Tuesday, March 26, 2013

People Pay To Vote On Entrepreneur Mike Merrill's Life - Careers ...

It takes a village to raise a child, and it takes a group of 160 shareholders to raise one Portland man. For five years, entrepreneur Mike Merrill has been selling shares of himself, and then allowing those shareholders to vote on important business and personal decisions in his life. As a result of various shareholder votes, Merrill is now a mostly-pescetarian with a rigorous workout regime, and a registered Republican who only wears Brooks Brothers. His stock price is on the up.

Merrill, 35, owns a majority of shares, which are non-voting until he sells them in a bi-annual auction. It's difficult to tell how much Merrill's made, but shares are currently trading at $12.90, from an early-stage low of 20 cents. He claims to use the money for "the facilitation of projects and operational expenses," like his website KmikeyM.com, which keeps a live tracker of his stock price, and invites stockholders to vote on everything from whether he should wear Nike sneakers (yes) or get a vasectomy (no -- by one vote).

Letting people "buy in" to your activities has gained a lot of traction in recent years. Millions of dollars a week now flow to projects on sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, ranging from movies to mom-and-pop shops. But on these crowdfunding sites, the money is all donations, with nothing but token rewards, like a tote bag, in return. Other sites are expanding this idea to give the crowd a chance to profit, for example by loaning money or buying equity stakes. But Merrill is taking it a giant leap further, permitting capitalism to consume his entire humanity, maximizing the profit potential of his soul.

Merrill says the idea of turning himself over to the public marketplace came in 2005, when the digital art collective Etoy started selling "shares" to fund its projects. Merrill is a project kind of guy; he co-founded a MacBook sleeve company, co-hosts a podcast, produced a video series, publishes an arts and culture blog, and hosts social clubs, like Allison Supper Club and Whiskey Friends (in addition to his job at Apple software maker Panic Inc.). So he thought he'd adopt the same model, but with an important difference: buyers could sell their shares.

More: A True Kickstarter: Cartoonist Ryan North Raises Half A Million For 'Hamlet' Comic

Because Merrill's shareholders stand to lose or make money, depending on Merrill's perceived value as a human, he lets them vote on his activities. But in 2008, when he moved in with his girlfriend, Shareholder #7., there was a stake-owner backlash. How could he make such a critical decision, which could drastically affect his productivity, without giving his shareholders a say?

Since then, Merrill has put most of his personal choices to a vote, such as growing an "Old-Timey Gentlemen" mustache, buying a car, and "attempting a polyphasic sleep schedule," which he explains on his blog, referring to himself always with the Royal We.

When Merrill broke up with Shareholder #7 in 2011, he established The KmikeyM Romance Advisory Board to advise him on dates. He recently renewed his three-month contract with a new and shareholder sanctioned partner, Shareholder #160. In February, the shareholders voted to let Merrill eat meat on occasion, to "allow us to more closely align our habits."

More: Kim Airs: From Harvard University To Sex Toy Entrepreneur

While Orwellian at first blush, Merrill is really trying to turn capitalism into more of a community sport. Because he loves collaboration, and capitalism too. "First off, capitalism isn't bad," Merrill told the site Bad at Sports. "The reason we see so much bad s*** happening in capitalism is because people are violating the rules and we're overly obsessed with short term profits above all else."

So while most corporations would make terrible people, Merrill makes a pretty great corporation: highly fiscally responsible, extraordinarily transparent, a supporter of local businesses, an embracer of new technology, and a lover of nature to boot. Merrill believes airing all his decisions to the profit-minded public has actually improved his life.

As Merrill's fifth-largest shareholder, Douglas Stewart, who has never actually spoken to Merrill, explained to The Atlantic: "It's one person being more serious about his own existence, in a way."


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Source: http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2013/03/25/mike-merrill-publicly-traded-shares/

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Hubble digs up galactic glow worm

Mar. 24, 2013 ? The image of a charming and bright galaxy, known as IRAS 23436+5257, was captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. It is located in the northern constellation of Cassiopeia, which is named after an arrogant, vain, and yet beautiful mythical queen.

The twisted, wormlike structure of this galaxy is most likely the result of a collision and subsequent merger of two galaxies. Such interactions are quite common in the universe, and they can range from minor interactions involving a satellite galaxy being caught by a spiral arm, to major galactic crashes. Friction between the gas and dust during a collision can have a major effect on the galaxies involved, morphing the shape of the original galaxies and creating interesting new structures.

When you look up at the calm and quiet night sky it is not always easy to picture it as a dynamic and vibrant environment with entire galaxies in motion, spinning like children's toys and crashing into whatever crosses their path. The motions are, of course, extremely slow, and occur over millions or even billions of years.

The aftermath of these galactic collisions helps scientists to understand how these movements occur and what may be in store for our own Milky Way, which is on a collision course with a neighboring galaxy, Messier 31.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


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Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/N78DplM5S1Y/130324095135.htm

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Monday, March 25, 2013

Senators Abandon 'Discriminatory' DOMA Before Supreme Court Arguments

Three Democratic senators have reversed their stance on the Defense of Marriage Act in the past three days before the Supreme Court hears oral arguments on the law that limits marriage to one man and one woman.

Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., John "Jay" Rockefeller, D-W.V., and Mark Warner, D-Va., said today and Sunday that they no longer support a federal law banning gay marriage. The Supreme Court plans to hear oral arguments in a case challenging that law Wednesday, after it considers a law banning same-sex marriage in California Tuesday.

McCaskill made the announcement on her Tumblr blog Sunday.

"I have come to the conclusion that our government should not limit the right to marry based on who you love. While churches should never be required to conduct marriages outside of their religious beliefs, neither should the government tell people who they have a right to marry," McCaskill wrote. "Good people disagree with me. On the other hand, my children have a hard time understanding why this is even controversial. I think history will agree with my children."

McCaskill refused to take a hard stance on the issue in response to President Obama's coming out in favor of gay marriage in May, according to the Springfield, Mo.-based News Leader. The paper reported that she supported civil unions but had expressed opposition to same-sex marriage.

She was in good company. Only two Democrats in competitive Senate races publicly supported the president after his announcement.

Rockefeller was not facing re-election in 2012, but he would be next year if he were running again. The senator from West Virginia said in January that he plans to retire at the end of his term, leaving him just shy of three decades in office.

His statement today largely echoed McCaskill's.

"Like so many of my generation, my views on allowing gay couples to marry have been challenged in recent years by a new, more open generation. Churches and ministers should never have to perform marriages that violate their religious beliefs, but the government shouldn't discriminate against people who want to marry just because of their gender," Rockefeller said in a statement emailed to ABC News today.

"Younger people in West Virginia and even my own children have grown up in a much more equal society and they rightly push us to question old assumptions - to think deeply about what it means for all Americans to be created equal. This has been a process for me, but at this point I think it's clear that DOMA is discriminatory. I'm against discrimination in all its forms, and I think we can move forward in our progress toward true equality by repealing DOMA."

Rockefeller voted for DOMA when it passed under President Clinton in 1996. But in 2004, he voted against an amendment to the Constitution banning same-sex marriage, saying both his state and federal government already had laws limiting marriage to one man and one woman.

"I have heard from many West Virginians who are worried about morality in America," Rockefeller wrote after that vote. "They want to be sure that marriage is protected for themselves and for their children. I myself am not comfortable with same-sex marriage, and I want to assure every West Virginian that our definition of marriage - and our right to define marriage as we believe it - is not in jeopardy."

Sen. Warner announced his change of heart in a statement on his Facebook page.

"I support marriage equality because it is the fair and right thing to do," he reportedly wrote. "Like many Virginians and Americans, my views on gay marriage have evolved, and this is the inevitable extension of my efforts to promote equality and opportunity for everyone.

"I believe we should continue working to expand equal rights and opportunities for all Americans."

The three Senate Democrats join a long list of Republicans who have changed their minds about DOMA, many of whom now embrace the concept of gay marriage.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, announced that he supports gay marriage, which followed his son's saying that he is gay. Several other politicians have referenced personal encounters with gay and lesbian family members as leading them to rethink their stances on the issue.

More than 80 upper-level Republicans also signed their support for same-sex marriage in an amicus brief for the Supreme Court last month.

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senators-abandon-discriminatory-doma-supreme-court-arguments-214804183--abc-news-politics.html

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Comment restaurer notre Android aussi simplement qu'un iPhone ?

Je vais tenter l'exp?rience avec Titanium, apr?s on verra.
En effet, la fille en question a du restaurer son iPhone ? cause de mises ? jour foireuses de iOS qui vidaient sa batterie et elle ?tait bien contente de faire un backup sans aucuns soucis comme si de rien n'?tait.
Ce qui est bizarre c'est que par exemple avec Apple, y'a iTunes, avec Samsung y'a Kies, avec Nokia y'a Ovi, pour faire des sauvegardes et g?rer son t?l?phone et avec Google Nexus y'a aucune suite de gestion de son t?l?phone.

taz067, passer d'une version ? l'autre autant de fois, j'esp?re que tu as au moins sauvegard? quelques trucs, ou alors tu n'es pas poissard comme moi !

[Petit HS d'explications]

J'ai un pote geek de chez geek, qui a eu un iPhone 3GS, puis un iPhone 4S, puis un HTC One X quelques semaines. Derni?rement je l'ai vu avec un iPhone 5. Connaissant la personne, je ne comprenais pas bien ce changement de d?laisser Android pour revenir ? iOS.
Il disait que son HTC n'?tait pas aussi fluide que son iPhone 4 malgr? un quad core, que les applications sont mieux abouties sur iPhones que sur Android car les cr?ateurs cr?ent d'abord l'appli sur iOS et ensuite ?ventuellement sur Android, que l'AppStore est mieux garni en applications dont gratuites que le PlayStore.
Il m'expliquait (ce qui revient ? ce que je disais plus haut) que iOS est bien plus simple pour le syst?me de sauvegarde/restauration de backup avec iTunes et iCloud.
Lors de mises ? jour, il ne fait pas comme la majorit? des gens qui installent la mise ? jour par dessus l'ancienne, mais il remet son t?l?phone ? l'?tat d'usine, puis fait directement la mise ? jour et retrouve ainsi son t?l?phone avec un syst?me propre et toutes ses applis param?tr?es, jeux et scores, etc...
Son iPhone n'est cependant pas jailbreak? comme les pr?c?dents qu'il a eu car il conc?de que ?a handicape plus le t?l?phone qu'autre chose, et disait que rooter un Android n'a aucune cons?quence n?faste contrairement au jailbreak. Enfin, que la batterie n'est qu'une 1440 mAh qui se recharge vite alors que sur les Androids faut au minimum une 2000 mAh, etc...

Source: http://forum.frandroid.com/topic/143524-comment-restaurer-notre-android-aussi-simplement-quun-iphone/

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No initial signs others involved in Berezovsky death - Voice of Russia

0"We can now? say with 100%? certainty that the? cause of death? was natural," a source told Interfax, citing Berezovsky's relatives.

0"The place of his? possible burial has not? bee discussed yet.? The family don't? even? know yet? when? the investigative? actions? will? be completed, when the final death certificate will be issued, and when the body will be given to the relatives," the source said.

0Speaking about when? the body? will likely? be handed? over to? the relatives, the source recalled that the investigative actions? following the death of Berezovsky's? business partner Badri Patarkatsishvili? took some two weeks.

0When asked? whether the? relatives will? ask for? Berezovsky to? be buried in Russia, the source said: "I think there is little? probability of that because many of Berezovsky's? friends were unable to attend? the funeral for various reasons.? Although it would? be great if? Berezovsky was buried in Russia."

0

0"Specially trained officers are currently at the scene, including CBRN trained officers, who are conducting a number of searches as a precaution," a statement from Thames Valley Police said.

0"This is to enable officers to carry out an investigation into the man's death. The body of the man is still in the property at this time."

0They say the public is not at risk.

0Superintendent Stuart Greenfield said police were taking "all necessary measures to ensure a full and thorough investigation can be carried out" into Berezovsky's death.

0Boris Berezovsky may have died on Friday

0There is information that has just come in that disgraced oligarch Boris Berezovsky may have died on Friday night and that he was found in his bath at about 11 o?clock in the morning by his bodyguard.

0This was stated in an interview for the Voice of Russia by Michael John Smith, an intelligence expert and the last person convicted of spying for the Soviet Union in the U.K.

0According Mr. Smith, citing official sources, the ambulance was not called until 15:30 in the afternoon.

0There are conflicting versions as to the reason for the delay in calling the authorities but according to Smith it is clear by media reports and quotes by relatives and friends of Berezovsky, that they were informed of his death around lunch time.??


0The Life of Boris Berezovsky - excess of theatre and violent action

0Dmitry Babich

0The death of Boris Berzovsky, 68, will definitely provoke a whole range of emotions in Russia - from sympathetic conspiracy theories to accusatory diatribes. But in a host of commentaries that appeared on the Internet site of the Kommersant daily that was one of the first to report his death, there was one that just about everyone can agree with: "An epoch is going away."

0Berezovsky first became known to Russia's broad public back in the mid-nineties, when he suddenly popped up as the key figure in Boris Yeltsin's scandalous electoral campaign of 1996. Unlike Yeltsin's first election in 1991, there was little romanticism in that campaign, where state television and direty electoral technologies were used to bring the ailing president's ratings from mere 5 percent approval in January 1996 to a victory in the second round in summer the same year. If the late 1980s and early 1990s went down into Russian history as a time of hardship mixed with hope, the late 1990s had a much worse reputation, being associated with cynicism and lawlessness. Whether he wanted it or not, Berezovsky (then a blossoming businessman in his early 50s) became a symbol of that time. So, a Russian blogger's remark about an epoch going away was right: late 1990s were also a part of our lives, so a sudden passing away of one of this epoch's symbols cannot go unnoticed.

0For the moment, the last days of the late oligarch look more like a defeat than a victory. Left by the last of his many wives, Yelena Gorbunova, in autumn last year, Berezovsky obviously experienced financial difficulties. His lost lawsuit against a former partner Arkady Abramovich, when he not only failed to get from Abramovich $5.6 billion, but also was dubbed "an unreliable witness" by a British judge, probably added some moral sufferings to an already grave financial injury. "I am beginning to lose faith in the British justice!" Berezovsky exclaimed, when the court refused to believe that Abramovich "breached his trust" when the ownership of Russia's oil company Sibneft passed from Berezovsky to Abramovich. Did Berezovsky indeed commit a suicide because of financial problems and loneliness, as a prominent "attorney for the oligarchs," Alexander Dobrovinsky, claimed in his interview to the Vesti-24 television channel?

0We may never know for sure. In a way, Berezovsky became a victim of his own style in both business and politics. His penchant for artful deception, for intricate mockery of justice, for heavy-handed use of gossip and rumor in the media will probably make an objective assessment of his life and legacy impossible. Did Russia really face a danger of a communist "revenge," when Gennady Zyuganov appeared to be set to win the presidential election in 1996? And which role did Berezovsky play then - that of an anticommunist "white knight" saving Russia from a return to its own past or that of an astute manipulator, who used the communist "scarecrow" in order to consolidate his influence on then president Yeltsin and his power in the country? What was Berezovsky's role in the Litvinenko affair in London and in the death of the slain democracy activist Sergei Yushenkov in Moscow several years earlier? Most likely, we shall never know. Berezovsky deliberately mystefied his actions, powers and even his political views (at various points in his career he sometimes called for the prohibition of the Russian Communist party or toyed with the idea of leading it from behind the scenes). Truth held little value for him, if it could not be used for political purposes or for extracting money. Ultimately, he will probably have to pay for his disdain of truth - the true picture of his life will probably never be known even to his relatives.

0A relative "latecomer" in politics (he entered the fray in his 50s), Berezovsky brought to the Russian life something that it had been lacking for a long time - theatre and action. His critics would say, there was even too much theatre and too much cruel action. Well, excess was always part of Berezovsky's style.


0UK police launched investigation into death of Boris Berezovsky

0Thames Valley Police are currently treating the death as unexplained and a full inquiry is under way.

0The area around Berezovsky's house in Ascot, Berkshire, has been cordoned off to allow the investigation to take place.

0The news from Britain first emerged on Facebook, where Berezovsky?s son-in-law Egor Schuppe posted a status, giving no details regarding the nature of his death.

0Russian Channel One reports, the body of Russian tycoon, in early 1990?s member of Boris Yeltsin?s inner circle or "family" and then harsh critic of Vladimir Putin, was found in the bathroom of his Surrey estate.

0The channel also reported that Berezovsky suffered several heart attacks over the course of last week.

0Damian Kudriavtsev, the former CEO of Kommersant Publishing House also commented on the businessman?s death saying he passed away at 11:00 GMT in London. On his twitter account, Kudriavtsev said there were no signs of a violent death.

0"I can confirm he died in his home. I've known him for a long, long time, we have spent a lot of time together. I am shocked. It is the end of an epoch," Andrei Sidelnikov, who was a friend of Berezovsky's, told Reuters.

0"Yes, he is dead. It was confirmed to me by his private lawyer this afternoon," his spokesperson, Tim Bell, told news agency AFP.

0Since the mid-1990s Boris Berezovsky was a figure who wore a veil of mystery and was an enigma.?

0At first an ordinary Soviet scientist and then striving car ?speculator?, he learned to manipulate the imperfect mechanisms of Soviet cooperation, and for some seven years, Berezovsky mastered one of the key positions in the Russian government, as the Deputy Secretary of the Security Council. However it is unlikely he was a success only because of his tricks.?

0According to political scientist, Fyodor Lukyanov, in the political chaos that prevailed in the mid-nineties, various rogue personas rose to the top, but then where quickly devoured by the same chaos. Not even Berezovsky escaped this fate.

0"At one point he was one of the five most influential people in the country and much depended on him, but as with any transition, it displaced those who created it, and in the next phase Berezovsky was out of the game and his role was rapidly diminished. Only scandals remained and no productive steps existed," said Mr. Lukyanov.

0Before death Berezovsky asked President Putin for forgiveness and a permission to return to Russia??

0

0According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the fugitive Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky, who died in London Saturday, had asked President Putin for forgiveness and a permission to return home. ?

0

0Dmitry Peskov: ?I don?t know Putin?s reaction on the Berezovsky?s death. I can say only that the death of any person is a grief. But I should say that recently, maybe few months ago, Berezovsky sent a letter to Putin, where he admits that he had made a lot of mistakes and asked to forgive him. He also asked Putin whether he could return back to Russia. So Berezovsky admitted all his mistakes and was asking to forgive him.??


0"Berezovsky is somebody whose name was synonymous with the Russian exiles in London"?

0

0The Voice of Russia correspondent from London Tim Ecott comments on Boris Berezovsky's death.?

0

0Boris Berezovsky came to symbolize everything the British media thought about when they pictured the traditional Russian Oligarch. He was well known for his very expensive life-style, of course for his prominent political statements.

0He was no friend to President Vladimir Putin towards the end of their relationship and of course he was a frequent visitor to the London High Court most prominently for his divorce proceedings, and his very acrimonious dispute with Roman Abramovich, which of course Mr. Berezovsky lost.

0Most damaging during that lawsuit and case which reputedly cost Mr. Berezovsky over 120 million pounds in legal costs, the judge branded him as a deliberately dishonest witness, and a man whose statements in court, the judge said, were inherently unreliable.

0I think as far as the Russian profile in London was concerned, he was also treated in the media for his lavish lifestyle, he owned a large flat in Mayfair, one of the most expensive districts in central London, but also this mansion on the very exclusive Wentworth Estate in Surrey, where his neighbors were people from the Formula 1 Racing Circuit, the Sultan of Brunei, and Ernie Elf the professional South African golfer.

0I think when Mr. Berezovsky first bought the property on the Wentworth Estate, Elton John was still living there and the pop singer Cliff Richard. So he certainly had the reputation of someone who was used to living a very extravagant lifestyle based on the fortune that he brought to the United Kingdom with him following his business career in Russia.?????

0Will anyone in London cry for Berezovsky?

0I am sure there are people who worked for him and who relied on his wealthy status for their own living who will be sorry to not have him as their employer but about his private life and his relationships I think it?s very hard to make those judgments.

0Like probably the majority of the wealthy people in those circles, he kept a reasonably low profile in terms of his private life. What we learned about him was when he appeared in court and when he made statements which tried to show his side of what he felt had gone wrong in his own relationship with political circles inside Russia and of course with business associates inside Russia and outside Russia, so I think it would be very unfair of me to comment on what those around him would say now that he is reportedly dead. But he is certainly one of the most colorful characters and somebody whose name was synonymous with the Russian exiles in London, if you like.


0Russia's exiled tycoon Boris Berezovsky 'commits suicide'

0The fugitive Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky has been found dead in the bathroom of his London house.

0The report first emerged from his immediate entourage and was later confirmed by a Moscow legal firm. It quoted a caller from London as saying that Berezovsky had committed suicide.?

0Once a powerful influence in the Kremlin, he died a pauper and all alone.

0Lord Bell, a close friend of Berezovsky confirmed his death at his estate near Ascot in Surrey. He said Berezovsky was found dead at 11 a.m. (British Time) in his bathroom in his house. The circumstances of the death remain unknown. It's not clear whether it was suicide or homiside.

0"He was a very close friend and a very nice man, very kind to me and to the people around him," Lord Bell said.

0The death of Boris Berezovsky will inevitably raise questions about nefarious activities, because he was a close friend of Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian dissident who was fatally poisoned with radioactive polonium-210 in London in 2006.

0Berezovsky was short of money lately and in order to pay off his debts fugitive oligarch Boris Berezovsky was selling his property.

0Among the objects that were put up for auction on Wednesday, March 19th is the ?Red Lenin? painting that was created by Andy Warhol in 1987.

0Specialists say that its price will range from 30 to 50,000 pound sterling (from 46 to 75,000 dollars).
Sources in ?The Times? said that Berezovsky was selling his property in order to pay back his creditors and pay for his lawyers? services.

0For the past decade, Boris Berezovsky was experiencing financial troubles. Last year, Boris Berezovsky lost a case against Russian businessman and Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich in which he claimed he was intimidated into selling shares in Russian oil giant Sibneft. Boris Berezovsky had been claiming $4.7bn in damages. But Berezovsky agreed to pay only $53 million of Abramovich's costs. Since then he has withdrawn into private life. Berezovsky has dropped other legal cases and stopped funding his main anti-Kremlin political vehicle, the Civil Liberties Foundation.?

0Earlier, the widow of the murdered Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko, Marina, has appealed for help to pay her legal bills, after Boris Berezovsky claimed he could no longer afford to support her.

0She said she was "very grateful" to Berezovsky for his support in the past. "Mr Berezovsky has made it clear he is no longer in a position to fund Mrs Litvinenko's legal representation," a member of her legal taem explained.

0Boris Berezovsky had been contributing large sums of money for Mrs Litvinenko?s legal costs, but then he admitted he could no longer support her.

0In January 2013 Boris Berezovsky?s former girlfriend, Elena Gorbunova, with whom she had two children, was seeking to have ?200 million of his assets frozen after claiming he owed her millions of pounds.

0Elena Gorbunova broke up with Mr Berezovsky in 2012 despite sitting at his side in court during much of his abortive multibillion-pound legal fight with Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich.

0Ms Gorbunova was demanding to have ?200 million of Mr Berezovsky's assets frozen.During the court hearing the judge said: ?On the evidence, Mr Berezovsky is a man under financial pressure. It is likely he will feel a more pressing need to satisfy creditors than satisfy Ms Gorbunova. There is a risk (which, if the evidence is correct, is a serious risk) that he would apply property promised to Ms Gorbunova for other purposes?.

0After the court hearing Berezovsky had to sell some of his property in England and in France.
---

0Alexander Goldfarb, Berezovky's close friend confirmed the death of Berezovsky. "He was found dead in the bathroom in his house in London. For the past days, Berezovsky was in depression. He was in a very bad mood".

0Alexander Dobrovinsky, well-known Russian lawyer, confirmed Berezovsky's death. He said Berezovsky was in a bad mood, he was almost a bankrupt as he was forced to some of his paintings. Besides, Mikhail Cherny lended him some money for living. And few days ago, Berezovsky asked one of his friends to lend him 5 000 dollars for a ticket, as he wanted to fly somewhere. So I think the financial situation he has been experiencing forced him to commit a cuicide".

0Boris Berezovsky sold the limited-edition of Andy Warhol?s portrait of Lenin at Christie's auction in 2013 as he had to pay off creditors and legal bills.?

0---
Boris Berezovsky lived in Great Britain from 2000 having fled from Russia after falling out with Russia's leader, where he had been granted asylum.

0In 1997 Forbes magazine estimated Berezovsky's wealth at US$3bn. In recent years his wealth had been considerably reduced. It is thought he had done badly in the financial crisis. Recent legal proceedings with Alexander Litvinenko?s widow, with his ex-girlfriend Elena Gorbunova and multibillionaire Roman Abramovich severely damaged Berezovsky?s wealth.

0In 2009 his wealth was estimated at $685 million but he is thought to have spent $152 million on a case against Roman Abramovich, last year, which he lost.

0James Nixey, Chatham House's Russian programme, said: ?He was certainly willing to spend his money, what little he had left, in an attempt to use it to end the current regime in Russia. He lived in a heavily guarded flat in Mayfair. He had bodyguards, there were attempts on his life that even the security service in the UK had warned him about?.

0Lord Truscott, who has written a biography of Vladimir Putin, said: "Was it suicide or was it murder? He had a lot contact with people in Russia. There could be a whole host of people who could want to see him dead.

0"Last year he lost a case against Abramovich and was getting very short of money. He could have been in a depressed state. Perhaps it was a final desperation." ?

0

0The report emerged in the Facebook account of his son-in-law Yegor Shuppe.

0Boris Berezovsky, a?Russian business oligarch, government official and former?mathematician, was born on 23 January 1946 in Moscow. He graduated from the?Moscow Forestry Engineering Institute?in 1968, then he worked as an engineer, from 1969 till 1987 serving as?assistant research officer, then he headed a department in the Institute of Management Problems of the?USSR Academy of Sciences. Berezovsky conducted research on?optimization?and?control theory, publishing 16 books and articles between 1975 and 1989.

0Berezovsky made his fortune in Russia in the 1990s when the country went through?privatisation?of state property. He profited from gaining control over various assets, including the country's main television channel,?Channel One. In 1997?Forbes?magazine estimated Berezovsky's wealth at US$3?billion.

0Berezovsky helped fund?Unity?? the political party, which formed?Vladimir Putin's parliamentary base,?and was elected to the?Duma?on Putin's slate.?However, following the?Russian presidential election in March 2000, Berezovsky went into opposition and resigned from the?Duma.?Later he moved to Britain where he has been living until his death.

0Berezovsky established the?International Foundation for Civil Liberties, to "support the abused and the vulnerable in society ? prisoners, national minorities and business people" in Russia and criticized Putin's record in the West.

0In 2012 Berezovsky lost a High Court?case he brought against?Roman Abramovich?in London over the ownership of Sibneft, where he sought over ?3 billion in damages.?The court judged Berezovsky as an "inherently unreliable" witness, who "regarded truth as a transitory, flexible concept, which could be moulded to suit his current purposes" and that "At times the evidence which he gave was deliberately dishonest; sometimes he was clearly making his evidence up as he went along in response to the perceived difficulty in answering the questions."?The court concluded that Berezovsky had never been a co-owner of Sibneft.

0Voice of Russia, RIA, BBC, AFP, RT, Reuters, Interfax

Source: http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_03_24/No-initial-signs-others-involved-in-Berezovsky-death-police/

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Secretary of State Kerry shows up unannounced in Afghanistan

By Arshad Mohammed

KABUL (Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry paid an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Monday for talks with President Hamid Karzai, a official said, with both sides hoping to stabilize the country before most foreign troops leave by the end of 2014.

Kerry and Karzai will discuss a host of issues including Afghan reconciliation, the transfer of security responsibility to Afghan forces and Afghanistan's elections, the official told reporters.

Karzai's government is trying to open formal negotiations with the Taliban, who have remained resilient in the face of superior NATO firepower in the war now in its 12th year.

Karzai is due to travel to Qatar within days to discuss the peace process and the opening of a Taliban office for conducting negotiations. The trip comes after years of stalled discussions with the United States, Pakistan and the Taliban.

Commenting on Karzai's trip, the official told reporters: "I wouldn't want to overplay it but I think that it's a very positive sign. It's another step on a continued path toward ... getting to some sort of reconciliation process.

"Nobody is expecting that he will open an office there in a week. Nobody is expecting that he will be sitting down with Taliban in a week. This is a long process and this is one more small but positive step in that ... process."

Tensions between the United States and Afghanistan have deepened in recent years over a range of issues, including civilian casualties during air strikes, night raids and the transfer of prisoners.

The official acknowledged the difficulties in the U.S.-Afghan relationship but said he believed they had resolved a number of them, including an agreement to remove U.S. forces from part of Wardak province where they were accused of mistreating local residents.

He also said the United States believed that the two nations had moved beyond an incident in which Karzai recently accused Washington of colluding with the Taliban to keep foreign forces in Afghanistan, marring U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's first trip to Pakistan since taking on his new post.

"There will always be bumps in the road ... It's a relationship that can withstand those," the U.S. official said.

"The process of winding down our current position and role in Afghanistan and stepping into more of a support role ... is not going to be a smooth process at all times. Issues of sovereignty and security are always going to be difficult."

The official said Kerry had wanted to visit Pakistan on this trip but had decided not to given the May 11 election, in part to avoid any appearance of seeking to influence what would be Pakistan's first civilian to civilian electoral handover.

The military has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its 66-year history, either through coups or from behind the scenes.

(Editing by Michael Georgy and Nick Macfie)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/secretary-state-kerry-makes-unannounced-visit-afghanistan-110103469.html

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Oracle Is Bleeding At The Hands Of Database Rivals

220px-Cassandra1Something is seriously wrong in Larry Land. Oracle does not command absolute control like it once did. You can see what is happening pretty clearly when you review the earnings the company posted last week and the growth that startups like Datastax are witnessing as more customers seek alternative databases for online applications.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Vnn4c8mq78E/

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