the 16-year-old Steubenville rape victim should have showed better judgment.

She seemed to sympathize with the two young men convicted of the rape, asking if the judgment was fair to them.

Serena said that 16-year-old girls should not be taking drinks from other people and wondered why a girl of that age was so drunk that she could not remember the incident.

“It could have been much worse. She’s lucky. Obviously I don’t know, maybe she wasn’t a virgin, but she shouldn’t have put herself in that position, unless they slipped her something, then that’s different.”

The case became a controversial topic as many outside Steubenville accused the town and police of giving preferential treatment to football players. It was also unusual as much of the evidence in the case came in the way of social media updates — tweets and pictures posted to other sites by football players and other partygoers referencing the assault.

U.S. President Barack Obama signs the Affordable Care Act during a ceremony with fellow Democrats in the East Room of the White House March 23, 2010 (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images).

The federal government expects to operate these marketplaces, also called exchanges, in 34 states that opted not to run their own. Seven of those states are working as partners with the federal government. The other 16 states are setting up marketplaces on their own with federal funding.

The report said that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, “has many key activities remaining to be completed,” including those that deal with eligibility and enrollment in the exchanges, development and implementation of a “data hub” that will connect the exchanges with other federal and state agencies to determine applicants’ eligibility, and review and certification of the health insurance plans offered to consumers.

“Much remains to be accomplished within a relatively short amount of time” for the exchanges to work properly on Oct. 1, the GAO said. The “still unknown and evolving scope” of activities that CMS must provide in states that have chosen not to participate is problematic, investigators said, as are the “large number of activities remaining to be performed – some close to the start of enrollment.”

While the deadlines missed so far may not affect the law’s implementation, “additional missed deadlines closer to the start of enrollment could do so,” GAO found.

In a response included in the report, the Department of Health and Human Services said the agency has made progress in establishing exchanges and that the exchanges would be up and running in all states by Oct. 1.

Opponents of the health law said the report proves the measure won’t work as intended and that Americans will suffer. “News of delays and missed deadlines are now just as prevalent as reports of Obamacare’s broken promises and the looming rate shock in store for millions of Americans,” House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., said in a statement.

Upton, along with Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who chairs the House Oversight and Investigations Committee, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who is the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, requested the study.

The GAO reports that CMS is behind schedule on consumer assistance activities to the states with federal exchanges. For example, CMS was two months late in announcing funds to “navigators” – community organizations and nonprofits that will hire and train people to help consumers sign up for health insurance. CMS had planned to issue the funding announcement in February, allowing enough time for two rounds of awards in July and September. Instead, the agency did not announce the grants until April, leaving time for only one round of awards, which is expected on Aug. 15.

The navigator grants will total up to $54 million for the federally run marketplaces – “a drop in the bucket,” according to Stan Dorn, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Urban Institute. Some states received as little as $600,000. That’s far less than states running their own marketplaces. California, for example, is spending $50 million to fund in-person help for consumers.

All navigators are expected to complete a web-based training and certification course. CMS had expected to begin training by July, but the course may not be ready until August.

Nonetheless, CMS officials indicated that the navigators would be available by Oct. 1, when enrollment for 2014 plans begins, according to the GAO report.

Insurers that want to sell health coverage on the exchanges had to apply by May 3, and CMS, along with help from a contractor, expects to evaluate and certify those plans by July 31, according to the GAO report. Information about those plans is expected to be available on the exchange website by Sept. 15.

The GAO analysis also took a close look at the status of the complicated technology that will be needed for the exchanges. GAO said that some limited testing has begun of the information technology systems needed to determine whether consumers seeking coverage in the marketplaces are eligible for federal subsidies and to enroll them in health coverage. But it noted that much more needs to be done before October.

“While CMS has met project schedules, several critical tasks, such as final testing with federal and state partners, remain to be completed,” the report said.

Critics said the report shows that CMS and other agencies are falling behind, but others said the conclusion was that much progress has been made.

“It is the GAO’s job to outline problems that could occur,” said Dan Mendelson of the private consulting firm Avalere Health, but the report’s conclusions are “getting spun through this lens of political discontent, so as a result, everyone is freaking out about it.”

States, he said, are rightly concerned that delays in the income and eligibility information technology might not operate efficiently at first.

“That would force them to do manual enrollment – get on the phone with people – and that’s expensive,” said Mendelson, who oversaw health programs at the Office of Management and Budget during the Clinton administration.

Mark McClellan, who was in charge of the rollout of the Medicare drug benefit in 2006 for the George W. Bush administration, said testing of some IT systems for that project began not long after the law was passed in 2003. But, he said, work continued right up to and even after the program began. That rollout was initially marked by glitches that included enrollment problems, and some seniors who qualified for subsidized coverage were mistakenly told they didn’t have it when they showed up at pharmacy counters.

“You are limited in what you can test ahead of time,” said McClellan. Once real data starts flowing through a system, unexpected problems crop up because real data is always messier than test data sets, he said.

While the Obama administration still has time to get the testing done, McClellan said, he cautioned that “it is tight.”

The GAO report also states that CMS has spent $394 million from fiscal year 2010 through March 31 of this year on various activities to get the federal funded exchanges established and listed the major contracts. CMS officials said the totals did not include agency salaries or other administrative costs.

The report on the federal insurance marketplaces was one of two on health law implementation released by GAO Wednesday. The other report looked at federal and state efforts to establish the Small Business Health Options Programs (SHOPS) in which small employers can buy coverage for their workers. In that report, GAO found that “CMS and states have made progress in establishing SHOPS, although many activities remain to be completed and some were behind schedule.”

– Provided by Kaiser Health News.

Albany, NY, United States (4E) – A General Electric mechanic and an electronics firm employee have been arrested and charged in Albany with conspiracy to support terrorists and use a weapons of mass destruction for building and trying to sell a radiation-emitting device to kill people.

A federal complaint unsealed on Wednesday identified the suspected conspirators as Glendon Scott Crawford, 49, of Galway and Eric J. Feight, 54, of Hudson.

The complaint described Crawford’s weapon as can be placed in the back of a van to covertly emit ionizing radiation to sicken or kill the target person. Feight, who works for a manufacturer of electronic control devices in Columbia County, agreed to help Crawford construct the electronic control of the device. The weapon was not completed as Crawford failed to obtain a radiation material.

Crawford’s plot was discovered after he visited an Albany synagogue and called a Jewish organization in April 2012 to ask if someone is interested to help him develop a weapon that Israel can use to kill its enemies while they sleep. Someone at the synagogue alerted the police, which in turn reported it to the FBI. A Joint Terrorism Task Force then started investigating by sending an undercover FBI agent to act as interested in the weapon and by recording Crawford’s phone calls.

The FBI agent met and talked with Crawford at a Scotia restaurant a year ago and learned that he is a member of the United Northern & Southern Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Crawford told the agent he will build a powerful industrial x-ray machine powered by batteries and source the needed x-ray tubes from a metal shop.

Crawford recruited Feight to assist him design and build the device.

In December, the FBI obtained a warrant to monitor Crawford’s phone calls, e-mails and text messages to Feight. Feight delivered the remote control device to Crawford on May 20 in Albany. They later tested the device, which can be triggered from half a mile away.

Undercover informants met with the suspects on June 12 and pretended to be South Carolina Ku Klux Klan members interested to buy and finance the completion of the weapon. The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested Crawford and Feight on Tuesday.

Washington, DC, United States (4E) – Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director Robert Mueller admitted to senators Wednesday that the agency is using small unmanned and unarmed drones for surveillance in the U.S. and developing guidelines for the law enforcement use of such technology.

Mueller told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the use of the airplane model-sized drones was limited. He made the statement to senators when questioned about it during his testimony on the National Security Agency’s secret program of collecting domestic phone call and online usage data for counterterrorism intelligence.

The FBI issued a statement following Mueller’s testimony saying that drones are used to obtain critical information when there is risk of harm in getting the same by a law enforcer. The FBI statement added that unmanned aerial vehicles are only used to survey stationary subjects and required approval from the Federal Aviation Administration.

Panel member Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), initiated the drone discussion Wednesday after Attorney General Eric Holder mentioned in a previous testimony that the Drug Enforcement Administration and Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives had acquired drones for use in their operation.

American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Chris Calabrese told the senate committee that it was “a little troubling” that the FBI had begun using the technology while guidelines were still being developed. Sen. Mark Udall (D-Utah) said he recognizes the drones’ effectiveness but the FBI should first protect the constitutional rights of Americans.

Washington, DC, United States (4E) – Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director Robert Mueller admitted to senators Wednesday that the agency is using small unmanned and unarmed drones for surveillance in the U.S. and developing guidelines for the law enforcement use of such technology.

Mueller told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the use of the airplane model-sized drones was limited. He made the statement to senators when questioned about it during his testimony on the National Security Agency’s secret program of collecting domestic phone call and online usage data for counterterrorism intelligence.

The FBI issued a statement following Mueller’s testimony saying that drones are used to obtain critical information when there is risk of harm in getting the same by a law enforcer. The FBI statement added that unmanned aerial vehicles are only used to survey stationary subjects and required approval from the Federal Aviation Administration.

Panel member Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), initiated the drone discussion Wednesday after Attorney General Eric Holder mentioned in a previous testimony that the Drug Enforcement Administration and Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives had acquired drones for use in their operation.

American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Chris Calabrese told the senate committee that it was “a little troubling” that the FBI had begun using the technology while guidelines were still being developed. Sen. Mark Udall (D-Utah) said he recognizes the drones’ effectiveness but the FBI should first protect the constitutional rights of Americans.

Sao Paulo, Brazil (4E) – Rioting in key Brazilian cities came to a lull Wednesday but the government deployed a special police force to counter possible vandalism when public protests resume on Thursday.

Members of the National Public Security Force will be deployed in Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Fortaleza and the capital, Brasilia, which are hosting matches of the ongoing Confederations Cup football tournament, the ministry of justice announced.

The deployment of the police and firefighters from different states came following Tuesday’s clashes between police and rogue demonstrators who vandalized shops and banks while peaceful protesters demand better public service outside stadiums hosting the FIFA-sanctioned Confederations Cup. The protest in Sao Paulo drew 50,000 people on Tuesday with rioters attacking a TV station building and setting on fire one of its vehicles.

On Monday, 200,000 protesters marched in streets across the country to express anger over what they see as lavish spending by the government in hosting the Confederations Cup, the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. The protesters demanded that the government instead spend money to improve health, education and other public services.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff promised to address the protesters’ demands and recognized their right to demonstrate.

They say that without major changes, the children they hoped would gain dental coverage — families who don’t qualify for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program — may not be able to afford it.

“This is a huge disappointment,” said Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., a longtime proponent of improving children’s access to dental care who is leading the Capitol Hill effort to overturn current health law regulations for pediatric dental services. “This is inconsistent with the philosophy of the Affordable Care Act.”

Pediatric dental care is one of the health law’s “essential health benefits” – 10 broad categories of care that many insurers must cover starting in 2014. But parents may not be required to buy it, the cost of the stand-alone dental coverage won’t count toward the amount of financial assistance a family could receive to purchase health insurance. And, if bought as a separate policy, the kids’ dental coverage will require payments in addition to those for medical coverage. Advocates worry the added expense puts this out of reach for many parents.

Dentist Edward Rothman performs a dental examination on eleven-year-old Ahmani Staten at a clinic in Oakland, Calif. in 2003 (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images).

“It’s going to be a game-changer for families,” said Meg Booth, director of policy at the Children’s Dental Health Project, one of dozens of groups that has pushed the federal government to change how the kids’ dental care provisions will work.

Under the health law, children’s dental coverage must be included in most health plans offered in the individual or small group insurance markets, or be available to consumers to purchase as supplemental policies. This requirement also applies to plans available through the health law’s new online marketplaces.

In federally run exchanges, or those in which states are partnering with the federal government, stand-alone dental policies can include out-of-pocket costs as high as $700 per child or $1,400 per family. (State-run exchanges can set their own “reasonable” out-of-pocket limits.) These expenses are in addition to what the families would pay for medical coverage.

Cardin says that requiring separate out-of-pocket costs for children’s dental care defies what lawmakers intended when they included dental coverage for children in the health law.

“Most families will not reach $700 a year in pediatric dental care. Why should they buy insurance, particularly if it’s not required?” he said at a Senate Finance Committee hearing in April. He says that the out-of-pocket maximum for dental services should be deducted from the out-of-pocket limits set for medical coverage so families don’t face an additional financial burden.

At the hearing, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius promised to review that matter, in particular “on what the impact would be on the very families we want to serve.”

An HHS spokeswoman said the agency is continuing to look into Cardin’s concerns.

Dental industry experts say that keeping dental care coverage separate from medical care may be beneficial for children with severe dental problems but few medical issues. They say stand-alone dental plans often cover more services than dental coverage in a comprehensive dental/medical plan and have lower out-of-pocket costs for consumers.

According to the National Association of Dental Plans, about 57 percent of Americans have dental coverage, and 99 percent of those benefits are through plans purchased separately from medical insurance.

Chad Olson, director of government relations for Delta Dental, the nation’s largest provider of dental benefits, said that the vast majority of stand-alone dental plans now cover preventive care, such as exams and cleanings, at no charge, and that they plan to continue doing so under the new ACA coverage.

For plans sold on the federal exchanges, all medically necessary dental services are covered without cost-sharing once a family has spent — not including premiums — $700 in dental costs ($1,400 if there are two children or more). Families with children who have severe dental issues may find that number easier to reach than the out-of-pocket maximum for a family medical policy, which can be as high as $12,700 in 2014.

While dental cavities are largely preventable, they remain the most common chronic disease of children ages 6 to 11 and for adolescents ages 12 to’, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And untreated dental disease can be deadly. Deamonte Driver, a 12-year-old Maryland boy whose family lost its Medicaid coverage and could not afford dental care, died in 2007 after a tooth infection spread to his brain. The child’s death prompted Cardin and other lawmakers to improve dental coverage as part of the 2009 CHIP reauthorization, and to improve access to dental services under Medicaid.

In May, 46 groups, including Delta Dental and the Children’s Dental Health Project, asked Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew to allow the cost of stand-alone dental coverage to be part of the calculation that determines how large a tax credit a family could receive to help purchase coverage under the health law.

“Adding the cost of a stand-alone pediatric dental plan would raise the premium credit amount for many families, allowing them to afford dental care for their children,” the groups wrote.

While Cardin isn’t optimistic he can make any changes for the enrollment period beginning Oct. 1, he says he may be successful in the future. HHS has promised to monitor how many children receive dental care under the health law, how much they pay for it and how many medical plans include pediatric dental services, he added.

“We’re not going to give up on this issue,” Cardin said, adding that the administration is “on a questionable legal basis, so there may be some challenges, some legal issues here. We’ll see how it unfolds.”

– Provided by Kaiser Health News.

Berlin, Germany (4E) – President Barack Obama on Wednesday dared Russia to agree on further reducing strategic nuclear weapons and defended the U.S. monitoring of domestic calls to Berliners.

Speaking at the Brandenburg Gate at the start of his state visit to Germany, Obama said the U.S. is willing to bring down the number of nuclear weapons to 1,000 from 1,550 as agreed in the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) forged with the Russian Federation in 2010.

Obama also called for the former Cold War foes to reduce the number of tactical nuclear weapons as a step to creating a world of peace and justice.

He assured that the security of the U.S. and its allies will remain even with a reduced nuclear arsenal.

Before the speech at the German landmark, Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel held a joint news conference in which the U.S. leader reassured Germans about the National Security Agency’s program to collect phone logs of calls between Americans and foreigners without a court order.

He said German terrorist threats were among those thwarted by information gathered by the NSA operation, which have caused an uproar after being exposed by one of the agency’s contract employees, Edward Snowden.

Obama did not give details of the foiled threats but Merkel cited the so-called Sauerland cell case as an example. The case involved the arrest, conviction and sentencing of four Islamic militants in 2010 for plotting to attack American targets in Germany.

San Francisco, CA, United States (4E) – Microsoft is in the works to start using a Qualcomm processor for its Surface RT tablets. Current Surface tablets use Nvidia’s Tegra 3 chips. The sudden change is due to Microsoft’s aim to ship the first tablet with mobile broadband, which only a Qualcomm processor can provide so far. The chip features integrated LTE connectivity.

Microsoft VP of Planning and PC Ecosystem Mike Angulo also mentioned in the past that computers may feature mobile broadband.

“And on the ARM side, there is a propensity for a much higher percentage of PCs that are going to ship with mobile broadband [3G/4G],” Angulo stated.

Microsoft wants to manufacture and ship Surface RT tablets with Qualcomm processors as soon as possible. The software giant has made this clear by dropping the price of its 64GB Surface RT with Touch Cover to $99.99. The company has also offered the Surface for an affordable price of $199 to schools.

Microsoft wants the new Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1 software to run on the new processor. Specifically, the new Surface tablets will run the Snapdragon 800 processor.

The company has to come up with innovative ways to compete in the $64 billion tablet market ruled by Google and Apple.

United States (ProPublica) – by Theodoric Meyer

Contractors with the Army Corps of Engineers last month finished pumping more than 1.8 million cubic yards of sand onto the beach in Ocean City, N.J., which had been damaged by Hurricane Sandy.

Using a combination of Sandy aid and funds already earmarked for adding sand to beaches, the federal government picked up $14 million of the roughly $18 million tab. And it’s not the first time Washington has paid to dredge up sand and pump it onto Ocean City’s beaches.

The federal government also helped pay to restore Ocean City’s beaches in 2010, according to data compiled by Western Carolina University’s Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines. And in 2004. And in 2000.

In total, Washington has spent at least $40 million on nine separate efforts to help restore the city’s beaches over the last two decades, according to the data, adding more than 12 million cubic yards of sand.

Beaches are essential to the economies of places like Ocean City. But critics say paying to restore beaches year after year is one of a number of ways the government subsidizes less-than-smart development and rebuilding along coasts that are increasingly vulnerable to flooding and hurricane damage, even as it has discouraged coastal development in other ways.

We’ve taken a closer look at four of these subsidies.

The Stafford Act:

When it comes to coastal subsidies, “the Stafford Act — which allows the president to declare a disaster and pour federal aid into individual states and individual counties — is maybe the biggest problem,” said Robert S. Young, a geology professor at Western Carolina University who directs the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines.

The law, passed in’88, commits the federal government to paying 75 percent of the cost of rebuilding roads, bridges and other infrastructure damaged in a disaster.

But the infrastructure is typically rebuilt in the same way it existed before a storm, Young said. There’s no requirement that the bridges or anything else be rebuilt to withstand the rising seas.

The money often goes to well-off beachfront communities. The classic example, Young said, is Dauphin Island, Ala., a town popular with vacation homeowners from Atlanta and New Orleans. As the New York Times reported last year, the federal government has spent at least $80 million rebuilding the island’s infrastructure since’79. That’s more than $60,000 on each of the community’s 1,300 residents, adjusted for inflation.

National Flood Insurance Program:

The federal government’s flood insurance program, created in’68, offers premiums below market rates for many homeowners. The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America estimated in 2011 the average policyholder paid just half of the “true market-risk rate.”

“The result of that is that there is more development near water than there would be under a totally private market,” said Eli Lehrer, the president of the R Street Institute, a conservative Washington think tank. (The institute is part of a coalition of environmental groups and budget hawks called SmarterSafer.org, which opposes such subsidies.)

The premiums the flood insurance program took in covered what it paid out in claims for a number of years, but the program fell $18 billion into debt after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. Congress voted in January to let it borrow an additional $9.7 billion to help pay claims from Hurricane Sandy, but the program has no way to pay off its debt.

Congress passed legislation last year raising premiums on vacation homes and properties that have flooded repeatedly, but it may be years before the premiums those homeowners pay reflect the risk.

Many of flood maps drawn by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which runs the program, are decades out of date, and that may also subsidize the cost of living in flood-prone areas. When FEMA released new preliminary maps for New York City on Monday, replacing ones from’83, the number of structures in flood zones doubled.

Beach Nourishment:

The federal government has been paying to pump sand onto eroding beaches — commonly known as beach nourishment — for decades.

Keeping beaches from washing away can sustain tourism and the local economy in beachfront towns, said Kate Gooderham, an executive director of the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association, a nonprofit group. (The association spent $80,000 lobbying Congress last year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.) Nourishing a beach, she said, is no different than maintaining “airports, train stations, anything else.”

But the only beaches that erode and need to be nourished are ones with homes and other buildings behind them, Young said. Beaches in Delaware and Virginia that have dodged development haven’t vanished despite rapid erosion — they just move back with the shoreline.

“The beaches are disappearing in front of these oceanfront homes because the oceanfront homes are too close to the ocean, essentially,” Young said. “If the homes weren’t there, there would still be beaches in New Jersey.”

Young and other scientists say that beach nourishment can end up encouraging development in areas vulnerable to flooding and hurricanes. In the’60s, for instance, the Army Corps of Engineers pumped sand onto Carolina Beach, N.C.

“After they nourished the beach, all of a sudden high-rises appeared and the density of development increased tremendously in just a few years,” said Orrin H. Pilkey, an emeritus professor of geology at Duke University and a longtime critic of beach nourishment.

Over the last decade, the Army Corps of Engineers has spent between $125 million and $150 million a year on beach nourishment, said Andrew S. Coburn, associate director of the Program of the Study of Developed Shorelines. (The program’s website has an interactive map showing decades’ worth of nourishment projects in 20 states.)

Communities such as Ocean City have signed agreements with Washington that commit the federal government to help pay to restore their beaches every few years. Coburn estimated that FEMA has spent an additional $25 million to $30 million on beach nourishment a year. (The Army Corps of Engineers did not respond to our requests for comment. FEMA was unable to immediately confirm Coburn’s estimate.)

But the money for beach nourishment included in the Sandy relief bill passed in January will blow those numbers away.

Coburn estimated that the $50.7 billion bill contains $3.5 billion for pumping sand onto beaches. “That is more money than has been spent of nourishment from every source that we can identify from the history of nourishing in the United States,” he said.

Of course, there’s no question that communities like Ocean City would be hurt if the federal government cut back on beach nourishment, unless state governments pick up the tab. “We’re a resort, seashore town,” said Michael Allegretto, Ocean City’s City Council president. “If we didn’t have our beach, the town would be in trouble.”

Casualty Loss Deduction:

Many beachfront homes are investment properties owned by individuals or companies that rent them out. The Internal Revenue Service allows owners to deduct losses that aren’t covered by FEMA or their insurance. While the deduction can ease the burden on taxpayers who have suffered storm damage, it can also function as subsidy for building or rebuilding homes that have been repeatedly damaged.

“When a storm destroys that house, if the folks don’t get all the money back in insurance, they can write those losses off on their taxes,” Young said. “And they can amortize those losses over a number of years.”

– Provided by ProPublica.org

Seoul, South Korea (4E) – After the disappointing reception of its Facebook Home software on HTC’s First smartphone, Facebook chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg is looking elsewhere for a new partner. Zuckerberg traveled to South Korea and met with Samsung President Shin Jong Kyun to discuss a possible partnership in the future.

Facebook Home also made its debut on selected Samsung smartphones, but none where pushed as hard as the HTC First. Facebook Home is designed to make users browse their profiles easier and faster. A device running Facebook Home will update statuses, photos, and messages on the smartphone’s home screen.

Facebook’s intention of pushing its software on Samsung smartphones is a smart move. Samsung is the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer. Most Android users are using Samsung instead of HTC smartphones.

Facebook is looking to generate more ad revenue from mobile devices since more and more users browse the Internet using their mobile devices. Zuckerberg wants to capitalize on that.

Zuckerberg also met with South Korea President Park Geun Hye to discuss technology startups.

Zuckerberg and Shin Jong Kyun have remained mum on their recent meeting.

Washington, United States (4E) – Taliban on Tuesday announced the opening of its office in Qatar to start peace talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s administration – a move greatly welcomed by Obama administration.

The announcement came just hours after U.S. troops faced another wave of deadly violence when insurgents killed four of its troops at the Bagram air base, north of Kabul. It also came at a time when NATO was transferring the country’s security to Karzai’s forces formally.

Last year, Taliban discontinued truce talks with Kabul and Washington, but now its spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said that the group’s office was keen “to start a dialog between the Taliban and the world.”

U.S. President Barack Obama welcomed the talks, describing it as significant first step towards peace but cautioned that truce is still a long road ahead.

“An Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process is the best way to end the violence and to ensure lasting stability in Afghanistan and the region,” Obama said on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Northern Ireland.

The president stated that Taliban could move forward towards peace only when it renounces its ties with terrorist group al- Qaeda and commit to protect women and minorities.

Washington, DC, United States (4E) – United States Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday named former Democratic Senator Russ Feingold as the new special envoy for the Africa’s Great Lakes region and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Describing Feingold as Senate’s “leading advocate and expert” on Africa, Kerry said that his experience would help them get a lasting peace in the long troubled region.

“We are convinced that we have to help the parties find a path to a lasting peace to a permanent cessation of hostilities and to the disarmament and demobilization of M23, accountability for human rights abuses and finally a breaking down of the barriers that are standing between humanitarian aid and the civilians who need it,” the secretary told reporters.

Manila, Philippines (4E) – A lawmaker is accusing some Philippine officials abroad of forcing distressed Filipina workers in the Middle East to engage in sex work.

House Committee on Overseas Workers Chairman Walden Bello, who carried out an investigation, revealed the allegations against Philippine officials in Jordan on Tuesday.

Bello said he discovered that some Filipino women who are runaways in Jordan end up as prostitutes.

The alleged culprits are some Philippine officials in Jordan who are supposedly pimping the women for $1,000 or 300 dirhams per night.

Under a so-called “sex-for-flight” scheme, distressed Filipina migrant workers are also allegedly forced to have sex with some embassy and labor officials in exchange for a return ticket to the Philippines.

Tokyo, Japan (4E) – Japan’s exports surged in May to its highest level since 2010 as the yen weakened, the latest sign that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s plan to boost the economy is gaining traction.

The Finance Ministry said on Wednesday in Tokyo that exports climbed 10.1 percent in May from a year ago. A survey of 29 economists by Bloomberg News called for a 6.4 percent increase. The report also showed that shipments to neighboring China are bouncing back after falling in 2012 following a territorial dispute between the two nations.

Monthly trade figures are used as gauge of Mr Abe’s success in increasing exports by backing a policy that weakens the yen. A weaker currency improves the competitiveness of Japanese goods abroad by making them cheaper, while improving earnings in yen terms.

Exports rose in Japan’s key markets like in the U.S., where shipments gained 16.3 percent from the previous year, and China, where shipments grew 8.3 percent.

Data also showed that imports rose by 10 percent in May from a year earlier, resulting to a trade deficit of 993.9bn yen ($10.4bn), the 11th consecutive month of deficit, as energy import costs continue to rise after nuclear plants were shut down following the tsunami disaster.

Washington, United States (4E) – In another attempt to defend the secret Internet surveillance program that sparked international criticism, the National Security Agency’s (NSA) Director Army General Keith Alexander said that the two programs helped them foil more than 50 terrorist plots against the U.S. and its allies.

“In recent years, these programs, together with other intelligence, have protected the U.S. and our allies from terrorist threats across the globe to include helping prevent the terrorist — the potential terrorist events over 50 times since 9/ 11,” he claimed.

Alexander, who is also Commander of U.S. Cyber Command, made his remarks to members of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee.

“Let me start by saying that I would much rather be here today debating this point than trying to explain how we failed to prevent another 9/11,” said Alexander.

In one of the plots, extremists plotted to blow up the New York Stock Exchange, he stated. He further pointed out that 9/11 attacks happened because of the government’s failure to connect the dots, some of which were already present at that time.

During hearing on Tuesday, Alexander disclosed details of previously undisclosed plot to New York Stock Exchange in presence of FBI and Office of the Director of National Intelligence officials.

Los Angeles, CA, United States (4E) – Actress Selma Blair is not returning to the set of “Anger Management” after her alleged spat with co-actor Charlie Sheen, Lionsgate Television confirmed Tuesday.

In a statement, the company said, “We are confirming that Selma Blair will not be returning to ‘Anger Management’ and we wish her the very best.”

News of Blair’s leaving emerges a day after TMZ ran a story that Sheen fired Blair over the weekend after the actress allegedly complained to the show’s creators that her co-actor was “a menace to work with,” citing his tardiness and “shoddy work ethic.”

The show has declined in ratings after its first season. Given a 90-episode order for its second season, “Anger Management” still has to produce 60 episodes to fulfill the contract.

While sources say that a new series regular will be added to the show’s cast, a name is yet to come up.

Los Angeles, CA, United States (4E) – Singer Rihanna appears to have beaten pop sensation Justin Bieber with regards to popularity in YouTube, with her 77 videos gathering millions of views more than Bieber’s 79 videos.

As of Tuesday, Rihanna’s 77 videos have a total of around 3.78 billion views, having two million views more than all of Bieber’s videos’ total view count.

What’s more is that Rihanna’s official YouTube channel has over 8.73 million subscribers, almost a hundred percent more than Bieber’s 4.9 million.

Is the young Canadian star’s popularity on the downward slope? On Facebook, Bieber’s official page has over 72.3 million likes while Bieber’s page has gathered around 54.3 million.

The “Beauty and the Beat” singer, however, still holds a better stature on Twitter, having over 40.6 million followers, against Rihanna’s 30 million followers.

Los Angeles, CA, United States (4E) – In Katy Perry’s first ever stint as a Vogue cover girl, she revealed some surprising and tender details about her relationships with exes Russell Brand and John Mayer.

In an interview, Perry said, “He’s a very smart man, and I was in love with him when I married him. Let’s just say I haven’t heard from him since he texted me saying he was divorcing me December 31, 2011.”

She described Brand as “hysterical in some ways […] until he started making jokes about me and he didn’t know I was in the audience, because I had come to surprise him at one of his shows. So. Hysterical to a point. I mean, I have to claim my own responsibility in things.”

So, after 14 months of being married, Perry and Brand called it quits and got a divorce. “At first when I met him he wanted an equal, and I think a lot of times strong men do want an equal, but …they …can’t handle the equalness. He didn’t like the atmosphere of me being the boss on tour…I let go and I was like: This isn’t because of me; this is beyond me.”

Six months after the couple filed for separation in December 2011, with Brand citing irreconcilable differences as he reason for their split, their marriage was officially dissolved only in July last year.

Now, Perry was asked regarding his relationship with musician John Mayer. She was mum on their relationship at the time, but during the interview he said, “I was madly in love with him. I still am madly in love with him.”

She did not say much, but added, “All I can say about that relationship is that he’s got a beautiful mind. Beautiful mind, tortured soul. I do have to figure out why I am attracted to these broken birds.”

The 28-year-old singer admitted that she is currently single, but has not lost all hope in love. She said, “I’m not in a relationship, I’m just on my own—I am myself in my own bed. I have to be happy being alone, and I am happy. I believe that I will be loved again, in the right way. I know I’m worth it.”

“This is like my main page here,” says Porter, who lost 42 pounds in nine months. “It’s telling me I have about 1,200 calories remaining for the day. When I want to record something I just click the ‘add to diary’ button. I’m on it all day either through my phone or through the computer.”

Health apps such as My Fitness Pal are turning smartphones and tablets into exercise aides, blood pressure monitors and devices that transmit an EKG. And the day is not far off when doctors may be suggesting apps along with prescribing drugs to help patients manage their health. But the explosion of apps is way ahead of tests to determine which ones work.

Porter heard about the app from Ryan Sherman, her health coach at a clinic for employees of Massachusetts General Hospital. Sherman helps clients turn a doctor’s orders into a user friendly action plan for keeping high blood pressure or sugar levels in check.

Increasingly, says Sherman, patients with diabetes or heart problems are coming in, pulling out their phones, and saying hey, have you seen this app?

“There’s a new one every day, so it’s trying to keep up with that,” Sherman says.

Which is one reason why many doctors are suggesting, but not prescribing apps. Doctors aren’t sure which of the roughly 40,000 available apps do what they claim to do. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration divides health apps into two categories: those that help with healthy lifestyles and those that turn your phone into a medical device to, say, record blood pressure or an EKG, and then send those readings to a doctor.

The FDA is revising regulations for apps in the medical device category. It does not plan to regulate diet or exercise apps. A few private companies are stepping in to do that task. Ben Chodor started Happtique, a company that reviews apps and gives those are at least perform correctly, a seal of approval.

“It’s the Wild West and someone needs to come in and at least help the consumers and the clinicians and the payers sort through the 40,000-plus apps that are already out there,” says Chodor.

Happtique will not say which apps work better than others or guarantee their safety. Still, some doctors say apps that work are transforming medicine. Dr. Eric Topol, the chief academic officer at Scripps Health in San Diego, says apps that monitor blood pressure or glucose rates can be more valuable than prescriptions to keep these conditions in check.

“When we use a medication we don’t know if it’s going to work or not. It’s much better when a person’s taking their blood pressure on a frequent basis,” says Topol.

Some apps work with another device, such as when a person wears a blood pressure monitor tha transmits the data to the person’s phone. “The average person looks at their smart phone 150 times a day,” says Topol. “All of a sudden, they’re able to diagnose if their blood pressure’s adequately controlled and what are the circumstances when it’s not.”

Topol says apps that control blood pressure will help prevent strokes and heart attacks and may mean doctors should prescribe phones and tablets in addition to apps. But Dr. Laura Ferris at the University of Pittsburgh, urges patients to use apps cautiously.

“It does make sense that people who download these apps and use them really understand that they are doing so at their own risk,” says Ferris.

Ferris ran a study of apps that claim to detect cancer based on a picture of a mole. Only one of the apps sends the picture of your suspicious mole to a dermatologist. It was right 98 percent of the time.

Three others, says Ferris, could be dangerously wrong: “The best of them missed melanoma 30 percent of the time. The worst of them missed melanoma over 90 percent of the time.”

Despite the growing interest in medical apps, there are many unresolved questions about their use: Should all the information patients collect become part of their medical record and how? Who in the doctor’s office analyzes patients’ numbers? Will insurers cover the cost of apps?

Dr. Ben Crocker, at the Mass General clinic that is testing a few apps, says those are questions doctors will have to answer.

“This is what’s engaging patients,” says Crocker. “Patients are coming to their doc for the first time saying, ‘I’ve been collecting some information or I’ve been using this application.’ And that, I think we can’t ignore no matter where this is taking us, no matter how Wild West it feels.”

This story is part of a partnership that includes WBUR, NPR, and Kaiser Health News.

– Provided by Kaiser Health News.