PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) ? Relatives of the dead suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing will claim his body now that his wife has agreed to release it, an uncle said as officials in both Washington and Russia deepened their investigations into him and his ties.
The body of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, has been at the medical examiner's office in Massachusetts since he died after a gunfight with authorities more than a week ago.
Amato DeLuca, the Rhode Island attorney for his widow, Katherine Russell, said Tuesday that his client had just learned that the medical examiner was ready to release Tsarnaev's body and that she wants it released to his side of the family.
Police said Tsarnaev ran out of ammunition before his brother, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, dragged his body under a vehicle while fleeing the scene. His cause of death has been determined but will not be made public until his remains are claimed.
"Of course, family members will take possession of the body," uncle Ruslan Tsarni of Maryland told The Associated Press on Tuesday night. "We'll do it. We will do it. A family is a family."
He would not elaborate. Tsarnaev's parents are still in Russia, but he has other relatives on his side of the family in the U.S., including Tsarni.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev lies in a prison hospital after being wounded in the shootout with police as he and his brother made their getaway attempt. He is charged with using a weapon of mass destruction to kill, a crime that carries a potential death sentence.
Russian agents placed the older suspect under surveillance during a six-month visit to southern Russia last year, then scrambled to find him when he suddenly disappeared after police killed a Canadian jihadist, a security official told the AP.
U.S. law enforcement officials have been trying to determine whether Tamerlan Tsarnaev was indoctrinated or trained by militants during his visit to Dagestan, a Caspian Sea province that has become the center of a simmering Islamic insurgency.
The security official with the Anti-Extremism Center, a federal agency under Russia's Interior Ministry, confirmed the Russians shared their concerns. He said that Russian agents were watching Tsarnaev, and that they searched for him when he disappeared two days after the July 2012 death of the Canadian man, who had joined the Islamic insurgency in the region. The official spoke only on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media.
Security officials suspected ties between Tsarnaev and the Canadian ? an ethnic Russian named William Plotnikov ? according to the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, which is known for its independence and investigative reporting and cited an unnamed official with the Anti-Extremism Center, which tracks militants. The newspaper said the men had social networking ties that brought Tsarnaev to the attention of Russian security services for the first time in late 2010.
President Barack Obama said Tuesday at a news conference that the U.S. counterterrorism bureaucracy "did what it was supposed to be doing" before the Boston Marathon bombing as his top intelligence official began a review into whether sensitive information was adequately shared and whether the U.S. government could have disrupted the attack.
"We want to go back and we want to review every step that was taken," Obama said. "We want to leave no stone unturned. We want to see, is there in fact additional protocols and procedures that could be put in place that would further improve and enhance our ability to detect a potential attack."
In Rhode Island, DeLuca said Tamerlan Tsarnaev's widow met with law enforcement "for many hours over the past week" and will continue cooperating. FBI agents on Monday visited her parents' North Kingstown, R.I., home, where she has been staying, and carried away several bags.
"Katherine and her family continue to be deeply saddened by the harm that has been caused," DeLuca said Tuesday.
Terrel Harris, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, said Tuesday evening that the state had not yet received Russell's request to release her husband's body.
He said arrangements must be made to release the body and once that happens a death certificate will be filed and the cause of death made public. He said it is too soon to speculate on when that might happen.
___
Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Lynn Berry in Moscow; Arsen Mollyaev in Makhachkala, Russia; and Alicia A. Caldwell, Eileen Sullivan and AP Intelligence Writer Kimberly Dozier in Washington.
FILE - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks during a news conference at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, in this Dec. 12, 2012 file photo. The Federal Reserve is widely expected Wednesday May 1, 2013 to stick with its aggressive efforts to strengthen a still-subpar economy. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
FILE - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks during a news conference at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, in this Dec. 12, 2012 file photo. The Federal Reserve is widely expected Wednesday May 1, 2013 to stick with its aggressive efforts to strengthen a still-subpar economy. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Federal Reserve is widely expected Wednesday to stick with its aggressive efforts to strengthen a still-subpar economy.
The Fed will likely end a two-day meeting with a statement noting that job growth remains modest and that it's standing by its campaign to keep loan rates at record lows to help ease unemployment.
The central bank's efforts include buying $85 billion a month in Treasurys and mortgage bonds to try to keep long-term borrowing costs down.
Investors will have only the Fed's brief statement to study for clues to its thinking. This isn't one of the four policy meetings each year that are capped by a news conference by Chairman Ben Bernanke.
Besides buying bonds to keep long-term rates down, the Fed has said it plans to keep its key short-term rate near zero at least until the unemployment rate dips below 6.5 percent from its current 7.6 percent. The goal is for consumers and businesses to borrow and spend more to energize the economy.
Many economists had suggested that the Fed might scale back its bond purchases in the second half of 2013 if job growth accelerated. But the jobs report for March was surprisingly weak. And inflation has been running below the Fed's target rate, allowing it to keep stimulating the economy without igniting price increases.
"I am not looking for any major action from this meeting," says David Jones, an economist at DMJ Advisors.
The minutes of the Fed's last meeting in March indicated that some policymakers favored slowing and eventually ending its bond buying ? as long as the economy and the job market kept improving. Some feared that keeping rates too low for too long could escalate inflation, fuel speculative asset bubbles or unsettle markets once the Fed has to start raising rates or unloading its record $3 trillion investment portfolio.
Early this month, though, the government said U.S. employers added only 88,000 jobs in March, far below the 220,000 average in the previous four months. Last week, it said the economy grew at an annual rate of 2.5 percent in the January-March quarter ? a decent growth rate but one that's expected to weaken in coming months because of federal spending cuts and higher Social Security taxes.
At the same time, consumer inflation as measured by the gauge the Fed most closely monitors remains well below its 2 percent target. That gauge rose just 1 percent in the 12 months that ended in March.
Many analysts now think the Fed will keep the Fed's easy-credit policies unchanged, possibly for the rest of the year.
"The government's fiscal austerity is kicking in and hitting the economy hard," says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics. "I am not looking for any change in Fed policy at this meeting, not with this weak growth and low inflation."
The Fed's goal is to keep price changes from hurting the economy. This could occur if inflation raged out of control or if the opposite problem ? deflation ? emerged. Deflation is a prolonged drop in wages, prices and the value of assets like stocks and houses.
The United States last suffered serious deflation during the Great Depression of the 1930s but Fed policymakers worry more about the threat of deflation any time prices go lower than 2 percent. They want to avoid following the path of Japan, which has struggled with weak growth and deflation for more than two decades.
Economists believe the latest economic data will embolden the majority of officials who back Bernanke's commitment to keep borrowing rates down until the economy shows sustained improvement ? as long as inflation stays low.
Brian Bethune, an economics professor at Gordon College in Wenham, Mass., says the Fed needs to be especially cautious in signaling any policy shift because the U.S. economy has been serving as a global engine of growth. Many European countries are still struggling to escape a recession that followed the region's debt crisis.
"Anything the Fed did that could disrupt things or create uncertainty could tip the whole global economy back into recession," Bethune says.
Few expect the central bank to start raising short-term rates before late 2015 or early 2016. And many economists think the Fed will keep buying $85 billion in bonds each month for the rest of this year, before starting to curtail its purchases in early 2014.
LAS VEGAS (AP) ? A Las Vegas-based social gambling company says it will launch the first legal, real-money poker website in the United States.
Ultimate Gaming will only accept wagers from players in Nevada for now, but the site likely represents the shape of things to come for gamblers across the country.
Never fully legal, Internet poker has been banned in the United States since 2011.
More recently, the federal government softened its stance on Internet betting and three states ? New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada? have legalized some form of online wagering.
With Tuesday's launch, Nevada wins the race to bring Texas Hold 'em back to the Internet.
Ultimate Gaming executives say they hope to prove online poker can be done well, and encourage other states to tap into the market.
Home ? Business ? How Accounting Software Can Make Your Company Greener
If you?re the owner of a small business or a freelancer, like me, it is essential that we properly manage our bookkeeping. Fortunately, it doesn?t take nearly the education or knowledge as it once did to properly update your books. The technological options made available to us simplify our bookkeeping process, and we must utilize these technological options in order to reduce our carbon footprint. One of these technologies which will help your company become greener is small business accounting software. With more options at our disposal than we know what to do with, it would be negligent on your part to not take advantage of this technology. If you will allow it to, this accounting software will reduce your company?s carbon footprint.
How is it green?
If you personally handle your company?s taxes, have a bookkeeper on staff, or hire a CPA to prepare your tax documents each year, there really is no need to agonize over this task. It may seem basic, but nobody wants to manage a company?s books by hand. This is an inefficient process and increases your company?s carbon footprint, as you have paper waste to account for. If you find the right small business accounting software for your company, your tax season will no longer be a whirlwind of numbers, and your company will become greener. Rather than printing out all of your bookkeeping documents, purchasing paper in order to complete printing jobs, you will make your life and the lives of your employees significantly easier by making the decision to make your bookkeeping a green practice.
Why buy accounting software?
If reducing your company?s impact on the environment while making your tax season less stressful aren?t good enough reasons to convince you to use accounting software, take into consideration the endless possibilities this technology can offer you. There are industry-specific software options, so no matter how intricate and unique your industry is, there is an option available that will benefit your company. Another incredible feature many accounting software options offer is the ability to account for your company?s expansion. As your company grows, you can add a payroll accounting module to accurately document your growth. Some of the options available will require you to check for updates, many of these modules will guarantee that you are using the most up-to-date version available, and will provide updated modules that are designed for your industry.
Small business accounting software can also reduce your company?s paper waste without a significant increase in energy consumption. Allowing for faster and more efficient data processing, accounting software allows you to enter your information, process it for the newly created transaction, and then stores the information you provided for future invoices and documents. While you won?t be doing the environment any favors by leaving your computer up and running, you will see a substantial reduction in your company?s paper waste as you utilize this software.
Accounting software options for small businesses also have various options and features that allow you to set up accounts for multiple customers, storing their respective information and past invoices for as long as you like. There is no longer a need to clutter your office with bulky filing cabinets, as you will have all of your company documents on one system that will organize all of your bookkeeping in an efficient manner which you can access from virtually any computer. This will make your life a breeze if you ever find the IRS requesting an audit of your company.
Bradley Derringer is a blogger for TechBreach.
Posts related to How Accounting Software Can Make Your Company Greener
Cat : Business, tags: accounting software, environmentally friendly, going green, small business
Contact: Svein Larsen Svein.Larsen@psysp.uib.no 47-555-88628 The University of Bergen
More and more cruise ships visit the fjords of Western Norway, but cruise tourists only spend a fraction of what other tourists spend
More and more cruise ships visit the fjords of Western Norway. But cruise tourists only spend a fraction of what other tourists spend.
Over the past few years, the overall number of tourists to Western Norway has declined slightly. But one group of tourists is steadily rising: the cruise ship passenger. However, the cruise ship industry matters little to the tourism industry onshore.
The average camping tourist leaves behind twice as much as the average cruise ship tourist. And this even when one excludes costs and taxes for camping, says Professor Svein Larsen of the University of Bergen's Department of Psychosocial Science.
Larsen has conducted a comprehensive survey of tourism in Western Norway, and recently published his results in the article Belly full, purse closed in the journal Tourism Management Perspectives.
Hey small spender
Larsen has been pioneering studies into how much revenue cruise tourism actually contributes to the local economies visited by cruise ships. Over the last three years, Larsen has spent his summers interviewing more than 8,000 tourists; of which 1,300 were cruise ship passengers.
The result is clear, says Larsen. Cruise tourists spend the least money of all types of tourists.
Larsen's research shows that the average cruise tourist on average spends about NOK 300 a day onshore. Between 20 and 40 per cent don't even leave the ship. Half of those who leave the ship spend less than NOK 250 onshore.
In comparison, the average camping or hostel tourist spends twice this amount. The average family tourist, who stays in a hotel, tops the spending list with an average spend of NOK 1,000 a day. This comes on top of paying for the hotel room.
The new mass tourism
The psychology professor believes that the low spend per cruise tourist is down to budget cruise offers on an all-inclusive package. A six-day cruise of the Norwegian fjords may cost as little as 220. The same journey by air travel and individually arranged accommodation will usually set you back several times that amount.
Taking a cruise is the new mass tourism, Larsen believes. The tourists are fed onboard and even do their shopping onboard.
Also, the cruise industry needs to make money. It is not unusual for cruise tourists to be let offboard for a maximum of eight hours per onshore visit.
Not sustainable
The only locals profiting from the cruise ships are the port authorities, and also occasionally tourist guides and industries built specifically to cater for the cruise ship sector. Only limited resources reach public toilets, local shops, or tourist attractions, according to Larsen. He believes local authorities need to rethink their policies on tourism.
Maybe local authorities need to focus more on sustainable tourism, he suggests. Young people and families spend a lot of money when on holiday. Cruise tourists, on the other hand, will rather visit a non-entrance fee museum rather than, say, the Bergen Aquarium, where you have to pay an entrance fee.
There are some categories, though, where cruise tourists spend more than other tourists: cafs, sightseeing, and shopping. On average the cruise tourist will spend NOK 50 a day in each of these three categories.
This is not sustainable tourism, Larsen believes. There may be queues when the cruise tourists visit town, but they don't leave much behind for the local economy.
Other research also shows that there may be a negative environmental impact from the cruise ship industry.
###
FACTS/CRUISE TOURISM RESEARCH
In the cruise tourism survey, researchers asked tourists visiting Bergen between 07:00 and 19:00 how much money they had spent during their visit and how much they planned on spending.
The survey was conducted in central tourist spots in Bergen, such as the fish market and Flyen Mountain.
The survey was conducted in the summers of 2010, 2011, and 2012.
In 2010, there were 1,891 respondents, of which 165 were cruise passengers. In 2011, the numbers were 2,478 and 388 respectively. And in 2012, the numbers were 4,002 and 756.
The tourists were categorised based on the previous night's accommodation.
The tourists' spending was divided into ten categories: caf/restaurant, bar/pub, grocery shops, sightseeing, local transport, other transport, shopping, concerts, museums, and miscellaneous.
According to Port of Bergen, 264 cruise ships visited Bergen in 2011 and in 2012 there were 320 cruise ships visiting.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Contact: Svein Larsen Svein.Larsen@psysp.uib.no 47-555-88628 The University of Bergen
More and more cruise ships visit the fjords of Western Norway, but cruise tourists only spend a fraction of what other tourists spend
More and more cruise ships visit the fjords of Western Norway. But cruise tourists only spend a fraction of what other tourists spend.
Over the past few years, the overall number of tourists to Western Norway has declined slightly. But one group of tourists is steadily rising: the cruise ship passenger. However, the cruise ship industry matters little to the tourism industry onshore.
The average camping tourist leaves behind twice as much as the average cruise ship tourist. And this even when one excludes costs and taxes for camping, says Professor Svein Larsen of the University of Bergen's Department of Psychosocial Science.
Larsen has conducted a comprehensive survey of tourism in Western Norway, and recently published his results in the article Belly full, purse closed in the journal Tourism Management Perspectives.
Hey small spender
Larsen has been pioneering studies into how much revenue cruise tourism actually contributes to the local economies visited by cruise ships. Over the last three years, Larsen has spent his summers interviewing more than 8,000 tourists; of which 1,300 were cruise ship passengers.
The result is clear, says Larsen. Cruise tourists spend the least money of all types of tourists.
Larsen's research shows that the average cruise tourist on average spends about NOK 300 a day onshore. Between 20 and 40 per cent don't even leave the ship. Half of those who leave the ship spend less than NOK 250 onshore.
In comparison, the average camping or hostel tourist spends twice this amount. The average family tourist, who stays in a hotel, tops the spending list with an average spend of NOK 1,000 a day. This comes on top of paying for the hotel room.
The new mass tourism
The psychology professor believes that the low spend per cruise tourist is down to budget cruise offers on an all-inclusive package. A six-day cruise of the Norwegian fjords may cost as little as 220. The same journey by air travel and individually arranged accommodation will usually set you back several times that amount.
Taking a cruise is the new mass tourism, Larsen believes. The tourists are fed onboard and even do their shopping onboard.
Also, the cruise industry needs to make money. It is not unusual for cruise tourists to be let offboard for a maximum of eight hours per onshore visit.
Not sustainable
The only locals profiting from the cruise ships are the port authorities, and also occasionally tourist guides and industries built specifically to cater for the cruise ship sector. Only limited resources reach public toilets, local shops, or tourist attractions, according to Larsen. He believes local authorities need to rethink their policies on tourism.
Maybe local authorities need to focus more on sustainable tourism, he suggests. Young people and families spend a lot of money when on holiday. Cruise tourists, on the other hand, will rather visit a non-entrance fee museum rather than, say, the Bergen Aquarium, where you have to pay an entrance fee.
There are some categories, though, where cruise tourists spend more than other tourists: cafs, sightseeing, and shopping. On average the cruise tourist will spend NOK 50 a day in each of these three categories.
This is not sustainable tourism, Larsen believes. There may be queues when the cruise tourists visit town, but they don't leave much behind for the local economy.
Other research also shows that there may be a negative environmental impact from the cruise ship industry.
###
FACTS/CRUISE TOURISM RESEARCH
In the cruise tourism survey, researchers asked tourists visiting Bergen between 07:00 and 19:00 how much money they had spent during their visit and how much they planned on spending.
The survey was conducted in central tourist spots in Bergen, such as the fish market and Flyen Mountain.
The survey was conducted in the summers of 2010, 2011, and 2012.
In 2010, there were 1,891 respondents, of which 165 were cruise passengers. In 2011, the numbers were 2,478 and 388 respectively. And in 2012, the numbers were 4,002 and 756.
The tourists were categorised based on the previous night's accommodation.
The tourists' spending was divided into ten categories: caf/restaurant, bar/pub, grocery shops, sightseeing, local transport, other transport, shopping, concerts, museums, and miscellaneous.
According to Port of Bergen, 264 cruise ships visited Bergen in 2011 and in 2012 there were 320 cruise ships visiting.
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?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Microsoft has released a new commercial for the Windows Phone Nokia Lumia 920, and in it they show off both Apple's iPhone 5 and Samsung's Galaxy S. A lot. So much, in fact, it's hard to know what the commercial is about until the very end, when the Lumia 920 finally makes an appearance. Anyone outside Microsoft see the problem there?
The theme is: Don't fight. Switch. The setting is a wedding where the groom and the bride's side both use different phone platforms, and quickly get into a heated, and pretty funny war of insults that escalates into full-blown Mobile Kombat. When nothing but dust and decimation remains, the waiters wonder if Lumia couldn't just help them all get along.
Here's what Microsoft's Michael Stroh had to say on the Windows Blog:
I chuckled when I first saw the spot. As you?ll see, it plays off the strong?even irrationally strong?feelings some of us harbor about the technology in our purses and pockets. You might recognize someone you?ve met among the wedding guests. You might see shades of yourself. I sure did?and smiled.
I did as well. And it wouldn't be out of place on a late night comedy show. Actually, it would kill as comedy. But this isn't comedy, it's the real, brutal, smartphone market, and here is that Microsoft is promoting Apple and Samsung over their own brands, and that's exactly what happens to them in the market already. Apple had a "switcher" campaign for the Mac many years ago, and while they had a generic "PC" character, he was seldom if ever branded, and there certainly wasn't ever any recognizable, competing hardware in the frame.
Ultimately, however, I didn't really end up caring any more about Windows Phone than I did at the beginning, and that makes it a pretty ineffective commercial. Give it a watch and tell me what you think. Anything there that's better than, I don't know, say Microsoft actually releasing an XPhone Halo edition?
I NEED 4 MALES AND 2 FEMALES TEENAGE SECRET AGENTS FOR MY SEMI-LITERATE ROLEPLAY UNDERAGE APPRENTICE: CRIMINAL HEROES. roleplay/underage-apprentices-criminal-heroes <<click there to see the whole introduction and character information. I have written a paragraph about every character making links in-between characters and given FCs that I am willing to change and adjust to suit you. There is romance, action , adventure and various types of violence and tracking to go on throughout the roleplay. It is inspired by James Bond and The Book Series: CHERUB (I can?t remember the author?s name off the top of my head but I can find out if you?d like to know) I am hoping to submit the first post by this weekend coming if not by next Friday so you don?t need to worry about waiting forever for it start but you still have plenty of time to submit your character if you lead a busy life. I?d love to have you join us and I hope to see you in the RP, -Thundera (Liv)
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Public release date: 30-Apr-2013
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