Amazon and Samsung are running away with the Android tablet market

Following the successful launch of Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet, Android vendors saw a beacon of hope in a market that had been dominated by Apple’s (AAPL) iPad since 2010. The Android tablet space has since become flooded with hundreds of products from a wide-range of companies, but there are only two companies that matter.
[More from BGR: ‘Apple is done’ and Surface tablet is cool, according to teens]
According to data from app analytics and ad service Datalytics, Samsung (005930) and Amazon (AMZN) are starting to run away with the Android tablet market, Venture Beat reported.
[More from BGR: Is BlackBerry back? Strong early BlackBerry 10 demand could signal RIM comeback]
Ad impressions on the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD grew 322% from November to the end of December, while impressions on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Tab 7.7 increased a combined total of 150%. Google’s (GOOG) Nexus 7 and Barnes & Noble’s (BKS) Nook Tablet were the next closest with 70% and 62% growth in December, respectively.
The firm’s data also confirms Samsung’s dominant smartphone share, which saw a combined total of 214% growth in the past month.
The data also revealed that the iPhone 4S is still the most popular Apple smartphone with 40% of the market, compared to the iPhone 4′s 36% share and iPhone 5′s 18% share. On the iOS tablet side of things, the iPad mini is apparently selling a little slower than the iPad 4. The fourth-generation tablet had an 8% share of the iPad market, slightly higher than the mini’s 6% share.
Datalytics’ information comes from tens of thousands of apps installed on more than 60 million devices.

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Academy Launches Oscar App on Android, Amazon

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - The Academy launched its official Oscars app on Android and Amazon on Thursday, expanding its initiative to direct fans' attention from the television to the second screen.
The app, already available on the iPad and iPhone, was made available for free on the Google Play store and the Amazon app store, the Academy said. According to iTunes, the iPad app was updated earlier on Wednesday.
Developed by the Academy and Disney/ABC Television Group's digital media arm, the app allows users to see behind-the-scenes videos and stories with host Seth MacFarlane and search information about the nominees. It also features a "My Picks" ballot on which users can organize their dream-team of winners.
On Oscar night on February 24, the app will feature "Backstage Pass," a live telecast from more than a dozen cameras placed on the Red Carpet and throughout the Dolby Theatre - in the press room, the control room, backstage and elsewhere.
And a ticker on the app will notify when a users' favorite actor and actress arrives on stage.
"We're always looking for ways to bring fans closer to the show and this app provides a unique and fun way to do that," Josh Spector, the managing director of digital media and marketing for the Academy, said in a statement. "More fans than ever will be able to enjoy the full Oscar experience now that our app is available to Droid users.

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Report links drug agents to Secret Service prostitute scandal: NBC

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two drug enforcement agents "facilitated a sexual encounter" between a prostitute and a Secret Service agent before an international summit in Colombia last April, NBC News reported on Thursday, citing a Justice Department investigation.
The two Drug Enforcement Administration agents also admitted paying for the sexual services of a prostitute, and used their government-issued BlackBerry devices to arrange the encounters, NBC reported.
A summary of the Justice Department's findings said the agents tried to destroy incriminating information or initially lied to investigators about the incidents, according to the report.
But the summary concluded that the agents' actions did not warrant criminal prosecution, and said the U.S. Attorney's Office declined to start any legal proceedings, referring the case to the DEA for "action it determines to be appropriate."
The Justice Department's office of the inspector general had no comment on Thursday evening.
It was the latest turn in the Colombia prostitution scandal, in which a dozen Secret Service employees were accused of misconduct for bringing women, some of them prostitutes, to their hotel rooms in Cartagena, Colombia, before President Barack Obama's visit there in April.
The Department of Homeland Security found that their actions did not compromise the president's safety. At least seven of the employees have left the agency since the scandal broke.

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"Hebrew Hammer" sequel profits from crowdfunding campaign

"The Hebrew Hammer vs. Hitler," the sequel to 2003's "The Hebrew Hammer," will begin filming next year, after an innovative crowdfunding campaign that's raised $35,000 on Jewcer.com, the filmmakers announced Tuesday.
Adam Goldberg will return in the lead role, with principle photography expected to begin in May 2013.
In the film, Goldberg's character, now married and enjoying the good life in suburbia, is forced to dust off his black-leather couture to confront a new menace: a time-traveling Hitler intent on altering key moments in Jewish history.
The original film launched at Sundance and had a limited theatrical release before being picked up by Comedy Central in a five-year deal.
"It's been amazing," filmmaker Jonathan Kesselman, writer and director of both movies, said in a statement. "The fans are making this happen. The cult status of the first movie attracted millions of fans around the world, making crowd-funding a viable option. Funding is now in the hands of fans who can help make the movies they want to see."
Kesselman negotiated for the rights to the sequel with John Schmidt at ContentFilm, ending a near decade-long tussle and several attempts at getting it made.

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Instagram says no plans to put user photos in ads

Instagram, the popular photo-sharing service owned by Facebook Inc, said on Tuesday it has "no plans" to incorporate user photos into ads in response to a growing public outcry over new privacy policies unveiled this week.
Instagram Chief Executive Kevin Systrom said in a blog post that users had incorrectly interpreted Instagram's revised terms of service, released on Monday, to mean that user photos would be sold to others without compensation.
"This is not true and it is our mistake that this language is confusing," Systrom said. "To be clear: it is not our intention to sell your photos. We are working on updated language in the terms to make sure this is clear."
But Systrom said Instagram may display users' profile pictures and information about who they follow as part of an ad - a social marketing technique similar to what Facebook uses in its "sponsored stories" ad product.
He added that Instagram will not incorporate users' uploaded photos as ads because the service wants "to avoid things like advertising banners."
Instagram, which is free to use, triggered an uproar this week when it revised its terms of service in order to begin carrying advertising.
Facebook bought the fast-growing photo service - now with 100 million users - earlier this year in a cash-and-stock deal valued initially at $1 billion. The transaction closed in September at $715 million, reflecting a decline in the value of Facebook shares.

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Sberbank to buy Yandex online payments service: source

 Sberbank, Russia's top lender, plans to buy Yandex.Dengi, an online payment service owned by Russian search engine Yandex, a source familiar with the matter said.
Sberbank declined to comment. Yandex, which was not available to comment, was expected to hold a news conference on Wednesday.
Sberbank, which accounts for a third of overall lending in Russia, has been expanding in the consumer credit market amid weak corporate loan portfolio growth.
In recent years, it has launched its own credit card business and tied up with French bank BNP Paribas in a joint venture focusing on point-of-sale lending, a popular form of in-store consumer finance in Russia.
Yandex, which raised $1.4 billion when it floated on the U.S. stock market in May 2011, came under scrutiny during election protests over the past year when it was reported that opposition leaders were raising funds via Yandex.Dengi.

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Tubular raises $2.5 million to serve burgeoning YouTube industry

Tubular, a small San Francisco start-up that provides analytics for YouTube content creators, has raised $2.5 million in venture capital in the latest sign of how far the business ecosystem has evolved around the Google-owned video repository.
YouTube was once known as Wild West of online video, but over the past two years Google has focused on raising the quality of YouTube content through a series of direct investments and the cultivation of third-party "networks".
The result is a cluster of small studios, mostly based in Los Angeles, that acts like a digital Hollywood, pumping out slick YouTube hits.
With the ultimate goal of hosting enough high-quality content to lure big-spending advertisers to YouTube, Google doled out more than $100 million last year in grants to its networks and bedroom stars.
In May Google led a group of investors who poured $35 million into Machinima, a leading network, to stoke growth in the YouTube industry.
That market has now grown to the point that it can support its own start-ups, says Tubular's founder Rob Gabel.
COMPETITION
As more semi-professional and professional YouTube creators enter the sector, with increasing competition among them, there is a growing need for analytical services.
Tubular is one such service, allowing customers to monitor and measure when videos get the most views and comments, or the sources of referred traffic.
The software includes a dashboard that displays the real-time analytics, which are generated by tapping into a stream of data provided by YouTube.
"If YouTube is a multibillion-dollar market, then that's billions of dollars going out to content creators who can then invest that again," said Gabel, a former Machinima employee.
"On every platform, from Google to Facebook to Twitter, people have turned to third parties' helpful tools."
At a high level, the pie is large and continuing to grow rapidly. Former Citi analyst Mark Mahaney estimates that YouTube will bring Google a total of $3.6 billion in 2012.
Rich Heitzmann, a co-founder of FirstMark Capital, which led Tubular's latest funding round, said that Google is far from wringing out all of the potential revenue from YouTube.
"We think the ecosystem is at least the size of Facebook's, considering it has a billion users and if you consider the time spent on YouTube," Heitzmann said.
"The advertising opportunities are there, and yet the ecosystem hasn't evolved technologically."
SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS
Other investors in Tubular's first tranche of equity financing included High Line Venture Partners, SV Angel, Lerer Ventures and Bedrocket Media Ventures.
Still, Gabel is betting that he can create a long-term, sustainable business on YouTube's platform at a time when some Silicon Valley companies are wary of building on the backs of larger companies.
Twitter, for instance, courted controversy this year when it made a business decision to shut off its firehose of data for a number of popular third-party developers to drive more visitors to its own site.
Allen DeBevoise, the CEO of Machinima who is also a Tubular investor, said that YouTube has reason to foster its independent developers rather than squash them.
"It's a thriving and fast-moving ecosystem now," he said. "But a lot of players are needed to make it all work."
Though Gabel acknowledges that the YouTube industry's rapid expansion is no guarantee of success, he has high hopes.

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Instagram tests new limits in user privacy

 Instagram, which spurred suspicions this week that it would sell user photos after revising its terms of service, has sparked renewed debate about how much control over personal data users must give up to live and participate in a world steeped in social media.
In forcefully establishing a new set of usage terms, Instagram, the massively popular photo-sharing service owned by Facebook Inc, has claimed some rights that have been practically unheard of among its prominent social media peers, legal experts and consumer advocates say.
Users who decline to accept Instagram's new privacy policy have one month to delete their accounts, or they will be bound by the new terms. Another clause appears to waive the rights of minors on the service. And in the wake of a class-action settlement involving Facebook and privacy issues, Instagram has added terms to shield itself from similar litigation.
All told, the revised terms reflect a new, draconian grip over user rights, experts say.
"This is all uncharted territory," said Jay Edelson, a partner at the Chicago law firm Edelson McGuire. "If Instagram is to encourage as many lawsuits as possible and as much backlash as possible then they succeeded."
Instagram's new policies, which go into effect January 16, lay the groundwork for the company to begin generating advertising revenue by giving marketers the right to display profile pictures and other personal information such as who users follow in advertisements.
The new terms, which allow an advertiser to pay Instagram "to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata)" without compensation, triggered an outburst of complaints on the Web on Tuesday from users upset that Instagram would make money from their uploaded content.
The uproar prompted a lengthy blog post from the company to "clarify" the changes, with CEO Kevin Systrom saying the company had no current plans to incorporate photos taken by users into ads.
Instagram declined comment beyond its blog post, which failed to appease critics including National Geographic, which suspended new posts to Instagram. "We are very concerned with the direction of the proposed new terms of service and if they remain as presented we may close our account," said National Geographic, an early Instagram adopter.
PUSHING BOUNDARIES
Consumer advocates said Facebook was using Instagram's aggressive new terms to push the boundaries of how social media sites can make money while its own hands were tied by recent agreements with regulators and class action plaintiffs.
Under the terms of a 2011 settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, Facebook is required to get user consent before personal information is shared beyond their privacy settings. A preliminary class action lawsuit settlement with Facebook allows users to opt-out of being included in the "sponsored stories" ads that use their personal information.
Under Instagram's new terms, users who want to opt-out must simply quit using the service.
"Instagram has given people a pretty stark choice: Take it or leave, and if you leave it you've got to leave the service," said Kurt Opsahl, a senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a Internet user right's group.
What's more, he said, if a user initially agrees to the new terms but then has a change of mind, their information could still be used for commercial purposes.
In a post on its official blog on Tuesday, Instagram did not address another controversial provision that states that if a child under the age of 18 uses the service, then it is implied that his or her parent has tacitly agreed to Instagram's terms.
"The notion is that minors can't be bound to a contract. And that also means they can't be bound to a provision that says they agree to waive the rights," said the EFF's Opsahl.
BLOCKING CLASS ACTION SUITS
While Facebook continues to be bogged in its own class action suit, Instagram took preventive steps to avoid a similar legal morass.
Its new terms of service require users with a legal complaint to enter arbitration, rather than take the company to court. It prohibits users from joining a class action lawsuit unless they mail a written "opt-out" statement to Facebook's headquarters in Menlo Park within 30 days of joining Instagram.
That provision is not included in terms of service for other leading social media companies like Twitter, Google, YouTube or even Facebook itself, and it immunizes Instagram from many forms of legal liability, said Michael Rustad, a professor at Suffolk University Law School.
Rustad, who has studied the terms of services for 157 social media services, said just 10 contained provisions prohibiting class action lawsuits.
The clause effectively cripples users who want to legally challenge the company because lawyers will not likely represent an individual plaintiff, Rustad argued.
"No lawyers will take these cases," Rustad said. "In consumer arbitration cases, everything is stacked against the consumer. It's a pretense, it's a legal fiction, that there are remedies."
Instagram, which has 100 million users, allows consumers to tweak the photos they take on their smartphones and share the images with friends. Facebook acquired Instagram in September for $715 million.
Instagram's take-it-or-leave-it policy pushes the envelope for how social networking companies treat user privacy issues, said Marc Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
"I think Facebook is probably using Instagram to see how far it can press this advertising model," said Rotenberg. "If they can keep a lot of users, then all those users have agreed to have their images as part of advertising."

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New UC logo: Marketing blunder? Or is storm of criticism overblown?

The University of California – one of the most prestigious public universities in the world – redesigned its logo to stay abreast of the times and attract new students. But the move last week appears to have accomplished just the opposite, and university officials are trying to figure out what to do next. The venerable university system has been hit with a New Media revolt that includes insults on Twitter, e-mail memes that mock the new look, Facebook spoofs, and calls for the new representation to be tattooed on its creator’s foreheads. World rankings: top 10 universities around the globe. Experts say the episode is a cautionary tale on the dangers of image and marketing changes. Here’s the background: for 144 years, the 10 campuses have been collectively represented by a traditional-looking, round logo with a “Let There Be Light” motto, a drawing of an open book and a radiating star. The new logo is essentially rectangular, with a form that approximates the old seal’s open book but which also could pass for a stylized “U.” On top of that is the top half of the letter “C” which could be, depending on whom you ask, a napkin doodle, a bidet, or a banana label. “This is an attempt to be revolutionary, but it comes off as insensitive,” Reaz Rahman, a UC Irvine senior who started an online petition to get the university to reconsider, told the Los Angeles Times. “To me, it didn’t symbolize an institution of higher learning. It seemed like a marketing scheme to pull in money rather than represent the university. “New UC logo is an abomination,” wrote one Twitter-user, according to the Times. “Back to the drawing board.” Another tweeted, “Whoever signed off on this UC logo should be forced to have it tattooed on their forehead for life.” “It is everything our school is against,” wrote Berkeley’s Sheila Lam on the petition, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “Might as well have slapped a McDonald’s ‘M’ on top of it. It looks so corporate and it looks cheap. It is the lack of a clear meaning for the redesigned logo that bothers some communications experts. “This is kind of a classic branding screw-up where people who are designing it don’t understand the web environment that they are moving into,” says Mark Tatge, a communications professor at DePauw University in Indiana. “What are they trying to say? It doesn’t do any good if people don’t know what it means.” He says it is legendary in the ad business to list off the number of cars that have failed to succeed in foreign countries because the model name meant something else in the language. “This is just like ignoring what the symbol might mean in another context,” says Tatge. UC officials counter that they trying to be cutting edge instead of stodgy to be attractive to students. “We want to convey that this is an iconic place that makes a difference to California and that there is a UC system,” the UC system’s director of marketing communication, Jason Simon, told the L.A. Times. The university is reminding everyone that the old logo will still appear on diplomas and the official letterhead, although the UC websites do now carry the new logo. Marketing specialists say that such uprisings are typical when businesses or institutions try to change their image. Officials at the Gap clothing chain and Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice backtracked to using original logos after they made changes that triggered consumer protests. But several say UC should just stand its ground, and allow some time for the initial shock to wear off. “Change is hard. In a year, this will die down and the benefit will outweigh the legacy logo,” says Tom Drucker, a Marina Del Rey-based image specialist who focuses on new business models and idea management. "All tweets are not the same – tweets about the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street obviously are of much greater import than Tweets mocking a new university logo,” says Paul Levinson, a professor of communications at Fordham University in New York and author of “New New Media.” Objections from students to just about everything a university does is a time-honored part of university life, he notes. “So, first, University of California officials should take a deep breath,” he says. “Twitter has magnified such objections, true, but that's also a good thing. Students are entitled to express their opinions.” Still other analysts feel that the UC episode is not so much a screw-up as just a sign of the times, which once again spotlights the democratization of ideas and expression. “It’s increasingly par for the course. It’s a great example of the democratization of individual voice bestowed upon people with Internet access,” says Bernard McCoy, associate professor of mass communications at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “Internet access means more people, regardless of title, economic standing, or experience, have a voice whose reach and audience is potentially global.” But others say the whole episode is a tempest in a teacup, for the very same reason. "This tells us nothing about UC or the wisdom of decision making. The only story here is a tired one these days – namely that social media have changed everything,” says Robert Epstein, senior research psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology and former editor-in-chief of Psychology Today magazine. “Ten years ago, the worst that would have happened with a logo change is that a couple of disgruntled alumni would have written complaint letters. Now, through crowding and viral processes, any trivial event can produce an uproar. In this case – as is often the case with social media – the uproar is as trivial as the event." But Professor Levinson thinks the new media environment has created a situation that is different from previous decades, in that the protests are harder to brush off.

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Parents fight for release of son jailed in Mexico

MIAMI (AP) — A South Florida family is fighting to get their son, a Marine veteran, released from a prison in a dangerous area in Mexico while facing charges that he carried across the border a shotgun with a barrel that's an inch too short. Jon Hammar and his friend were on their way to Costa Rica in August and planned to drive across the Mexican border near Matamoros in a Winnebago filled with surfboards and camping gear. Hammar, 27, asked U.S. border agents what to do with the unloaded shotgun, which his family said belonged to his great-grandfather. "They examined it, they weighed it, they said you have to fill out this form," his father, Jon Hammar, told The Associated Press in a phone interview Tuesday from his home near Miami. But when the pair crossed the border and handed the paperwork to Mexican officials, they impounded the RV and jailed the men, saying it was illegal to carry that type of gun. Hammar's friend was later released because the gun did not belong to him. The family's attorney said Mexican law prohibits civilians from carrying certain types of guns, like sawed-off shotguns, which can be more easily concealed. Mexican law prohibits shotguns with a barrel of less than 25 inches (63.5 centimeters). Family attorney Eddie Varon-Levy said Mexican officials measured the barrel on Hammar's shotgun as 24 inches (61 centimeters). It has not been sawed off. Family members said the gun was purchased at Sears and blamed U.S. officials for telling Hammar he could bring it across the border in the first place. Varon-Levy also questioned the way Mexican officials measured the gun, because the measurements can differ depending on where they are taken on the barrel. He said dealing with Mexican authorities has also been difficult. He said Hammar was brought to court a few weeks ago, where officials tried to convince him to plead guilty without a lawyer present. Varon-Levy said he didn't show up because he was told there was a continuance. "I am fuming," he said. Hammar could face 12 years in prison, but Varon-Levy said that's unlikely. He wants to get the charges downgraded, hoping Hammar can plead guilty to a lesser charge of carrying an unregistered weapon, which only carries a fine. Hammar served in Iraq and Afghanistan before being honorably discharged from the Marines in 2007. His mother said surfing helped him cope after he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. "Mexican authorities have fully guaranteed his right to Consular assistance; therefore Mr. Hammar has been in contact with U.S. Consular officers in Mexico who have regularly visited him," Ricardo Alday, spokesman for the Mexican Embassy, said in a statement. "The possession of any weapon restricted for the use of the Army in Mexico is a Federal crime, regardless of whether you declare it or not upon entering the country, and must be automatically prosecuted." Alday said Harmmar was detained in Tamaulipas "and as any other detainee facing criminal charges he has the right to defense counsel and a fair trial. In addition, his life and integrity are protected by national and international laws." Meanwhile, Hammar is being held in one of the most dangerous areas in Mexico. Matamoros is the long-time headquarters of the Gulf Cartel, which has been engaged in a bloody struggle with its former security guards, the Zetas, since early 2010 for the lucrative drug routes along the eastern end of the Texas-Mexico border. An October 2011 fight among inmates at the prison left 20 dead and 12 injured. At first Hammar was held with the general population, filled mostly with members of drug cartels. Now he is periodically chained to his bed in a cell by himself, said his father, he speaks with his son by phone occasionally. "Sometimes he's got his head on good. We're like just, 'Hang in there. We're doing everything we can.' Other days, it's like, it's not as good," Jon Hammar said, sighing heavily and struggling to steady his voice. In August, the family received a frightening middle of the night phone call from the cartel demanding money, said Jon Hammar, a 48-year-old software engineer. "'Lady, this isn't about the police. This is our house. We have your son. We're going to kill him if you don't send us money,'" Hammar said, recounting the phone call. The couple planned to wire the money to an account, but officials at the U.S. consulate intervened and contacted prison officials. His son was moved into a private cell the next day, he said. A spokesman for the State Department said officials have visited Hammar three times, spoken with him by phone and contacted prison officials to stop them from chaining him to the bed. "The safety and well-being of U.S. citizens is something we take very seriously," said Peter Velasco. U.S. Senator Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, spoke on the Senate floor Tuesday, asking Mexican authorities to release Hammar. U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen also urged the State Department to work incessantly to reunite Hammar with his family and said she's disappointed the agency has not told her what efforts have been made. The Miami Republican said she plans to contact the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Patrol about Hammar's arrest. His mother emailed Ros-Lehtinen and asked for help. "The Hammar family has suffered a great deal since their son's unjust incarceration in August and the details they have provided to my office are gripping and a clear abuse of Jon's human rights," she said in a statement.

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California man accused of plotting to aid al Qaeda denied bail

RIVERSIDE, California (Reuters) - A California man arrested in Afghanistan on charges he plotted to help al Qaeda and Taliban militants was denied bail on Tuesday despite claims by his lawyers that injuries he suffered during capture diminished any threat he posed if freed on bond. The Afghan-born defendant, Sohiel Omar Kabir, 35, is accused with three younger men arrested last month outside Los Angeles of planning to unleash a campaign of "violent jihad" against U.S. military forces and other Americans overseas. The FBI says Kabir served in the U.S. Air Force for two years about a decade ago, though his lawyers described him in a recent court filing as an Army veteran. Kabir suffered a fractured facial bone, an eye injury and cuts to his face and head from a severe beating he suffered when apprehended last month in a military raid in Kabul, his attorneys said during a detention hearing in federal court. The injuries left him with impaired memory function, difficulty keeping his balance and distorted vision, defense attorneys stated. They said Kabir already suffered from epilepsy and had medical problems stemming from an automobile accident. Kabir's lawyers cited his injuries and various medical issues in requesting that he be released from jail and placed under pretrial supervision, including electronic monitoring, while restricted to his parents' home in southern California. But prosecutors pointed to FBI evidence that Kabir had planned to engage in a suicide bombing mission while in Afghanistan and noted the fierce resistance the Pentagon said he put up when military forces captured him. "Mr. Kabir was extremely combative," Lieutenant Colonel Todd Breasseale, a Pentagon spokesman, said in an emailed statement. "In addition to attempting to strike military personnel and resist capture, he also attempted to grab grenades and weapons from military personnel conducting the capture operation." The same assertions were made in court by prosecutors. U.S. Magistrate Judge Oswald Parada also cited a past criminal record involving an arrest for an unspecified violent act and a history of substance abuse in deciding to order Kabir to remain locked up without bail. Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan DeWitt said Kabir had in addition tried once in the past to escape from police custody. She did not elaborate. CAST AS PLOT'S RINGLEADER Kabir, shackled and wearing red prison garb and a long beard, sat silently during the detention hearing, except to consult quietly from time to time with public defender Jeffrey Aaron. A small cut was visible under Kabir's right eye. Kabir has been in federal detention since he was returned to the Los Angeles area from Afghanistan on December 3, U.S. authorities say. He was taken into custody last month in Afghanistan under a U.S. criminal warrant charging him with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, a federal offense that carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. Kabir is accused of recruiting two co-conspirators, Ralph Deleon, 23, and Miguel Alejandro Santana Vidriales, 21, to join him for training with al Qaeda and Taliban militants in Afghanistan, according to a criminal complaint. Deleon and Santana, who the FBI says converted to Islam under Kabir's influence, are alleged to have then enlisted a third man, Arifeen David Gojali, 21. The three co-defendants, all residents of communities east of Los Angeles, were arrested together in Chino, California, on November 16, two days before the FBI says they had planned to fly from Mexico to Turkey en route to join Kabir. They each pleaded not guilty last week to a charge of conspiring to support terrorists.

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Australian radio station says no wrongdoing in royal prank call

PERTH, Australia (Reuters) - The Australian radio station behind a prank phone call to a London hospital that was treating Prince William's pregnant wife Kate said on Saturday it had done nothing wrong and no one could have foreseen the tragic outcome. There has been renewed soul-searching over media ethics after Jacintha Saldanha, 46, the nurse who was duped by the station's call to the King Edward VII hospital, was found dead on Friday in a suspected suicide. The hoax, in which the radio hosts - posing as Britain's Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles despite Australian accents - successfully inquired after Kate's medical condition, has made worldwide headlines. On Saturday, Australians from Prime Minister Julia Gillard to people in the street expressed their sorrow and cringed at how the hoax had crossed the line of acceptability. Two large companies suspended their advertising from the popular Sydney-based station and a media watchdog said it would speak with 2DayFM's owners. Users of social media sites such as Twitter expressed outrage. The hoax also raised concerns about the ethical standards of Australian media, as Britain's own media scramble to agree a new system of self regulation and avoid state intervention following a damning inquiry into reporting practices. Southern Cross Austereo Chief Executive Rhys Holleran told a news conference in Melbourne on Saturday that the company would work with authorities in any investigation, but that it was too early to draw conclusions. He said he was "very confident" that the radio station had done nothing illegal. "This is a tragic event that could not have been reasonably foreseen and we are deeply saddened by it. Our primary concern at this stage is for the family of Nurse Saldanha." Holleran added that 2DayFM radio hosts Mel Greig and Michael Christian were "completely shattered" by Saldanha's death. The pair will stay off the air indefinitely, he said. Two high profile Australian firms, the Coles supermarket group and phone company Telstra, said on Saturday that they were suspending advertising with the station. Others were expected to follow suit. Austereo said all advertising on 2DayFM had been shelved until at least Monday in a mark of respect to advertisers whose Facebook pages were inundated with thousands of hate messages. The Twitter accounts of Greig and Christian were removed shortly after news of the tragedy in London broke. SOCIAL MEDIA OUTRAGE Social media were inundated with angry messages to the radio station and its hosts in what has become the latest shock radio story to rile the Australian public. In 2010, 2DayFM was reprimanded by Australia's independent communications regulator after a radio host in 2009 talked a 14-year-old girl into revealing on air that she had been raped, prompting community outrage and an advertiser backlash. So-called "shock jock" radio announcers are frequently denounced in Australia for their deeply personal and often derogatory attacks on politicians and ordinary citizens. Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said that the independent broadcast regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), had received complaints about the royal hoax. The British royal family has long had an uneasy relationship with the media, which sank to its lowest after the 1997 death of Prince William's mother Diana in a Paris car crash. Palace officials acted swiftly this summer when a French magazine printed topless photos of Kate on holiday, taking legal action to curb republication for fear of a repeat of the relentless media pursuit of Diana. Saldanha's death threatens to cast a pall over the enthusiastic public welcome given to Kate's pregnancy, which dominated newspaper front pages this week from her admission to hospital on Monday to her departure on Thursday. The royal family emerged from years of criticism that it was a dated and out of touch institution and is enjoying a surge in popularity in Britain following Kate and William's wedding last year. The impending royal baby will only boost public affection. Elaborate celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the queen coming to the throne and her appearance at the opening of the London Olympics this summer - where a stunt double parachuted into the stadium - have all contributed to a more positive royal relationship with Britons.

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Police suspect LA man was lured into NYC ambush

NEW YORK (AP) — Someone wanted Brandon Lincoln Woodard dead — bad enough to apparently lure him to a midtown Manhattan block for what looked like a professional hit. But who shot Woodard in the back of the head and why remained a mystery on Tuesday as police studied security videotape of the unidentified gunman and delved into Woodard's checkered past for clues. The brazen slaying of the 31-year-old visitor from Los Angeles "certainly appears to have been planned," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told reporters. Based on the videotape, New York Police Department detectives suspect Woodard was lured into the Monday afternoon ambush shortly after he checked out of a hotel on nearby Columbus Circle, Kelly said. The killer had arrived at least 30 minutes before the gunfire erupted in a normally safe neighborhood teeming with car and pedestrian traffic. The man, who appears to be bald and have a beard, could be seen exiting the passenger side of a parked Lincoln sedan and pacing as he waited, police said. After Woodard got there, he checked his phone and walked back and forth as if looking for an address, police said. When the shooter approached, Woodard appeared to look back at him for a split second. He looked away again after "showing no sign of recognition," Kelly said. A security photo — released to seek the public's help in identifying the gunman — shows him reaching into his pocket for a pistol moments before he fired a single deadly round. Afterward, the shooter left Woodard in a pool of blood on the sidewalk, slipped into the same Lincoln sedan and was driven away. A vehicle fitting the description of the sedan was last seen going through the Midtown Tunnel. Ballistics evidence pointed to a possible lead: The 9mm semiautomatic used to kill Woodard was the same weapon used to last month to shoot up the outside of a home in Queens where nobody was hurt. Police also recovered two phones carried by the victim. Investigators were still trying to determine what Woodard — who checked into his hotel on Sunday after flying in from California on a one-way ticket — was doing in the city. Kelly said he has been described as a promoter but had no further details. Kelly declined to comment on news reports that Woodard's mother ran a mortgage business in California that was mired in litigation and other troubles. Sandra and Rodney Wellington, the mother and step-father of Woodard, released a statement Tuesday urging anyone with information on the killing to contact New York City police detectives. "There are no words to express our shock and sadness in the face of our family's horrendous tragedy. We eagerly await justice for Brandon," the statement said. They described him as a "gentle and generous young man," a devoted father and loving son who loved sports. Woodard graduated from Campbell Hall High School and earned a Bachelor's degree from Loyola Marymount University, the statement said. Authorities in Los Angeles and Las Vegas confirmed that Woodard had a history of run-ins with the law in both places. Woodard had been due back in court on Jan. 22 following his arrest by LA County sheriff's deputies in West Hollywood in April on a felony cocaine possession charge. He had previously pleaded not guilty. Court records show that in December 2009, Woodard pleaded no contest in the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance to a misdemeanor charge of hit-and-run driving. He was sentenced to three years of probation and a day in jail. However, his probation was terminated in January 2011. In 2008, he pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor charges of grand theft of property. Prosecutors said he stole items on Feb. 26, 2008, from two upscale markets — a Whole Foods Market and a Gelson's — in Beverly Hills. He was sentenced to nine days of jail and 200 hours of community service. Woodard also was issued a misdemeanor battery summons in September 2004 after a backstage scuffle with a security officer at a concert at the Mandalay Bay resort on the Las Vegas Strip. The records show Woodard failed to appear in Las Vegas Justice Court in October 2004 and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was arrested in April 2008 in Las Vegas, based on the warrant. After pleading guilty, he was given credit for time served and released.

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