Oxygen halts controversial 'Babies' Mamas' project


NEW YORK (AP) — Oxygen Media has pulled the plug on "All My Babies' Mamas," a reality special the network was developing about a musician who has fathered 11 children with 10 different mothers.


The network offered no reason for curtailing the project. In a statement issued Tuesday, Oxygen said that, "as part of our development process, we have reviewed casting and decided not to move forward with the special."


The one-hour program would have featured Atlanta rap artist Shawty Lo, his children and their mothers. It was expected to air later this year on Oxygen, an NBCUniversal cable network owned by Comcast.


"All My Babies' Mamas" got a hostile public reception after Oxygen announced it last month. At least one petition calling for Oxygen to shut it down has collected more than 37,000 signatures.


The Parents Television Council called the program's concept "grotesquely irresponsible and exploitive" and pledged to contact advertisers of the show if it reached the air.


Previously, Oxygen denied charges that the show was meant to be "a stereotypical representation of everyday life for any one demographic or cross section of society," but rather would reveal "the complicated lives of one man, his children's mamas and their army of children."


On Tuesday, Oxygen said it will "continue to develop compelling content that resonates with our young female viewers and drives the cultural conversation."


___


Online:


www.oxygen.com


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Facebook to add search

Chicago Tribune social media editor Scott Kleinberg discusses the new search feature that Facebook revealed today. (Posted on: Jan. 15, 2013)









Facebook Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled on Tuesday a feature to help its users search for people and places within the social network, in the company's first major product launch since its May initial public offering.

Speaking to reporters at its Menlo Park, Calif. headquarters, Zuckerberg revealed "graph search," which allows users to sort through only content that has been shared with them -- addressing potential privacy concerns.






Available as a beta or early version to hundreds of thousands of users now, the new feature -- dubbed "graph search" because Facebook refers to its growing content, data and membership as the "social graph" -- will initially let users browse mainly photographs, people, places and members' interests, he added.

Zuckerberg promised users will be able to tailor their searches, such as by specifying music and restaurants that their friends like, or their favorite dentist. The reverse is also possible, such as discovering friends who have an interest in a particular topic.

Facebook may explore ways to earn revenue off of the service in the future, he added.

"You need to be able to ask the query, like, who are my friends in San Francisco," Zuckerberg said. "Graph search is a really big product. It's going to take years and years to index the whole map of the graph and everything we have out there."

"We'll start rolling it out very slowly. We're looking forward to getting it into more people's hands over coming weeks and months."

Critics have long deemed the social network's current search capabilities inadequate. Zuckerberg stressed Facebook was not getting into Internet searches, Google Inc's specialty.

But the news drove shares in Yelp Inc, which focuses on pooling customer reviews of restaurants and other popular services, about 7.1 percent lower. Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter argued that recommendations from trusted friends were more valuable than from strangers on the Web.

"The initial focus is on getting users more engaged, so this is making Facebook more useful and sticky," Pachter said. "I don't see a revenue model initially, but think ultimately, search makes user activity even more relevant to advertisers, and allows greater focus."

MAKING MONEY

The world's largest online social network, with more than one billion users, Facebook is moving to regain Wall Street's confidence in the wake of a rocky IPO and concerns about its long-term money-making prospects.

Central to its efforts is devising new ways to make money from users who are migrating to mobile devices. Zuckerberg said the company is working on that front.

Speculation approached fever pitch over the past week about what Facebook planned to reveal in its highest-profile news briefing since its market debut. Guesses had ranged from a long-rumored smartphone to a full Web-search product.

That anticipation, as well as expectations of strong fourth-quarter financial results, helped boost Facebook's stock. Its shares are up more than 15 percent since the start of the year.

On Tuesday, its stock slid 2 percent at $30.30, giving up some of its recent gains.

"The search function on Facebook was basic and as such, a wasted opportunity given Facebook's imperative to strengthen advertising revenues," said Ovum Research analyst Eden Zoller.

Zuckerberg said he could foresee a business in search over time, but analysts advised caution. Facebook has come under fire numerous times for unclear privacy guidelines.

"Facebook graph search will no doubt leverage member data to provide advertisers with more targeted, personalized advertising opportunities going forward. But Facebook needs to tread very carefully here and be mindful of user privacy," Zoller said.

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Witness: Joliet slaying victim told 'you ain't going home tonight'




















Two men and two women are due in court for killing and robbing two of their friends.




















































Friends and relatives of the victims of last week’s double homicide in Joliet gathered outside the Will County Courthouse this afternoon, asking that the alleged killers be brought to justice.


Eric Glover, 22, and Terrence O. Rankins, 22, were found strangled last week in a home on the 1100 block of North Hickory Street. Police officials said robbery appeared to be the motive for the slayings.


The four defendants -- Adam Landerman, 19; Alisa R. Massaro, 18; Bethany L. McKee, 18; and Joshua F. Miner, 24 -- each face first-degree murder charges and remain in custody on $10 million bond. Landerman is the son of a Joliet police officer. When the suspects were arrested Thursday afternoon, three of them were partying inside the home, officials have said.








Outside the courtroom this afternoon, friends of the victims said Rankins and Glover were called to the home by the women charged with their murders.


Casey Smith said Rankins called him Wednesday night and that Rankins had joked with him that the women were telling him and Glover that they had been “kidnapped.”


“He said they told him you ain’t going home tonight,” Smith recalled, adding that Rankins thought it was a joke. “They said you’re kidnapped and you ain’t going home.”


Smith said he tried calling Rankins multiple times later that same night, but no one answered.


Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow said he will personally prosecute the case. Pointing to the “heinous” violence in this case, Glasgow said he felt it was something that was “the responsibility of the elected prosecutor to prosecute.”


A Will County judge set a  preliminary hearing for the case for Feb. 5. Glasgow said he expects to present the case to a grand jury before that date.


triblocalfeedback@tribune.com


Twitter: @TribLocal






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Samsung urges U.S. court to keep allowing Galaxy phone sales


(Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd has urged a U.S. appeals court to stand by its denial of Apple Inc's request to ban sales of the Galaxy Nexus smartphone while Apple challenges its patent, according to a document filed late last week.


In October, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit blocked Apple's bid for a pretrial sales ban. Apple has asked all nine active Federal Circuit judges to reconsider that decision, a process known as "en banc" review.


The October ruling by the Washington D.C.-based appeals court raised the bar for potentially market crippling injunctions on product sales based on narrow patents for phone features. The legal precedent puts Samsung in a much stronger position by allowing its products to remain on store shelves while it fights a global patent battle against Apple over smartphone technology.


Several legal experts believe Apple faces long odds in trying to persuade the appeals court to revisit its decision.


Samsung's hot-selling Galaxy smartphones and tablets phones run on Google Inc's Android operating system, so Apple's litigation against Samsung has been viewed as a proxy for Apple's fight with Google. The appeals court decision involves patented search technology which Apple argues is critical to the iPhone's commercial success.


In its court filing last Friday, Samsung argued that en banc review was unnecessary because Apple did not have enough evidence to show a "causal nexus" between its patented search capability and iPhone sales to justify a ban on sales of the Galaxy Nexus.


The Federal Circuit's panel ruling against Apple used "well established" reasoning that does not conflict with U.S. Supreme Court precedent, Samsung argued.


Representatives for Apple and Samsung did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.


The two companies are scheduled to go to trial in federal court in San Jose, California in March 2014.


In a related patent lawsuit last year, Apple scored a huge legal victory over Samsung when a U.S. jury found Samsung had copied critical features of Apple's iPhone and iPad and awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages.


But U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California -- who has presided over much of the Apple/Samsung litigation in the United States -- in December rejected Apple's request for permanent sales bans on several other Samsung phones.


Koh cited the Federal Circuit panel's October opinion as a key precedent in her ruling, which Apple said it would also appeal.


The Nexus case in the Federal Circuit is Apple Inc. vs Samsung Electronics Co Ltd et al, 12-1507.


(Reporting By Erin Geiger Smith)



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AP source: Armstrong-Oprah interview 'emotional'


AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Lance Armstrong's interview with Oprah Winfrey was "emotional at times," according to a person familiar with the situation, and it followed an apology to the staff at the Livestrong Foundation that left some of them in tears.


The person spoke on condition of anonymity and would neither confirm nor deny that the disgraced cyclist confessed to using performance-enhancing drugs during the taping, which is scheduled to be broadcast Thursday night and is supposed to remain confidential until then.


A group of about 10 close friends and advisers to Armstrong left a downtown Austin hotel about three hours after they arrived Monday afternoon for the interview. Among them were Armstrong attorneys Tim Herman and Sean Breen, along with Bill Stapleton, Armstrong's longtime agent, manager and business partner. All declined comment entering and exiting the session.


Soon afterward, Winfrey tweeted: "Just wrapped with (at)lancearmstrong More than 2 1/2 hours. He came READY!" She was scheduled to appear on "CBS This Morning" on Tuesday to discuss the interview.


Armstrong stopped at the Livestrong Foundation, which he founded, on his way to the interview and said, "I'm sorry" to staff members, some of whom broke down in tears. A person with knowledge of that session said Armstrong choked up and several employees cried during the session.


The person also said Armstrong apologized for letting the staff down and putting Livestrong at risk but he did not make a direct confession to using banned drugs. He said he would try to restore the foundation's reputation, and urged the group to continue fighting for the charity's mission of helping cancer patients and their families.


Armstrong spoke to a room full of about 100 staff members for about 20 minutes, expressing regret for everything the controversy has put them through, the person said. He told them how much the foundation means to him and that he considers the people who work there to be like members of his family. None of the people in the room challenged Armstrong over his long denials of doping.


Winfrey and her crew had earlier said they would film Monday's session at Armstrong's home. As a result, local and international news crews were encamped near the cyclist's Spanish-style villa before dawn.


Armstrong still managed to slip away for a run despite the crowds outside his home. He returned by cutting through a neighbor's yard and hopping a fence.


During a jog on Sunday, Armstrong talked to the AP for a few minutes saying, "I'm calm, I'm at ease and ready to speak candidly." He declined to go into specifics.


Armstrong lost the Tour titles he won from 1999 to 2005 following a voluminous U.S. Anti-Doping Agency report that portrayed him as a ruthless competitor, willing to go to any lengths to win the prestigious race. USADA chief executive Travis Tygart labeled the doping regimen allegedly carried out by the U.S. Postal Service team that Armstrong once led, "The most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen."


Yet Armstrong looked like just another runner getting in his roadwork when he talked to the AP, wearing a red jersey and black shorts, sunglasses and a white baseball cap pulled down to his eyes. Leaning into a reporter's car on the shoulder of a busy Austin road, he seemed unfazed by the attention and the news crews that made stops at his home. He cracked a few jokes about all the reporters vying for his attention, then added, "but now I want to finish my run," and took off down the road.


The interview with Winfrey was Armstrong's first public response to the USADA report. Armstrong was not expected to provide a detailed account about his involvement, nor address in depth many of the specific allegations in the more than 1,000-page USADA report.


In a text to the AP on Saturday, Armstrong said: "I told her (Winfrey) to go wherever she wants and I'll answer the questions directly, honestly and candidly. That's all I can say."


After a federal investigation of the cyclist was dropped without charges being brought last year, USADA stepped in with an investigation of its own. The agency deposed 11 former teammates and accused Armstrong of masterminding a complex and brazen drug program that included steroids, blood boosters and a range of other performance-enhancers.


Once all the information was out and his reputation shattered, Armstrong defiantly tweeted a picture of himself on a couch at home with all seven of the yellow leader's jerseys on display in frames behind him. But the preponderance of evidence in the USADA report and pending legal challenges on several fronts apparently forced him to change tactics after more a decade of denials.


He still faces legal problems.


Former teammate Floyd Landis, who was stripped of the 2006 Tour de France title for doping, has filed a federal whistle-blower lawsuit that accused Armstrong of defrauding the U.S. Postal Service. The Justice Department has yet to decide whether it will join the suit as a plaintiff.


The London-based Sunday Times also is suing Armstrong to recover about $500,000 it paid him to settle a libel lawsuit. On Sunday, the newspaper took out a full-page ad in the Chicago Tribune, offering Winfrey suggestions for what questions to ask Armstrong. Dallas-based SCA Promotions, which tried to deny Armstrong a promised bonus for a Tour de France win, has threatened to bring yet another lawsuit seeking to recover more than $7.5 million an arbitration panel awarded the cyclist in that dispute.


The lawsuit most likely to be influenced by a confession might be the Sunday Times case. Potential perjury charges stemming from Armstrong's sworn testimony in the 2005 arbitration fight would not apply because of the statute of limitations. Armstrong was not deposed during the federal investigation that was closed last year.


Many of his sponsors dropped Armstrong after the damning USADA report — at the cost of tens of millions of dollars — and soon after, he left the board of Livestrong, which he founded in 1997. Armstrong is still said to be worth about $100 million.


Livestrong might be one reason Armstrong has decided to come forward with an apology and limited confession. The charity supports cancer patients and still faces an image problem because of its association with Armstrong. He also may be hoping a confession would allow him to return to competition in the elite triathlon or running events he participated in after his cycling career.


World Anti-Doping Code rules state his lifetime ban cannot be reduced to less than eight years. WADA and U.S. Anti-Doping officials could agree to reduce the ban further depending on what information Armstrong provides and his level of cooperation.


___


AP Sports Columnist Jim Litke contributed to this report.


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Jodie Foster comes out as gay at Golden Globes






BEVERLY HILLS, California (Reuters) – Hollywood actress Jodie Foster confirmed long-running speculation that she is gay by coming out at the Golden Globes awards on Sunday, but joked she wouldn’t be holding a news conference to discuss her private life.


The notoriously private Foster stunned the audience of stars and Hollywood powerbrokers as she accepted a life-time achievement awarded by announcing she was now single.






“Seriously, I hope that you’re not disappointed that there won’t be a big-coming-out speech tonight,” she said, “because I already did my coming out about a thousand years ago back in the Stone Age.”


Foster said she had always been up front with trusted friends and family about her sexual orientation.


“But now apparently, I’m told that every celebrity is expected to honor the details of their private life with a press conference … that’s just not me,” she said.


Foster, 50, then talked to her “ex-partner in love” Cydney Bernard, from whom she recently split, and their two sons in the audience.


“Thank you Cyd, I am so proud of our modern family, our amazing sons,” Foster said.


Over the years, Foster had come under withering criticism from the gay community for not publicly recognizing she was gay.


The two-time best actress Oscar winner for “The Silence of the Lambs” and “The Accused” said she had valued her privacy because of her early acting career, which started at the age of three.


“If you had been a public figure from the time that you were a toddler, if you’d had to fight for a life that felt real and honest and normal against all odds, then maybe you, too, might value privacy above all else,” she said.


(This story is corrected with spelling of Bernard’s first name to Cydney in paras 6 and 7)


(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy and Mary Milliken; Editing by Jon Boyle)


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Hospitals crack down on workers refusing flu shots


CHICAGO (AP) — Patients can refuse a flu shot. Should doctors and nurses have that right, too? That is the thorny question surfacing as U.S. hospitals increasingly crack down on employees who won't get flu shots, with some workers losing their jobs over their refusal.


"Where does it say that I am no longer a patient if I'm a nurse," wondered Carrie Calhoun, a longtime critical care nurse in suburban Chicago who was fired last month after she refused a flu shot.


Hospitals' get-tougher measures coincide with an earlier-than-usual flu season hitting harder than in recent mild seasons. Flu is widespread in most states, and at least 20 children have died.


Most doctors and nurses do get flu shots. But in the past two months, at least 15 nurses and other hospital staffers in four states have been fired for refusing, and several others have resigned, according to affected workers, hospital authorities and published reports.


In Rhode Island, one of three states with tough penalties behind a mandatory vaccine policy for health care workers, more than 1,000 workers recently signed a petition opposing the policy, according to a labor union that has filed suit to end the regulation.


Why would people whose job is to protect sick patients refuse a flu shot? The reasons vary: allergies to flu vaccine, which are rare; religious objections; and skepticism about whether vaccinating health workers will prevent flu in patients.


Dr. Carolyn Bridges, associate director for adult immunization at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says the strongest evidence is from studies in nursing homes, linking flu vaccination among health care workers with fewer patient deaths from all causes.


"We would all like to see stronger data," she said. But other evidence shows flu vaccination "significantly decreases" flu cases, she said. "It should work the same in a health care worker versus somebody out in the community."


Cancer nurse Joyce Gingerich is among the skeptics and says her decision to avoid the shot is mostly "a personal thing." She's among seven employees at IU Health Goshen Hospital in northern Indiana who were recently fired for refusing flu shots. Gingerich said she gets other vaccinations but thinks it should be a choice. She opposes "the injustice of being forced to put something in my body."


Medical ethicist Art Caplan says health care workers' ethical obligation to protect patients trumps their individual rights.


"If you don't want to do it, you shouldn't work in that environment," said Caplan, medical ethics chief at New York University's Langone Medical Center. "Patients should demand that their health care provider gets flu shots — and they should ask them."


For some people, flu causes only mild symptoms. But it can also lead to pneumonia, and there are thousands of hospitalizations and deaths each year. The number of deaths has varied in recent decades from about 3,000 to 49,000.


A survey by CDC researchers found that in 2011, more than 400 U.S. hospitals required flu vaccinations for their employees and 29 hospitals fired unvaccinated employees.


At Calhoun's hospital, Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village, Ill., unvaccinated workers granted exemptions must wear masks and tell patients, "I'm wearing the mask for your safety," Calhoun says. She says that's discriminatory and may make patients want to avoid "the dirty nurse" with the mask.


The hospital justified its vaccination policy in an email, citing the CDC's warning that this year's flu outbreak was "expected to be among the worst in a decade" and noted that Illinois has already been hit especially hard. The mandatory vaccine policy "is consistent with our health system's mission to provide the safest environment possible."


The government recommends flu shots for nearly everyone, starting at age 6 months. Vaccination rates among the general public are generally lower than among health care workers.


According to the most recent federal data, about 63 percent of U.S. health care workers had flu shots as of November. That's up from previous years, but the government wants 90 percent coverage of health care workers by 2020.


The highest rate, about 88 percent, was among pharmacists, followed by doctors at 84 percent, and nurses, 82 percent. Fewer than half of nursing assistants and aides are vaccinated, Bridges said.


Some hospitals have achieved 90 percent but many fall short. A government health advisory panel has urged those below 90 percent to consider a mandatory program.


Also, the accreditation body over hospitals requires them to offer flu vaccines to workers, and those failing to do that and improve vaccination rates could lose accreditation.


Starting this year, the government's Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is requiring hospitals to report employees' flu vaccination rates as a means to boost the rates, the CDC's Bridges said. Eventually the data will be posted on the agency's "Hospital Compare" website.


Several leading doctor groups support mandatory flu shots for workers. And the American Medical Association in November endorsed mandatory shots for those with direct patient contact in nursing homes; elderly patients are particularly vulnerable to flu-related complications. The American Nurses Association supports mandates if they're adopted at the state level and affect all hospitals, but also says exceptions should be allowed for medical or religious reasons.


Mandates for vaccinating health care workers against other diseases, including measles, mumps and hepatitis, are widely accepted. But some workers have less faith that flu shots work — partly because there are several types of flu virus that often differ each season and manufacturers must reformulate vaccines to try and match the circulating strains.


While not 100 percent effective, this year's vaccine is a good match, the CDC's Bridges said.


Several states have laws or regulations requiring flu vaccination for health care workers but only three — Arkansas, Maine and Rhode Island — spell out penalties for those who refuse, according to Alexandra Stewart, a George Washington University expert in immunization policy and co-author of a study appearing this month in the journal Vaccine.


Rhode Island's regulation, enacted in December, may be the toughest and is being challenged in court by a health workers union. The rule allows exemptions for religious or medical reasons, but requires unvaccinated workers in contact with patients to wear face masks during flu season. Employees who refuse the masks can be fined $100 and may face a complaint or reprimand for unprofessional conduct that could result in losing their professional license.


Some Rhode Island hospitals post signs announcing that workers wearing masks have not received flu shots. Opponents say the masks violate their health privacy.


"We really strongly support the goal of increasing vaccination rates among health care workers and among the population as a whole," but it should be voluntary, said SEIU Healthcare Employees Union spokesman Chas Walker.


Supporters of health care worker mandates note that to protect public health, courts have endorsed forced vaccination laws affecting the general population during disease outbreaks, and have upheld vaccination requirements for schoolchildren.


Cases involving flu vaccine mandates for health workers have had less success. A 2009 New York state regulation mandating health care worker vaccinations for swine flu and seasonal flu was challenged in court but was later rescinded because of a vaccine shortage. And labor unions have challenged individual hospital mandates enacted without collective bargaining; an appeals court upheld that argument in 2007 in a widely cited case involving Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle.


Calhoun, the Illinois nurse, says she is unsure of her options.


"Most of the hospitals in my area are all implementing these policies," she said. "This conflict could end the career I have dedicated myself to."


__


Online:


R.I. union lawsuit against mandatory vaccines: http://www.seiu1199ne.org/files/2013/01/FluLawsuitRI.pdf


CDC: http://www.cdc.gov


___


AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner


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Gay community hails Foster's halting Globes speech


NEW YORK (AP) — Was it a proud revelation, or an impassioned case for privacy? A coming-out speech, or a why-SHOULD-I-come-out speech? Too little and too late, or just enough?


Jodie Foster's rambling, fascinating and intensely personal remarks at the Golden Globes were not merely the watercooler moment of the ceremony. They were a big moment for the gay community, and many advocates — though not all — were cheering her on Monday for finally referring publicly to her sexual orientation, albeit in her own particular way.


While some were criticizing the actress for not uttering the words "gay" or "lesbian," and for waiting decades to come out at all, others were saying she deserved to come out in any way she chose, and with any words she happened to favor.


"No doubt, she was partly speaking in code, and she may never have wrapped her words around the fact that she is a lesbian," said Fred Sainz of the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay rights group. "But everyone watching clearly understood that she was communicating to people that she is gay. She is to be congratulated, no matter how awkward or inarticulate it may have seemed to some. It took an awful lot of courage."


The moment that Foster, a 50-year-old Oscar winner for "The Silence of the Lambs" and "The Accused," took the stage to accept the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award, it was clear she wasn't going to give a run-of-the-mill speech. The huge roomful of TV and movie stars fell rapt with attention.


"I guess I have a sudden urge to say something that I've never really been able to air in public," said the actress and director, long known for being fiercely private. She suggested she had something to say that would make her publicist nervous.


"But, you know, I'm just going to put it out there, right? Loud and proud, right? So I'm going to need your support on this," she said. Then, after a pause: "I am single."


After some laughter, she added: "Seriously, I hope that you're not disappointed that there won't be a big coming-out speech tonight because I already did my coming-out about a thousand years ago back in the Stone Age." (A few of her words early in the speech were dropped by the censor; NBC said it was because Foster had uttered the word "Jesus.")


After joking that celebrities are now expected to reveal they're gay "with a press conference, a fragrance and a prime-time reality show," the actress quipped: "I am not Honey Boo Boo Child. No. I'm sorry. That's just not me." And then, more defiantly: "If you had been a public figure from the time that you were a toddler, if you'd had to fight for a life that felt real and honest and normal against all odds, then maybe you, too, might value privacy above all else."


Sainz, who is vice president of communications at the HRC, said he understood the claim to privacy. "She wants to be judged on her merits as a director and actress and not necessarily by her private life," he said. "This shouldn't be the headline of her illustrious career — it's a footnote."


The privacy argument has come up in other recent instances of celebrities coming out. Last summer, CNN journalist Anderson Cooper confirmed he is gay after years of reluctance to go public. He said that, as a reporter, he had wanted to keep his orientation private for professional reasons, but finally realized that "visibility is important."


Soon after, R&B star Frank Ocean announced on his Tumblr page that his first love was a man. "I don't have any secrets I need to keep anymore," Ocean wrote. And that same month, when pioneering astronaut Sally Ride died, her orientation was disclosed posthumously in an obituary she wrote with her partner of 27 years, Tam O'Shaughnessy. Some were supportive that Ride had chosen privacy in her lifetime; others were not.


On The Huffington Post's "Gay Voices" page on Monday, entertainment writer Deb Baer called Foster a "coward" and said she "could have helped millions of people by coming out years ago."


"Why am I so angry?" Baer wrote. "Because I'm roughly the same age as Jodie, and yet I had the courage to come out exactly 20 years ago." She added: "The 'privacy' excuse is just that: An excuse."


The editor of "Gay Voices," Noah Michelson, said Baer's view was in the minority — most of his site's followers were very happy with Foster's action, he noted — but that he himself had problems with her speech.


"She did it with a sort of bitterness, a hesitation," he said. "It was almost like she was being pulled out of the closet, like she HAD to do it." It didn't really matter, he said, that Foster was an intensely private person.


"I do think queer people who are famous should be out," he said. "I have the same expectations of all people who are famous. People forget that gay kids today are still killing themselves. So we are not at a place where it doesn't matter whether people come out or not."


One of Foster's online critics was actor and playwright Harvey Fierstein, who wrote on his Facebook page: "Trying desperately to be fair to JODI FOSTER, but what she did last night by standing in front of millions of people and being too ashamed to say the word lesbian or gay sent the message that being gay is something of which to be ashamed."


But Wilson Cruz, a former TV actor who came out publicly at 19 — he's now 39 — and is a spokesman at GLAAD, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, said he viewed the situation as more complicated. At first, he had posted a comment critical of Foster on Facebook. He spoke to The Associated Press after further reflection.


"The way people come out today is very different than 10, 15 years ago," he said. "Then it was an act of political activism. Now, it's less of a political statement." He added that Foster "has a level of stardom that I cannot imagine, so I can't imagine the pressure. She also has children that she had to think about. She came out when she was ready. She did it her way."


But Cruz, who played a gay teen on the show "My So-Called Life" in the '90s, said that now, Foster has an opportunity she should not squander.


"She can talk to young people," he said. "She has the opportunity — not to overstate it, but she has the opportunity to save lives."


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Grounded 787 Dreamliner leaks fuel in tests by Japanese airline

The FAA stepped in Friday to assure the public that Boeing's new 787 "Dreamliner" is safe to fly. The AP spoke with Kevin Hiatt, Flight Safety Foundation CEO & President, who says mechanical issues with new aircrafts are not uncommon. (Jan. 11)









Tokyo—





Japan Airlines Co (JAL) said on Sunday that a Boeing Co 787 Dreamliner jet undergoing checks in Tokyo following a fuel leak at Boston airport last week had leaked fuel during tests earlier in the day.

An open valve on the aircraft caused fuel to leak from a nozzle on the left wing used to remove fuel, a company spokeswoman said. The jet is out of service after spilling about 40 gallons of fuel onto the airport taxiway in Boston due to a separate valve-related problem.






In Boston, a different valve on the plane opened, causing fuel to flow from the center tank to the left main tank. When that tank filled up, it overflowed into a surge tank and out through a vent. The spill happened as the plane was taxiing for takeoff on a flight to Tokyo on January 8. It made the flight about four hours later.

The causes of both incidents are unknown, the JAL spokeswoman added. There is no timetable for the plane to return to service.

On Friday, the U.S. government ordered a wide-ranging review of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, citing concern over a battery that caught fire on January 7, also on a JAL plane in Boston, and other problems. The government and Boeing insisted the passenger jet remained safe to fly.

The 787 represents the boldest bet Boeing has made on a new plane in more than a decade, and because the aircraft required billions to develop, much of the company's financial performance is riding on its success. Boeing is trying to double production to 10 jets a month this year to cash in on nearly 800 orders.

The eight airlines that operate the 50 jets delivered so far have expressed support for it, saying the mishaps are teething problems common with most new airplanes, and the 787's fuel savings make it an important addition to their fleets. JAL and local rival All Nippon Airways Co fly 24 Dreamliners.

The review follows a slew of incidents that have focused intense scrutiny on the new plane. While many of the issues that have dogged the 787 are typically considered routine, their occurrence in quick succession on an aircraft that incorporates major new technology and has not seen wide use yet has sparked concerns about safety.

In December, a 787 operated by United Airlines and bound from Houston to Newark, New Jersey, was forced to land in New Orleans after a warning light in the cockpit indicated a generator had failed.

Boeing later said a faulty circuit board produced in Mexico and supplied by UTC Aerospace Systems, a unit of United Technologies , had produced a false reading in the cockpit. A UTC Aerospace spokesman declined to comment.

Also in December, two other 787s suffered problems with electrical panels. The fire on January 7 started when a lithium-ion battery used in an auxiliary power system ignited while the plane was parked at the gate. It burned for about 40 minutes before firefighters put the flames out, and smoke entered the cabin. Passengers and crew had already left the aircraft.

On December 5, U.S. regulators said there was a manufacturing fault in 787 fuel lines and advised operators to make extra inspections to guard against engine failures.

Last week, the plane had seven reported incidents, ranging from the fire to a cracked cockpit window.

(Reporting by James Topham in Tokyo and Alwyn Scott in Seattle; Editing by Jeremy Laurence, Catherine Evans and Dale Hudson)

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Oracle updates Java, security expert says it still has bugs


BOSTON (Reuters) - Oracle Corp released an emergency update to its widely used Java software for surfing the Web on Sunday, days after the U.S. government urged PC users to disable the program because of a bug it said made computers vulnerable to attack by hackers.


Java security expert Adam Gowdiak, who has discovered several bugs in the software over the past year, said that the update from Oracle leaves unfixed several critical security flaws.


"We don't dare to tell users that it's safe to enable Java again," said Gowdiak, a researcher with Poland's Security Explorations.


An Oracle spokeswoman declined to comment on Gowdiak's analysis.


Oracle said on its security blog on Sunday that its update fixed two vulnerabilities in the version of Java 7 for Web browsers.


It said that it also switched Java's security settings to "high" by default, making it more difficult for suspicious programs to run on a personal computer without the knowledge of the user.


Java is a computer language that enables programmers to write software utilizing just one set of codes that will run on virtually any type of computer, including ones that use Microsoft Corp's Windows, Apple Inc's OS X and Linux, an operating system widely employed by corporations.


It is installed in Internet browsers to access web content and also directly on PCs, server computers and other devices that use it to run a wide variety of computer programs. Analysts estimate that it may be used on more than 1 billion machines around the globe.


The Department of Homeland Security and computer security experts said on Thursday that hackers figured out how to exploit the bug in a version of Java used with Internet browsers to install malicious software on PCs. That has enabled them to commit crimes from identity theft to making infected computers part of an ad-hoc networks that used to attack websites.


Oracle said that the flaws only affect Java 7, the program's most-recent version, and versions of Java software designed to run on browsers.


Java is so widely used that the software has become a prime target for hackers. Last year, Java surpassed Adobe Systems Inc's Reader software as the most frequently attacked piece of software, according to security software maker Kaspersky Lab.


Java was responsible for 50 percent of all cyber attacks last year in which hackers broke into computers by exploiting software bugs, according to Kaspersky. That was followed by Adobe Reader, which was involved in 28 percent of all incidents. Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer were involved in about 3 percent of incidents, according to the survey.


The Department of Homeland Security said attackers could trick targets into visiting malicious websites that would infect their PCs with software capable of exploiting the bug in Java.


It said an attacker could also infect a legitimate website by uploading malicious software that would infect machines of computer users who trust that site because they have previously visited it without experiencing any problems.


Security experts have been scrutinizing the safety of Java since a similar security scare in August, which prompted some of them to advise using the software only on an as-needed basis.


(Reporting by Jim Finkle; Editing by Diane Craft)



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