Source: Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON — A series of cyber attacks has been targeting US natural gas pipeline operators, officials acknowledged Tuesday, raising concerns among security experts about vulnerabilities in key infrastructure.

The Department of Homeland Security “has been working since March 2012 with critical infrastructure owners and operators in the oil and natural gas sector to address a series of cyber intrusions targeting natural gas pipeline companies,” DHS spokesman Peter Boogaard said in an email to AFP.

He said the attack “involves sophisticated spear-phishing activities targeting personnel within the private companies” and added that the FBI and other federal agencies are assisting in the probe.

Spear-phishing is a technique used to target a specific company or organization by sending fake emails designed to get employees to divulge passwords or other security information.

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/05/08/u-s-probing-cyber-attacks-on-gas-pipelines/

By HILARY LEILA KRIEGER, JPOST CORRESPOND
05/08/2012 21:05

WASHINGTON – US Vice President Joe Biden declared Tuesday that the window had not yet closed on an Israeli military strike against Iran, but that the window for sanctions and diplomatic efforts to halt Tehran’s nuclear program would soon shut.

Biden also stressed Israel’s right to take the action it sees necessary and that Israel’s security is a “fundamental national interest” of the United States, criticizing some in the American Jewish community for questioning the Obama administration’s commitment to the Jewish state.

“The window has not closed in terms of the ability of the Israelis if they choose on their own to act militarily,” he said. “But diplomacy backed by serious, serious sanctions and pressure – on that score the window is closing in the near term.”

Speaking to the Rabbinical Assembly of the Conservative Movement during the group’s 2012 convention in Atlanta, Biden related a conversation he had had with Defense Minister Ehud Barak in which the vice president told him, “Were I an Israeli, were I a Jew, I would not contract out my security to anyone, even a loyal, loyal, loyal friend like the United States.”

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http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=269189

(05-07) 15:11 PDT DAKOTA DUNES, S.D. (AP) --

A South Dakota beef company says it plans to close processing plants in three states because of the controversy surrounding a product that critics have dubbed "pink slime."

Beef Products Inc. spokesman Rich Jochum said Monday that 650 jobs will be lost when it closes its plants in Amarillo, Texas; Garden City, Kansas; and Waterloo Iowa. The closures will be effective May 25.

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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/05/07/national/a150832D64.DTL

Article by: ANDREW TAYLOR , Associated Press
Updated: May 7, 2012 - 5:20 PM

WASHINGTON - The White House on Monday vowed to veto a House spending bill for the Justice Department, NASA and several other agencies, charging its GOP authors with violating last summer's budget pact and cutting programs like legal aid to the poor too deeply.

The legislation in question is the first appropriations bill to come to the House floor this year. Republicans are cutting domestic agency operating budgets below levels agreed to with President Barack Obama last year as part of budget legislation setting an overall "cap" on the day-to-day budgets for Cabinet agencies.

A GOP budget plan adopted in March cuts $19 billion below the $1.047 trillion agency budget cap agreed to last year and transfers an additional $8 billion to the Pentagon. The resulting $27 billion cut to domestic agencies has Democrats howling that GOP leaders are breaking a deal they agreed to less than a year ago.

At issue is a $51 billion measure funding the departments of Commerce and Justice, as well as NASA and other science programs. The GOP measure doesn't cut such programs very severely — just $731 million below Obama's requests — but the White House has taken a blanket stand that Obama won't sign any spending bills until Republican leaders agree to abide by the deal struck last summer.

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http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/150505065.html

New Delhi: On the day of her visit to India, Pakistan was asking US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to shut up. According to a report in The Tribune, the micro blogging site Twitter showed ‘Shut up Clinton’ trending under Pakistan section.

The trends were a response to Clinton’s suspicions that al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri was residing somewhere in Pakistan, the report said. Most of the tweets merely said ‘shut up Clinton’ while few of them elaborated and defended Pakistan.

Some of the tweets as reported by The Tribune:
Salman Javed: Provide proofs of #WMDs in #Iraq, 9-11 and May-2nd, have courage to speak truth and if you dont hve then #ShutupClinton

Malika Khan: Pakistanis forget #ShutUpClinton. OUR priorities lie in getting this corrupt government out! Then we can think of US

The Sufi Soul: #ShutupClinton | …your war-machine NATO is being suffocated by us, and watching you panic is rather fascinating…

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http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/WOR-TOP-pak-asks-clinton-to-%E2%80%98shut-up-3230270.html

What? They don't love us anymore...

Graham, NC-- There are dog treats that thousands of you feed your dogs, but some dog owners say could be deadly to your pets.

News 2's Liz Crawford investigated this and found pet owners are coming together by the thousands with their horror stories. However, the FDA still hasn't recalled the products.

Kathleen Bedwell of Graham, NC called it a "scary close call" after both her dogs fell violently ill while she was on vacation. Her dog Juju was given a lot of Waggin' Train chicken jerky.

"Most of her food intake was from those treats that week," said Bedwell.

MORE...

http://www.digtriad.com/news/article/227492/57/Deadly-Dog-Treats-Still-On-The-Market?odyssey=tab|topnews|bc|large

Graham, NC-- There are dog treats that thousands of you feed your dogs, but some dog owners say could be deadly to your pets.

News 2's Liz Crawford investigated this and found pet owners are coming together by the thousands with their horror stories. However, the FDA still hasn't recalled the products.

Kathleen Bedwell of Graham, NC called it a "scary close call" after both her dogs fell violently ill while she was on vacation. Her dog Juju was given a lot of Waggin' Train chicken jerky.

"Most of her food intake was from those treats that week," said Bedwell.

MORE...

http://www.digtriad.com/news/article/227492/57/Deadly-Dog-Treats-Still-On-The-Market?odyssey=tab|topnews|bc|large

WASHINGTON — Guest lineups for the Sunday TV news shows:

ABC's "This Week" – Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.; David Axelrod, adviser to President Barack Obama's re-election campaign.
___

NBC's "Meet the Press" – Vice President Joe Biden; Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H.
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CBS' "Face the Nation" – Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich; Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn.; Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; former Gov. Howard Dean, D-Vt.
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CNN's "State of the Union" – Gingrich; Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich.; former Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va.; former Gov. Ted Strickland, D-Ohio.
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"Fox News Sunday" – Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Medicare's payment system, the unseen but vital network that handles 100 million monthly claims, could freeze up if President Barack Obama's health care law is summarily overturned, the administration has quietly informed the courts.

Although Obama's overhaul made significant cuts to providers and improved prescription and preventive benefits, Medicare was overlooked in Supreme Court arguments that focused on the law's controversial requirement that individuals carry health insurance.

Yet havoc for Medicare could have repercussions as both parties avidly court seniors in this election year and as hospitals and doctors increasingly complain the program doesn't pay enough.

In papers filed with the Supreme Court, administration lawyers have warned of "extraordinary disruption" if Medicare is forced to unwind countless transactions that are based on payment changes required by more than 20 separate sections of the Affordable Care Act.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/medicare-disruptions-seen-health-law-struck-063952856--finance.html

A German court has ordered an artist not to go through with plans to kill a pair of puppies as part of a performance, according to The Guardian. The unidentified German artist planned to strangle two puppies on stage and perform a funeral rite for them as a way of protesting the killing of sled dogs in Alaska and hunting dogs in Spain when they are deemed too old or otherwise unfit to work.

The artist argued that the German constitution “unconditionally guarantees artistic freedom,” but was overruled by the Berlin administrative court. Judicial officials maintain that it is illegal to harm animals during the course of a live performance.

The piece, entitled “Death and Metamorphosis,” was to be performed in a small theater in Berlin’s Spandau district. The artist planned to strangle two puppies using cable-ties, then conduct a funeral rite involving a giant gong, according to German magazine “The Local.”

The ruling coincided with the announcement by a pair of students at Berlin’s University of the Arts earlier in the week that they were planning an art project that would involve the filmed decapitation of a sheep. The two artists claim that the work is a statement on humanity and democracy and are conducting an internet poll asking whether respondents want to see the sheep killed or spared.

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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/05/03/german-court-orders-artist-not-to-kill-puppies-onstage/