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NZ police raid file-sharing site founder's mansion (AP)

WELLINGTON, New Zealand ? New Zealand police raided several homes and businesses linked to the founder of Megaupload.com, a giant Internet file-sharing site shut down by U.S. authorities, on Friday and seized guns, millions of dollars, and nearly $5 million in luxury cars, officials said.

Police arrested founder Kim Dotcom and three Megaupload employees on U.S. accusations that they facilitated millions of illegal downloads of films, music and other content costing copyright holders at least $500 million in lost revenue. Extradition proceedings against them could last a year or more.

With 150 million registered users, about 50 million hits daily and endorsements from music superstars, Megaupload.com was among the world's biggest file-sharing sites. According to a U.S. indictment, the site, which was shut down Thursday, earned Dotcom $42 million in 2010 alone.

Although the company is based in Hong Kong and Dotcom lives in New Zealand, some of the alleged pirated content was hosted on leased servers in Virginia, and that was enough for U.S. prosecutors to act.

New Zealand police served 10 search warrants at several businesses and homes around the city of Auckland.

Police spokesman Grant Ogilvie said the seized cars include a Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe worth more than $400,000 as well as several Mercedes. Two short-barreled shotguns and a number of valuable artworks were also confiscated, he added.

He said police seized more than $8 million, money that was invested in various New Zealand financial institutions and which has now been placed in a trust pending the outcome of the cases.

New Zealand's Fairfax Media reported that the four defendants stood together in an Auckland courtroom in the first step of the extradition proceedings.

Dotcom's lawyer raised objections to a media request to take photographs and video, but then Dotcom spoke out from the dock, saying he didn't mind photos or video "because we have nothing to hide." The judge granted the media access, and ruled that the four would remain in custody until a second hearing Monday.

Dotcom, Megaupload's former CEO and current chief innovation officer, is a resident of Hong Kong and New Zealand and a dual citizen of Finland and Germany who had his name legally changed. The 37-year-old was previously known as Kim Schmitz and Kim Tim Jim Vestor.

Two other German citizens and one Dutch citizen also were arrested and three other defendants ? another German, a Slovakian and an Estonian ? remain at large.

Megaupload has retained Washington power attorney Bob Bennett to defend it, according to a person inside the company. Bennett is best known for representing former President Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. The person within Megaupload spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the company's plans.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which defends free speech and digital rights online, said in a statement that the arrests set "a terrifying precedent. If the United States can seize a Dutch citizen in New Zealand over a copyright claim, what is next?"

The indictment was unsealed one day after websites including Wikipedia and Craigslist shut down in protest of two congressional proposals intended to make it easier for authorities to go after sites with pirated material, especially those with overseas headquarters and servers.

Before Megaupload was taken down, the company posted a statement saying allegations that it facilitated massive breaches of copyright laws were "grotesquely overblown."

"The fact is that the vast majority of Mega's Internet traffic is legitimate, and we are here to stay. If the content industry would like to take advantage of our popularity, we are happy to enter into a dialogue. We have some good ideas. Please get in touch," the statement said.

Several sister sites were also shut down, including one dedicated to sharing pornography files.

News of the shutdown seemed to bring retaliation from hackers who claimed credit for attacking the Justice Department's website. Federal officials confirmed it was down for hours Thursday evening and that the disruption was being "treated as a malicious act."

A loose affiliation of hackers known as "Anonymous" claimed credit for the attack. Also hacked was the site for the Motion Picture Association of America, which has campaigned for a crackdown on piracy.

According to the indictment, Megaupload was estimated at one point to be the 13th most frequently visited website on the Internet. Current estimates by companies that monitor Web traffic place it in the top 100.

Megaupload is considered a "cyberlocker," in which users can upload and transfer files that are too large to send by email. Such sites can have perfectly legitimate uses. But the Motion Picture Association of America estimated that the vast majority of content being shared on Megaupload was in violation of copyright laws.

The website allowed users to download some content for free, but made money by charging subscriptions to people who wanted access to faster download speeds or extra content. The website also sold advertising.

Megaupload was unique not only because of its massive size and the volume of downloaded content, but also because it had high-profile support from celebrities, musicians and other content producers who are most often the victims of copyright infringement and piracy. Before the website was taken down, it contained endorsements from Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys and Kanye West, among others.

The company listed Swizz Beatz, a musician who married Keys in 2010, as its CEO. He was not named in the indictment and declined to comment through a representative.

The five-count indictment, which alleges copyright infringement as well as conspiracy to commit money laundering and racketeering, described a site designed specifically to reward users who uploaded pirated content for sharing, and turned a blind eye to requests from copyright holders to remove copyright-protected files.

For instance, users received cash bonuses if they uploaded content popular enough to generate massive numbers of downloads, according to the indictment. Such content was almost always copyright protected, the indictment said.

The Justice Department said it was illegal for anyone to download pirated content, but their investigation focused on the leaders of the company, not end users who may have downloaded a few movies for personal viewing.

A lawyer who represented the company in a lawsuit last year declined to comment Thursday. Efforts to reach an attorney representing Dotcom were unsuccessful.

Although Megaupload is based in Hong Kong, the size of its operation in the southern Chinese city was unclear. The administrative contact listed in its domain registration, Bonnie Lam, did not respond immediately for a request for comment sent to a fax number and email address listed.

The indictment was returned in the Eastern District of Virginia, which claimed jurisdiction in part because some of the alleged pirated materials were hosted on leased servers in Ashburn, Virginia. Prosecutors there have pursued multiple piracy investigations.

The Justice Department also was investigating the "significant increase in activity" that disrupted its website. It said in a statement that it was working to "investigate the origins of this activity, which is being treated as a malicious act until we can fully identify the root cause."

The site appeared to be working again late Thursday. A spokesman for the Motion Picture Association of America said in an emailed statement that the group's site also had been hacked, but it too appeared to be working later in the evening.

"The motion picture and television industry has always been a strong supporter of free speech," the spokesman said. "We strongly condemn any attempts to silence any groups or individuals."

____

Matthew Barakat reported from McLean, Virginia. AP Business Writer Daniel Wagner in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_on_hi_te/internet_piracy_indictment

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Compression garments reduce muscle fatigue

COMPRESSION garments worn by athletes to keep muscles warm may improve performance by reducing muscle fatigue.

Dale Lovell and colleagues at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia, measured lactate levels in 25 rugby players after they'd exercised wearing either spandex-like compression garments or regular shorts.

Lactate levels were significantly lower in players kitted out in the compression garments, possibly because they stimulate blood flow that clears the substance. Lactate is associated with muscle fatigue, quick removal may improve performance (Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e31821764f8).

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Attacks in Nigeria's Kano kill over 100: security source (Reuters)

ABUJA (Reuters) ? More than 100 people were killed in bomb attacks and gunfights in Nigeria's second largest city Kano late on Friday, a senior local government security source told Reuters, in the deadliest coordinated strike claimed by Islamist sect Boko Haram to date.

"Definitely more than 100 have been killed," the source, who could not be named, said. "There were bombs and then gunmen were attacking police and police came back with attacks." Hospital staff said there were still bodies arriving at morgues in Kano.

Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for the attack. The sect has killed hundreds in the north of Africa's most populous nation in the last year.

(Reporting by Mike Oboh; Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120121/wl_nm/us_nigeria_blast

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IMF seeks $600 billion in new funds, G20 to discuss (Reuters)

WASHINGTON/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) ? The IMF is seeking to more than double its war chest by raising $600 billion in new resources to help countries deal with the fallout of the euro zone debt crisis, but the plan faces roadblocks from the United States and other countries.

The United States and Canada said on Wednesday Europe must put up more of its own money to resolve its sovereign debt crisis, raising doubts G20 talks in Mexico this week can lay the ground for a deal on bolstering IMF resources.

Japan and South Korea also want Europe to do more and China might insist a number of conditions are met before it supports a boost in IMF resources.

"We continue to believe that the IMF can play an important role in Europe, but only as a supplement to Europe's own efforts," a U.S. Treasury spokesperson said. "The IMF cannot substitute for a robust euro area firewall."

Group of 20 deputy officials meet in Mexico City on Thursday and Friday to discuss boosting IMF resources. Any outcome would need leaders' signoff. G20 finance ministers meet in late February.

The IMF plan to boost its lending capacity eased worries on financial markets about Europe's funding difficulties, boosting the value of the euro.

IMF sources said the world faces a $1 trillion financing gap over the next two years if global economic conditions worsened considerably. The IMF's current lending capacity is about $380 billion.

The sources, present at an IMF board meeting on the issue on Tuesday, said the Fund was seeking to raise up to $600 billion to meet those potential financing needs. Of that, $500 billion would be for lending and $100 billion would be a "protection buffer."

An IMF spokesman confirmed the Fund was seeking to raise up to $500 billion in additional lending resources. He said that amount included a European commitment to inject $200 billion into IMF resources.

"At this preliminary stage, we are exploring options on funding and will have no further comment until the necessary consultations," he said.

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GRAPHIC IMF-RESOURCES/ http://link.reuters.com/med26s

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The United States repeated that it would not contribute more resources to the IMF.

With a strained budget at home, some U.S. congressional Republicans have threatened to yank $100 billion in U.S. money to the IMF if the funds are used to bail out euro zone countries. The White House is unlikely to want to take the issue on as President Barack Obama seeks re-election this year.

"We have told our international partners that we have no intention to seek additional resources for the IMF," a Treasury spokeswoman said.

China was also likely to resist moves to increase IMF resources unless a number of conditions are met, said Xiang Songzuo, vice director of the International Monetary Institute in Beijing, a high-level policy think tank.

He said these would include more voting power for China and other emerging nations, changing the stance of IMF policy more to meet the concerns of emerging countries -- such as on stabilizing capital flows and exchange rates -- and making the mechanism for crisis rescue much more transparent.

"The process of negotiating all of that would be quite time consuming," Xiang said.

China's central bank declined to comment on boosting IMF resources.

"Many countries want the Europeans to move ahead with tougher and clearer measures, which at this moment translates to more resources to its stability fund," said a senior Brazilian government source attending the G20 officials' meeting in Mexico.

Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney said it was not clear European governments had done everything necessary to make sure they could fund themselves at sustainable interest rates over the next few years.

"If it makes sense to enhance the resources of the IMF, the principal focus, it would seem, should be on dealing with fallout of the European crisis for innocent bystanders," he told a news briefing in Ottawa.

Another source connected to the process said Japan and South Korea were also pressing for discussions first about Europe's contribution and for it to agree on additional measures. European nations have argued that they have done enough and were calling for more IMF resources now.

"If, with the parallel discussion, we can achieve extra measures from the Europeans and afterwards agree on promises of additional resources for the IMF from non-European countries in the G20, I think it would be a good result," the source said.

RESOURCES STRETCHED

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said the IMF management would explore options for increasing the fund's firepower.

Europe's debt crisis is widely seen as the biggest threat to the global economy. Many countries used up a lot of their financial firepower fighting the global downturn in 2008 and 2009. A fresh global slump would raise fears more countries might need to be rescued by the IMF.

Indeed, the World Bank on Wednesday said Europe was probably already in recession and the euro area debt crisis posed a "real" risk to the global economy. The IMF has warned it will cut its global growth projections when it updates its forecast on January 24.

With credit downgrades in nine euro zone countries by Standard & Poor's last week, including France, and uncertainty over Greek debt talks that risk pushing the country into default, the IMF board has urged euro zone leaders to take steps to contain the crisis.

The board called for policies that would address the European crisis and for euro zone policymakers to make sure there is enough money available to tackle the bloc's debt problems effectively.

(Additional reporting by Alonso Soto in Brasilia; Louise Egan and Randall Palmer in Ottawa; Nick Edwards in Beijing; Editing by Andrew Hay and Neil Fullick)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120119/bs_nm/us_imf_resources

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Report: Myanmar stops snake smuggling attempt (AP)

YANGON, Myanmar ? Forestry officials in central Myanmar have seized nearly 10,000 snakes in 400 crates that were to be smuggled to China.

The weekly journal Modern reported Friday that 50 cobras were among the 9,176 snakes seized in Pyin Oo Lwin district near Mandalay on Jan. 12.

Wildlife smuggling is endemic in Asia, where exotic species are used for food and traditional medicine.

The report did not say how many people were arrested but said those involved would be charged under the Protection of Wildlife and Conservation of Natural Areas law, which carries a five-year prison sentence.

It said the 7,000 non-poisonous snakes were released into a wildlife reserve, while the vipers and cobras were sent to the state pharmaceutical company for their venom.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_on_re_as/as_myanmar_snake_smuggling

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European Union sues Hungary

(AP)?

STRASBOURG, France - The European Union and Hungary brought their fight over democratic rights fully into the open Tuesday, with the EU Commission launching legal challenges against the former Soviet-bloc country many fear may be slipping back toward authoritarianism.

The EU's executive Commission said the new constitution that came into force Jan. 1 undermines the independence of the national central bank and the judiciary and does not respect data privacy principles.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose grip on power has already earned him the nickname "Viktator," defied the criticism and invited himself to the EU parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday to confront European detractors head on.

"We won't allow the international left to accuse Hungary through lies and baseless slander," his office said in a statement.

The EU Commission said it had found enough evidence to start legal proceedings, which may end up in a court case later this year, highlighting a general discomfort about Hungary, where critics fear creeping fallback to a centralized one-party rule under Orban's Fidesz party.

"We do not want the shadow of doubt on respect for democratic principles and values to remain over the country any longer. The quicker that this is resolved the better," EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told reporters in Strasbourg.

In an initial reaction to the challenges, the Hungarian government struck a conciliatory tone.

"There is no disagreement with the institutions of the European Union on the importance of basic principles, common European values and achievements," the statement said.

Hungary sought to sidestep the major political objections. Its Minister of State for Government Communication Zoltan Kovacs said in Strasbourg that Hungary does not "think there is any room for a heated debate. This is a legal, technical issue."

Some accused the Commission of being too timid in challenging Hungary and missing out on the broader issue.

"By deciding to begin infringement procedures only on three specific issues that may breach European law, the Commission has missed the broader picture," said Guy Verhofstadt, the leader of the Liberal Alde Group.

"The case of Hungary is not just about technical breaches of EU legislation, but a wider concern of gradual but persistent erosion of EU values," Verhofstadt said.

Orban has been under fire from the European Parliament and civil rights organizations that fear he could push the country back into authoritarianism, by imposing government control over institutions whose independence is protected by EU treaties.

Kovacs said that there were "orchestrated efforts on behalf of political parties" to undermine the government of Orban, "unfortunately not only at a Hungarian, but on the European level as well."

The Commission and the European Central Bank had been in touch with Hungarian authorities since mid-December, expressing doubts over aspects of the new constitution.

Beside the central bank law, which gives the government as much larger role than before in naming top bank officials, the EU is objecting to the forced, early retirement of hundreds of judges and has concerns about the independence of the new data protection authority.

"We had hoped that Hungary would have made the necessary changes," Barroso said. "This has not been the case so far."

As part of its so-called infringement procedure, the Commission is sending three formal letters to the Hungarian government Tuesday, spelling out its legal issues with the new laws.

Budapest then has until Feb. 17 to respond to the letters, after which the Commission will take around two months to analyze the responses.

If Hungary ignores further requests for changes, the Commission can take it to the European Court of Justice and levy fines, although that process could drag on for much of this year.

But the EU also has a quicker way of exerting pressure on Orban's government. Hungary has requested financial help from the EU and the International Monetary Fund and both institutions have said they won't begin aid talks until the independence of the Hungarian central bank has been ensured.

Orban will meet Barroso in Brussels next Tuesday.

Source: http://feeds.cbsnews.com/~r/CBSNewsMain/~3/rzXcO7C4X2I/

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