Matthew McConaughey Engaged To Camila Alves

Couple have two children together and have been dating since 2006.
By Jocelyn Vena

Camila Alves and Matthew McConaughey
Photo: Joe Scarnici/Getty Images

Two kids and nearly six years later, Matthew McConaughey popped the question to his longtime lady love, model Camila Alves, over the holiday weekend. Her answer? A big yes! The actor confirmed the engagement on Twitter.

"Just asked camila to marry me, merry Christmas," he tweeted on Christmas Day, also posting a photo of him and Alves kissing next to Christmas decorations. The couple have a 3-year-old son, Levi, and a daughter, Vida, who turns 2 next month.

In the March issue of Esquire, the actor gushed about his bride-to-be. "Before this, I had a super home in the Hollywood Hills that I did by myself — landscaping, detailing pretty much everything. But that house was mine. And yeah, we coulda gone in there right away. Camila would have said, 'Fine, don't change a thing.' But I thought, 'I found the woman I wanna do it with, the woman I wanna make a family with, hopefully live our life out together.' She needs to have 50 percent of that," he said. "I mean, it's a lot easier for me to be at 100 percent. I'd always been 100 percent. It's braver for me at 50 percent."

In September 2008, McConaughey opened up to People about Alves, calling her "the love of my life." The two began dating in 2006. "I always wanted to be a father and thought it would be great, but it just took the right woman and the right time to make it all happen," he said. "We're a family now. I see the future and it's clearer to me now. Walking around with this cool responsibility all the time, it's a wonderful thing."

Share your well-wishes with the newly engaged couple in the comments below!

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1676469/matthew-mcconaughey-engaged-camila-alves.jhtml

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GG and MacKay spend Christmas with troops in Afghanistan

By QMI Agency

Posted 7 hours ago

Canadian troops and civilians serving overseas got a special Christmas visit from a white-haired man.

Governor General David Johnston travelled to Italy and Afghanistan over Christmas to personally thank our representatives abroad.

He was joined by Defence Minister Peter MacKay, Liberal Leader Bob Rae and Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Walt Natynczyk,

"It was a privilege to extend my heartfelt gratitude and support to the Canadian men and women in uniform, and the many diplomats, aid specialists and police officers deployed abroad, who are committed to making parts of the world a safer and better place," Johnston said. "The sacrifice of troops and civilians who are away from their families and friends at this time of the year is tremendous, and I wish them the best of luck in the completion of their missions."

In Rome, the GG met with troops on the HMCS Vancouver and acknowledged their efforts in the NATO-led mission in Libya that led to that country's liberation in October.

After attending the state funeral of Vaclav Havel, former president of the Czech Republic, Johnston went on to Kabul, where he met with the Afghan president Hamid Karzai.

He later stopped in at the Armed Forces Academy of Medical Sciences, where Canadian Forces medical personnel are mentoring Afghan medical staff. Then he visited with troops at Camp Alamo, Camp Blackhorse and Canada House, where Canadian performers put on a Christmas concert.

Canada ended its 10-year combat mission in Afghanistan earlier this year, but Canadian troops are still in the country in a training capacity until 2014.

"And we are continuing to provide essential development programming in the areas of health and education, humanitarian assistance, as well as promoting regional diplomacy," said Rae.

"All Canadians should be proud of the work they are doing as we continue our efforts to bring peace, stability and hope to a troubled region of the world."

MacKay, in his message to the troops, lauded their hard work in Afghanistan as well as many other accomplishments of the past year:

"You supported the Jamaica Defence Force by assisting with their search-and-rescue capability during the hurricane season, contributed to peace in the Middle East, Africa and Europe, and saved hundreds of lives during this year's wildfires and floods that damaged many Canadian communities," he said.

"Your country knows how very special your work is to Canada's security and prosperity."

MacKay also met with his counterparts in both countries, Minister Giampaolo Di Paola of Italy and Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak of Afghanistan.

Source: http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3416715

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Arab League observers head to Syria's war-ravaged Homs

A day after reports of heavy fighting and dozens killed in Homs, Arab League observers are heading to the city as a part of an effort to end the fighting in Syria.

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A day after reports of dozens killed in the restive Syrian city of Homs, Arab League monitors are now headed there for the first time.

The monitors arrived in Syria on Monday as part of an Arab League deal to see if Syrian government forces are relenting in their crackdown on protesters, as promised. Since the uprising began in mid-March, the nation has remained virtually shut off from outsiders, with foreign press and international observers?obtaining only the most limited access to the country.

The Arab League monitors are a step towards shining more light on the uprising, but it remains unclear if they will have any practical impact. The observers say the Syrian government has so far proved "very cooperative," but it is uncertain if they will get a complete picture of the violence.

?I am going to Homs. (Until) now, they have been very cooperative,? Gen. Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, the head of the Arab League monitoring mission, was quoted by Iran's Press TV as saying.

The mission, which will eventually number 200 observers, will be divided into groups of ten and sent around the country to verify that Syrian forces are complying with the agreement they made to stop violence, release detainees, and remove armed forces from urban areas, reports Xinhua. Gen. Dabi told reporters that his team has not faced any restrictions so far. In addition to Homs, the monitors are expected to visit Damascus, Hama, Idlib, and other cities.

Still, the BBC reports that while Syrian officials have appeared compliant, there are already allegations of a cover-up.

?In advance of the observers' arrival, activists accused the authorities of moving detainees onto military bases - where the observers are not allowed to go - and also of removing hundreds of bodies of killed protesters from the morgue at Homs,? said the BBC?s Jim Muir.

In the Homs neighborhood of Baba Amr, activists told reporters and human rights organizations that Syrian forces pulled 11 tanks from the area and hid others ahead of the Arab monitors? arrival, reports Reuters. Yesterday at least 34 people were reported killed there. The neighborhood reportedly took fire from tanks, mortars, and heavy machine guns.

Opposition leader Burhan Ghalioun, head of the Syrian National Council, said that while the Arab League monitors are allowed in Homs, authorities have placed limitations on where they are able to go, Al Jazeera reports. To truly enforce the Arab peace plan, he said the Arab League must receive the support and cooperation of the United Nations.

?The plan to defuse the crisis is a good plan, but I do not believe the Arab League really has the means [to enforce it],? he said. ?It is better if the UN Security Council takes this plan, adopts it and provides the means for its application.?

Since the uprising began in mid-March, the UN estimates that more than 5,000 people have died in the violence, Bloomberg reports. Violence intensified when soldiers began defecting from the Syrian army to side with protesters. The Syrian government has blamed the violence on foreign agents who?ve entered the country and are carrying out terrorist operations, reports Bloomberg.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/T9X_K6pzisI/Arab-League-observers-head-to-Syria-s-war-ravaged-Homs

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2011 review: The year in technology

It's been an astonishing year, packed with technological wizardry. A computer has bested the top human minds on the Jeopardy! quiz show. Thousands upon thousands of mind-blowing apps ? not to mention Apple's super-smart, artificially intelligent Siri software ? have remade our relationships with our cellphones. And new developments in green technology have given us a glimpse of a future unburdened by fossil fuels. Most of these stories mark beginnings, meaning this list of our favourite stories of the year is more than a look back ? it's a reminder of all the exciting things yet to come.

Inside the race to crack the world's hardest puzzle
DARPA's crowdsourced efforts to reconstruct shredded documents ? which was solved two days early

Yacht attempts to smash sailing's 'sound barrier'
The Vestas Sailrocket 2 is based on an 40-year-old design but could be the first boat to ever sail at 60 knots

How innovative is Apple's new voice assistant, Siri?
Users of the new iPhone 4S can just speak to book restaurants or make appointments ? or adjust your thermostat. How has Apple done it?

Electric vehicles herald rise of the in-car app
The emergence of the electric car is leading to a suite of smartphone add-ons

Crowdsourced translations get the word out from Libya
With the Arab spring under way early this year, we wrote about techniques that blended machine translation and human crowdsourcing to help dissidents get their message out from behind the communications blackout imposed by the Gaddafi regime

Shock wave puts hybrid engines in a spin
A prototype engine that relies on shock waves could allow hybrid cars to boost their efficiency even further

Robot-only internet helps machines share secrets
The advent of a world wide web for robots will let automatons learn from each other's experiences ? a first step towards them working in the real world

3D printing: The world's first printed plane
The promise of 3D printing has finally taken off with the development of a drone that takes just a week to create

The cyberweapon that could take down the internet
A new form of attack would turn the internet against itself ? and would be extremely hard to repel

Better than human? What's next for Jeopardy! computer
A bright future awaits the Watson computer system now that it has shown it can compete with previous winners of the complicated US quiz

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alinebicudo: A? eu passei dois meses usando s? Apple mobile devices, e agora t? apanhando do teclado do laptop. Pode isso?

A? eu passei dois meses usando s? Apple mobile devices, e agora t? apanhando do teclado do laptop. Pode isso? Il y a environ 1 heure via web

Source: http://twitter.com/alinebicudo/statuses/149967846074626049

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Google's Andy Rubin defines 'Android activation,' trumpets 700,000 per day clip

Looking for growth? You've found it. If you'll recall, Google's own Senior Vice President of Mobile Andy Rubin confirmed that over 500,000 Android devices were being activated back in June, and during last month's Galaxy Nexus reveal, we learned that said figure had increased to 550,000 per day. In just over a month, the tally has now climbed to 700,000 per 24 hour period. That's according to a post by Andy himself on Google+, which he followed with this:

"For those wondering, we count each device only once (i.e., we don't count re-sold devices), and "activations" means you go into a store, buy a device [and] put it on the network by subscribing to a wireless service."

In other words, there are many, many more Android devices being ushered into use every single day that don't connect to any monitored wireless service, but naturally, keeping track of those is something even Google isn't about to attempt. Any guesses as to what this figure jumps to after the holiday season concludes?

Google's Andy Rubin defines 'Android activation,' trumpets 700,000 per day clip originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Dec 2011 23:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/20/googles-andy-rubin-defines-android-activation-trumpets-700-0/

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Crimes against business in China | East Asia Forum

Author: Rod Broadhurst, ANU

Few crime victim surveys have been conducted with Chinese populations, but a recently released study, Business and the Risk of Crime in China, analyses the results of the first large scale victimisation survey of 5,117 businesses in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Xi?an.

This snapshot shows that the level of crime reported by Chinese businesses was lower than other emerging economies such as Brazil, Russia, Nigeria and India, and considerably lower than Western and Eastern Europe. However, incidents of bribery and extortion were more frequent in China than in Western Europe and Australia, but less frequent than in Eastern Europe. Respondents from China were much more likely to report to police than elsewhere, although the levels of reporting of fraud were comparable.

China?s transition from a command to a market economy has been supported by authoritarian policing that has helped contain most crimes against business except fraud. An annual loss to crime of US$20.4 million, most of which was due to fraud by either employees (US$7.5 million) or outsiders (US$7.6 million) was estimated for the sample as a whole. About US$6.4 billion was estimated to have been lost to crime across all the four cities. Larger businesses were most at risk especially to higher risks of victimisation for non-conventional crime. Smaller businesses had a higher prevalence of fraud by outsiders.

Over one-quarter (26.2 per cent) of businesses reported at least one incident of crime over the past year, but higher risks of non-conventional crimes (that is, fraud, bribery, and intellectual property [IP] offences) than common crime (that is, robbery assault, and theft) were found. Across the four cities, the rate of non-conventional crime (22.6 per cent) was 3.4 times that of common crime (6.7 per cent) and businesses in Shenzhen were at higher risk of non-conventional crime (27.9 per cent) than those in Xi?an (25.3 per cent) and Hong Kong and Shanghai (19.5 per cent). Just over 6 per cent of respondents mentioned incidents of bribery, but there were fewer in Hong Kong than the other cities. IP theft was reported by about 6 per cent but was more of a problem in Shenzhen (9.1 per cent) and Xi?an (7.6 per cent) than in Shanghai (6.5 per cent) and Hong Kong (2.7 per cent).

Crime in China has risen sharply over the last 40 years and is associated with a state of anomie or ?loss of social norms? that the sociologist Durkheim theorised was the result of rapid and significant societal change. Economic crime, especially fraud also rose at a much faster rate than common or street crime, supporting the hypothesis that a growth in property crime is also associated with modernisation. In times of rapid change, a lag between socio-economic transformation and institutional adaptations to these transformations (?institutional anomie?) can occur as the crime wave that engulfed the former USSR demonstrated. This institutional lag can be reduced when the economic and social transition is planned and managed by a strong authoritarian state like China. Although China may have been more capable of controlling institutional anomie, its failure to establish independent oversight and checks and balances has facilitated corruption. Corruption was more frequently reported on the mainland than in Hong Kong, and especially in Xi?an where state-owned businesses and traditional Communist Party control remain strong.

Although public police have been able to contain common or street crime they have not yet transformed into policing agencies with a capacity to focus on crime against business, which is both highly attractive to a new type of criminal and harmful to society. Identifying the ?new enemies of the state? has become harder than in the past when the simple categories ??class enemies, ?rightists?, feudal remnants and the like could be readily distinguished and demonised. Economic criminals, it seems, are hard to distinguish from valued entrepreneurs, business leaders and officials who gamble with venture capitalists and fall for fanciful and fraudulent innovators.

In addition to the impact of modernisation and urbanisation, the growth in economic activities and consumerism also increases the opportunity for property crime. The opening up of the Chinese economy has produced both an increase in consumer goods (more opportunities for common crime) and an increase in business and commercial activities (more opportunities for non-conventional crime). Related to increased opportunity is the absence of competent guardianship and target attractiveness ? the key drivers of risk of victimisation for business. Chinese businesses thus suffer similar risks as found elsewhere and could benefit from many of the measures recommended by situational crime prevention approaches. The demise of campaign-style policing and the shift to a prevention focus rather than reliance on crude deterrence and brutalising punishments should also help release police resources for greater specialisation in complex crime such as fraud and corruption.

Roderic Broadhurst is a professor in, and Deputy Director of, the Australian Research Council Centre for Excellence in Policing and Security, in the Department of Regulation, Justice and Diplomacy, College of Asia and the Pacific at the ANU. He is co-author (with John Bacon-Shone, Brigitte Bouhours, Thierry Bouhours, assisted by Lee Kingwa) of Business and the Risk of Crime in China, ANU E Press, Canberra, 2011.

Source: http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2011/12/16/crimes-against-business-in-china/

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