SAN FRANCISCO — YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley is stepping down as head of the online video-sharing superstar bought by Google for 1.65 billion dollars in 2006.
"For the past two years, I've taken on more of an advisory role at YouTube as Salar Kamangar has led the company's day-to-day operations," Hurley said in a statement released by YouTube on Friday.
"I will continue to serve as an advisor and am excited to witness the next phase of YouTube's growth."
Google web applications vice president Kamangar is filling the chief executive seat vacated by Hurley.
Google does not release revenue figures for YouTube, but senior executives have boasted that revenues from display advertising at the service is climbing and suggested recently that it is near profitability.
YouTube has been gradually adding professional content such as full-length television shows and movies to its vast trove of amateur video offerings in a bid to attract advertisers.
Silicon Valley lore has it that YouTube was cooked up at a dinner party in 2005 and served up by founders Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim.
The website was reportedly inspired by a desire for a way to use the Internet to share digital videos shot during the soiree.
Users flocked to the website, uploading everything from goofy original snippets to television, movie and concert clips.
Chen and Hurley met in 1999 while working at PayPal before the online financial transactions service, which was bought three years later by Internet auction site eBay for 1.5 billion dollars.
Hurley, 29, is a Pennsylvania native who earned a bachelor degree in design in his home state. He was hired by PayPal after applying for a job via e-mail.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
San Diego police officer killed in shootout
SAN DIEGO – A veteran San Diego
police officer was killed during a shootout inside an apartment where the gunman was believed to be holed up early Thursday, a department spokeswoman said.
San Diego officers were assisting the U.S. Marshal's Service and probation officers in a check on an assault with a deadly weapon suspect and were inside the apartment when the suspect opened fire at 10:45 p.m. Wednesday, Lt. Andra Brown said.
Three officers, including the fatally wounded officer, returned fire and backed out of the apartment in the Paradise Hills area of southeast San Diego.
"There was a hail of bullets," Brown said when asked to estimate the number of gunshots.
Officers carried the wounded officer out of the building and he died at a hospital.
"There was heroic action by the officers," the lieutenant said.
The type of weapon wasn't immediately known. The name of the officer is being withheld. Brown would only say he was a veteran officer with more than 15 years on the force.
A police dog was also wounded.
At least two people inside the apartment with the gunman emerged later. They weren't hurt.
The gunman remained barricaded inside the apartment with a SWAT surrounding the complex. Nearby apartments were evacuated, displacing at least 50 people.
Brown said at 5:15 a.m. Thursday that the SWAT team was preparing "a tactical entry."
police officer was killed during a shootout inside an apartment where the gunman was believed to be holed up early Thursday, a department spokeswoman said.San Diego officers were assisting the U.S. Marshal's Service and probation officers in a check on an assault with a deadly weapon suspect and were inside the apartment when the suspect opened fire at 10:45 p.m. Wednesday, Lt. Andra Brown said.
Three officers, including the fatally wounded officer, returned fire and backed out of the apartment in the Paradise Hills area of southeast San Diego.
"There was a hail of bullets," Brown said when asked to estimate the number of gunshots.
Officers carried the wounded officer out of the building and he died at a hospital.
"There was heroic action by the officers," the lieutenant said.
The type of weapon wasn't immediately known. The name of the officer is being withheld. Brown would only say he was a veteran officer with more than 15 years on the force.
A police dog was also wounded.
At least two people inside the apartment with the gunman emerged later. They weren't hurt.
The gunman remained barricaded inside the apartment with a SWAT surrounding the complex. Nearby apartments were evacuated, displacing at least 50 people.
Brown said at 5:15 a.m. Thursday that the SWAT team was preparing "a tactical entry."
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Cholera reaches Haiti capital
PORT-AU-PRINCE — An epidemic of cholera that has ravaged northern and central Haiti killing 220 people has reached the country's densely populated capital, according to UN health officials.
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said in a statement late Saturday that the Haitian Public Health Ministry's "national reference laboratory today confirmed cases in Ouest Department, including Port-au-Prince."
No specific number of cholera cases in Port-au-Prince was given.
The sudden cholera epidemic, mainly in northern Haiti, has sent officials scrambling to contain a wider outbreak 10 months after an earthquake devastated the Caribbean nation.
Hundreds of thousands of people are still living in impoverished tent cities, particularly around Port-au-Prince, where sanitation is poor and where relief groups say the diarrhea-causing illness could spread rapidly.
The PAHO said that while no cases of cholera have been reported in the neighboring Dominican Republican, the outbreak has prompted the Haitian government "to mobilize a contingency plan in the border area, while the border remains open."
Regional health director Dieula Louissaint said 12 more people died in the Artibonite department in northern Haiti on Saturday, boosting that area's toll 206, while 14 people died in central Haiti.
"We cannot continue to treat cholera in this structure where we are also seeing other kinds of patients," Louissaint said. "We need to establish specific treatment centers."
Around 3,000 people have been admitted to hospitals and health centers near the northern city of Saint Marc which is struggling to cope with the overwhelming rush of sick patients as Haiti grapples with its first cholera outbreak in over a century.
More than 50 inmates at a prison in the center of the country have been infected with cholera, and three inmates have died, officials said.
"The situation is under control. The population should not give in to panic, but people must take hygienic measures seriously," warned Jocelyne Pierre-Louis, a physician with the health ministry.
President Rene Preval and Health Minister Alex Larsen toured regions affected by the epidemic on Saturday, as authorities vowed they were working to provide clean water to residents.
On Friday, the health ministry asked the United Nations operations in Haiti to take charge of distributing medication that is being sent by international donors.
The Canadian government has offered to set up a military hospital in Haiti and the United States has pledged to set up large tents to treat patients on the ground.
Canada, which has its own sizeable Haitian population, also offered to send one million Canadian dollars to help fight the spread of the outbreak.
"Canada is worried about the risk that this serious disease spreads to other communities," Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said.
The US branch of the Red Cross said Saturday that three large shipments of supplies had arrived in the Americas' poorest country.
Doctors Without Borders has plans to set up a field hospital in Saint Marc to treat cholera patients, and Oxfam said it sent five emergency specialists to Artibonite to "set up water, sanitation and hygiene programs for an estimated 100,000 people."
Contamination of the Artibonite river, an artery crossing Haiti's rural center that thousands of people use for much of their daily activities from washing to cooking, was believed to be at the source of the epidemic.
But the rapid spread of the disease, which is caused by a bacterial infection in the small intestines, raised fears of a much larger health emergency.
"It is a scenario of catastrophe," Mirlande Manigat, the frontrunner in Haiti's presidential elections, told broadcaster Radio-Canada during a visit to Montreal.
Aid agencies have 300,000 doses of antibiotics in the country already, Catherine Bragg, the UN deputy emergency coordinator said in New York on Friday.
Some 10,000 boxes of water purification tablets, 2,500 jerry cans, and the same number of buckets and hygiene kits are being distributed in the affected area.
"The point here is that cholera deaths are preventable, and we are doing everything we can to assist the Haitian authorities to prevent further deaths," Bragg said.
killing 220 people has reached the country's densely populated capital, according to UN health officials.The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said in a statement late Saturday that the Haitian Public Health Ministry's "national reference laboratory today confirmed cases in Ouest Department, including Port-au-Prince."
No specific number of cholera cases in Port-au-Prince was given.
The sudden cholera epidemic, mainly in northern Haiti, has sent officials scrambling to contain a wider outbreak 10 months after an earthquake devastated the Caribbean nation.
Hundreds of thousands of people are still living in impoverished tent cities, particularly around Port-au-Prince, where sanitation is poor and where relief groups say the diarrhea-causing illness could spread rapidly.
The PAHO said that while no cases of cholera have been reported in the neighboring Dominican Republican, the outbreak has prompted the Haitian government "to mobilize a contingency plan in the border area, while the border remains open."
Regional health director Dieula Louissaint said 12 more people died in the Artibonite department in northern Haiti on Saturday, boosting that area's toll 206, while 14 people died in central Haiti.
"We cannot continue to treat cholera in this structure where we are also seeing other kinds of patients," Louissaint said. "We need to establish specific treatment centers."
Around 3,000 people have been admitted to hospitals and health centers near the northern city of Saint Marc which is struggling to cope with the overwhelming rush of sick patients as Haiti grapples with its first cholera outbreak in over a century.
More than 50 inmates at a prison in the center of the country have been infected with cholera, and three inmates have died, officials said.
"The situation is under control. The population should not give in to panic, but people must take hygienic measures seriously," warned Jocelyne Pierre-Louis, a physician with the health ministry.
President Rene Preval and Health Minister Alex Larsen toured regions affected by the epidemic on Saturday, as authorities vowed they were working to provide clean water to residents.
On Friday, the health ministry asked the United Nations operations in Haiti to take charge of distributing medication that is being sent by international donors.
The Canadian government has offered to set up a military hospital in Haiti and the United States has pledged to set up large tents to treat patients on the ground.
Canada, which has its own sizeable Haitian population, also offered to send one million Canadian dollars to help fight the spread of the outbreak.
"Canada is worried about the risk that this serious disease spreads to other communities," Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said.
The US branch of the Red Cross said Saturday that three large shipments of supplies had arrived in the Americas' poorest country.
Doctors Without Borders has plans to set up a field hospital in Saint Marc to treat cholera patients, and Oxfam said it sent five emergency specialists to Artibonite to "set up water, sanitation and hygiene programs for an estimated 100,000 people."
Contamination of the Artibonite river, an artery crossing Haiti's rural center that thousands of people use for much of their daily activities from washing to cooking, was believed to be at the source of the epidemic.
But the rapid spread of the disease, which is caused by a bacterial infection in the small intestines, raised fears of a much larger health emergency.
"It is a scenario of catastrophe," Mirlande Manigat, the frontrunner in Haiti's presidential elections, told broadcaster Radio-Canada during a visit to Montreal.
Aid agencies have 300,000 doses of antibiotics in the country already, Catherine Bragg, the UN deputy emergency coordinator said in New York on Friday.
Some 10,000 boxes of water purification tablets, 2,500 jerry cans, and the same number of buckets and hygiene kits are being distributed in the affected area.
"The point here is that cholera deaths are preventable, and we are doing everything we can to assist the Haitian authorities to prevent further deaths," Bragg said.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
UN says global farm methods 'recipe for disaster'
GENEVA — The United Nations top official on the right to food has called for wholesale changes in farming methods to safeguard the environment and ensure everyone has enough to eat.
Olivier De Schutter, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, said in a statement to mark World Food Day that there is currently "little to rejoice about," and "worse may still be ahead."
"As a result of climate change, the yields in certain regions of sub-Saharan Africa are expected to fall by 50 percent by 2020 in comparison to 2000 levels. And growing frequency and intensity of floods and droughts contribute to volatility in agricultural markets."
"Current agricultural developments are ... threatening the ability for our children?s children to feed themselves," he said. "A fundamental shift is urgently required if we want to celebrate World Food Day next year," he added.
De Schutter said the emphasis on chemical fertilisers and a greater mechanisation of production was "far distant from the professed commitment to fight climate change and to support small-scale, family agriculture."
In addition, "giving priority to approaches that increase reliance on fossil fuels is agriculture committing suicide," he said.
"Agriculture is already directly responsible for 14 percent of man-made greenhouse gas emissions -- and up to one third if we include the carbon dioxide produced by deforestation for the expansion of cultivation or pastures.
De Schutter said that pursuing the current approach would be "a recipe for disaster."
Instead there should be a global promotion of low-carbon farming, he said, adding that "agriculture must become central to mitigating the effects of climate change rather than a large part of the problem."
"Low-technology, sustainable techniques may be better suited to the needs of the cash-strapped farmers working in the most difficult environments," De Schutter said.
"They represent a huge, still largely untapped potential to meet the needs and to increase the incomes of the poorest farmers."
Climate change and agricultural development must be thought of together, instead of being dealt with in isolation from one another, De Schutter urged.
"To do so, we need to resist the short-termism of markets and elections. Development of longer-term strategies through inclusive and participatory processes could and should clearly identify measures needed, a clear time line, and allocation of responsibilities for action."
"What today seems revolutionary will be achievable if it is part of a long-term, democratically developed plan, one that will allow us to develop carbon-neutral agriculture and to pursue everyone?s enjoyment of the right to food through sustainable food production systems."
The 30th celebration of World Food Day on Saturday has the slogan: "United against hunger."
The main issues in focus are rapidly increasing demand for food commodities and changing climates that affect abilities to produce food.
top official on the right to food has called for wholesale changes in farming methods to safeguard the environment and ensure everyone has enough to eat.Olivier De Schutter, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, said in a statement to mark World Food Day that there is currently "little to rejoice about," and "worse may still be ahead."
"As a result of climate change, the yields in certain regions of sub-Saharan Africa are expected to fall by 50 percent by 2020 in comparison to 2000 levels. And growing frequency and intensity of floods and droughts contribute to volatility in agricultural markets."
"Current agricultural developments are ... threatening the ability for our children?s children to feed themselves," he said. "A fundamental shift is urgently required if we want to celebrate World Food Day next year," he added.
De Schutter said the emphasis on chemical fertilisers and a greater mechanisation of production was "far distant from the professed commitment to fight climate change and to support small-scale, family agriculture."
In addition, "giving priority to approaches that increase reliance on fossil fuels is agriculture committing suicide," he said.
"Agriculture is already directly responsible for 14 percent of man-made greenhouse gas emissions -- and up to one third if we include the carbon dioxide produced by deforestation for the expansion of cultivation or pastures.
De Schutter said that pursuing the current approach would be "a recipe for disaster."
Instead there should be a global promotion of low-carbon farming, he said, adding that "agriculture must become central to mitigating the effects of climate change rather than a large part of the problem."
"Low-technology, sustainable techniques may be better suited to the needs of the cash-strapped farmers working in the most difficult environments," De Schutter said.
"They represent a huge, still largely untapped potential to meet the needs and to increase the incomes of the poorest farmers."
Climate change and agricultural development must be thought of together, instead of being dealt with in isolation from one another, De Schutter urged.
"To do so, we need to resist the short-termism of markets and elections. Development of longer-term strategies through inclusive and participatory processes could and should clearly identify measures needed, a clear time line, and allocation of responsibilities for action."
"What today seems revolutionary will be achievable if it is part of a long-term, democratically developed plan, one that will allow us to develop carbon-neutral agriculture and to pursue everyone?s enjoyment of the right to food through sustainable food production systems."
The 30th celebration of World Food Day on Saturday has the slogan: "United against hunger."
The main issues in focus are rapidly increasing demand for food commodities and changing climates that affect abilities to produce food.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
'Heavy metals in Chinese cigarettes' pose high risk
HONG KONG — A new international research project has found high levels of heavy metals in Chinese cigarettes, with some containing three times the level of lead, cadmium and arsenic of Canadian brands.
The International Tobacco Control Project, which brings together experts from 20 countries, released a series of 11 research studies that found China was endangering cigarette buyers at home and abroad by failing to implement stronger controls.
"All 13 Chinese cigarette brands tested were found to have significantly elevated levels of heavy metals, with some containing about three times the level of lead, cadmium, and arsenic compared to Canadian cigarette brands," the study, released on Thursday, found.
"The presence of high levels of heavy metals in Chinese cigarettes may constitute a potential global public health problem as exports of Chinese cigarettes continue to increase."
"It is fundamentally wrong that consumers in many countries know about the content of the chocolate bars they eat, but know nothing about what is in the cigarettes they smoke," the project quoted lead researcher Geoffrey Fong from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, as saying.
About a million smokers die each year in China from tobacco-related diseases and 100,000 people from exposure to second-hand smoke, the project, published as a supplement to the journal Tobacco Control, found.
"If current trends continue, China's death toll from tobacco will reach two million per year by 2020," it said.
The project added that China was failing to educate people on the risks of smoking through measures such as effective warnings on packaging.
Health warnings on Chinese cigarette packets are often written in English rather than Chinese and lack graphic images showing the damage to health caused by smoking, it noted.
"Only 68 percent of current smokers in China believe that smoking leads to lung cancer and only 36 percent believe that smoking causes coronary heart disease."
Fong added: "These results demonstrate how far China needs to go in tobacco control.... Knowledge is low, mis-perceptions are high and unless stronger action is taken, China will soon find itself in the midst of an even more devastating public health disaster than they are experiencing now."
, with some containing three times the level of lead, cadmium and arsenic of Canadian brands.The International Tobacco Control Project, which brings together experts from 20 countries, released a series of 11 research studies that found China was endangering cigarette buyers at home and abroad by failing to implement stronger controls.
"All 13 Chinese cigarette brands tested were found to have significantly elevated levels of heavy metals, with some containing about three times the level of lead, cadmium, and arsenic compared to Canadian cigarette brands," the study, released on Thursday, found.
"The presence of high levels of heavy metals in Chinese cigarettes may constitute a potential global public health problem as exports of Chinese cigarettes continue to increase."
"It is fundamentally wrong that consumers in many countries know about the content of the chocolate bars they eat, but know nothing about what is in the cigarettes they smoke," the project quoted lead researcher Geoffrey Fong from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, as saying.
About a million smokers die each year in China from tobacco-related diseases and 100,000 people from exposure to second-hand smoke, the project, published as a supplement to the journal Tobacco Control, found.
"If current trends continue, China's death toll from tobacco will reach two million per year by 2020," it said.
The project added that China was failing to educate people on the risks of smoking through measures such as effective warnings on packaging.
Health warnings on Chinese cigarette packets are often written in English rather than Chinese and lack graphic images showing the damage to health caused by smoking, it noted.
"Only 68 percent of current smokers in China believe that smoking leads to lung cancer and only 36 percent believe that smoking causes coronary heart disease."
Fong added: "These results demonstrate how far China needs to go in tobacco control.... Knowledge is low, mis-perceptions are high and unless stronger action is taken, China will soon find itself in the midst of an even more devastating public health disaster than they are experiencing now."
Sunday, October 03, 2010
Canadian defense chief pulls imam's speech
OTTAWA — Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay has canceled a planned speech by the head of the Canadian Islamic Congress over charges the group holds extremist views, prompting an angry response.
The source of the controversy appears to be comments made four years ago by the CIC's former chief, Mohamed Elmasry, who said any Israelis over 18 years of age were legitimate targets for suicide bombings because they had served in the Israeli army.
But new CIC head Imam Zijad Delic, a Bosnian-Canadian Muslim who had been scheduled to make a speech Monday at National Defense Headquarters as part of Islamic Heritage Month celebrations, decried MacKay's decision and insisted that Elmasry's views were not those of his organization.
"Of course CIC doesn't agree. There are many leaders who speak and they don't speak on behalf of everybody. They just speak," Delic told CBC News. "Muslims totally forbid suicide bombing."
Upon learning early Friday that Delic may participate in the celebrations, MacKay "took the decision to cancel the imam's role based on extremist views promulgated by the Canadian Islamic Congress," his spokesman Jay Paxton later said in a statement.
"The Canadian Islamic Congress has declared that Israelis over the age of 18 are legitimate targets of suicide bombers. These types of comments don't support Islamic heritage, they simply divide Canadians, promulgate hate and they have no place in Monday's celebrations."
Noting that he has spoken at events sponsored by the departments of foreign affairs and transportation, Delic expressed dismay at MacKay's decision, saying it showed Muslims were being treated as "second citizens."
"His decision is totally unfounded, it's baseless," he said. "This decision tells me quite a lot in terms of how (the government) is disengaged from the Canadian Muslim community."
In February 2009, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney similarly denounced what he called the anti-Semitic position of Elmasry and the CIC.
The Muslim Canadian Congress (MCC), another Muslim group, welcomed MacKay's decision.
"In the past few years we have seen the so-called Islamic History Month turned into a propaganda machine for the Islamists in Canada who wanted to introduce sharia law and who wish to hide behind the cover of teaching history to infiltrate the highest levels of government in Ottawa," MCC vice president Salma Siddiqui told AFP.
"Islamic history should be taught by academics and historians, not clerics and propagandists."
Monday's event is expected to focus on Islam's evolving role in the Canadian Forces and on the contributions of Canada's Muslim community to society.
The source of the controversy appears to be comments made four years ago by the CIC's former chief, Mohamed Elmasry, who said any Israelis over 18 years of age were legitimate targets for suicide bombings because they had served in the Israeli army.
But new CIC head Imam Zijad Delic, a Bosnian-Canadian Muslim who had been scheduled to make a speech Monday at National Defense Headquarters as part of Islamic Heritage Month celebrations, decried MacKay's decision and insisted that Elmasry's views were not those of his organization.
"Of course CIC doesn't agree. There are many leaders who speak and they don't speak on behalf of everybody. They just speak," Delic told CBC News. "Muslims totally forbid suicide bombing."
Upon learning early Friday that Delic may participate in the celebrations, MacKay "took the decision to cancel the imam's role based on extremist views promulgated by the Canadian Islamic Congress," his spokesman Jay Paxton later said in a statement.
"The Canadian Islamic Congress has declared that Israelis over the age of 18 are legitimate targets of suicide bombers. These types of comments don't support Islamic heritage, they simply divide Canadians, promulgate hate and they have no place in Monday's celebrations."
Noting that he has spoken at events sponsored by the departments of foreign affairs and transportation, Delic expressed dismay at MacKay's decision, saying it showed Muslims were being treated as "second citizens."
"His decision is totally unfounded, it's baseless," he said. "This decision tells me quite a lot in terms of how (the government) is disengaged from the Canadian Muslim community."
In February 2009, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney similarly denounced what he called the anti-Semitic position of Elmasry and the CIC.
The Muslim Canadian Congress (MCC), another Muslim group, welcomed MacKay's decision.
"In the past few years we have seen the so-called Islamic History Month turned into a propaganda machine for the Islamists in Canada who wanted to introduce sharia law and who wish to hide behind the cover of teaching history to infiltrate the highest levels of government in Ottawa," MCC vice president Salma Siddiqui told AFP.
"Islamic history should be taught by academics and historians, not clerics and propagandists."
Monday's event is expected to focus on Islam's evolving role in the Canadian Forces and on the contributions of Canada's Muslim community to society.
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