THE LARGEST CRYSTAL OF GOLD

Left:  Crystals and Hand.jpg -- Neutron diffraction data collected on the single-crystal diffraction (SCD) instrument at the Lujan Center, from the Venezuelan gold sample, indicate that the sample is a single crystal. Los Alamos National Laboratory photo.

FROM:  LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY 
World’s Largest Single Crystal of Gold Verified at Los Alamos
Lujan Center neutron diffraction team confirms structure

LOS ALAMOS, N.M., April 7, 2014—When geologist John Rakovan needed better tools to investigate whether a dazzling 217.78-gram piece of gold was in fact the world’s largest single-crystal specimen—a distinguishing factor that would not only drastically increase its market value but also provide a unique research opportunity—he traveled to Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Lujan Neutron Scattering Center to peer deep inside the mineral using neutron diffractometry. Neutrons, different from other probes such as X-rays and electrons, are able to penetrate many centimeters deep into most materials.

“The structure or atomic arrangement of gold crystals of this size has never been studied before, and we have a unique opportunity to do so,” the Miami University professor said.

Revealing the inner structure of a crystal without destroying the sample—imperative, as this one is worth an estimated $1.5 million—would allow Rakovan and Lujan Center collaborators to prove that this exquisite nugget, which seemed almost too perfect and too big to be real, was a single crystal and hence a creation of nature. Its owner, who lives in the United States, provided the samples to Rakovan to assess the crystallinity of four specimens, all of which had been found decades ago in Venezuela.

During the past Lujan Center user run cycle, Heinz Nakotte, New Mexico State University professor and lead scientist for the single-crystal diffraction (SCD) instrument, and Sven Vogel, instrument scientist for the high-pressure/preferred orientation (HIPPO) instrument, helped Rakovan probe the stunning pieces at Los Alamos. The authors are preparing a scientific report.

Three of the four samples turned out to be single-crystal pieces of gold, rather than the commonplace multiple-crystal type. Of particular interest was a golf-ball-shaped nugget that at one time was believed to be the world’s largest trapezohedral gold crystal. In 2006 the crystal had been rejected at auction over questions of authenticity, and indeed, the Los Alamos instruments confirmed that it was not a world-record trapezohedral crystal.

Further interpretation of the results will also provide an understanding of how the rare pieces may have formed before they were slightly deformed while being washed down in ancient stream sediments. The ability of the HIPPO instrument to also show how far away a specimen is from being a single crystal helps with these interpretations.

The SCD instrument is a neutron single crystal diffractometer used to determine the periodic atomic arrangement or crystal structure of single crystals, both natural and synthetic. While one of the workhorse-instruments at the Lujan Center, HIPPO is a general-purpose powder diffractometer that measures both the crystal structure and orientation distribution of crystals (or texture) making up a poly-crystalline material from the powder pattern of the crystals. It is the only time-of-flight neutron instrument in the world that routinely measures texture, with single crystals being the ultimate textured samples.

“The gold single crystals are so far the largest single crystals characterized on HIPPO,” Vogel said. HIPPO handles a wide range of materials including rocks, battery materials, alloys, and nuclear fuel mock-ups.
History of Rakovan and the Lujan Center

The big-crystal question is not the first mystery to be solved using the Lujan Center tools: In 2006, Rakovan had been given a collection of several dozen gold crystals to study with X-ray diffraction. One crystal out of the batch was puzzling, showing a single crystal pattern in one orientation but a polycrystalline nature in all other orientations. He hypothesized that weathering and erosion had altered the exterior of the nugget, but that the overall single crystal morphology was intact. “To test this we needed to look at the interiors of the crystals but without cutting them in half,” Rakovan said.

Twelve years before, Rakovan had used the SCD instrument at the Lujan Center to characterize OH ordering in natural apatite crystals. “…Through that experience I learned about other potential applications of neutrons in studying materials. Thus, it dawned on me that neutron diffraction would be ideal to ‘see’ the crystallinity of the interior of these samples without having to destroy them,” he recounted.

While using the SCD instrument for this problem, Nakotte and Rakovan realized that the HIPPO instrument, allowing for texture measurements among other applications, would be able to provide additional data on the gold samples. Several samples were also measured on the HIPPO beamline and the larger probed volume on this instrument indeed provided valuable additional information.

In 2009, the journal Rocks & Minerals published the study, which demonstrated neutron diffraction is the best non-destructive method to establish gold crystallinity of samples that have been formed under the most extreme conditions. At that time, they examined a selection of museum and private collection pieces, discerning which ones were frauds.

While these unusual gold studies open new avenues for geologists, the work underscores a proven capability relevant to other fields, too. Researchers looking to understand the properties of single crystals that are several cubic centimeters in size may need to establish first whether their sample is indeed a single crystal using neutron diffraction. Additionally, researchers that require understanding of single crystal growth procedures or who need single crystals for a specific application, such as scintillators, can find the answers using Lujan Center instruments and expertise.

NNSA funds the production of neutrons at Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE), and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science funded the Lujan Center user program.

SECRETARY HAGEL VISITS CHINESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER

Right:  Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, left, is greeted by U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Mark W. Gillette, right, U.S. defense attaché to China, and Chinese military officers in Qingdao, China, April 7, 2014. Hagel visited the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning while in Qingdao, the first foreigner to do so. DOD photo by Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo. 

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 
Hagel Visits Chinese Aircraft Carrier Liaoning
By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service

QINGDAO, China, April 7, 2014 – On Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s first official visit to China, the Peoples’ Liberation Army allowed him, in response to a request made in January, to become the first foreign visitor to tour the sleek refitted Russian aircraft carrier -- the PLA’s first -- called Liaoning.
China is Hagel’s third stop after multiday meetings in Hawaii and Japan on his fourth trip to the Asia-Pacific region since becoming defense secretary. After a day of meetings here tomorrow, Hagel will stop in Mongolia to meet with government and military leaders there before starting home April 10.
Liaoning is moored at Yuchi Naval Base in its home port of Qingdao in east China’s Shandong province.

"The secretary was very pleased with his visit today aboard the carrier Liaoning,” Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby said in a statement.
Hagel understood the significance of the PLA’s granting of his request for the tour, Kirby added, and the secretary was impressed by the professionalism of the ship’s officers and crew.

“He hopes today's visit is a harbinger of other opportunities to improve our military-to-military dialogue and transparency,” the press secretary said.
A defense official traveling with the secretary described the ship’s tour as lasting about two hours, beginning with a briefing about the ship, its capabilities and operating schedule conducted by the two-star strike carrier group commander and the ship’s commanding officer, Capt. Zhang Zheng.

The briefers were good, and they invited and encouraged questions, the official said. Hagel and his guest, U.S. Ambassador to China Max Baucus, and others on the tour all asked questions, the official added.

“The briefing lasted about 30 minutes, and then we saw medical facilities on the ship, some of the living quarters, the flight control station where they control flight operations, the pilot house, and the bridge, where they drive the ship,” the defense official said.

The secretary and his group also took a walking tour of the flight deck and saw launch stations and helicopter recovery stations as well arresting cables, “and got a briefing on how what we call in the U.S. Navy the ‘landing signals officers’ guide the aircraft in for an arrested landing on the flight deck,” the official explained.

He said the ship was extraordinarily clean, and the crew was sharp and informative.

”Every sailor at every station where Hagel [stopped] for the tour knew exactly what their job was, and how important their job was, and exactly how to explain it to the secretary,” the official said.

Hagel had a lot of give-and-take discussions with the crew throughout the tour, and talked to them just as he talks to U.S. troops when he goes out to visit them, the defense official added.

“The tour ended with a stop in the officers’ dining area, where Hagel had a chance to sit down with junior officers, have some refreshments and just talk to them,” the official said. “We all did. I sat down at a table with two junior female officers, and everybody did the same thing.”

The crew members were very impressive and very dedicated, he observed.
“It's a new capability they're trying to develop, and I think they all appreciate the importance of it to the PLA, but also the difficulty of it,” the official said. “On more than one occasion, the officers who were with us said quite frankly they know they have a long way to go in naval aviation. It is a difficult military capability to develop and to perfect, … and they expressed that they believe they can still learn much from us in terms of how to get better at it.”

The ship has three launching stations for jet aircraft, four arresting wires, a complement of about 1,500 sailors, one sixth of whom are officers, and there were 90 women in the crew, both officers and enlisted service members, the defense official said.

Liaoning has been out on sea trials almost 20 times, and officials know they still have to do more, he added.

Compared with U.S. aircraft carriers, Laioning isn’t as big or fast, and it doesn’t carry as many aircraft or as many types of aircraft, the official said, but it’s a real aircraft carrier, capable of launching and recovering jet combat aircraft.

“We asked them when they would have an operational naval air wing on the ship, and the captain said there's no timeline for that right now,” the official said. “They aren't at the state where they're declaring that sort of operational readiness.”
The defense official said the opportunity for Hagel and his group to tour the aircraft carrier today was a significant step in China’s attempts to be transparent and open.

“I would say that as this trip to Beijing begins for the secretary, today was a good first step in terms of trying to develop more openness and transparency,” the defense official said.

SEC COMMISSIONER PIWOWAR'S REMARKS AT ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR SECURITIES MARKET DEVELOPMENT

FROM:  U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION 

SPEECH

 Welcoming Remarks at the SEC 24th Annual International Institute for Securities Market Development

Commissioner Michael S. Piwowar
Washington, DC

April 7, 2014

Thank you, Paul [Leder], for that kind introduction, and I want to welcome you back to the Commission.  Paul previously worked at the Commission for more than a decade from 1987 to 1999 and now has been with the Commission as Director of the Office of International Affairs for almost two months.  I have enjoyed working with you and look forward to continuing to work with you in the international arena to promote investor protection, cross-border securities transactions, and fair, efficient and transparent markets.  I also want to thank the Office of International Affairs staff who worked so hard to organize this two-week training initiative and all of the speakers, moderators, and panelists who have generously invested much time and effort in making this program so worthwhile.    

I am excited to be here with you this morning to welcome you to Washington, DC and to the SEC’s 24th Annual International Institute for Securities Market Development.  In my previous tour at the Commission as an economist in what is now the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis (DERA), I had the privilege of participating in this program.  I, therefore, know from firsthand experience the importance and usefulness of this global training program.  In fact, this program is an integral part of the Commission’s longstanding commitment to promote the adoption of high quality regulatory standards worldwide.

Before I continue, I need to provide the standard disclaimer that my remarks are my own and that they do not necessarily reflect the views of the Commission or my fellow Commissioners.  As you participate in this great program over the next two weeks, I hope you keep a couple of things in mind.

First, the benefits from this program are not a one-way street.  This program provides the Commission with the opportunity to build relationships with regulators from around the world that help us in our work to protect our markets and investors.  We often require assistance from regulatory authorities abroad for cross-border enforcement and oversight efforts.  Many of our investigation and enforcement efforts require banking, brokerage or telephone records, testimony, and other evidence from jurisdictions outside the United States.  The contacts we have forged through this program over the past several years have considerably advanced our investigations and examinations, including arrangements for freezing fraud proceeds.  I also hope that the program provides you with the ability to build relationships with other participants as well as with us that will help in your enforcement and oversight efforts.

Second, when it comes to securities markets regulation, one size does not fit all.  The program has been carefully designed to include sessions that use terms like “best practices” and “key concepts,” as well as workshops featuring case studies and panel discussions with regulators from multiple jurisdictions.  I hope that none of you leave the conference with the notion that your markets should have the same regulations as us or as each other.  Rather, each of you should take the lessons that you find valuable from this program and use them to tailor your regulations to the particular characteristics and circumstances present in your own securities markets.

I would also like to take this opportunity to briefly elaborate on the effects of regulation on securities market development and the importance that these markets have on economic growth.  The participants in the securities markets, of course, include the issuers of securities, the investors that buy and sell those securities, and the institutions – brokers, dealers, exchanges, alternative trading venues, clearing agencies, etc. – that help facilitate transactions in those securities.

Many of our regulatory efforts are viewed through the lens of investor protection.  It is through this lens that we evaluate the duties of securities issuers to disclose meaningful information to potential investors so that they can make informed investment decisions, and the duties of market participants to treat investors fairly when transacting in securities.  Through the investor protection lens, we also determine the appropriate risk-based methods to monitor compliance with those duties and to enforce them.

But, the Commission’s core mission goes beyond protecting investors and maintaining fair, orderly, and efficient markets.  The third part of our statutory mission is to promote capital formation.  I hope that, even if your regulatory mandate does not explicitly include promoting capital formation, you always seek to balance the needs of businesses with the needs of investors.

As U.S. Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, which is the authorizing committee of the Commission and the other financial regulators, likes to say “Capital is the lifeblood of…businesses, which in turn are the engines of job creation and economic growth.”[1]  Conversely, regulation that is overly burdensome or restrictive will inhibit capital formation and economic growth.

 I want to focus the remainder of my remarks on capital markets.  By capital markets, I mean the stock and bond markets.  While capital markets are only a component of the overall securities markets, they are, in fact, the lifeblood of businesses, which are the drivers of economic growth.  

Effective Regulation Promotes Capital Market Development

An overarching theme of this program is that a jurisdiction’s institutional and regulatory policy framework can strongly influence capital market development.  The notion that there is a close relationship between financial regulation and capital markets is not new.  The specialized field of economics known as “law and finance” has established, for example, that countries with better investor protections, measured by both the character of legal rules and the quality of enforcement, tend to have larger and deeper capital markets.[2]  The academic law and finance literature has produced many other findings with key policy implications.  While I do not have time today to properly review all of the findings in this area, I do want to mention one important paper released last month entitled Capital Markets and Economic Growth: Long-Term Trends and Policy Challenges, which, among other things, looks at a particular interaction involving a country’s financial regulatory system and its tax system, and the resulting effects on capital market development.[3]

In that paper, two German finance professors, Christoph Kaserer and Marc Steffen Rapp, find that the regulatory and tax systems governing retirement savings in an economy play an important role in capital market development.[4]  The professors posit that more favorable tax and regulatory frameworks for retirement savings cause domestic stock markets to be larger and are likely to exert a positive influence on capital market depth.  They estimate that increasing the size of pension funds by 10 percentage points of gross domestic product (GDP) would lead to an increase in stock market size of 7 percentage points of GDP.  Kaserer and Rapp recommend that retirement savings rules and tax laws be designed in a way that encourages a larger part of national savings to be invested through the capital markets.

Capital Market Development Promotes Economic Growth

Capital markets are a significant source of financing for the corporate sector and play an integral role in economic growth.  Equity markets, in particular, are of prime importance for economic development.  More liquid stock markets – where it is less expensive to trade equities – reduce the disincentives to investing in long-duration projects because investors can easily sell their ownership interest in the project if they need their savings before the project matures. Therefore, enhanced liquidity facilitates investment in longer-run, higher-return projects that boost productivity growth.[5]

Due to the limited availability of debt-based financing for high-risk projects, access to equity financing also may spur innovation.[6]  Moreover, the fact that shareholders are residual claimants means they have a much stronger incentive to exert control over the investment decisions of a company than debt holders.  Active investors, including institutional investors, may use their expertise to push for changes that could lead to enhanced performance and stock price growth.

It is also important to note that stocks, unlike debt in many cases, are information sensitive, which leads to more information gathering incentives by outside investors than debt financing does.[7]  Kaserer and Rapp argue that the availability of funds for long-term risky investments combined with the incentives for improving corporate governance would result in an estimated one-to-one relationship between stock market growth and the long-term real growth rate in GDP, i.e., stock market growth of one-third would increase real economic growth by one-third.[8]  Overall, they estimate that growing capital markets by one-third would increase the long-term real growth rate in per capita GDP by about 20%.[9]

Importantly, the Kaserer and Rapp study shows that the balance between capital market finance and bank lending matters.  An overreliance on banks comes at a cost in terms of reduced economic growth.  The study also documents that capital markets are good for research and development (R&D).  European firms’ R&D intensity is positively correlated with the level of equity financing.  In contrast, firms in bank-based economies have less flexibility in their financing decisions and therefore follow a more conservative financing strategy, which might lead to underinvestment in R&D.

A Virtuous Circle

To sum up, effective regulation leads to capital market development.  Capital market development, in turn, leads to economic growth.  Economic growth improves standards of living of people in your jurisdictions in a number of ways, including reducing poverty and promoting savings, investment, innovation and job creation.

But, it doesn’t stop there.  Growing your capital markets not only benefits your own economy, but it also benefits markets and economies globally.  Better developed capital markets and more dynamic economies provide consumers with the ability to purchase more products and services from around the world and investors with the ability to invest globally, which provides businesses access to additional sources of capital.  A rising tide lifts all boats.

If we all adopt high quality regulatory standards in our own jurisdictions and work together to promote high quality standards worldwide, we can create what economists call a “virtuous circle” – a positive chain of events that reinforces itself through a feedback loop – in which everyone benefits.  This two-week program represents an important step in establishing such a virtuous circle to improve standards of living worldwide.

Thank you for your attention.  Enjoy the program.


[1] See, e.g., News Release: Ranking Member Crapo's Statement at FSOC Annual Report Hearing (May 21, 2013), available at http://www.crapo.senate.gov/media/newsreleases/release_full.cfm?id=342841.

[2] See, e.g., Rafael La Porta et al., Legal Determinants of External Finance (July 1997), available at http://scholar.harvard.edu/shleifer/files/legaldeterminants.pdf and Rafael La Porta et al., Law and Finance (Dec. 1998), available at http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/10.1086/250042.pdf?acceptTC=true&jpdConfirm=true.

[3] I thank former SEC Commissioner Kathleen Casey for bringing this paper to my attention.

[4] Christoph Kaserer & Marc Steffen Rapp, Capital Markets and Economic Growth: Long-Term Trends and Policy Challenges (Mar. 2014), available at http://www.aima.org/en/education/research-into-capital-markets-and-economic-growth.cfm.      

[5] See Ross Levine and Sara Zervos, Stock Markets, Banks, and Economic Growth (June 1998), available at http://www.isid.ac.in/~tridip/Teaching/DevEco/Readings/07Finance/06Levine%26Zervos-AER1998.pdf.

[6] See Po-Hsuan Hsu et al., Financial development and innovation: Cross-country evidence (Feb. 2013), available at http://ac.els-cdn.com/S0304405X13003024/1-s2.0-S0304405X13003024-main.pdf?_tid=b0301ee2-be61-11e3-a531-00000aacb35d&acdnat=1396881432_07b3612fbfae3e71a910a56125ccfd26.  

[7] See Christoph Kaserer and Marc Steffen Rapp, Capital Markets and Economic Growth: Long-Term Trends and Policy Challenges (Mar. 2014) .  

[8] Id.

[9] Id.

"JERK.COM" OPERATORS CHARGED BY FTC WITH DECEIVING CONSUMERS, HAVESTING PERSONONAL INFORMATION

FROM:  FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

FTC Charges Operators of “Jerk.com” Website With Deceiving Consumers
Company Took Information from Facebook to Label Millions a “Jerk” or “Not a Jerk”

The Federal Trade Commission charged the operators of the website “Jerk.com” with harvesting personal information from Facebook to create profiles labeling people a “Jerk” or “not a Jerk,” then falsely claiming that consumers could revise their online profiles by paying $30. According to the FTC’s complaint, between 2009 and 2013 the defendants, Jerk, LLC and the operator of the website, John Fanning, created Jerk.com profiles for more than 73 million people, including children.

In its complaint, the FTC charges that the defendants violated the FTC Act by misleading consumers that the content on Jerk.com had been created by other Jerk.com users, when in fact most of it had been harvested from Facebook; and by falsely leading consumers to believe that by paying for a Jerk.com membership, they could access “premium” features that could allow them to change their “Jerk” profile.

The FTC is seeking an order barring the defendants’ deceptive practices, prohibiting them from using the personal information they improperly obtained, and requiring them to delete the information.

 “In today’s interconnected world, people are especially concerned about their reputation online, and this deceptive scheme was a brazen attempt to exploit those concerns,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

According to the FTC’s complaint, Jerk.com profiles often appeared in search engine results when consumers searched for an individual’s name.  Upon viewing their photos on Jerk.com, many believed that someone they knew had created their Jerk.com profile. Jerk reinforced this view by representing that users created all the content on Jerk.

But in reality, the defendants created the vast majority of the profiles by misusing personal information they improperly obtained through Facebook, the FTC alleged. They registered numerous websites with Facebook and then allegedly used Facebook’s application programming interfaces to download the names and photos of millions of Facebook users, which they in turn used to create nearly all the Jerk.com profiles.

In addition to buttons that allowed users to vote on whether a person was a “Jerk” or not, Jerk profiles included fields in which users could enter personal information about the subject or post comments about them. In some cases, the complaint alleges, the profile comment fields subjected people to derisive and abusive comments, such as, “Omg I hate this kid he\’s such a loser,” and, “Nobody in their right mind would love you … not even your parents love [you].”

The profiles also included millions of photos, including photos of children and photos that consumers claim they had designated on Facebook as private, the FTC complaint alleges. Some of them featured intimate family moments, including children bathing and a mother nursing her child.

The defendants also told consumers they could “use Jerk to manage your reputation and resolve disputes with people who you are in conflict with,” according to the FTC’s complaint. They allegedly charged consumers $25 to email Jerk.com’s customer service department, and also falsely told consumers that if they paid $30 for a website subscription, they could access “premium features,” including the ability to dispute information posted on Jerk.com, and receive fast notifications and special updates. But according to the FTC, in many cases, consumers who paid the customer service or subscription fee often got nothing in return.

The Commission vote to issue the administrative complaint was 4-0. The evidentiary hearing is scheduled to begin before an administrative law judge at the FTC on January 27, 2015.

NOTE: The Commission issues an administrative complaint when it has “reason to believe” that the law has been or is being violated, and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest. The issuance of the administrative complaint marks the beginning of a proceeding in which the allegations will be tried in a formal hearing before an administrative law judge.

SEC'S FIRST WHISTLEBLOWER UNDER NEW PROGRAM TO RECEIVE ADDITIONAL $150,000 PAYOUT

FROM:  SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION 

4/04/2014 12:51 PM EDT

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that the whistleblower who received the first award under the agency’s new whistleblower program will receive an additional $150,000 payout after the SEC collected additional funds in the case.

The whistleblower, who the SEC did not identify in order to protect confidentiality, has now been awarded a total of nearly $200,000 since the award was announced on Aug. 21, 2012.  The award recipient helped the SEC stop a multi-million dollar fraud by providing documents and other significant information that allowed its investigation to move at an accelerated pace and prevent the fraud from ensnaring additional victims.

The award represents 30 percent of the amount collected in the SEC enforcement action against the perpetrators of the scheme, the maximum percentage payout allowed under the law.  The additional payout comes after the SEC collected an additional $500,000 from one of the defendants in the case.

“This latest payment shows that the SEC’s aggressive collection efforts pay dividends not only for harmed investors but also for whistleblowers,” said Sean McKessy, chief of the SEC’s Whistleblower Office.  “As we collect additional funds from securities law violators, we can increase the payouts to whistleblowers.”

The SEC expects to collect additional money from defendants in this case as some are making payments under a periodic payment schedule ordered by the court.

The 2010 Dodd-Frank Act authorized the whistleblower program to reward individuals who offer high-quality original information that leads to an SEC enforcement action in which more than $1 million in sanctions is ordered.  Awards can range from 10 percent to 30 percent of the money collected.  The Dodd-Frank Act included enhanced anti-retaliation employment protections for whistleblowers and provisions to protect their identity.  The law specifies that the SEC cannot disclose any information, including information the whistleblower provided to the SEC, which could reasonably be expected to directly or indirectly reveal a whistleblower’s identity.

PRESIDENT OBAMA APPLAUDS $10.10 AN HOUR MINIMUM WAGE IN MARYLAND

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE 

Statement by the President

The Maryland Legislature did the right thing for its workers today by increasing the state minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. Maryland’s important action is a reminder that many states, cities and counties – as well as a majority of the American people – are way ahead of Washington on this crucial issue. I applaud Governor O’Malley and the state legislature for leading by example and giving more Maryland workers the raise they deserve. But there’s only one group who can get the job done for the entire country – that’s Congress. They should follow Maryland’s lead and lift wages for 28 million Americans by passing legislation to increase the federal minimum wage to $10.10, helping to ensure that no American who works full time has to raise a family in poverty, and that every American who works hard has the opportunity to succeed.

4/7/14: White House Press Briefing

U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT CONTRACTS FOR APRIL 7, 2014

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT U.S. 
CONTRACTS

NAVY

Thales Defense & Security Inc., Clarksburg, Md., is being awarded a $38,527,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for Optimized Top Owl (OTO) Helmet Mounted Sight and Display (HMSD) Sustainment Capability services for the H-1 Aircraft program. This contract includes the facility, labor, materials, parts, test and tooling equipment required for the OTO repair capabilities transition plan from Bordeaux, France to the United States. In addition, this contract includes all maintenance, support activities, repairs, calibrations and technical data required to return the OTO HMSD associated items to a ready for issue condition. Work will be performed in Clarksburg, Md., and is expected to be completed in April 2019. Fiscal 2014 Navy working capital funds in the amount of $1,846,908 are being obligated on this award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to FAR 6.302-1. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, N.J., is the contracting activity (N68335-14-D-0014).
Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Ariz., is being awarded a $9,595,524 modification to a previously awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N00019-11-D-0004) to provide AIM-9X Sidewinder mission support and sustainment activities for the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy, and the governments of Singapore, Australia, Denmark, Finland, Turkey, South Korea, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, and Poland under the Foreign Military Sales Program. Work will be performed in Tucson, Ariz., and is expected to be completed in April 2015. Funds are not being obligated at time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual delivery orders as they are issued. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

Wolverine World Wide Inc., Rockford, Mich., has been awarded a maximum $14,955,649 modification (P00102) exercising the third option period on a one-year base contract (SPM1C1-11-D-1045) with four one-year option periods for men’s and women’s safety boots. This is a firm-fixed-price contract. Location of performance is Michigan with an April 7, 2015 performance completion date. Using military service is Navy. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pa.

MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY

Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training, Moorestown, N.J., has been awarded a $13,684,749 modification (number P00138) to contract HQ0276-10-C-0001 for support of advanced concepts initiatives by the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Program Office to identify technology for introduction into present and future Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Baselines/Spirals. This modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $1,788,932,405 from $1,775,247,656. Work will be performed at Moorestown, N.J., with an expected completion date of June 30, 2014. Fiscal 2014 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $13,684,749 are being obligated at time of award. The Missile Defense Agency, Dahlgren, Va., is the contracting activity.

ARMY

Lockheed Martin, Liverpool, N.Y., was awarded a $9,085,206 modification (P00092) to contract W15P7T-06-C-T004 for interim contractor services required to continue support of the AN/TPQ-53 radar fleet. Fiscal 2012 other procurement, Army funds in the amount of $9,085,206 were obligated at the time of the award. Estimated completion date is Sept. 30, 2014. Work will be performed in Liverpool, N.Y. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen, Md., is the contracting activity.

Schwartz Excavating Inc.,*Countryside, Ill., was awarded a $7,236,001 firm-fixed-price contract for construction services for the Chicagoland Underflow Plan, McCook Reservoir Stage 2 Slope Stabilization Project, greater Chicago, Illinois. The project includes soil nail walls, fill placement, excavation, grading, and the cellular confinement system for the current reservoir expansion. Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $7,236,001 were obligated at the time of the award. Estimated completion date is Dec. 30, 2014. Bids were solicited via the Internet with six received. Work will be performed in Bedford Park, Ill. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo, N.Y., is the contracting activity (W912P4-14-C-0003).
*Small Business

TWO MORE AEGIS SHIPS SENT TO JAPAN; REASONS INCLUDE NORTH KOREAN PROVOCATIONS

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 
Hagel: U.S. to Send 2 More Aegis Ships to Japan
By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service

TOKYO, April 6, 2014 – For reasons a senior defense official said included North Korean provocations, treaty commitments to Japan and U.S. national security interests, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said today that the United States will send Japan two more Aegis-equipped ballistic-missile defense ships by 2017
The ships are designed to intercept ballistic missiles post-boost phase and before reentry. When delivered, Japan will have a total of seven such ships.

Hagel made the announcement this morning during a joint press conference with Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera after the two leaders met earlier to discuss a range of alliance issues, including the threat posed by North Korea.
“In response to Pyongyang¹s pattern of provocative and destabilizing actions, including recent missile launches in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, I can announce today that the United States is planning to forward-deploy two additional Aegis ballistic missile defense ships to Japan by 2017,” Hagel said.

The secretary said he visited one of the U.S. ballistic missile defense ships when he was in Japan on October 3, 2013, for the “2 plus 2” meeting of U.S. and Japanese secretaries of state and defense.

“This deployment follows our October announcement to establish a second missile-defense radar site in Kyoto Prefecture and my decision last year to increase ground-based interceptors in Alaska,” Hagel said, adding that these steps will enhance the United States’ ability to defend Japan and its own homeland from North Korea’s ballistic missile threat.

Significantly bolstering the U.S. naval presence also strengthens the U.S.-Japan alliance and increases deterrence against North Korean aggression, the secretary said.

In late March, on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague, President Barack Obama, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-hye sat down for the first time to discuss the shared threat they face from North Korea. They agreed that they would consider specific steps they could take to deepen diplomatic and military coordination to deter the threat, including joint exercises and on missile defense.

Building off that meeting, Hagel said today that he and Onodera had “discussed ways to help deepen trilateral defense cooperation,” including through the upcoming Defense Trilateral Talks to be held in Washington this month.
Hagel and Onodera also discussed plans for consolidation on Okinawa, and the secretary thanked the minister for Japan’s efforts in securing approval in December for the Futenma replacement facility¹s landfill permit.

“We look forward to the facility¹s construction beginning soon,” Hagel said. “I reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to continue exploring ways to reduce the economic impact of our facilities on Okinawa and our desire to be a good neighbor.”

The secretary said these issues will be part of revising the guidelines for U.S.-Japan defense cooperation as the United States adjusts its posture in the Asia-Pacific region and Japan expands its roles and relationships around the world.
“The United States welcomes Japan’s efforts to play a more proactive role in contributing to global and regional peace and stability,” Hagel said, “including reexamining the interpretation of its Constitution relating to the rights of collective self-defense.”

It is Japan’s responsibility and sovereign right to review its self-defense guidelines in the interests of what is best for the Japanese people, the secretary added.

“We encourage and support that effort and believe the decisions made by the Japanese government on behalf of the Japanese people will continue to enhance and strengthen this important alliance between our two countries,” he said.
During their meeting, Hagel and Onodera also discussed key challenges in the East China Sea.

“I restated the principles that govern longstanding U.S. policy on the Senkaku Islands and other islands,” the secretary said, “and we affirmed that since [the Senkaku Islands] are under Japan’s administrative control, they fall under Article 5 of our Mutual Security Treaty.”

According to Article 5, “each party recognizes that an armed attack against either party in the territories under the administration of Japan would be dangerous to its own peace and safety and declares that it would act to meet the common danger in accordance with its constitutional provisions and processes.”

It continues, “Any such armed attack and all measures taken as a result thereof shall be immediately reported to the Security Council of the United Nations in accordance with the provisions of Article 51 of the Charter. Such measures shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to restore and maintain international peace and security.”

“We take seriously America's treaty commitments and we strongly oppose any unilateral coercive action that seeks to undermine Japan¹s administrative control,” Hagel said. “A peaceful resolution of territorial disputes is in the interest of all nations of the region.”

America has no stronger ally or better friend in this region than Japan, he added.
Going forward, the secretary said, there’s “no doubt that, as the United States continues to rebalance toward the Asia-Pacific, the enduring friendship and alliance between our two nations will only grow stronger.”

Tomorrow, Hagel said, he continues his Asia-Pacific trip with a stop in China at the invitation of Chinese Defense Minister Chang Wanquan.

“I look forward to spending time in China and having direct conversations with the leaders in China about many issues,” the secretary added. “Certainly many … of those issues will revolve around the Asia-Pacific issues, the East China Sea, the South China Sea, [China’s] neighbors [and] the continued dangerous and provocative actions of the North Koreans.”

Great powers have great responsibilities and China is a great power, Hagel said.
“With this power comes new and wider responsibilities as to how you use that power, how you employ that military power,” he added. “And I want to talk with the Chinese about all of that, particularly transparency -- a key dimension of relationships. Transparency, intentions, what governments are doing, why. The more transparent and open governments can be with each other, the better for everyone. That avoids miscalculation, misinterpretation, misunderstanding, and hopefully that lowers the risk of conflict.”

Hagel said he’d also like to speak with the Chinese about respect for one’s neighbors. Coercion and intimidation are deadly and lead only to conflict, he added.

“All nations, all people, deserve respect no matter how large or how small. I think we're seeing clear evidence of a lack of respect, along with intimidation and coercion in Europe today in what the Russians have done in Ukraine,” the secretary said.

“We must be very careful and … very clear, [to] all nations of the world, that in the 21st century this will not stand,” he added. “You cannot go around the world and redefine boundaries and violate territorial integrity and sovereignty of nations by force, coercion and intimidation, whether it's in small islands in the Pacific or large nations in Europe. Nations must be clear on this and speak plainly. It takes courage from leaders.”

Hagel said he’d like to speak with the Chinese about common interests and building relationships, especially military-to-military relationships, and opportunities for engagement with neighbors like Japan and South Korea.
“I look forward to an honest dialogue,” he added. “I look forward to listening carefully to the Chinese, and only then do we help move forward, not just with opportunities but with possibilities and the processes to fulfill those prospects.”

U.S. CONGRATULATES LUIS SOLIS ON WINNING PRESIDENCY OF COSTA RICA

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Costa Rica Presidential Elections

Press Statement

John Kerry
Secretary of State

Washington, DC

April 7, 2014

---

We congratulate Luis Guillermo Solis on his election as the next President of Costa Rica.
The partnership between the United States and Costa Rica has a long history, and reflects many issues of common interest, including energy, education, citizen security, job creation, and economic growth.

As President Obama made clear during his visit last year, the United States and Costa Rica share a close friendship based on a commitment to democratic values and human rights.
We stand ready to build on those common values with the Solis administration in the years to come.

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S STATEMENT ON 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF RWANDAN GENOCIDE

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE 

Statement by the President on the 20th Commemoration of the Genocide in Rwanda

We join with the people of Rwanda in marking twenty years since the beginning of the genocide that took the lives of so many innocents and which shook the conscience of the world.  We honor the memory of the more than 800,000 men, women and children who were senselessly slaughtered simply because of who they were or what they believed.  We stand in awe of their families, who have summoned the courage to carry on, and the survivors, who have worked through their wounds to rebuild their lives.  And we salute the determination of the Rwandans who have made important progress toward healing old wounds, unleashing the economic growth that lifts people from poverty, and contributing to peacekeeping missions around the world to spare others the pain they have known.  

At this moment of reflection, we also remember that the Rwandan genocide was neither an accident nor unavoidable.  It was a deliberate and systematic effort by human beings to destroy other human beings.  The horrific events of those 100 days—when friend turned against friend, and neighbor against neighbor—compel us to resist our worst instincts, just as the courage of those who risked their lives to save others reminds us of our obligations to our fellow man.  The genocide we remember today—and the world’s failure to respond more quickly—reminds us that we always have a choice.  In the face of hatred, we must remember the humanity we share.  In the face of cruelty, we must choose compassion.  In the face of intolerance and suffering, we must never be indifferent.  Embracing this spirit, as nations and as individuals, is how we can honor all those who were lost two decades ago and build a future worthy of their lives. 

RECENT PHOTOS FROM THE U.S. AIR FORCE

FROM:  U.S. AIR FORCE 

An F-15E Strike Eagle from Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, takes on fuel from a KC-135 Stratotanker March 28, 2014, during exercise Tonnerre Lightning. The exercise was a combined endeavor between U.S., British and French air force members to train for real world operations. The KC-135 is assigned to RAF Mildenhall, England. (U.S. Air Force photo-Airman 1st Class Dillon Johnston).

KC-135s refuel Idaho's A-10s in mid-flight 
First Lt. Micha Stoddard, flying the lead aircraft, and his wingman Capt. Casey Peasley fly their A-10 Thunderbolt IIs in an echelon formation March 26, 2014, enroute from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., to their home base in Boise, Idaho. The crews performed an in-air refueling with a Utah National Guard KC-135 Stratotanker after the air combat exercise Green Flag East. Stoddard and Peasley are with the 190th Fighter Squadron. (U.S. Air National Guard photo-Master Sgt. Becky Vanshur).

FIRST EVER EXTRADITION ON ANTITRUST CHARGE

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 
Former Marine Hose Executive Extradited from Germany to Face Charges of 
Participating in Worldwide Bid-Rigging Conspiracy

WASHINGTON — Romano Pisciotti, an Italian national, was extradited from Germany on a charge of participating in a conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition by rigging bids, fixing prices and allocating market shares for sales of marine hose sold in the United States and elsewhere, the Department of Justice announced today. This marks the first successfully litigated extradition on an antitrust charge.

Pisciotti, a former executive with Parker ITR Srl, a marine hose manufacturer headquartered in Veniano, Italy, was arrested in Germany on June 17, 2013. He arrived in the Southern District of Florida, in Miami, yesterday and is scheduled to make his initial appearance today in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Ft. Lauderdale, at 11:00 a.m. EDT.

“This first of its kind extradition on an antitrust charge allows the department to bring an alleged price fixer to the United States to face charges of participating in a worldwide conspiracy,” said Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer in charge of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. “This marks a significant step forward in our ongoing efforts to work with our international antitrust colleagues to ensure that those who seek to subvert U.S. law are brought to justice.”

Marine hose is a flexible rubber hose used to transfer oil between tankers and storage facilities. During the conspiracy, the cartel affected prices for hundreds of millions of dollars in sales of marine hose and related products sold worldwide.

According to a one-count felony indictment filed under seal on Aug. 26, 2010, and ordered unsealed on Aug. 5, 2013, in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida, Pisciotti carried out the conspiracy by agreeing during meetings, conversations and communications to allocate shares of the marine hose market among the conspirators; use a price list for marine hose in order to implement the conspiracy; and not compete for customers with other marine hose sellers either by not submitting prices or bids or by submitting intentionally high prices or bids, all in accordance with the agreements reached among the conspiring companies. As part of the conspiracy, Pisciotti and his conspirators provided information received from customers in the United States and elsewhere about upcoming marine hose jobs to a co-conspirator who served as the coordinator of the conspiracy. That coordinator acted as a clearinghouse for bidding information that was shared among the conspirators, and was paid by the manufacturers for coordinating the conspiracy. The department said the conspiracy began at least as early as 1999 and continued until at least May 2007. Pisciotti was charged with joining and participating in the conspiracy from at least as early as 1999 until at least November 2006.

Pisciotti is charged with violating the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million criminal fine for individuals. The maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.

As a result of the department’s ongoing marine hose investigation, five companies, including Parker ITR; Bridgestone Corp. of Japan; Manuli SPa of Italy’s Florida subsidiary; Trelleborg of France; and Dunlop Marine and Oil Ltd, of the United Kingdom, and nine individuals have pleaded guilty.

The investigation is being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s Washington Criminal I Section, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) of the Department of Defense’s Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Navy Criminal Investigative Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The U.S. Marshals Service and other law enforcement agencies from multiple foreign jurisdictions are also investigating or assisting in the ongoing matter. The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs provided assistance.

WORLD TRADE CENTER CHARLESTON SIGNS PARTNERSHIP DEAL THE EXPORT-IMPORT BANK

FROM:  EXPORT-IMPORT BANK 
Ex-Im Bank Signs Partnership with World Trade Center Charleston, Enhances Access to Financing

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) today announced its working partnership with Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce and World Trade Center Charleston (WTCC) in South Carolina. The City/State Partnership program gives exporters enhanced access to information about financing that supports export sales and jobs.

“Ex-Im Bank has much to offer Charleston’s businesses that want to reach customers overseas and grow their export sales. This partnership will put Ex-Im’s financing tools within easy reach,” said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg. “Together we show more exporters and lenders how private financing and U.S.-backed insurance enable them to compete effectively, and that means more jobs for South Carolina at no cost to taxpayers.”

“The Ex-Im Bank partnership represents the importance of our region in the international marketplace,” said Pennie Bingham, Executive Director of WTCC. “Charleston region’s global presence is growing rapidly. Businesses are eager to learn how to bring visibility of their products and services to new customers around the world.”

With more than 1,700 member organizations representing 100,000 professionals, the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce acts as catalyst for advancing the region’s economy. World Trade Center Charleston, a member of the World Trade Centers Association, was initiated by the Chamber. WTCC posts information online on its own website, wtccharleston.com.

As an Ex-Im Bank partner, WTCC can provide additional resources in trade finance expertise to businesses interested in exporting their products and services. In WTCC, entrepreneurs will find a one-stop resource for both technical information about international trade and advice on solving challenges in financing and risk-management.

U.S. TRAVELER RETURNS HOME FROM WEST AFRICA WITH LASSA FEVER

FROM:  CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION 

Lassa Fever Reported in U.S. Traveler Returning from West Africa

Contact investigation under way; risk to other travelers considered extremely low
The CDC and the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) have confirmed a diagnosis of Lassa fever in a person returning to the United States from West Africa. The patient was admitted to a hospital in Minnesota on March 31 with symptoms of fever and confusion. Blood samples submitted to CDC tested positive for Lassa fever on April 3. The patient is recovering and is in stable condition.
“This imported case is a reminder that we are all connected by international travel. A disease anywhere can appear anywhere else in the world within hours,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H.

Lassa fever is a severe viral disease that is common in West Africa but rarely seen in the United States.  Seven other Lassa fever cases, all travel related, have been identified in the United States, with the last one reported in Pennsylvania in 2010. Although Lassa fever can produce hemorrhagic symptoms in infected persons, the disease is not related to Ebola hemorrhagic fever, which is responsible for the current outbreak in West Africa.

In West Africa, Lassa virus is carried by rodents and transmitted to humans through contact with urine or droppings of infected rodents. In rare cases it can be transmitted from person to person through direct contact with a sick person’s blood or bodily fluids, through mucous membrane, or through sexual contact. The virus is not transmitted through casual contact. About 100,000 to 300,000 cases of Lassa fever, and 5,000 deaths related to Lassa fever, occur in West Africa each year.

CDC is working with public health officials and airlines to determine the patient’s travel route from West Africa and identify any passengers or others who may have had close contact with the infected person. Preliminary information indicates that the patient flew from West Africa to New York City and caught another flight to Minneapolis.

“Given what we know about how Lassa virus is spread to people, the risk to other travelers and members of the public is extremely low,” said Martin Cetron, M.D., M.P.H., director of CDC’s Division of Global Migration and Quarantine.
“Casual contact is not a risk factor for getting Lassa fever,” said Barbara Knust, D.V.M., M.P.H., an epidemiologist in CDC’s Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, which performed the laboratory testing.  “People will not get this infection just because they were on the same airplane or in the same airport.”

As part of its investigation, CDC is working with the airlines to gather contact information for passengers and crew who were seated near the infected individual. CDC will provide passenger contact information to state and local health departments where the passengers live to notify them about their possible exposure.

WATER UNDER ENCELADUS

FROM:  NASA 

Ocean Inside Saturn's Moon Enceladus

This diagram illustrates the possible interior of Saturn's moon Enceladus based on a gravity investigation by NASA's Cassini spacecraft and NASA's Deep Space Network, reported in April 2014. The gravity measurements suggest an ice outer shell and a low density, rocky core with a regional water ocean sandwiched in between at high southern latitudes.

Views from Cassini's imaging science subsystem were used to depict the surface geology of Enceladus and the plume of water jets gushing from fractures near the moon's south pole.

Enceladus is 313 miles (504 kilometers) in diameter.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

DEBT COLLECTOR BULLY BANNED FROM DEBT COLLECTION BUSINESS

FROM:  FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 
FTC Obtains more than $3.3 Million for Consumers; Defendants Agree to be Permanently Banned from the Debt Collection Business
Scheme Often Targeted Spanish-Speaking Consumers, Defendants Posed as Process Servers and Attorneys

The two principal owners of Rincon Debt Management, Jason R. Begley and Wayne W. Lunsford, will surrender more than $3.3 million worth of assets that will be used to provide refunds to victims, under a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission.  The two defendants also are permanently banned from the debt collection business.

Litigation continues against several companies that Begley and Lunsford used as part of their debt collection scheme. The Corona, California-based operation collected debts nationwide.

Part of the FTC’s continuing efforts to curb illegal debt collection practices, the settlement resolves FTC allegations that from April 2009 until October 2011 when the Court shut down the operation at the FTC’s request, Begley and Lunsford deceived and abused Spanish- and English-speaking consumers – making bogus threats that consumers had been sued or could be arrested over debts they often did not owe.

“These debt collectors focused on Spanish-speaking consumers and other people who were strapped for cash, and preyed on them by using abusive collection tactics in violation of federal law,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

The FTC’s complaint alleged that the defendants violated the Federal Trade Commission Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by calling consumers and their employers, family, friends, and neighbors, posing as process servers seeking to deliver legal papers that purportedly related to a lawsuit. In some instances, the defendants threatened that consumers would be arrested if they did not respond to the calls.  The defendants and their employees also masqueraded as attorneys or employees of a law office – demanding that consumers pay “court costs” and “legal fees” – even though the operation did not file lawsuits against consumers, the FTC alleged.  Also, in many instances, consumers did not even owe the debt the defendants were trying to collect.

In addition to the permanent ban on participating in debt relief services, Begley and Lunsford are prohibited from misrepresenting the features of any financial products or services, including  lending, credit repair, debt relief, and mortgage assistance relief services.

The order imposes a $23 million judgment against the defendants, which will be suspended due to their inability to pay, except for the $3 million in frozen funds held by the receiver and the personal assets both agreed to surrender. Begley is required to surrender the rights to more than 3,500 American Eagle silver and gold coins. He will also pay a $176,115 contempt judgment for having sold his home and some other coins in violation of the asset freeze that was imposed as part of the FTC’s case. Lunsford is required to pay a $134,000 contempt judgment for the proceeds he received when he sold his home in violation of the asset freeze.

If it is determined that the financial information the defendants gave the FTC was untruthful, the full $23 million judgment would become due.  

For consumer information about dealing with debt collectors, see Debt Collection.

The Commission vote approving the proposed consent judgment was 4-0. The FTC filed the proposed consent judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and the Court approved it on March 28,

HHS HAS UPDATED ACTION PLAN FOR VIRAL HEPATITIS

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES 
Updated Action Plan to Combat Viral Hepatitis Released
A statement by Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, Infectious Diseases,
Ronald O. Valdiserri, MD, MPH

Today, federal partners launched an updated Action Plan for the Prevention, Care and Treatment of Viral Hepatitis (2014-2016), building upon the nation’s first comprehensive cross-agency action plan to combat viral hepatitis.

The three-year renewal of the Action Plan builds upon the substantial progress accomplished since 2011 by agencies and offices from across the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as with our partners at the Departments of Justice, Housing and Urban Development, and Veterans Affairs, to prevent new infections and improve the diagnosis, care and treatment of individuals living with chronic hepatitis C in the United States.

Between 3.5 and 5.3 million Americans are living with chronic viral hepatitis, and most of them do not know that they are infected. Viral hepatitis is the leading cause of liver cancer and the most common reason for liver transplantation in the United States. In addition, it is a leading infectious cause of death in the U.S., claiming the lives of 12,000–18,000 Americans each year.

In recent years we have made significant progress in addressing these challenges.  With the new advances in hepatitis C treatment, more widespread availability of safe and effective vaccines for hepatitis A and B, and more opportunities for testing for hepatitis C under the Affordable Care Act, we have arrived at a critical moment. By harnessing these and other developments, we have the potential to reduce the toll of viral hepatitis in the U.S. and save many lives.

Thanks to the outstanding commitment of our public and private partners, we are closer than ever to realizing the potential of this plan.

To access the full Action Plan for the Prevention Care and Treatment of Viral Hepatitis (2014-2016) visit www.aids.gov/hepatitis.

HOW ROCKS AND TREES COMMUNICATE IN SIERRA NEVADA

FROM:  NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 
Granite bedrock and sequoia forests 'communicate' in the Sierra Nevada
Research reveals the coevolution of life and landscapes

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? If it lands on granite bedrock, it does. But beyond the crash of timber onto rock, scientists have found that bedrock and the trees that grow from its weathered soils are, in a sense, communicating.

Bedrock influences forests--and the landscapes of which they are a part--more than was thought, according to researchers funded through the National Science Foundation (NSF) Critical Zone Observatories (CZO) network.

The scientists investigated the factors that influence forest cover in California's Sierra Nevada. Bedrock may be as important as temperature and moisture, they found, in regulating the distribution of trees and other vegetation across mountain slopes.

Geoscientists Cliff Riebe, Jesse Hahm, Claire Lukens and Sayaka Araki of the University of Wyoming recently published results of their study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Bedrock and trees in the critical zone

The research took place at the Southern Sierra CZO, one of ten NSF CZOs funded to unearth the secrets of Earth's critical zone.

Critical zone research looks at how water, life, rock and air interact from the base of the soil to the top of the vegetation canopy.

"The CZOs are providing scientists with new knowledge of the critical zone and its response to climate and land-use change," says Enriqueta Barrera, a program director in NSF's Division of Earth Sciences, which funds the CZO network.

"They're the first systems-based observatories dedicated to understanding how Earth's surface processes are coupled," says Barrera. "The results will help us predict how the critical zone affects the ecosystem services on which society depends."

The water cycle, the breakdown of rocks and eventual formation of soil, the evolution of rivers and valleys, patterns of plant growth and landforms that people see all result from processes that take place in the critical zone.

CZO scientists are investigating the integration and coupling of Earth surface processes, and how they are affected by the presence of fresh water.

The researchers are using field and analytical methods, space-based remote sensing and theoretical techniques.

The CZOs add to the environmental sensor networks in place and planned by NSF, including EarthScope, the National Ecological Observatory Network and the Ocean Observatories Network.

Scientists have known that the critical zone is a complex system in which different components interact at various space and time scales, and in which the rates of processes depend on the nature of those interactions.

Until now, however, researchers have looked at the components individually, especially in the field. The CZOs allow for investigation of the critical zone as a holistic system, rather than as isolated parts.

NSF CZOs are located in watersheds in the Southern Sierra Nevada; Boulder Creek in the Colorado Rockies; Susquehanna Shale Hills in Pennsylvania; Christina River Basin on the border of Delaware and Pennsylvania; Luquillo riparian zone in Puerto Rico; Jemez River and Santa Catalina Mountains in New Mexico and Arizona; Piedmont region of South Carolina; Reynolds Creek in Southwest Idaho; Eel River in Northern California; and linked Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota watersheds.

Composition of bedrock limits plant growth

The Southern Sierra CZO is home to extensive forests and huge exposures of granite bedrock.

"We were puzzled by the patchiness of vegetation on mountain slopes," Hahm says. "Densely forested areas are right next to places with little or no trees and soil.

"Strikingly, these bare areas sometimes occur side-by-side with groves of the largest trees on Earth, giant sequoias."

The researchers determined that bedrock composition acts to limit plant growth.

"Unexpectedly, we found that differences in bedrock composition are just as important in this ecosystem as climate," Riebe says. "That's hard to see without spatial analysis tools and integrated datasets on how vegetation and bedrock change across the landscape."

Plants get some of their nutrients from weathering of minerals as bedrock breaks down into soil. Granite rock, it turns out, contains plant-essential nutrients such as phosphorus.

"The results are important because they demonstrate that bedrock geochemistry is on par with climate as a regulator of vegetation in the Sierra Nevada--and likely in other granite mountain ranges around the world," Riebe says.

Geology of 100 million years ago linked with biology of today

Subtle differences in the cooling history of granite 100 million years ago are likely fueling the biogeochemical interactions that produce today's forest patterns.

Understanding these links is at the heart of critical zone science, says Riebe.

The findings also show that variations in forest cover correspond with differences in erosion rates. They appear to affect the pace at which the Sierra Nevada is wearing down due to the action of water, wind and biological processes.

The results will help efforts to learn how mountain forests are responding to climate-linked changes in temperature and precipitation.

"Most studies point to a shift in vegetation toward higher, cooler elevations," Riebe says. "But changes in climate may be just part of the story.

"Any changes in tree distribution will occur only with the consent of the underlying bedrock."

In the Sierra Nevada, rock meets life meets rock. Or life meets rock meets life.

-- Cheryl Dybas, NSF (703) 292-7734 cdybas@nsf.gov
Investigators
Jan Hopmans
Roger Bales
Martha Conklin
Christina Tague
Michael Goulden
Related Institutions/Organizations
University of California - Merced

ATTORNEY GENERAL HOLDER ADDRESSES CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE ON "HIGH-FREQUENCY TRADING"

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 
Attorney General Eric Holder Testifies Before U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies
~ Friday, April 4, 2014

Good morning.  Chairman [Frank] Wolf, Ranking Member [Chaka] Fattah, and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee: thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the President’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 Budget for the U.S. Department of Justice – and to provide an overview of the Department’s recent achievements and ongoing priorities.

Despite significant challenges, the past year has been characterized by remarkable progress – from expanding civil rights for all Americans to holding private corporations accountable for wrongdoing.  In the financial sector, concerns have been raised recently about a practice called “high-frequency trading.”  This practice, which consists of financial brokers and trading firms using advanced computer algorithms and ultra-high speed data networks to execute trades, has rightly received scrutiny from regulators.  I can confirm that we at the Justice Department are investigating this practice to determine whether it violates insider trading laws.  The Department is committed to ensuring the integrity of our financial markets – and we are determined to follow this investigation wherever the facts and the law may lead.

Across the board, many of the Department’s ongoing activities and recent accomplishments are notable – but none have been more important than our work to protect the American people from terrorism and other threats to our national security.  I know we’re all mindful, as we come together this morning, of Wednesday’s mass shooting at Fort Hood.  As I indicated yesterday, I have directed that the full resources of the Department of Justice and the FBI be made available to help conduct a thorough federal investigation.  And as we keep striving to achieve justice on behalf of our men and women in uniform – by working to determine what happened this week, and bringing help and healing to those who need it – my colleagues and I will continue to do everything in our power to prevent these horrific and far-too-common tragedies from happening again.

We also will remain steadfast in our commitment to ensure America’s national security – and to hold accountable those who seek to harm our nation and its people.  Last week, the Department achieved a major milestone in this regard when we secured the conviction of Sulaiman Abu Ghayth, the son-in-law of Usama bin Laden and a senior member of al Qaeda, on terrorism-related charges.

We never doubted the ability of our Article III court system to administer justice swiftly in this case, as it has in hundreds of other cases involving terrorism defendants – and this outcome vindicates the government’s approach to securing convictions of senior al Qaeda leaders.  It is my hope that this case will help lay that political debate to rest.

The President’s budget request would strengthen our national security work by investing a total of $4 billion in the Department’s cutting-edge counterterrorism and national security programs, including $15 million in new funding to maintain and operate the FBI’s new Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center facility in Alabama.

It also would provide $173 million to support our efforts to strengthen the federal criminal justice system through the groundbreaking “Smart on Crime” initiative I launched last August to make our criminal justice system both more effective and more efficient.

This, in turn, would enable us to further invest in the outstanding work that’s performed every day by dedicated attorneys and support staff in each of the Department’s litigating divisions and United States Attorneys’ Offices.  Thanks to their efforts, during the fiscal year ending in 2013, the Justice Department collected a total of more than $8 billion in civil and criminal fines and penalties.  This represents more than double the approximately $3 billion in direct appropriations that pay for our 94 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and main litigating divisions.  During FY 2012 and FY 2013, the Department collected a combined total of more than $21 billion – a record amount for a two-year span.  And, particularly in recent months, we’ve obtained a series of historic resolutions and taken other significant actions to ensure that we’re serving as sound stewards of taxpayer dollars – and protecting American consumers from fraud and other financial crimes.

Last November, the Justice Department secured a $13 billion settlement with JPMorgan Chase & Co. – the largest settlement with a single entity in American history – to resolve federal and state civil claims related to the company’s mortgage securitization process.  As part of our ongoing efforts to hold accountable those whose conduct sowed the seeds of the mortgage crisis, the Department also filed a lawsuit against the ratings firm S&P.  Last month, we reached a $1.2 billion agreement with Toyota – the largest criminal penalty ever imposed on an automotive company.  And just yesterday, we announced a record $5.15 billion settlement with Kerr-McGee Corporation and certain affiliates, and their parent Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, including $4.4 billion for environmental cleanup and claims.  This represents the largest recovery for cleanup of environmental contamination in the history of the Department of Justice.  It holds the company and its subsidiaries accountable for decades of significant environmental damage and fraudulent attempts to evade responsibility for its actions.  And it marks another critical step in our effort to protect the American people from all forms of fraud, to combat corporate misconduct, and to safeguard the environment.

As we move forward, I am eager to work with this Subcommittee, and with the entire Congress, to secure the timely passage of the President’s budget request – which provides a total of $27.4 billion in discretionary resources for the Department of Justice, including $25.3 billion for vital federal programs and $2.1 billion for discretionary state, local, and tribal assistance programs.  This support will be essential to ensuring that we can continue to protect the American people and strengthen our criminal justice system.

As you know, Mr. Chairman, FY2014 marks a critical year in the implementation of the Prison Rape Elimination Act, or PREA, as states will soon be required to comply with national standards for curbing sexual assault in prisons.  The Department is committed to helping state and local governments overcome any challenges they may encounter as they work towards implementing the National PREA Standards and – with funding this Committee has provided – has established a PREA Resource Center in order to assist with implementation.  We are confident that these standards, which were the results of extensive public comment, are attainable.  The problem of sexual assault in prisons is too great to settle for anything less than an aggressive approach to implementing these key reforms.

I thank you all for the opportunity to discuss this work with you today.  And I especially want to thank Chairman Wolf for his exemplary leadership and support of the Department’s work – and particularly our efforts to combat the heinous crime of human trafficking – over the course of a long and distinguished career in the House of Representatives.

Mr. Chairman, I have come to greatly value your advocacy of the Justice Department’s essential mission and your high regard for the tireless career employees who make our work possible every day.  Your expertise – and your steadfast support of our public safety efforts – have been invaluable over the years.  And upon your retirement from the House of Representatives at the end of this year, they will be greatly missed.

Thank you, once again, for your service and leadership.  I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

DEFENSE SECRETARY HAGEL TOUTS IMPORTANCE OF U.S.-JAPAN PARTNERSHIP

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel waves to the pilots of a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter after landing at Hardy Barracks in Tokyo, April 5, 2014. Hagel met with troops at Yokota Air Base earlier in the day and will continue his three-day stay in Japan, meeting with the Japanese prime minister and the defense and foreign ministers. DOD Photo by Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo  

FROM: U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 
Hagel: U.S.-Japan Partnership Critical to Regional Security
By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service

TOKYO, April 5, 2014 – Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel landed in Japan today as part of his fourth official trip to the Asia-Pacific region to reassure the nation’s leaders that the U.S.-Japan relationship is one of America’s strongest partnerships, friendships and treaty relationships.

This evening Hagel met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. According to Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby, the secretary thanked Abe for his leadership and for helping the two militaries maintain a strong relationship.
Hagel expressed his firm commitment to the U.S.-Japan treaty of mutual cooperation and security and to working closely with the leadership of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces to improve the nations’ collective capabilities, Kirby said.

The leaders discussed a range of regional security issues, including recent provocations by North Korea, Chinese maritime claims and military activities, and the need for a continued focus on dialogue and cooperation among the United States, Japan and South Korea.

Hagel affirmed strong U.S. support for Japanese efforts at defense reform and thanked Abe for supporting the Japanese government last December in securing a landfill permit for the Futenma replacement facility.

Tomorrow, Hagel will meet with Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera, Foreign Affairs Minister Fumio Kishida and U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy.
“There are challenges in this part of the world that include Japan’s future,” the defense secretary told reporters traveling with him.

“I’m visiting Japan … not just [to] reconnect and recommit U.S. efforts but to build on the recent meeting President {Barack] Obama had with Prime Minister Abe and South Korean President Park [Geun-hye],” Hagel said, “as we look at new opportunities and challenges in this part of the world.”

He added, “The Japanese-American partnership is a very critical anchor to peace and stability and security in this part of the world, so I look forward to conversations here in the next couple of days with the senior leaders of Japan.”
Even before he landed in Tokyo, Hagel initiated and hosted in Honolulu an informal meeting of defense ministers of the 10 countries that make up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN. The meeting was the first ever held in the United States.

“The ASEAN defense ministers conference was an important first step in what I’m doing here in the region because it represented the initial effort we have been working on as we continue to collaborate and coordinate with and strengthen our relationships in the Asia-Pacific,” Hagel said.

As President Barack Obama, Secretary of State John F. Kerry and Hagel himself have said many times, ASEAN is an important organization now and will continue to be important, the secretary said, because it represents the collective interests of the region.

ASEAN member countries are Burma, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

“When you add to [this] the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting-Plus members [which consists of the 10 ASEAN defense ministers and defense ministers from the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, New Zealand and Russia] … that’s a significant representation of this part of the world,” Hagel observed.
The U.S. strategy of rebalancing to the Asia-Pacific region “is very much based on these relationships and all their variances and dimensions,” the secretary said, “so to start [his fourth trip to the region in less than 12 months] spending a couple of days with ASEAN members was important.”

Hagel landed here today at Yokota Air Base, whose host unit is the 374th Airlift Wing, and his first visit was with 200 U.S. service members and Japanese Self-Defense Forces troops.

In a hangar on a stage in front of giant flags of the United States and Japan, the secretary brought greetings from President Obama and thanked those from U.S. Forces Japan and their families for their service and sacrifice.
Hagel also thanked those from Japan’s Self-Defense Forces “for what you do for your country and for our partnership, and for helping keep peace and stability in this part of the world.”

In Hagel’s discussions with Japanese leaders, a senior defense official traveling with the secretary said Hagel will have an opportunity to maintain the positive forward motion initiated in Tokyo last fall during the historic Two Plus Two meeting he attended with Kerry.

That progress, the official said, involved work on the bilateral U.S.-Japan alliance to revise the defense guidelines, move forward with the realignment of U.S. military forces in Japan, and strengthen and orient the alliance to focus on 21st century challenges.

Hagel and the Japanese leaders also will discuss building a common understanding of the regional and global security environment.

“Here the secretary will … share perspectives with the Japanese prime minister and defense minister on what they’re seeing on the Korean Peninsula, in the East China Sea and in the South China Sea,” the official said, and conduct important alliance consultations on opportunities and challenges of the international security order.

The senior defense official said Hagel and Japanese officials also would discuss Japan’s relationships with other countries in the region.

“The president and Prime Minister Abe and South Korean President Park had a historic trilateral summit on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit at the Hague recently,” the official said, “and there will be an opportunity to continue underscoring the importance … we see in greater trilateral cooperation among the United States, Japan and South Korea, and the United States, Japan and Australia, and how to move those relationships forward.”

In Washington on April 17-18 the United States, South Korea and Japan will hold a sixth round of Defense Trilateral Talks, the official said, and in late April President Obama will visit Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Malaysia.
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SECRETARY KERRY'S STATEMENT ON ELECTIONS IN AFGHANISTAN

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT

Afghanistan Elections

Press Statement

John Kerry
Secretary of State

Washington, DC

April 5, 2014

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Millions of Afghan men and women took to the polls today with courage and commitment. This is their moment. The Afghan people secured this election. They ran this election, and most importantly, they voted in this election.

Today’s vote demonstrates how committed the Afghan people are to protecting and advancing their democracy. The fierce determination of the millions of voters undeterred by violence and threats of violence has been remarkable.

Now, we need to give the Afghan electoral bodies the time they need to do their work in processing the outcome of these elections.

The United States remains ready to work with the next president of Afghanistan. We will continue to stand with the people of Afghanistan as they work to build a democratic future.

PRESIDENT'S WEEKLY ADDRESS FOR APRIL 5, 2014

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE

Weekly Address: The President’s Budget Ensures Opportunity for All Hard-Working Americans

WASHINGTON, DC — In this week’s address, the President highlighted the important differences between the budget he’s put forward – built on opportunity for all – and the budget House Republicans are advocating for, which stacks the deck against the middle class. While the President is focused on building lasting economic security and ensuring that hard-working Americans have the opportunity to get ahead, Republicans are advancing the same old top-down approach of cutting taxes for the wealthiest Americans and slashing important investments in education, infrastructure, and research and development.

The audio of the address and video of the address will be available online atwww.whitehouse.gov at 6:00 a.m. ET, Saturday, April 5, 2014.

Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
April 5, 2014

Hi, everybody. 

Today, our economy is growing and our businesses are consistently generating new jobs.  But decades-long trends still threaten the middle class.  While those at the top are doing better than ever, too many Americans are working harder than ever, but feel like they can’t get ahead.

That’s why the budget I sent Congress earlier this year is built on the idea of opportunity for all.  It will grow the middle class and shrink the deficits we’ve already cut in half since I took office.

It’s an opportunity agenda with four goals. Number one is creating more good jobs that pay good wages. Number two is training more Americans with the skills to fill those jobs. Number three is guaranteeing every child access to a great education.  And number four is making work pay – with wages you can live on, savings you can retire on, and health care that’s there for you when you need it. 

This week, the Republicans in Congress put forward a very different budget.  And it does just the opposite: it shrinks opportunity and makes it harder for Americans who work hard to get ahead. 

The Republican budget begins by handing out massive tax cuts to households making more than $1 million a year.  Then, to keep from blowing a hole in the deficit, they’d have to raise taxes on middle-class families with kids.  Next, their budget forces deep cuts to investments that help our economy create jobs, like education and scientific research. 

Now, they won’t tell you where these cuts will fall.  But compared to my budget, if they cut everything evenly, then within a few years, about 170,000 kids will be cut from early education programs.  About 200,000 new mothers and kids will be cut off from programs to help them get healthy food.  Schools across the country will lose funding that supports 21,000 special education teachers.  And if they want to make smaller cuts to one of these areas, that means larger cuts in others. 

Unsurprisingly, the Republican budget also tries to repeal the Affordable Care Act – even though that would take away health coverage from the more than seven million Americans who’ve done the responsible thing and signed up to buy health insurance.  And for good measure, their budget guts the rules we put in place to protect the middle class from another financial crisis like the one we’ve had to fight so hard to recover from.

Policies that benefit a fortunate few while making it harder for working Americans to succeed are not what we need right now.  Our economy doesn’t grow best from the top-down; it grows best from the middle-out.  That’s what my opportunity agenda does – and it’s what I’ll keep fighting for.  Thanks.  And have a great weekend.