Tomorrow's newspapers online. 07-19-2013 | S

The news follows a report by parliament's intelligence committee which raised concerns that staff working at the base in Oxfordshire were employed by the Chinese firm.

Part of their job is to test Huawei's own equipment for vulnerabilities.

US politicians have claimed that the company posed a threat because of links to China's government and military.

The allegations are based, in part, on the fact that the company's founder, Ren Zhengfei, was a former member of the People's Liberation Army.

But Huawei has strongly denied having close ties to the Chinese state and has stressed that it is 98.6%-per-cent-owned by its employees.

Although the firm has been prevented from bidding for many US infrastructure contracts, it has been active in the UK after striking a multi-billion pound deal to provide networking equipment to BT in 2005.

A spokeswoman for Huawei highlighted the fact that the government has said it is confident that UK networks using the firm's equipment "operated to a high standard of security and integrity".

She added that her company supported the decision to carry out a review.

Trade links

The UK's Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) raised concerns about the company's involvement in the Cyber Security Evaluations Centre in Banbury, Oxfordshire, last month.

"While we recognise that there are some benefits associated with the current staffing arrangements for the Cell, these do not, in our opinion, outweigh the risks of Huawei effectively policing themselves," its report read.

It added that national security was potentially being put at risk by the government's fear of jeopardising trade links with Beijing and it said staff from intelligence agency GCHQ should take over work at the centre.

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: "We take threats to our critical national infrastructure very seriously and need to be responsive to changes in a fast-moving and complex, globalised telecommunications marketplace.

"We have robust procedures in place to ensure confidence in the security of UK telecommunications networks.

"However, we are not complacent and as such we have agreed to the main recommendation of the report to conduct a review of Huawei's Cyber Security Evaluation Centre (the 'Banbury Cell') to give assurance that we have the right measures and processes in place to protect UK telecommunications."

The Chinese firm said that it welcomed the decision.

"Huawei shares the same goal as the UK government and the ISC in raising the standards of cybersecurity in the UK and ensuring that network technology benefits UK consumers," a spokeswoman said.

The device spins and heats the material to remove the sweat, and then passes the vapour through a special membrane designed to only let water molecules get through.

Since its Monday launch, its creators say more than 1,000 people have "drunk other's sweat" in Gothenburg.

They add the liquid is cleaner than local tap water.

The device was built for the United Nation's child-focused charity Unicef to promote a campaign highlighting the fact that 780 million people in the world lack access to clean water.

Moist cyclists The machine was designed and built by engineer Andreas Hammar, known locally for his appearances on TV tech show Mekatronik.

He said the critical part of the sweat machine was a new water purification component developed by a company named HVR in collaboration with Sweden's Royal Institute of Technology.

"It uses a technique called membrane distillation," he told the BBC.

"We use a substance that's a bit like Gortex that only lets steam through but keeps bacteria, salts, clothing fibres and other substances out.

"They have something similar on the [International] Space Station to treat astronaut's urine - but our machine was cheaper to build. "The amount of water it produces depends on how sweaty the person is - but one person's T-shirt typically produces 10ml [0.3oz], roughly a mouthful."

The kit has been put on show at the Gothia Cup - the world's largest international youth football tournament.

Mattias Ronge, chief executive of Stockholm-based advertising agency Deportivo - which organised the stunt - said the machine had helped raise awareness for Unicef, but in reality had its limitations.

"People haven't produced as much sweat as we hoped - right now the weather in Gothenburg is lousy," he said.

"So we've installed exercise bikes alongside the machine and volunteers are cycling like crazy.

The adjournment of the meeting, called minutes after shareholders gathered on the outskirts of Austin to decide on what could be the largest buyout since the financial crisis, buys time for co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Michael Dell to persuade naysayers to switch sides.

Complicating matters, billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who has amassed an 8.7 percent stake in Dell, is leading a charge with major shareholder Southeastern Asset Management against the buyout with an offer of his own. He and others say Michael Dell's deal undervalues the world's No. 3 personal computer maker.

Investors are divided over Dell's prospects. Some are ready to cash out of a company increasingly vulnerable to a crumbling PC market and already a shadow of an earlier self that led the global market and stood as a model of industry innovation.

Others remain convinced the company founded out of Michael Dell's dorm room in 1984 can transform itself into a dominant provider of business computing services - under his leadership or otherwise.

In the week leading up to Thursday's meeting, Icahn's team and Dell's special board committee - which supports the CEO's proffered deal - have flooded shareholders with letters and documents to argue their respective positions.

Vanguard and BlackRock Inc are now on board with the proposal, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday.

Still, they said Michael Dell and private equity partner Silver Lake fell about 100 million shares short of the 735 million that they need for the buyout to pass.

Some investors say Michael Dell may have to raise his $13.65-a-share offer to secure the deal, but sources say he and Silver Lake remain reluctant to do so for a company that traded at about $10 before news of the buyout surfaced.

Dell shares climbed 2.4 percent to $13.19 in morning trading.

It is unusual for corporations to adjourn shareholder meetings on such short notice, but governance experts say it can be done if the company bylaws allow it.

Over the next week, the board will encourage the apparently large number of shareholders that had not cast votes to support the deal, said mergers expert Brian Quinn, an associate professor at Boston College Law School.

"To encourage these votes to come out, they will likely also try to re-engage Silver Lake to seek out a higher price," he added.

Netflix landed a total of 14 nominations for political drama "House of Cards," comedy "Arrested Development" and thriller "Hemlock Grove," a validation of its challenge to broadcast and cable networks. It is the first time programs not produced specifically for television have won Emmy nominations in the top categories, with "House of Cards" competing for best drama and leading stars Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright contenders for best actor and actress.

The breakthrough by Netflix was hailed as a turning point in television and an indication of an unabating shift toward Internet-delivered entertainment. It comes two decades after the first cable show, on HBO, earned a nomination in one of the best series categories.

"Everybody is stepping up their game. It's an opportunity to tell stories on multiple platforms and it's great news for our industry," said Bruce Rosenblum, chairman and chief executive of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

"It's not that dissimilar to a couple of decades ago when HBO and Showtime started producing original content," he added.

Netflix's chief content officer, Ted Sarandos, said the nominations were recognition that online television is on equal footing with cable and broadcast TV.

"As of today, the lines are forever blurred between TV and the Internet. It's about what's on the screen," he said.

"We had no expectation going in that we would have so much to celebrate this morning," Sarandos added.

FX's "American Horror Story: Asylum" pulled in 17 nominations including best miniseries and HBO's "Game of Thrones" landed 16 including best drama. Last year's winner, "Homeland," was nominated in 11 categories including best drama.

In comedy, where traditional broadcast is strongest, NBC's "30 Rock" anchored the most nominations with 13 including best comedy for the long-running series' final season. Creator and star Tina Fey and co-star Alec Baldwin picked up nominations in leading comedy actor categories. Last year's big winner, ABC's "Modern Family," scored 12 nods including best comedy series.

'MAD MEN,' 'DOWNTON' IN RUNNING

That is just one of the 21 counts that U.S. Army Private First Class, Bradley Manning faces but it carries the possibility of life in prison.

"He was knowingly providing intelligence to the enemy," said Judge Colonel Denise Lind, in rejecting Manning's lawyer's motion to dismiss that charge.

Manning, 25, is charged with sharing more than 700,000 classified files, combat videos and State Department cables with the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks while serving as a low-level intelligence analyst in Iraq in 2009 and 2010.

Defense lawyer David Coombs on Monday had argued that Manning was guilty of negligence but not the "general evil intent" standard required to justify the heavy charge.

Over the course of the trial, defense lawyers have sought to show that the slightly built Manning was naive but well-intentioned in seeking to inform Americans about the reality of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

A report by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said data from 10 states and the District of Columbia shows preliminary 2014 premiums on the lowest-cost mid-range "silver" plans in those marketplaces to be 18 percent lower on average than earlier administration and congressional estimates.

Rates for businesses with fewer than 50 employees that purchase small-group coverage through exchanges could also be 18 percent lower than what the same plans would cost without President Barack Obama's landmark healthcare reform law, based on data from six states, HHS said.

The report was released in conjunction with a speech by Obama on how healthcare reform is already benefiting consumers. It represents the administration's latest bid to counter Republican allegations that consumers and businesses will see sharply higher costs from the exchanges than the individual insurance plans already on the market.

The new exchanges are slated to begin enrolling as many as 7 million uninsured Americans for 2014 on October 1 in federally subsidized health plans ranging in quality from platinum, with the highest premiums, to bronze, with the lowest.

"Today's report shows that the Affordable Care Act is working to increase transparency and competition among health insurance plans and drive premiums down," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement accompanying the report.

The actual rates consumers see could be lower than current estimates, the HHS report concluded, saying that rate reviews and negotiations under way in the District of Columbia, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont have already reduced prospective costs announced in the spring.

But it was not clear whether the lower rates contained in the report would be reflected nationwide. The report's authors cautioned that some states could see costs closer to earlier projections.

The exchanges represent the centerpiece of Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and their success could depend on the cost of so-called silver plans, which are expected to attract the largest number of enrollees.

Panama stopped the North Korean ship last week and seized its cargo. Authorities discovered missile equipment, MiG fighter jets and other arms aboard that Cuba said were "obsolete" Soviet-era weapons being sent to North Korea for repair.

"Thanks to good work by Panama, (the) U.N. sanctions committee will examine what looks like (an) illegal Cuban arms shipment to DPRK (North Korea)," Britain's U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant posted on Twitter.

Lyall Grant's announcement follows Panama's request for the 15-nation Security Council to consider whether the shipment constituted a violation of U.N. sanctions.

Panama's Security Minister, Jose Raul Mulino, held talks with South Korea's ambassador in Panama on Thursday morning. The ambassador, Cho Byoung-lip, declined to comment after leaving the discussions, saying the investigation was ongoing. Panamanian officials were not yet available to comment.

A U.N. arms embargo on North Korea covers all exports by Pyongyang and most imports, with the exception of small arms and light weapons and related materiel. But in order to export small arms to Pyongyang, states must notify the Security Council's North Korea sanctions committee in advance.

An eight-member panel of experts appointed by Ban Ki-moon monitors the Security Council sanctions imposed on North Korea.

The experts are mandated to "gather, examine and analyze information from States, relevant United Nations bodies and other interested parties" on allegations of sanctions violations and report back to the Security Council's sanctions committee.

North Korea is under a wide array of U.N., U.S. and other national sanctions due to repeated nuclear and ballistic missile tests since 2006 in defiance of international demands that it stop.

Cuba said the weapons were being sent back to North Korea for repair and included two anti-aircraft missile batteries, nine disassembled rockets, two MiG-21 fighter jets, and 15 MiG-21 engines, all Soviet-era military weaponry built in the middle of the last century.

Weapons-related services by North Korea such as repair and maintenance are also covered by the U.N. arms embargo.

Thursday's data bolsters the view that economic growth could pick up after a dismal first half of the year in which consumers were smacked by tax hikes and deep cuts in the federal budget.

"This is an encouraging sign heading into the second half of the year," said Ryan Sweet, senior economist at Moody's Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke expects the economy will gather enough steam by the end of the year for the Fed to begin scaling back a bond-purchase program it has used to push down borrowing costs, and Thursday's data appeared to support his case.

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank said factory activity in eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware rose to its highest level in more than two years as employment and shipments picked up.

The bank's index of business activity index rose to 19.8 from 12.5 in June, far exceeding economists' expectations for a reading of 7.8.

Any reading above zero indicates expansion in the region's manufacturing.

In a separate report, the Labor Department said initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped by 24,000 to a seasonally adjusted 334,000. It was the lowest reading since March and a steeper fall than analysts had expected.

The drop in new claims was the latest data to point to resilience in the labor market. While Washington's austerity measures appear to have dragged heavily on growth in the first and second quarters, the pace of hiring has barely slowed, with employers adding 195,000 jobs in June.

At the same time, the labor market data was clouded by seasonal factors. Readings for claims can be volatile in July because many auto factories close to retool, and it is difficult for the government to adjust the data for seasonal swings because shutdown schedules vary from year to year.

Still, a four-week average of new claims, which smoothes out volatility, fell 5,250 from a week earlier.

"This is still consistent with moderate job growth," said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The initiative could mean ads being withdrawn from sites pirating music and movies or selling fake goods.

Many such sites only survive because cash generated by ads helps them pay their high bandwidth bills.

Tech firms such as Google, Microsoft and Yahoo that pipe adverts to sites have signed up to the initiative.

Before now, many rights holders have tried to deal with sites that infringe copyright with take-down notices that seek to get copyrighted content removed from the web.

The new scheme gives them another avenue as they can now target adverts that run on webpages found to be offering counterfeit goods or pirated media. Under the scheme, they will be able to inform an ad network that their adverts are appearing on a pirate site. It will then be up to the ad network to investigate and pull the ads if they agree the site is engaged in copyright theft.

Sites accused of piracy are also allowed to file evidence in their defence if they believe the accusation is wrong.

The scheme takes the form of a series of "best practice guidelines" that those who supply ads have agreed to uphold. The initiative was brokered by the US government's Intellectual Property Enforcement Co-ordinator.

"Ultimately, we want to create and maintain a healthy online space, promote innovation, and protect intellectual property," said Linda Covington, Yahoo's IP policy head, in a statement.

Yahoo, AOL, Microsoft, Google, 24/7 Media, Adtegrity, Conde Nast and SpotXchange have all pledged to back the guidelines.

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) was critical of the scheme and said it that it would not make much difference.

In a statement, Chris Dodd, head of the MPAA, said it was an "incremental step forward that addresses only a narrow subset of the problem and places a disproportionate amount of the burden on rights holders."

Yahoo has won a legal fight that will see papers from a key 2008 court case declassified and published.

The 2008 case is widely seen as pivotal in letting the NSA establish Prism and start gathering data on web use.

The US government has been given until 29 July to say how long it will need to prepare the documents for publication.

Earlier this month, Yahoo filed papers with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (Fisc), seeking permission to publicise the documents it had filed in the original case and the government's response. The Fisc decides whether official applications to carry out surveillance should go ahead.

Yahoo took the legal action to show how vehemently it had objected to government requests to hand over data.

In addition, it said, the transcript of the 2008 case would reveal more about how the US government had justified its wide-ranging surveillance plan known as Prism.

In a statement, Yahoo said the release of the documents would "contribute constructively to the ongoing public discussion around online privacy".

Details about Prism were revealed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who has now fled the US.

The US government has not filed any objections to the plan to disclose the court documents but will review the papers before publication so it can redact information it does not want published.

"The administration has said they want a debate about the propriety of the surveillance, but they haven't really provided information to inform that debate," Mark Rumold, a lawyer at the Electronic Frontier Foundation rights group, said.

Baidu will buy a 57.4 percent stake in 91 Wireless, one of China's earliest appstores, from NetDragon Websoft Inc for $1.09 billion, and the remainder from other shareholders, both companies said on Tuesday.

"It's good for Baidu because if you look at mobile, currently apps are more popular than mobile sites because Internet download speeds are slow. So with the acquisition of this appstore, Baidu can work more closely with the apps developer and be able to enhance further their search capabilities," said Elinor Leung, an analyst with CLSA in Hong Kong.

China's mobile Internet market is expected to double to about 300 billion yuan ($48 billion) in 2014 from 150 billion yuan in 2012, with the number of active mobile Internet users rising to 749 million from 521 million during the same period, according to research firm Analysys International.

NetDragon's shares lost as much as a fifth of their value on Tuesday and were down 18 percent at HK$19.74 at 0305 GMT (11.05 p.m ET)

A delegation of Apple engineering executives visited PrimeSense in early July, Calcalist said.

Officials at PrimeSense were not immediately available for comment.

PrimeSense has raised $85 million from Israel and U.S. venture capital funds, Calcalist noted.