3 German aid workers missing in Syria for 45 days

BERLIN (AP) ? Three German aid workers have been missing in Syria for 45 days were likely kidnapped, their employer said Saturday.

Gruenhelme e.V. said Bernd Blechschmidt, Ziad Nouri and Simon S., whose last name wasn't provided, were taken by unknown persons from the town of Harem in Idlib district on May 14.

The group's founder, Rupert Neudeck, said a fourth staff member managed to avoid capture and is safe. The kidnapping was kept secret for more than a month so as not to jeopardize the men's safety but all efforts to determine who they are being held by were unsuccessful, he said.

"We're totally in the dark," Neudeck told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "If the kidnappers wanted a ransom we would have expected to be contacted by now."

German news website Spiegel Online reported that the aid group has been working in northern Syria since September 2012. The region has seen fierce fighting been government troops and rebels seeking to topple the regime of President Bashar Assad.

Gruenhelme e.V., whose name means 'Green Helmets' in German, specializes in reconstructing schools and medical facilities in crisis regions. It has previously sent staff to work in Iraq, Afghanistan and Indonesia.

The German Foreign Ministry didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/3-german-aid-workers-missing-syria-45-days-163112510.html

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Who's the top earner in White House?

By Roberta Rampton and Margaret Chadbourn

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Twenty-two of President Barack Obama's top advisers make the top White House salary of $172,200 per year - but there is one official who earns 30 percent more.

It's not Chief of Staff Denis McDonough. Not Obama's senior adviser and close friend Valerie Jarrett. Not Cecilia Munoz, who is overseeing White House efforts on immigration reform, nor Lisa Monaco, who advises Obama on homeland security and counterterrorism.

The best-paid person of the 460 people who work at the White House is Seth Wheeler, a senior adviser at the National Economic Council, who is crafting Obama's strategy on housing finance.

One of the newest appointees, Wheeler earns $225,000, according to the annual White House report on its $37.9 million payroll released on Friday.

Wheeler has been detailed to the role from the Federal Reserve where the pay scale is higher, a White House official explained.

It also means he earns more than his boss, Gene Sperling, the director of the National Economic Council, who earns the White House limit of $172,200.

At the Fed, Wheeler was chief of staff for the Office of Financial Stability Policy and Research.

He is an ex-Morgan Stanley banker who worked for former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson during the Bush Administration, and was a key architect with the Obama administration's mortgage modification program, helping craft the signature housing aid program known as the Home Affordable Modification Program.

"His pay reflects the anomaly of the Fed pay scale," said Phillip Swagel, who served in the Treasury Department under President George W. Bush.

"It is noteworthy that the NEC is pretty political so it's fascinating that they have a Fed employee in a political position," Swagel said.

Federal employees who work for banking regulators, including the Fed, have higher pay scales than employees of other federal departments, said Julia Gordon, director of housing finance and policy at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank.

"I'm sure if he went back to Morgan Stanley, he'd be making 10 times that," Gordon said.

Wheeler replaces Jim Parrott, who had been detailed to the White House from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and earned $144,385 last year. Parrott left the White House in January, and recently joined the Urban Institute.

Wheeler's salary approaches that of Vice President Joe Biden, who this year is poised to earn $230,700. Obama's salary is $400,000.

HOUSING SYSTEM 'IN SHAMBLES'

The housing advisor position has been held by four different people during the Obama administration, punctuated by lengthy vacancies between advisers, said Gordon, who hopes the White House now begins to takes a more active role on the issue.

"Our housing system is still in shambles," Gordon said.

"Just because people hear that prices are going back up doesn't mean we've fixed anything. A lot of the underlying problems are still there."

One of the key issues is reforms for mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which were seized by the government in 2008 as the housing crisis threatened their solvency.

The companies own or guarantee half of all U.S. mortgages and have been propped up with $187.5 billion in taxpayer funds.

Democrats and Republicans want to reduce the government's role and put more of the risk of lending onto the private sector, but they disagree on how far to go.

The salary report can be found at - http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/disclosures/annual-records/2013.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; editing by Jackie Frank)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/makes-most-obamas-white-house-225727881.html

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Director sees 'Hunger Games' star as Snowden

Movies

Maria Elena Fernandez NBC News

22 hours ago

EPA, The Guadian

At least one Hollywood filmmaker thinks actor Liam Hemsworth, left, would be the right man to play Edward Snowden in a movie.

Fugitive National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, charged with violating espionage laws, is in the transit zone of the Moscow Airport, presumably trying to find a way to get to the Ecuadorian Embassy to seek asylum. How his story will end no one knows, but one Hollywood director is already envisioning what it would look like on the big screen.

Phillip Noyce, a director best known for spy and thriller films like "Salt" and "Patriot Games," told NBC News that he is personally fascinated by the espionage thriller that is playing out in front of the world. As he reads every article available about the case, Noyce says he can easily picture it as a suspenseful film with some comedic elements. He's already identified a possible leading man, but what excites him the most is that the verdict on the story's central question may remain unrendered for decades.

"This is a movie that's playing out before our eyes, even though we can't see anything," Noyce said. "We can't see the hero or the villain -- the central character. Like my last big movie, 'Salt,' it's a story where you're not quite certain if you're dealing with a heroine or a villain. And we may not be certain until the end of the movie or even beyond that. That's a beautiful duality to deal with when you're making a story or watching a movie. You can speculate he's motivated by complete unselfish motives through belief in protecting worldwide public interests. Or you can speculate he was himself a victim of knowing that notoriety might bring him immortality."

Who would play the 29-year-old who revealed the existence of the Prism Program, which gives the NSA direct access to the systems of Google, Facebook, Apple and other Internet giants? Noyce thinks that's an easy one: Liam Hemsworth, the 23-year-old actor who starred in "The Hunger Games" and "The Expendables 2."

"He's perfectly positioned as a rising star," Noyce said. "I think he'll probably be one of the great ones. His older brother, Chris, could also play him but Liam looks more like an everyman. I think he'd be perfect."

Noyce's movie, which he described as just "chatter in my head" for now, would open with the The Guardian's disclosure of Snowden as the leak and an exciting chase.

"We'd have this wonderful Harold Lloyd comedy sequence which is the best part of the movie - -the chase," he said. "In this case, it's a chase that's both funny and serious. It involves some of the highest officials in the world, and their different points of view while Mr. Snowden is holed up presumably at the Moscow Airport. That's a great sequence as world leaders argue over this 29-year-old and the merits or otherwise of his actions. "

The story, he added, also would need to feature WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and deal with the gaps in American intelligence-gathering illuminated by Snowden -- which brings up another key question the film would address: how safe are our secrets?

"Although Assange was the original whistleblower and people feel he did commit a betrayal, he changed American policy and how people felt about the war and the legality of the war," Noyce said. "And as far as Mr. Snowden is concerned, he was a contractor who did not inherit the ethos of a permanent public servant, like a CIA or NSA employee. But he seems to have had access to the names of operatives around the world and could have betrayed that confidence. The issue is not whether he did or didn't but that he could have. That brings up the security of our operatives, the people that willingly give their lives fighting the intelligence wars. Why did a 29-year-old contractor know so much? He knew who they are and had the ability to reveal that to the nation's enemies."

As an observer of the quickly unfolding story and its would-be storyteller, Noyce said he hasn't made up his mind about how he feels about his protagonist, Snowden.

"I would need access to him to understand his psychology a lot better," Noyce said. "In his own mind, he's obviously a hero. But what is truly motivating him? Does he want to be a 15-minute celebrity? Is it fame or fortune? Or does he truly want to sacrifice himself Christ-like for the rest of mankind? We don't know how this will end and the end might not come for another 50 years. We haven't even finished Act 1 yet."

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/entertainment/hollywood-director-fascinated-nsa-leaker-snowden-envisions-movie-6C10459234

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Global shares, bonds rise as Fed fears ease; gold sinks

By Richard Hubbard

LONDON (Reuters) - World shares hit their highest level in a week on Friday and bonds and oil rose after two U.S. central bankers moved to calm fears of an early withdrawal of monetary stimulus.

Their efforts, combined with better economic data from Japan and an easing of credit concerns in China, lifted MSCI's world equity index <.miwd00000pus> 0.5 percent on Friday, putting it on course to reverse five weeks of losses.

But the gains were seen as limited with investors avoiding large bets on the final trading day of an unsettled quarter while pondering the impact of a broader shift in Fed policy.

"It's been a tough quarter, the easy game is up and markets have to revaluate where they stand," Wouter Sturkenboom, Investment Strategist at Russell Investments, said.

Global stock, bond and commodity markets have been notably volatile since Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke signaled last week the bank would soon cut the pace of its bond buying unless the economic recovery slowed.

Two Fed policymakers came out on Thursday to reassure investors that any winding down of stimulus was still some way off, though its ultimate course was set.

"The market is going to have to base its views about equities and currencies on actual economic growth rather than simply the fact that there's cheap money there," said Simon Derrick, chief currency strategist at Bank of New York Mellon.

"I think that's a fundamental shift."

The Fed's signal that the era of cheap money is drawing to a close has already hit gold as its value as a hedge against inflation evaporates. The metal dropped to a three-year low near $1,200 an ounce on Friday, putting it on course for its worst quarterly performance in over half a century.

QUARTERLY CLOSE

The end-of-quarter manoeuvring was cited behind a rise in the euro off a four-week low against the dollar to $1.3045, and helped the dollar rise against the yen by 0.5 percent at 98.92 yen.

The broad FTSE Eurofirst 300 index <.fteu3>, which had opened higher in line with other world markets, pared the gains as end of quarter positioning took hold, leaving it on course to end June lower after a record 12 monthly rises.

Earlier, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> climbed 1.4 percent, pulling further away from an 11-month low and wiping out this week's losses. It was still down around 7 percent for the year.

Asia's rise followed Wall Street's rally on the Fed comments and Japanese data showing consumer prices stopped falling in May and labor demand reached a five-year high.

China's stock markets had also seen their biggest gains in two months after its central bank, which had let short-term borrowing costs spike to record highs, said it would ensure its policy supported a slowing economy.

RISK OUTLOOK CHANGES

In the fixed income markets, European bonds shared in the more positive tone, with yields falling on core German debt and riskier Spanish and Italian paper.

But Patrick Jacq, European rate strategist at BNP Paribas, said investors would require higher yields in future in light of the Fed's policy shift. "Liquidity and credit risk assessment has changed since the Fed spoke about tapering off," he said.

In commodities, Brent crude oil futures climbed 29 cents to $103.11 on course for the first monthly rise in five months. Copper was flat but facing its biggest quarterly loss in almost two years, reflecting global growth concerns.

(Additional reporting by Ana Nicolaci da Costa; Editing by John Stonestreet)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asian-shares-edge-higher-global-equity-gains-002424215.html

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According to a report by Juniper Networks, mobile malware has grown by 614 percent over the last yea

According to a report by Juniper Networks, mobile malware has grown by 614 percent over the last year. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, 92 percent of it is on Android...

Source: http://gizmodo.com/according-to-a-report-by-juniper-networks-mobile-malwa-582739672

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Exclusive: The Evolution of the Minifig

We have worked with Lego to painstakingly collect and catalog almost every minifig ever produced into a photographic timeline. You will be able to see the evolution of the iconic figure starting with the iconic 1970s space, city and castle sets that you can see in our exclusive tour of the secret historic Lego vault. Sensory overload ahead.

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1978

Introduction of the first minifigs as part of the Town, Space and Castle sets. They are all plain. The first female minifig is introduced two months after the first male minifigs.

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1989

First changes in faces introduced with the Lego Pirates. They maintain the basic expression but add extra features, like eye patches and beards.

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1990

The first specialized minifig appears in Lego Castle: a ghost.

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1993

Lego Island Adventure theme is introduced. That means minifigs wearing bikinis and thongs. Lego truckers also appear in Lego Town. Obviously, there's a connection between truckers and thongs.

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1995

The Lego skeleton comes out of the closet, the second specialized minifig. Aquanauts line introduced.

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1996

Lego Western appears, at last opening the possibility of forming the Village People with Lego minifigs: The sets include cowboys and, for the first time ever, a different Lego race: Native americans. By the way, this contradicts the answers about race that Lego gave us in our Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Lego Guide.

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1998

Adventurer Johnny Thunder, an Indiana Jones wannabe, appears. This comes before Lego ever got into the whole licensing of movies intellectual property.

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1999

The now famous Lego Star Wars appears, introducing the first ever licensed minifig: Luke Skywalker.

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2000

Lego Soccer scores a few goals with spring-loaded tabletop game action. This is a very bad year for the history of the minifig, however: Jar-Jar Binks minifig appears, the first figure with a molded head ever. It should have never happened. The minifig. And the movie.

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2001

Lego Studios appears, so people can film movies with minifigs as characters. You know what that means (see bottom of post).

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2002

Shorter legs appear for the same time. Now you can have short characters like Yoda. Double-sided heads are added too, so you can change the expresion of the minifig on the go.

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2003

Real races are introduced at last, as part of the licensing program. Lego Mars Mission is announced, marking the return of astronauts.

Source: http://lego.gizmodo.com/exclusive-the-evolution-of-the-minifig-5070884

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