Australia beats Germany in Hopman Cup after Petkovic retires; Spain outlasts South Africa

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PERTH, Australia ? Australia beat Germany 3-0 in the Hopman Cup mixed team competition Saturday after Andrea Petkovic had to retire from her singles match with a right knee injury.

Bernard Tomic had given Australia a 1-0 lead with by beating Tommy Haas 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-5, but Petkovic looked likely to force the series into a decisive mixed doubles when she won the first set 6-4 against 16-year old Ashleigh Barty. However, she called for treatment and was in tears as her right knee was bandaged.

Spain clinched a 2-1 victory over South Africa after winning the mixed doubles 6-4, 6-7 (3), 10-8.

Kevin Anderson had given South Africa the lead by beating Fernando Verdasco 7-6 (5), 6-4, before Annabel Medina Garrigues evened the contest with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Chanelle Scheepers. The Spanish duo then outlasted the South Africans in the Champions tiebreaker of the doubles match.

Earlier, Tomic hit 14 aces to overcome his more experienced opponent. Haas led the first set tiebreaker 6-1 before Tomic swept the next seven points. A forehand error at 4-3 gave Haas the only break of the second set, and the German broke again early in the third. But Tomic leveled at 5-5 and broke again before clinching the win on his third match point.

"It was a very tough first set and my first to play for a few months," Tomic said after claiming his first victory since September. "It was difficult to play Tommy. He played really well at the beginning of the tiebreak and I don't know how I got out of that."

South Africa's Anderson held two set points at 5-4 in his the first set of his singles match but made errors on both before winning the tiebreaker. The South African then broke at 4-4 in the second before serving out the match.

Scheepers maintained the pressure in the second set as Medina Garrigues faced eight break points. However, the Spaniard broke for 3-1, fought off five break points to hold for 5-2 and broke serve again when she converted her second match point.

"I was a little bit lucky," Medina Garrigues said. "The doubles was also tough, one and a half hours, but Fernando was playing good and now we have to recover (to face France) tomorrow."

Source: http://www.dailyjournal.net/view/story/0c7eeeb633864dd49dd3359c7cc5533b/TEN-Hopman-Cup/

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Russian FM says Assad won't go

MOSCOW (AP) ? Russia's foreign minister said Saturday that Syrian President Bashar Assad has no intention of stepping down and it would be impossible to try to persuade him otherwise.

After a meeting with Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N.'s envoy for the Syrian crisis, Lavrov also said that the Syrian opposition risks sacrificing many more lives if it continues to insist on Assad leaving office as a precondition for holding talks on Syria's future.

Assad "has repeatedly said publicly and privately, including in his meeting with Lakhdar Brahimi in Damascus not long ago, that he does not intend to leave for anywhere, that he will stay to the end in his post, that he will, as he expressed it, defend the Syrian people, Syrian sovereignty and so forth," Lavrov said. "There's no possibility to change this position."

Brahimi warned that the country's civil war could plunge the entire region into chaos by sending hundreds of thousands of refugees into neighboring nations, but his talks in Moscow produced no sign of progress toward settling the crisis.

Brahimi and Lavrov both said after their meeting that the 21-month-old Syrian conflict can only be settled through talks, while admitting that the parties in the conflict have shown no desire for compromise. Neither official hinted at a possible solution that would persuade the Syrian government and the opposition to agree to a ceasefire and sit down for talks about a political transition.

Brahimi, who arrived in Moscow on a one-day trip following his talks in Damascus with Assad this week, voiced concern about the escalation of the conflict, which he said is becoming "more and more sectarian."

The envoy warned that "if you have a panic in Damascus and if you have 1 million people leaving Damascus in a panic, they can go to only two places ? Lebanon and Jordan," and those countries may not be able to endure half a million refugees each.

Brahimi said that "if the only alternative is really hell or a political process, then we have got all of us to work ceaselessly for a political process."

Russia has been the main supporter of Assad's regime since the uprising began in March 2011, using its veto at the U.N. Security Council along with China to shield its last Mideast ally from international sanctions.

Lavrov said Russia would continue to oppose any U.N. resolution that would call for international sanctions against Assad and open the way for a foreign intervention in Syria. And while he again emphasized that Russia "isn't holding onto Bashar Assad," he added that Moscow continues to believe the opposition demand for his resignation as a precondition for peace talks is "counterproductive."

"The price for that precondition will be the loss of more Syrian lives," Lavrov said.

Both Brahimi and Lavrov insisted that efforts to end the civil war must be based on a peace plan that was approved at an international conference in Geneva in June.

The Geneva plan calls for an open-ended cease-fire, a transitional government to run the country until elections, and the drafting of a new constitution. But it was a non-starter with the opposition because of Russia's insistence that the plan leave the door open for Assad being part of the transition process and the fact that it didn't mention possible U.N. sanctions.

Brahimi said that while some "little adjustments" could be made to the original plan, "it's a valued basis for reasonable political process."

With the opposition offensive gaining momentum in Syria, there is little hope that the initiative would have any more chance of success than it had when it was approved.

Lavrov has said that Moscow is ready to talk to the main Syrian opposition group, even though it had earlier criticized the United States and other Western nations for recognizing the Syrian National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary Forces as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people.

On Friday, coalition leader Mouaz al-Khatib rejected the Russian invitation for talks and urged Moscow to support the opposition's call for Assad's ouster. Lavrov said Saturday that al-Khatib's statement was surprising after his earlier contacts with Russian diplomats in Egypt during which the opposition tentatively agreed on a meeting in a third country.

Lavrov said the coalition leader should "realize it would be in his own interests to hear our analysis directly from us."

Lavrov rejected the opposition claim that Russia's continuing weapons supplies to Assad's regime make it responsible for mass killings in Syria, saying that Moscow bears no responsibility for the Soviet-era weapons in Syrian arsenals. He said that defensive weapons such as anti-aircraft missiles that Russia has continued to supply to Damascus couldn't be used in the civil war.

"We aren't providing the Syrian regime with any offensive weapons or weapons that could be used in a civil war," Lavrov said. "And we have no leverage over what the regime has got since the Soviet times."

Georgy Mirsky, a leading Mideast expert with the Institute for World Economy and International Relations, a top foreign policy think tank, said President Vladimir Putin's stand on Syria is rooted in fear that joining international calls for Assad's resignation would make him look weak at home.

"It would look like an inadmissible concession to America, a virtual surrender. The Kremlin would lose its face, look like a loser," said Mirsky.

He wrote in his blog that Putin is resigned to Assad's eventual collapse and the loss of any Russian influence in a future Syria, but firmly opposes international sanctions. That stand allows Putin to tell his domestic audience that Russia has defended its ally until the end against overwhelming odds, said Mirsky.

__

Jim Heintz contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russian-fm-says-assad-wont-181145992.html

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ReadWrite ? FISA Fail: Senate To Keep Spying On Citizens

In a blow to civil rights, and seemingly the Fourth Amendment, the Senate this morning voted to approve a bill that reauthorizes a foreign surveillance program that keeps tabs on peoples' emails and phone conversations, all without a warrant. While the whole country waits on pins and needles for the Fiscal Cliff to fall out from under us, this could be even more important, as our freedom of liberty is truly threatened, all in the name of national security.?

It's called FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and it's set up to allow the monitoring of U.S. citizens who speak with foreigners.?The vote extends the life of the bill for the next five years.?Since the House already gave the bill the thumbs up, it now goes to the President to get his seal of approval, which he is expected to sign.?

The problem is this basically gives the U.S. government carte blanche in spy-mode when it comes to eavesdropping on the communications of suspected terrorists. They don't need court approval now. They can just listen on the pretense that it makes our country safer from a possible terrorist attack. Of course, determining just who is a foreigner and figuring out their real or perceived "threat" to America is another problem in and of itself. On top of that, it's a lot of leeway and freedom for law enforcement and the government to listen in on the often mundane conversations between its citizens.?

Road Blocks And Detours

There's been some very real criticism of FISA, and it's even crossed normally staunch party lines.

The biggest detractors to the bill were Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Rand Paul (R-KY), all of whom wanted to protect the rights of people being unfairly monitored.

During the discussion session, Wyden point-blank asked if any U.S.-based email or phone communications were picked up by the government during surveillance of foreign targets to which?Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) replied that those incidences were "few" and "inadvertent." In other words, yes, it has happened.

They proposed amendments to?extend the bill for three years instead of five, declassify FISA court opinions, and clarify that the Fourth Amendment protects U.S. citizens from intelligence-related searches done overseas. All three amendments were shot down.

Here's a full video of Wyden's impassioned yet failed attempt to sway the Senate:

Now What

Marc Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, (EPIC), calls this a missed opportunity by the Senate to establish safeguards to Fourth Amendment rights and create much needed government accountability. Earlier this year, Rotenberg testified before a House judiciary Committee on this very issue. Yet the House didn't heed his words and voted the same way the Senate did today.

With the heavy risk of misuse and abuse, Rotenberg?calls FISA one of the biggest failures of Internet security, right there with?the Patriot Act.

"It's a very broad authority," he said. "Our view has been when you create broad authority for the government, you need to create counter oversight."?

Jim Fenton, the chief security officer at the digital identity company?OneID, has worked with intelligence agencies before. He says his experience included professionalism and good intentions, but warned that a lack of transparency with FISA, and rules that legislatures are confused with does not bode well for public perception of those groups.

"The government's lack of transparency about surveillance doesn't inspire trust," he said. "We should be working to differentiate ourselves from countries who aren't as free in terms of surveillance of its citizens."

That sentiment is shared online. In a post today by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Trevor Timm?called Congress disgraceful.

"This vote was nothing less than abdication by Congress as its role as watchdog over Executive power, and a failure of its indepedent obligation to protect the Bill of Rights," Timm wrote. "The FISA Amendments Act and the ongoing warrantless spying on Americans has been, and will continue to be, a blight on our nation and our Constitution.?

So, where does this leave us now??

With the battle in Congress over, and the President expected to sign, the spotlight turns to the Supreme Court. In the next few months, the highest court in the land will pen an opinion on a case that highlights the problems with FISA:?Clapper Vs. Amnesty International, the ACLU's challenge to FISA, which will determine whether citizens will have the ability to sue the government in cases of unlawful surveillance under FISA. The opinion is expected by summer 2013 and will set a precedent if people can go to court to bring these challenges.

"We've got out fingers crossed," Rotenberg said. "There has to be more public accountability."

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

Source: http://readwrite.com/2012/12/28/fisa-fail-senate-to-keep-spying-on-citizens

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Jeff Hindenach: Top Online Security Threats of 2013 - RedlionTrader

Next year will be the year of the mobile security threat, according to Internet security software giant McAfee, based on the predictions report it released today of the leading security threats expected in 2013. With online technology rapidly moving from computers to the palms of our hands, cybercriminals and hackers are evolving their methods to fit the times. Whether it?s the new Windows 8 OS or the trendy HTML5 browser language, cybercriminals will be stepping up their game in 2013 to capitalize on the newest technology.

So what can consumer expect to see in the way of cyber threats in 2013? We read through the report and focused on some of the biggest threats you should look out for in 2013, and what you can do to protect yourself.

Mobile threats will increase.
?Mobile threats are starting to increase as we get closer to 2013,? McAfee Threat Researcher Ryan Sherstobitoff pointed out. McAfee predicts that both OS X and Android will be big targets in the mobile world in 2013.

There are a number of different attacks that mobile users need to be weary of in the coming year. This includes mobile worms on your phone that buy malicious apps so that the creators of the malware will profit, as well as ransomware kits that allow criminals without programming skills to extort payments from you. To help protect yourself, it is important to make sure that your phone?s operating system is always up-to-date, as well as installing mobile-specific Internet security software on your phone. One of the more worrisome mobile threats that will be increasing in 2013 is malware that blocks security updates to your phone, leaving it vulnerable to known malware that it should be blocking. This malware is more common in smartphones that have been ?rooted? or ?unlocked? since those phones generally don?t receive software updates from providers, so try to avoid using a phone that?s been rooted or unlocked.

Windows 8 is the next big target.
Windows 8 is a cash cow for cyber criminals, so even though the new Windows 8 is more secure, they will figure out a way around the increased security so they can reap the rewards, according to McAfee. They predict that the most popular ways criminals will attack is by phishing and other techniques that will either trick users into revealing information or install malicious programs on the user?s computer. This means that if you do upgrade to Windows 8, do not solely rely on the operating system to keep you safe. Always make sure that your Internet security software is up-to-date as well as all of your programs.

?Big-Scale? attacks on businesses will be a focus.
?Hacktivism? from groups such as Anonymous have been popular in 2012, but McAfee predicts that such attacks will only grow in 2013. Even those hackers not interested in hacktivism have started attacking companies for the soul purpose of causing as much havoc as possible. And it doesn?t help that the technical aspect of hacking a company is so easy for hackers.

?If attackers can install destructive malware on a large number of machines, then the result can be devastating,? the report explains.

Most of these hackers are experts at what they do, so while making sure you have the right security measures in place is a smart move, in these instances, the best way to help protect yourself and your users is to make sure all of your data is backed up off-site. It would be a good idea for users and businesses to look into an online backup service that incrementally backs up their system, so if an attack were to occur, all important data will still be safe.

HTML5 will become a new challenge for hackers.
HTML5 has become the new darling of the standard language of Internet browsers. McAfee reports that 75 percent of users in North America and 83 percent in Europe use a browser that supports HTML5. With this new technology comes new challenges for cybercriminals. Original HTML relied on plug-ins that hackers used to exploit browsers. HTML5 doesn?t rely on plug-ins, making those types of malware obsolete. The hackers? new focus will be on the added functionality of HTML5, which creates a larger attack surface for hackers.

?Powerful JavaScript APIs that allow device access will expose the browser as websites gain direct access to hardware,? the report explains.

Other threats to watch out for.
Other threats that will increase in 2013 include the Citadel Trojan, which is based off the Trojan horse Zeus that steals banking information, and can now better target specific victims or groups of victims. Another threat on the rise will be ?Snowshoe Spam.? Though these annoying marketing campaigns that send hundreds of spam messages aren?t malicious like the other threats discussed in the report, they have been increasing over the past two years and are ?currently one of the biggest problems in the spam world,? write McAfee researchers.

While this list includes some of the top security threats expected in 2013, it obviously can?t predict every piece of new malware to watch out for, so it?s always a good idea to make sure your computer has the most up-to-date operating system, you computer is backed up and you have an updated version of Internet security software on your computer to help protect against any security threats that might pop up.

Source: http://www.redliontrader.com/streamingnews/jeff-hindenach-top-online-security-threats-of-2013-and-how-you-can-protect-yourself/

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Starvation didn't wipe out saber-toothed cats

Saber-toothed cats apparently did not go extinct for lack of prey, contradicting a popular explanation for why they died off, fossil evidence now suggests.

Even near their extinction, saber-toothed cats likely had enough to eat, researchers noted.

Saber-toothed cats, American lions, woolly mammoths and other giant creatures once roamed across the American landscape. However, at the end of the late Pleistocene about 12,000 years ago, these "megafauna" went extinct, a die-off called the Quaternary extinction.

"The popular theory for the megafaunal extinction is that either the changing climate at the end of the last ice age or human activity, or some combination of the two, killed off most of the large mammals," said researcher Larisa DeSantis, a vertebrate paleontologist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

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"In the case of the great cats, we expect that it would have been increasingly difficult for them to find prey, especially if had to compete with humans. We know that when food becomes scarce, carnivores like the great cats tend to consume more of the carcasses they kill. If they spent more time chomping on bones, it should cause detectable changes in the wear patterns on their teeth."

Tale of the teeth
To learn more about saber-toothed diets, the researchers analyzed the fossil teeth of 15 saber-toothed cats (Smilodon fatalis) and 15 American lions (Panthera atrox) recovered from the La Brea tar pits in Los Angeles. These specimens ranged from about 11,500 to 35,000 years in age.

To study the fossils, the scientists used dental microwear texture analysis, developed by anthropologist Peter Ungar at the University of Arkansas. This involves using generating three-dimensional images of a tooth's surface. The image is then analyzed for microscopic grooves ? devouring red meat produces small parallel scratches, while biting on bones lead to larger, deeper pits.

The investigation found the pattern of wear on the teeth of the saber-toothed cat most closely resembled those of present-day African lions, which sometimes crush bone when they eat. The wear pattern on American lion teeth, on the other hand, echoed that of the present-day cheetah, which deliberately avoids bones when it feeds. [ Photos: A Lion's Life ]

Analysis of both older fossils and more recent ones did not reveal any evidence that patterns of wear changed over time, and none had extreme microwear like living hyenas, which consume entire carcasses, bones included. This suggests that prey for these carnivores was not scarce ? the animals were not gnawing their victims to the bone.

"Tooth wear patterns suggest that these cats were not desperately consuming entire carcasses, as was expected, and instead seemed to be living the 'good life' during the late Pleistocene, at least up until the very end," DeSantis said.

Big predator extinction
Past research of teeth from American lions, saber-tooth cats, dire wolves and coyotes from La Brea revealed they experienced three times the number of broken teeth of contemporary predators, hinting that these species were having trouble finding prey and were thus urgently devouring or "processing" whole carcasses. This led scientists to suspect that climate change and human competition were making life tough for the big predators.

Instead, DeSantis and her colleagues argue this high rate of damage seen in teeth more likely resulted during capture of prey instead of feeding on carcasses.

"We expected extinct carnivores to show evidence for extreme bone processing, based on the high number of broken teeth determined from prior research. Finding the complete opposite pattern was shocking!" DeSantis said.

The researchers noted that saber-toothed cats were about the size of today's African lion, while the American lion was about 25 percent larger. They fed on giants such as mammoths and four-ton giant ground sloths. The fact these ancient carnivores and their prey were bigger than contemporary predators and their victims could help explain why the extinct cats had more broken teeth than their living brethren, the investigators said. . [ Gallery: Today's Threatened Mammals ]

Specifically, larger teeth break more easily than smaller teeth, so larger carnivores may be likely to break more teeth when attempting to take down larger prey. The researchers noted past studies that found the canines of a predator the size of fox can support more than seven times the fox's weight before breaking, while a carnivore the size of lion can only support about four times its weight and the curved teeth of saber-toothed cats could only support about twice the animal's weight.

"The net result of our study is to raise questions about the reigning hypothesis that 'tough times' during the late Pleistocene contributed to the gradual extinction of large carnivores," DeSantis said. "While we can not determine the exact cause of their demise, it is unlikely that the extinction of these cats was a result of gradually declining prey."

Currently, the scientists are examining other carnivores at the La Brea tar pits, "including the extinct giant short-faced bear and the extant mountain lion that is found both during the Pleistocene at La Brea and in southern California and elsewhere today," DeSantis told LiveScience.

"Essentially, we are trying to clarify the biology and diets of these carnivores during the past to further evaluate why the short-faced bear went extinct and, potentially, why the mountain lion did not."

DeSantis and Ungar, with their colleagues Blaine Schubert and Jessica Scott, detailed their findings online Dec. 26 in the journal PLOS ONE.

Follow LiveScience on Twitter@livescience. We're also on Facebook & Google+.

? 2012 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50313487/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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