13 people killed in shooting spree in Serbia

VELIKA IVANCA, Serbia (AP) ? A 60-year-old veteran gunned down 13 people in a pre-dawn, house-to-house rampage Tuesday in Serbia, killing his mother, his son and a two-year-old cousin before shooting himself and his wife, police and hospital officials said.

The man, identified as Ljubisa Bogdanovic, used a handgun in the shooting spree at five houses in Velika Ivanca, a village 50 kilometers (30 miles) southeast of Belgrade, emergency hospital spokeswoman Nada Macura said.

Twelve people were killed immediately between 5 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. and one person died in a Belgrade hospital, Serbian police chief Milorad Veljovic said. The man and his wife were both severely injured by the shootings and another person was also injured, Macura said.

"Most of the victims were shot while they were asleep," Veljovic told reporters. "The most harrowing scene discovered by police was the dead bodies of a young mother and her two-year-old son."

He said the motive for the killings was unclear.

Although such shootings are relatively rare in Serbia, weapons are readily available, mostly from the 1990s wars in the Balkans. Media reports said the suspect had a license for the handgun.

Residents said the man first killed his son and his mother before leaving his house and then began shooting his neighbors. They expressed shock, describing the suspect as a nice quiet man living in one of a dozen modest homes that make up this village set on a lush green hill covered with fruit trees.

"He knocked on the doors and as they were opened he just fired a shot," said resident Radovan Radosavljevic. "He was a good neighbor and anyone would open their doors to him. I don't know what happened."

Neighbors said an entire five-member family was shot dead in one house, including the small boy who was the suspected killer's cousin.

Milovan Kostadinovic said the suspect was confronted by police while en route to Kostadinovic's house.

"If they didn't stop him, he would have wiped us all out," Kostadinovic said, standing in front of his two-story, red tile- roofed house. "He shot himself when police stopped him."

The suspect had lost his job last year and fought as a Serb soldier in the war in Croatia in 1992, the police chief said. Villagers said Bogdanovic fought in Vukovar, the eastern Croatian town that was destroyed in a massive Serbian-led army offensive ? the scene of the worst bloodshed during Croatia's 1991-95 war for independence.

Serbian police officers guard houses in the village of Velika Ivanca, Serbia, Tuesday, April 9, 2013. A 60-year-old man gunned down 13 people, including a baby, in a house-to-house rampage in the ... more? Serbian police officers guard houses in the village of Velika Ivanca, Serbia, Tuesday, April 9, 2013. A 60-year-old man gunned down 13 people, including a baby, in a house-to-house rampage in the quiet village on Tuesday before trying to kill himself and his wife, police and hospital officials said. Belgrade emergency hospital spokeswoman Nada Macura said the man, identified only as Ljubisa B., used a handgun in the shooting spree at five houses. The dead included six women. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic) less? ?

Macura, the hospital spokeswoman, said the shooter had no known history of mental illness. Stanica Kostadinovic, another neighbor, said the man's father had hanged himself when he was a young boy and his uncle had a history of mental illness.

Doctors said later Tuesday that the suspect's condition was critical but his wife was able to communicate with hospital staff.

Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said the killings showed that the government must pay more attention to gun control laws and other social problems facing the Balkan nation, which is still reeling from the 1990s wars.

The Serbian government held an emergency session Tuesday and was expected to proclaim a day of national mourning.

Police blocked off the village while forensic teams and investigators in white protective robes took evidence from homes where the shootings took place.

Serbia's last big shooting spree occurred in 2007, when a 39-year-old man gunned down nine people and injured two others in the eastern village of Jabukovac.

__

Sabina Niksic contributed from Bosnia.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/13-people-killed-shooting-spree-serbia-065629795.html

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Fukushima radioactive water 'leak'

9 April 2013 Last updated at 07:15 ET

A fresh suspected leak of radioactive water has been detected at Japan's tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear plant, its operator says.

The contaminated water may have leaked into the ground from one of the plant's storage tanks, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) said.

The nuclear plant has suffered two power failures in the past month.

Separately, the International Atomic Energy Agency said it would visit the plant to conduct a review.

If confirmed, the leak at the underground storage pool would be the third leak discovered at the plant since Saturday.

The underground tanks store radioactive water that have been used in the plant's cooling systems.

'Tremendous worry'

The suspected leak was detected at the plant's number one pool, the destination for contaminated water from the number two pool, which was also leaking. The transfer has now been stopped.

"We understand that we have caused tremendous worry to the people of Fukushima and the wider public and we apologise for that," Tepco spokesman Masayuki Ono told reporters.

Tepco said that while water may have leaked into the ground, it did not believe the water had reached the sea.

It was "currently investigating the cause and countermeasures", said the company in a statement.

Meanwhile, the IAEA said it would send a team of experts to the site of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant from 15 to 22 April to review the government's decommissioning plans for the plant.

The visit had been requested by the Japanese government, the IAEA added.

In the past month, Fukushima nuclear plant has experienced two power outages that shut down some of its cooling systems for spent fuel ponds.

On 11 March 2011, an earthquake and tsunami crippled the plant. Waves knocked out cooling systems for the reactors, leading to meltdowns at three of them.

Engineers have since stabilised the plant but years of work lie ahead to fully contain the disaster and tackle its effects.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22079370#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Zynga's Gaming Partner Bwin Spins Off Payments Platform Kalixa To Better Target The $1.3T E-Commerce Market

Bwin, the online gaming giant that is powering Zynga's first foray into real-money gambling, in the UK, today is spinning off its payments platform Kalixa. In turn, Kalixa is launching new mobile and online wallet products to further its concept of being a one-stop shop for those seeking an e-commerce solution. The move is a sign of how companies are digging in further to tap revenues in the fast-growing world of e-commerce, which passed sales of $1 trillion for the first time last year and is projected to hit $1.3 trillion in 2013.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/dyv2bGVaYJw/

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Stocks gain; Dow hits fresh high

JeeYeon Park , CNBC ? ? ? 1 hr.

Stocks eased off their session highs but finished in positive territory for the second day Tuesday. The Dow touched a fresh intraday high and the S&P 500 traded within 2 points of its all-time peak.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average held modest gains after rallying to hit a fresh all-time high at 14,716.46, buoyed by Microsoft and Intel.

Interestingly, the blue-chip index has yet to log a three-day losing streak this year. The last time the Dow went this far into a year without a losing streak of that length was 1976. The Dow ended that year with a 18 percent rally.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq also held their gains. If the S&P 500 ends higher, it could mark the end of the "alternation streaks" for the index. The S&P 500 has alternated between gains and losses for the past 14 sessions for the first time ever.

The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, slid below 13.

Among key S&P sectors, materials rallied, while utilities slid.

Alcoa struggled for direction after the aluminum producer reported an increase in quarterly profit as performance in its alumina and primary metals segments improved despite a tough market, but revenue fell slightly short of estimates. Still Alcoa CEO Klaus Kleinfeld told CNBC that he remains "relatively optimistic" that 2013 will be better than 2012 and continues to project 7 percent global demand growth in aluminum.

Alcoa unofficially kicks off this quarter's earnings season, which is expected to be fairly weak.

(Read More: Earnings Season Could Bring 'April Anxiety')

For the first quarter, earnings growth is expected to gain by just 1.6 percent, compared to 6.2 percent last quarter, according to Thomson Reuters. The negative warnings are higher than usual?with 108 negative revisions for S&P 500 companies. Compared to the 23 positive revisions, it is the worst pace in 12 years, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Banking giants JPMorgan and Wells Fargo are slated to post earnings on Friday.

(Read More: Earnings Season Arrives as Data Flash Warning Signs)

First Solar skyrocketed nearly 50 percent after the solar company announced it expects 2013 earnings of between $4 a share and $4.50 a share and revenue of between $3.8 billion and $4 billion, exceeding current Thomson Reuters expectations for $3.51 a share on sales of $3.12 billion. Rivals including Suntech Power and LDK Solar also soared.

Herbalife dipped after being halted for nearly two hours following news that KPMG resigned as auditor for the nutrition, weight management and skin-care products company, according to the New York Times.

Skechers rose after the footwear retailer also announced the resignation of KPMG as its lead auditor. In a statement, Skechers said that the resignation was "due to misconduct by KPMG's lead audit engagement partner on the Skechers account." Shares were briefly halted earlier.

(Read More: Once Shunned, Funds Now Ally With Activist Investors)

JCPenney slumped to lead the S&P 500 laggards after the company said former CEO Myron Ullman will return as the retailer's chief after Ron Johnson was ousted by the board. Ullman will an annual base salary of $1 million. Adding to woes, the company's sales are down more than 10 percent so far in the first quarter versus a year ago, according to Dow Jones.

(Read More: Cramer: Ullman 'Right Choice' for JCP, but 'I Worry')

Disney slipped slightly as the conglomerate readies to lay off 150 people this week, according to sources close to the situation. The job cuts will be predominately in home entertainment, as the company adjusts to industry-wide declines in DVD sales.

Traders will be looking out for clues about the future of quantitative easingthis week, with the Federal Reserve set to release minutes from its last meeting on Wednesday. There are also several appearances by Fed officials this week, including anti-inflation hawk Jeffrey Lacker and Atlanta Federal Reserve President Dennis Lockhart on Tuesday.

(Read More: Pimco's Bill Gross: Beware of 'Monetary Red Bull')

U.S. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke overnight on Monday at an Atlanta Fed conference. In a speech that did not directly touch on monetary policy, Bernanke hinted at why the central bank continues to pursue ultra-easy monetary policy.

"The economy is significantly stronger than it was four years ago, although conditions are clearly still far from where we would all like them to be," he said.

Meanwhile, St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard told CNBC that he'd be willing to reduce the central bank's massive bond-buying program in "small increments."

The government auctioned $32 billion in 3-year notes at a high yield of 0.342 percent. The bid-to-cover ratio, an indicator of demand, was 3.24.

On the economic front, wholesale inventories logged its biggest decline since September 2011 in February, according to the Commerce Department. Meanwhile, the National Federation of Independent Business reported that business confidence fell again in March.

In Europe, industrial production in the U.K. rose by more than expected in February, diminishing the risk the economy slipped back into recession in the first quarter of 2013.

(Read More: In Effort to 'Rebalance,' Europe Sticks to Austerity)

Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew pushed for a growth rather than an austerity agenda during the first day of his two-day visit to Europe. Speaking in Brussels, Lew said that the U.S. had an "immense stake in Europe's health and stability" and called on Europe to boost demand.

China's annual consumer inflation eased to 2.1 percent in March from February's 3.2 percent while producer price deflation deepened, data showed on Tuesday, leaving policymakers room to keep monetary conditions easy and nurture a nascent recovery.

?By CNBC's JeeYeon Park (Follow JeeYeon on Twitter: @JeeYeonParkCNBC)

? 2013 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved

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Rwanda?s Genocide Not Forgotten (Voice Of America)

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Engadget Giveaway: win one of two Amped Wireless router bundles!

Chances are avid readers of our site will recognize the Amped Wireless name, because the company pushes out products like routers and range extenders as if they're candy. We're always big fans of new stuff, and Amped is ready to throw some your way. We have two bundles of prizes to hand out, each one containing a R20000G dual-band WiFi router ($140 value), SR20000G Range Extender ($150 value) and Amped's brand new REC10 Compact Range Extender ($80 value) announced just a week ago. The whole set will likely hook you up with WiFi coverage not only throughout your home but your backyard as well -- heck, you may even be able to enjoy a signal at your neighbor's place. It's definitely worth heading below to submit your entry, and we wish you the best of luck!

Note: Please enter using the widget below, as comments are no longer valid methods of entry. The widget only requires your name and email address so we know how to get in touch with you if you win (your information is not given out to third parties), but you will have an option to receive an additional entry by following us on Twitter if you so desire.

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Do Green Improvements Improve The Resale Value Of Your Home ...

Do Green Improvements Improve The Resale Value Of Your Home?

Most of us see our homes not just as a place to live and grow, but as a value, an investment. Many homeowners attend to that idea of investment by making various kinds of improvements or modifications to the home with the hopes that it will yield a higher resale value for the home; and lately, with so much emphasis in the culture placed on green living, many homeowners are starting to make green improvements to their homes with the hopes that, like many other improvements, these green amendments will improve the resale value of the home. But, are they right? Will green improvements really improve the resale value of your home? Let?s take a look.

For many years, the industry-standard model for home improvements that most-positively affect your home?s resale value were the bathrooms and the kitchen. The idea that spending money on improving the kitchen and bathrooms will yield higher resale values is still widely utilized by homeowners as well as builders for the simple fact that it is mostly true. Most successful home improvements (and by successful we mean improvements that lead to ROI) are built around the concept of utility and functionality rather than decoration or aesthetics; a kitchen with good cabinets, cooking space and appliances are much more likely to succeed than installing a 2-story fountain or tiling the entirety of the bathroom in salmon-colored tiles flown in from Greece or Italy. This is because while everyone?s aesthetics are different, we all have the same utilitarian needs, and it?s those features that cater to those needs that push the value of a house.

This idea of utility improvements can work very well for certain green improvements as green improvements are almost always about utility instead of aesthetics. Installing low-flow toilets, for example, is a great home improvement as it?s an improvement in one of your target rooms and one that can save big bucks on the energy bill over time. Moreover, many green improvements can positively affect your home?s resale value if they have the potential to lower costs (after the purchase, of course) down the road. That said, some of the best green improvements you can make include installing energy-efficient windows and doors or making sure the home is properly insulated. As we?re still in the midst of an economic depression, many home buyers are likely going to be much more amenable and interested in just about any aspect of the home that could save money?without requiring too much of a lifestyle change (for instance, outdoor, rainwater showers?while economical?are very unlikely to generate much interest on the market).

Unfortunately, as green home improvements and LEED certification are a newer phenomenon, and at a time when real estate is low to begin with, much of the data is lacking on just how successful green improvements can be to resale values. According to the Washington Post, a study conducted by the Earth Advantage Institute in Portland, Oregon found that new homes with energy certifications sold for 8 percent higher than those homes without the certification and older homes who?ve met the certification requirements sold for 30-percent higher (articles.washingtonpost.com). Even though the data is from a small section of the country, those numbers should be inspiring to those looking to do some green improvements on their home, the data taken as a synecdoche of where the rest of the country might be going.

Installing photovoltaic solar panels can be an expensive improvement, but with the amount of government subsidies, many of the PV installations added value to the house at approximately 97 percent of the improvement?s costs. While certainly not a small endeavor, that recoupment should be very enticing to homeowners. Similarly, replacing water heaters with tank-less heaters can save on water and energy but can also require new gas lines, which, depending on the size of the house, can be just as expensive as a traditional water heater.

When planning your green improvements, consider projects that will lower utility expenses without breaking the bank. You might also want to make your decisions based around the market area of your home. Don?t risk bringing up the value of your house too much if the surrounding properties?aren?t?of a similar persuasion. Green improvements to doors, windows and plumbing are relatively cheaper and will usually have positive results in resale terms; you?ll have to decide for yourself, or by consulting with a realtor, to determine if your house warrants some of the more expensive improvements.

Source: http://www.greenwerkspro.com/do-green-improvements-improve-the-resale-value-of-your-home/

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