Tomorrow's Newspapers Online 12-14-2013 | Po

The humbling reversal on one of the most sensitive policy issues facing the social network came as Twitter encountered user revolt for the first time as a public company.

Under the short-lived change on Thursday, a blocked Twitter user could view or tweet at the person who blocked him or her, but that activity would have been rendered invisible to the victim as if the offending account did not exist.

Under the re-instated policy, users could prevent their harassers from following them or interacting with their tweets. Users are also explicitly notified if they are blocked.

Before it backtracked, Twitter had said Thursday that the change was meant to protect victims of harassment who wanted to filter out abusive messages but feared that the act of blocking a user would prompt retaliation.

"We have decided to revert the change after receiving feedback from many users - we never want to introduce features at the cost of users feeling less safe," vice president of product Michael Sippey wrote in a blog post.

Chief Executive Dick Costolo initially sought to address the mounting criticism by saying on Twitter that the new features were widely requested by victims of abuse.

But many were not convinced. Within hours, the service was flooded with angry users, including many who did not understand the nuances of the new policy, and hundreds had signed an online petition to reverse the change.

"New @twitter block policy is like a home security system that instead of keeping people out puts a blindfold on YOU when they come in," said user @edcasey.

"'Just ignore them & they'll stop' is a dangerous thing to say to bullied kids & a dangerous thing to say to stalked/harassed Twitter users," wrote @red3blog, another user.

Keeping abuse in check is a key issue for the company, which needs to keep hold of existing users and attract hundreds of millions of new ones to justify the stratospheric valuation that investors have placed on its stock.

Twitter shares have risen 35 percent to $55.33 the past two weeks on investor expectations that the company can sustain its growth for years and mature into an internet powerhouse.

The changes were announced Thursday after the market close.

The company's swift about-face similarly drew an outpouring of relief.

"The people have spoken and Twitter listened, thanks," said user @samar_ismail.

The Iridis4 has 12,200 processors, each of which can perform a trillion calculations per second - a measurement referred to as a "teraflop".

The IBM machine also has a million gigabytes of disk space and 50 terabytes of memory.

Home computers generally have between 500GB and 2TB of disc space and about 4GB to 6GB of memory.

There are 1,024 gigabytes in a terabyte.

The university said the new machine would allow academics to work on more projects at faster speeds.

'Top 10' Pro vice-chancellor Prof Philip Nelson said: "Staying ahead of the game in high performance computing [HPC] is vital to help the university stay competitive.

"Simulation and computation enabled by HPC are recognised globally as the third pillar of modern research and this investment will ensure we remain world leaders in this field."

Iridis4 will be used for a range of research, including engineering, archaeology and medicine, as well as computer science.

The world's most powerful computer is China's Tianhe-2, which can perform 33,860 trillion calculations per second.

The university said its new computer ranked among the top 10 in the UK.

The most powerful is at the Science and Technology Facilities Council in Warrington.

Blue Origin protested to the US Government Accountability Office about the process Nasa uses to decide which companies can use the launch pad, either exclusively or sharing it.

The GAO rejected the protest and said Nasa had not shown a preference for one approach over another.

Blue Origin has not commented on the ruling.

Nasa is hoping to lease out Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, which has not been used since the US shuttle fleet was retired in 2011. It was the launch pad from which Apollo 11 lifted off for the first manned Moon landing.

A spokesman for Nasa said: "Given today's GAO ruling, Nasa is looking forward in the near future to selecting an industry partner for negotiations to lease and operate the launch pad."

'Open to sharing' Another company, SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk, chief executive of Tesla Motors, is also bidding to use the facility. SpaceX had originally wanted to use the site exclusively but later said it was open to sharing the site. Blue Origin's plans were to share the site. Blue Origin suggested that Nasa's proposal for seeking companies to use the site preferred an option where the site was shared.

But after Nasa administrator Charles Bolden made a comment that Blue Origin said showed the agency favoured an exclusive contract instead of a shared approach, the company filed a protest.

The GAO disagreed with the protest and in its ruling said: "There currently is nothing in the record beyond the protester's arguments to show that either approach necessarily is better in terms of meeting the agency's objective of achieving the fullest commercial use of space.

"We conclude that nothing in the language of the [announcement for proposal] favours one approach over the other."

SpaceX has made no comment on the ruling.

SpaceX already launches rockets from Cape Canaveral and last year became the first company to dock a commercial craft at the International Space Station,

IBM lobbied Congress hard to pass a law letting it share personal data of customers in China and elsewhere with the U.S. National Security Agency in a bid to protect its intellectual property rights, according to a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

The plaintiff in the complaint, Louisiana Sheriffs' Pension & Relief Fund, said this threatened IBM hardware sales in China, particularly given a program known as Prism that let the NSA spy on that country through technology companies such as IBM.

The Baton Rouge pension fund said the revelation of Prism and related disclosures by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden caused Chinese businesses and China's government to abruptly cut ties with the world's largest technology services provider.

It said this led IBM on October 16 to post disappointing third-quarter results, including drops in China of 22 percent in sales and 40 percent in hardware sales.

While quarterly profit rose 6 percent, revenue dropped 4 percent and fell well below analyst forecasts.

IBM shares fell 6.4 percent on October 17, wiping out $12.9 billion of the Armonk, New York-based company's market value.

The lawsuit names IBM, Chief Executive Virginia Rometty and Chief Financial Officer Mark Loughridge as defendants, and says they should be held liable for the company's failure to reveal sooner the risks of its lobbying and its NSA ties.

"These allegations are ludicrous and irresponsible and IBM will vigorously defend itself in court," IBM spokesman Doug Shelton said in an e-mail.

The Louisiana fund is represented by Bernstein, Litowitz, Berger & Grossmann, a prominent class-action specialist law firm. It seeks class-action status on behalf of shareholders from June 25 to October 16, 2013, and damages for shareholder losses.

Loughridge is retiring as CFO this month at age 60, which IBM calls its traditional retirement age. Martin Schroeter, who has been IBM's head of global finance, is replacing him.

The European Banking Authority said there was no protection or compensation for people whose "digital wallets" are hacked, a transfer of virtual money goes wrong or a platform is shut.

The warning follows similar announcements from the Bank of France and the Chinese central bank.

The EBA stopped short of telling consumers not to use online currency markets but said if they end up out of pocket there won't be a safety net like the compensation given to deposit holders when a mainstream EU bank goes bust.

"Currently, no specific regulatory protections exist in the EU that would protect consumers from financial losses if a platform that exchanges or holds virtual currencies fails or goes out of business," EBA said in a statement.

Bitcoin is not backed by any central bank or government, or by physical assets. Its value depends on people's confidence in the currency.

It has been gaining acceptance by the general public and investment community but has yet to become an accepted form of payment on websites of major retailers such as Amazon.com (AMZN.O).

"Cases have been reported of consumers losing significant amounts of virtual currency, with little prospect of having it returned. Also, when using virtual currency for commercial transactions, consumers are not protected by any refund rights under EU law," said the EBA.

The watchdog has been studying virtual currencies for three months and is still considering whether they can or ought to be regulated. It has powers to ban them, though questions remain over how this could be done in practice.

There are about 100 virtual currencies, with new ones appearing every week. Bitcoin is by far the best known.

The price of the bitcoin rose above $1,000 last month for the first time, extending a 400 percent surge in less than a month and fuelling concerns of a bubble.

EU regulatory officials doubt such published estimates as the currency and the platforms that trade it are not regulated.

Some platforms have been closed down amid concerns there could be a risk of money laundering, leaving those who held money on them nursing temporary or permanent losses.

U.S. officials laid out a series of steps to help prevent disruptions in coverage for health policies due to start January 1, including the possibility of retroactive coverage.

Widespread stories of coverage gaps could pose new political problems for President Barack Obama, whose signature domestic policy has already sparked a public uproar over the botched launch of the website and the millions of cancellation notices sent out for policies that do not comply with the law.

The administration said it would consider further extensions of the enrollment deadlines if required by "extraordinary circumstances," having extended its December 15 enrollment deadline for obtaining benefits on January 1 to midnight December 23 (0500 GMT December 24).

It also required insurers to enroll people who meet the deadline and provide an initial premium payment by December 31.

Officials led by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius also urged insurers to be flexible by allowing new Obamacare customers to enroll for retroactive January 1 coverage, if they wait until after New Year's Day to sign up or make only a partial premium payment.

The list of what one official described as "mitigation strategies" also asked insurers to maintain care for enrollees by treating out-of-network physicians as in-network providers for acute episodes and honoring refill prescriptions covered under previous plans during January.

"The steps ... are important to help ensure that consumers seamlessly transition from their current health plans into marketplace coverage without experiencing any gaps," Mike Hash, director of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Health Reform, told reporters on a conference call.

The Obama administration has acknowledged that 10 to 25 percent of enrollments since October 1 have been transmitted inaccurately to insurers or failed to show up at all.

Insurance industry officials have warned repeatedly that enrollment errors could leave some people uninsured even after they have signed up for coverage on HealthCare.gov, which serves consumers in 36 states.

"The big moment of trust is 12:01 am on January 1st, when a mother is standing in a pharmacy with a baby in her arms trying to get a script filled," Aetna Inc Chief Executive Mark Bertolini told an investors meeting on Thursday.

Speaking at the end of his second visit to the region in a week, Kerry said the two sides were discussing a framework of core issues that lay at the heart of the decades-old conflict and would lead to the final status accord.

"Both parties remain committed to fulfilling their obligations to stay at the table and negotiate hard during the nine-month period that we set for that," Kerry told reporters after separate talks with Palestinian and Israeli leaders.

"We're not talking at this point about any shifts (in the schedule," he said, alleviating Palestinian concerns that Israel would delay a planned release of Palestinian prisoners at the end of the year.

Seen as a vital confidence building measure, Israel has so far freed about half the 104 prisoners that it had pledged to release from its jails under a deal secured by Kerry in July to renew peace talks that had been frozen for three years.

However, Palestinian and Israeli officials have indicated that the peace talks, held far from the media's gaze, have made little headway thus far, causing Kerry to make repeated visits to the area to try to gain some momentum.

"We remain hopeful that we can achieve that final status agreement. Why? Because we are absolutely confident ... that for both sides, and the region at large, peace can bring enormous benefits," Kerry said.

They wanted a lift in a taxi Qawli and his nephew were in. A while later, locals say, an American aircraft fired missiles at the vehicle.

"All of us in the village heard a large explosion," said Qawli's brother, Mohamed, who rushed to the scene. "We picked up the burned body parts. They were all over. We picked them up and put them in plastic bags, and took them to the hospital so we could bury them the next day," he said. "My brother was completely charred. We identified him by his teeth. It's as if they killed animals."

A copy of the Khalid bin al-Walid school attendance register shows Qawli's signature for the first four days of that week. Under Thursday it says: "Martyred on January 23, 2013."

At the time local sources told Reuters the strike killed at least six suspected al Qaeda militants.

The Yemeni government now says Qawli, who had three children, and his nephew were not militants but innocent civilians. In a statement, it concluded: "We can confirm the following: Ali al-Qawli ... did not know or communicate with the individuals who rented the mentioned car and their death was a matter of fate."

It was just one instance in which Yemeni civilians have perished in U.S. drone strikes, which are Washington's favored method of combating al Qaeda in Yemen.

On Thursday, 15 people on their way to a wedding were killed when an air strike missed its intended target of suspected militants, Yemeni officials said. It was not clear whether a drone or a Yemeni aircraft was responsible for the attack.

The United States says its drone program has been successful in eliminating members of al Qaeda in various countries. Some Yemenis say had it not been for such strikes, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) could have seized more territory across Yemen.

Yemeni foreign minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi told Reuters in September that the drone strikes were a "necessary evil" and a "very limited affair" that happens in coordination with the Yemeni government.

Other Yemenis, and some U.S. politicians, say the strikes and civilian casualties are increasing sympathy for AQAP and resentment against America. AQAP, which has scattered across the country, is now targeting local police and security officials, who have only tenuous control in Yemen.

The boy died of pneumonia, the medical delegation said, after he apparently used someone else's ID to get a job at the Shanghai factory, which makes products for Apple.

Apple has taken various measures in response to questions on whether its products are made in what amount to sweatshops. It acted after about a dozen suicides, starting in 2010, at its assembler Foxconn.

The world's most valuable technology company commissioned an investigation of suppliers' Chinese factories last year by the Fair Labor Association (FLA), which in a report on Thursday said working hours at Foxconn now comply with its standard.

"Last month, we sent independent medical experts from the U.S. and China to conduct an investigation of the (Pegatron) factory," Apple said in a statement on Thursday. "While they have found no evidence of any link to working conditions there, we realize that is of little comfort to the families who have lost their loved ones.

"Apple has a long-standing commitment to providing a safe and healthy workplace for every worker in our supply chain, and we have a team working with Pegatron at their facility to ensure that conditions meet our high standards."

The Taiwanese company, which assembles Apple's iPhone and iPad mini, had already concluded the death was not related to work. The employee had only recently joined, and the assembly line environment should not cause pneumonia, Pegatron spokesman Charles Lin said.

The employee used his 21-year-old cousin's identification to apply for the job, so the factory did not know he was underage, Lin also said.

China Labor Watch, a New York-based rights group, said the worker, who died in October, had a pre-employment physical examination on September 4 which showed he was in good health.

"Pegatron has strict measures in place to verify workers' ages before and after they are hired, and we work with health and safety experts to provide a safe working environment for each and every worker," Pegatron said in a statement.

Lin said three other employee deaths this year, in March and April, were caused by various medical conditions unrelated to work at the factory.

OVERTIME

Shares in Cisco fell almost 3 percent after Chambers provided more details about the company's November 13 dramatic revenue warning but did not change the guidance at the company's financial analyst conference in New York.

While emerging markets were "extremely challenged" right now, he expects them to grow 6 percent to 10 percent when they recover, Chambers said.

For the U.S. market, Chambers cited strong growth prospects in the enterprise market, as its sales pipeline for big deals, of between $1 million to $5 million, in that segment is up 20 percent or more. Enterprise customers account for about 23 percent of Cisco's overall revenue.

Cisco stunned the market on November 13 by warning that revenue would fall as much as 10 percent this quarter and could keep declining for several quarters. The company blamed factors from emerging economy weakness and political backlash in China to company-specific problems, such as market-share losses in network equipment and declining sales in set-top boxes.

In response to some investors' requests ahead of the meeting for details on why Cisco's financial outlook was so weak, Chambers said it was largely due to broader market issues rather than Cisco-specific issues.

Aside from emerging markets, Cisco's biggest problem in the quarter was a 13-percent decline in sales to service providers, which represent about 31 percent of Cisco's overall revenue.

Chambers said the drop in demand from service providers included a 6 percent decline in sales of set-top boxes, a 2 percent decline relating to its launch of new products and a 2 percent decline due to a loss of market share in equipment used at the edge of operator networks.

Some investors were hoping Cisco would provide a detailed plan Thursday for the future of its set-top box business where it has decided to forego some sales of less profitable products.

Wheeler told members of Congress an agreement was reached between the carriers and the agency, and details will be presented at an FCC meeting later on Thursday.

Industry sources have said the agreement would ensure that providers notify customers about the eligibility of their phones for unlocking - by text message, for example - and could also cover some pre-paid phones.

The deal would also require carriers to process or deny unlocking requests within two business days, according to FCC's earlier guidance.

U.S. wireless carriers often "lock" smartphones to their networks as a way to encourage consumers to renew their mobile contracts. Consumers often get new devices at a heavily subsidized price in return for committing to longer contracts.

The new deal would assure consumers that they could get their phones "unlocked" at the end of their contract and make the process more uniform among carriers.

The final sticking points in reaching the agreement among carriers and FCC were said to include questions on how fast the new policy would be rolled out, how pre-paid phones would be handled and how to keep unlocked phones off of black markets.

Top providers like Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc, Sprint Corp and T-Mobile US have long allowed consumers to unlock devices and take them to another network at the end of a contract term - commonly, two years - though the process varies by company and can be quite painstaking.

What changed in 2013 was an unexpected ruling from the Library of Congress, which oversees U.S. copyright law and reviews exemptions every three years, that effectively made unlocking illegal.

The ruling surprised many telecom observers, outraged phone users, and finally landed on the White House's agenda thanks to an online citizen petition that gathered 114,322 signatures, more than the 100,000 needed to spur a response. And in its response, the White House sided with the petitioners.

With that, unlocking turned into a top 2013 policy matter for the new FCC chairman, Wheeler, a former top wireless industry lobbyist for whom it presented an opportunity to establish a pro-consumer stance.

The issue on unlocking is on the FCC's meeting agenda on Thursday.

BUSINESS REALITIES

"The poll will not be held," Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon told journalists moments after Catalonia's President, Artur Mas, announced a deal.

Mr Mas said agreement had been reached on the date and on two questions.

Voters would be asked if they wanted Catalonia to be a state and if they wanted it to be an independent state.

Mr Mas announced that an agreement had been reached in principle and had still to be approved formally by the parties internally. Both Spain's ruling conservatives, the Popular Party of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, and the Socialist opposition have long made it clear that they oppose a referendum.

Under the current Spanish constitution, referendums can only be called by the national government in Madrid, not by the governments of Spain's 17 autonomous communities, of which Catalonia is one, the BBC's Tom Burridge reports from Madrid.

Mr Mas has said that "there is time to comply with laws and democratic processes".

But for that to happen, Spain's national parliament would need to approve a change in the Spanish constitution before next November, and that looks impossible given the opposition in Madrid, our correspondent adds.

Catalonia is one of Spain's most developed regions, with a population of 7.5 million.

It already has a wide degree of autonomy but the recent economic crisis has fuelled Catalan nationalism.

In September supporters of independence formed a human chain across the region.

Mr Mas has previously said that if Madrid blocks a referendum, he will turn regional elections - due in 2016 - into a vote on independence.

Opinion polls suggest Catalans are evenly split over independence.

The EU and Nato have warned that Catalonia would be excluded if it broke away from Spain.