Nokia Lumia 929 Caught on Video, Verizon by Thanksgiving

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Disappointed that the rumored Lumia 929 didn't surface at Nokia's big event this past week? Don't worry -- WPCentral forum member Falorin has posted photos and a video (after the break) revealing more details of Verizon's Windows Phone flagship. As previous leaks implied, the 929 is effectively a compact Lumia 1520; the 1080p screen resolution, 20-megapixel camera and Snapdragon 800 chip remain intact. There's no microSD slot, although there will reportedly be models with 32GB and 64GB of built-in storage. The biggest surprise is Nokia's use of a nano-SIM, which suggests that the company no longer minds using a competitor's SIM format. Those who like what they see might not have to wait long to try the new Lumia for themselves. If Falorin is accurate, Verizon hopes to release the 929 around Thanksgiving.


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Home & Flood Insurance Falls Short, Superstorm Sandy Victims

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NEW YORK (AP)
Many homeowners who got slammed by Superstorm Sandy are finding their flood insurance checks are nowhere near large enough to cover their repairs, and consumer advocates put some of the blame on errors by the multitude of adjusters who were hired in a hurry after the disaster. They say policyholders are being shortchanged sometimes by tens of thousands of dollars because of adjusters' inexperience and their overreliance on computer programs, rather than construction know-how, to estimate rebuilding costs.  Those critics point to policyholders like John Lambert and Lee Ann Newland, whose house in Neptune, N.J., is still a moldy wreck a year after Sandy filled it with 4 1/2 feet of water. If you buy drywall, flooring or a new boiler in New Jersey, you have to pay sales tax. But when the insurance adjuster was using computer software to calculate the cost of repairing the home, he neglected to click a box adding taxes to the estimate, according to a consultant hired by the couple.

That cost the family $11,000, and they say it wasn't the only thing left out of their claim: The adjuster failed to account for phone jacks that needed to be replaced, ceiling paint in one room, pipes that rusted because of contact with salt water, baseboard heating in places and other items.  "It was stupid things. Little things. But it added up to be a huge amount of money," Newland said. She is trying to get the insurance company handling her claim to add $49,000 to her settlement. "In our case, that is the difference between us rebuilding, or not."

Another homeowner, Joanne Harrington of Tuckerton Beach, N.J., said her adjuster had her down inaccurately as having electric heat instead of forced hot water. He said she had ceramic tile, when she had more expensive porcelain. A similar pattern has been repeated up and down the East Coast as insurance companies working with the federal government have processed nearly 144,000 claims filed with the National Flood Insurance Program after the storm.

Insurance companies dispute that large numbers of customers are being paid less than what they are owed. They say the vast majority of adjusters do a methodical, professional job, and any oversights are easily corrected if homeowners can produce proof that a covered expense has been overlooked.  "In a big event, you are going to get some people entering the industry ... and a percentage of those people are going to do great, because they are good people and they are smart, and they want to do a good job," said Jeff Moore, vice president of claims for Wright Flood, which handled more Sandy-related flood cases than any other company. "And there will be another percentage that don't do so well ... and those are the ones you get to write about in the paper."

Computer technology, he added, has made it easier than ever for newcomers to write up a claim properly, even if they know nothing about construction or insurance. "The software that they use, it's very easy. I could take you in a day and teach you to write an estimate," Moore said.  Some consumer advocates and homeowners don't see it that way at all.  Immediately after the storm, insurance companies brought in an army of adjusters from all corners of the country. They arrived with varying degrees of expertise. All would have had to have passed a certification test in at least one state. Many were veterans of past floods and hurricanes, but not all.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which oversees the flood insurance program, requires adjusters to have four years' experience. But newcomers with no track record can start work after a brief training period under certain circumstances, if they are working for one of the major insurance carriers that handle the bulk of flood claims.  Amy Bach, executive director of United Policyholders, an advocacy group for insurance consumers, said that for adjusters with no background in construction, there is a tendency to rely too much on software like Simsol, Xactimate and Symbility to tell them how much a repair job is going to cost.  "Some of these guys could have been selling oranges last week at a fruit stand, and this week they are an insurance adjuster," Bach said. "Instead of using (the software) as a tool to check the estimates produced by the contractors, they use them as a last word. But computers don't rebuild and repair homes. Contractors do." Claims software is widely used in the industry after major disasters and represents a break with the old practice of getting estimates directly from contractors. It is designed to take out the guesswork while offering a check against contractors who exaggerate the cost of a job.  The programs supply detailed prices, by ZIP code, for carpets, cabinets, light fixtures and almost every other part of a house, as well as the labor costs for tasks as simple as putting masking tape around electrical outlets before painting a room.  Using those programs properly involves entering an inventory of every piece of damage in the house, and every possible task that might be required to put the building back into its proper state. There are thousands of variables. Miss a few, and that means less money for storm victims.

Simsol's president, John Postava, said that like any computer program, it is only as good as the data people feed into the system: "Garbage in, garbage out." Simsol also operates an adjusting firm and had 158 adjusters working in the Northeast on Sandy claims. Postava said he is confident the great majority did a good job.  Two of the largest adjustment firms involved in the Sandy effort, Colonial Claims Corp. and Pilot Catastrophe Services, declined to make executives available for an interview.

Earlier this month, FEMA gave homeowners an extension until next spring to submit proof of their storm losses after lawmakers complained that thousands of constituents were still arguing with their insurance companies. To date, insurers have approved $7.8 billion in flood program payments to policyholders. Close to 92 percent of all claimants got at least some money. The average check was for $54,754. FEMA said it does not keep track of how many claims are still being disputed. But Moore estimated as many as 30 percent of Wright Flood's customers are probably still seeking a bigger settlement a year after Sandy an unusually high percentage, even for a major disaster.  He blamed a number of factors, including delays in having contractors start work because of uncertainty in many communities about what sorts of flood-proofing to require in rebuilt homes.  He said many homeowners are, indeed, getting stuck with repair bills significantly larger than their insurance settlements, but he blamed strict limits on what the flood program covers, not bad adjustments.



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Apple’s iPhone 5s

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Apple’s iPhone 5s is outselling the cheaper iPhone 5c by more than two to one, market watchers estimate, amid reports that the Cupertino firm has slashed production of the plastic-bodied model. Demand for the iPhone 5c, which replaced the iPhone 4S at the $99-on-contract price point, has fallen significantly short of Apple’s expectations, it’s claimed, and while the two new handsets set sales records in the opening weekend of availability, the bulk of that interest is believed to be around the iPhone 5s.

At the launch of the iPhone 5c, which replaced what many assumed would be the iPhone 5 offered at a more affordable price, Apple insisted that it believed there was a distinct market for a more playful, colorful device. Now, however, the company is said to be warning suppliers Pegatron and Hon Hai’s Foxconn that it won’t need anywhere near as many handsets in Q4 as previously expected.

The cuts impact Pegatron the most, since the company produces the bulk of the iPhone 5c handsets Apple buys; that agreement was initially seen as a positive one for the firm, stealing Apple orders out from under arch-rival Foxconn. Pegatron’s production will be cut by less than 20-percent sources say, while Foxconn which is believed to produce around a third of the handsets will be tasked with making a third less than previously ordered.

Orders of parts are said to have been halved from individual suppliers, which could either indicate a stockpile of components that needs to be worked through, or that Apple expects the overall production rate of the iPhone 5c to remain reduced for some time into 2014.

Apple confirmed initial sales figures for the newest iPhone line-up, but declined to detail numbers for individual models. That hasn’t stopped analysts from making their own predictions: they generally range from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners guesstimate of 2-to-1, AllThingsD reports, through to 2.5-to-1 according to Canaccord Genuity, Reuters reports.

The wavering interest raises questions as to whether Apple segued too closely into the realm of cheap iPhones despite comments by Phil Schiller earlier this year that the company would stick to its premium approach. A budget device will never be the future of Apple’s products Schiller insisted back in January, pointing out that while the company may have 20-percent of the phone market, it also gets 75-percent of the profit, and would be unlikely to do anything to undermine that ratio.

Still, it’s also possible that Apple’s mistake was expecting a brand new albeit effectively a redressed iPhone 5 handset would do considerably better than the iPhone 4S did in 2012, when it was shifted from flagship position down to the mid-tier point. Numbers from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners indicate 64-percent of buyers opted for the iPhone 5s while 27-percent went for the iPhone 5c (9-percent opting for the iPhone 4S, now offered free on contract) this year.

In 2012, however, the analysts say 68-percent of the early sales were for the iPhone 5, with 23-percent opting for the $99-on-contract iPhone 4S, and 9-percent for the free-on-contract iPhone 4. The iPhone 5c seems to have done a little better than the iPhone 4S did last year, but not significantly so, suggesting that Apple’s expectations that the market would want color were over-ambitious.


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Brekford Corporation: Homeland Security Technology Service Provider

Brekford Corp. is a homeland security technology service provider of fully integrated vehicle installation and rugged technology and video solutions geared towards mission critical operations. For more than a decade we have provided services to branches of the U.S. military, various federal entities and numerous security and public safety agencies throughout the United States. We provide these agencies with an end-to-end suite of mobile communications, information technology, vehicle up fitting services, and automated traffic photo enforcement solutions that are designed to streamline procurement processes and offer maximum functionality to their day to day operations.

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Brekford is a one-stop shop for vehicle upfitting, cutting edge technology, video and installation. We provide ruggedized mobile computers, video and communications products, bumper-to-bumper vehicle modification products and services for homeland security, law enforcement, fire and emergency vehicles. The Brekford 360° approach provides our customers with a one-stop up fitting, cutting edge technology and installation service. The 360° approach is the only stop our customers need to make to purchase law enforcement vehicles (GM, Ford, Dodge), have them up fitted with lights, sirens, radio communication and rugged IT technology and then have them "ready to roll". Our 360° engineered bumper-to-bumper vehicle solution, our commitment to top quality fast reliable service, along with our streamlined purchasing process is why we believe Brekford is the best all-around vehicle and automated traffic enforcement solutions provider.

Products and Services
Law enforcement, fire department and EMS personnel have unique requirements for fleet vehicle up fitting and IT equipment to include characteristics such as ruggedness and reliability. The equipment must be able to work in extreme environments that include high levels of vibration and shock, wide temperature ranges, varying humidity, electromagnetic interference and voltage and current transients. Our rugged products and mobile data communication systems provide public safety employees with the unique functionalists necessary to enable effective response to emergency situations.

We distinguish ourselves by truly being a one-stop shop for vehicle up fitting, cutting edge technology, and installation services. Unlike our competitors, we provide customers with one place to purchase law enforcement vehicles that are not only up fitted with the traditional lights and sirens but also with rugged IT hardware and communication equipment.

For more than a decade, Brekford has been a distributor for most major brands in the mobile technology arena. We handle everything from Panasonic Tough books and Arbitrator® digital video systems to emergency lighting systems, vehicle GPS and vehicle armor and wireless technology. We believe we have all of the highest quality products our customers need to handle their day to day operations and protect the public they serve. Every product we sell is tested by highly trained technicians and guaranteed to work in even the most extreme conditions. We specialize in seamlessly incorporating custom-built solutions within existing networks and deliver our end-to-end solutions with service programs that work for agencies large and small, from turn-key drop shipping to municipal leases. Our commitment is to design and deliver solutions that meet or exceed industry standards for safety, ergonomics, reliability, serviceability and uniformity.

360° Vehicle Solution
Brekford 360° provides complete vehicle upfitting, mobile data and video solutions including municipal financing and leasing services for agencies. Brekford’s 360° vehicle solutions approach provides customers with one stop upfitting, cutting edge technology and installation service. Our 360° approach means this is your only stop to get smart law enforcement vehicles purchased, upfitted and serviced.

Vehicle Upfitting
We provide and install most major brands of law enforcement vehicle equipment. Our dedication is to provide and install equipment that ensures safe and efficient vehicles while incorporating the latest technological advances. We adhere to strict quality control procedures and provide comprehensive services. Brekford certified technicians provide our customers with the highest level of expertise and service from inception to completion, including maintenance and upgrades.

Video Solutions

Automated Traffic Enforcement System
Automatic Traffic Enforcement systems or Automatic Photo Enforcement Systems are one of a wide range of measures that are effective at reducing vehicle speeds and crashes. The Automated Traffic Enforcement (ATE) system is an enforcement technique with one or more motor vehicle sensors producing recorded images of motor vehicles traveling at speeds above a defined threshold. Images captured by the ATE system are processed and reviewed in an office environment and violation notices are mailed to the registered owner of the identified vehicle. The ATE system operates using digital technology with either unmanned or manned unique digital technology that is installed at the roadside where traffic violations are automatically detected by the system. When a violation occurs, the ATE system takes numerous digital images. A zoom shot is taken showing the vehicle license plate, then a wide angle shot showing make, model and color. Finally, after a short delay dependent on vehicle speed, another image is taken showing that the offending vehicle is in motion at the time of offense. In addition, a video sequence can be captured to show the offense. Along with digital images of the offense taking place, the Automatic Traffic Enforcement system will record data that is relevant to the specific location and offense. The images are encrypted and then stored, ready to be sent to the central system.

Speeding, defined as driving too fast for conditions, is one of the major contributing factors in crashes, deaths and injuries on roadways. Engineering, enforcement, and educational speed management techniques must be integrated and coordinated to effectively manage speed. Automatic Traffic Enforcement systems are one of a wide range of measures that are effective at reducing vehicle speeds and crashes when used correctly and in the appropriate circumstances. The fundamental objective underlying the use of ATE systems in school zones is straightforward: to encourage a change in driver behavior and increase driver awareness of speed-related crashes through a program involving public education, attitude change, and special visible enforcement.

In Car Mobile Video System
The Arbitrator In Car Mobile Video System from Panasonic Tough book is a rugged revolution in law enforcement video capture. The Tough book Arbitrator 360 is a rugged and durable mobile digital video system. The fully-integrated system offers unparalleled video capture (up to 360 degrees), storage and transfer, and is designed to work with back-end software for seamless video management, including archiving and retrieving.

Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR)
Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR) is an image-processing technology used to identify vehicles by their license plates. License Plate Readers (LPRs) can record plates at about one per second at speeds of up to 100 MPH and they often utilize infrared cameras for clarity and to facilitate reading at any time of day or night. The data collected can either be processed in real-time, at the site of the read, or it can be transmitted to remote centers and processed at a later time.

Electronic Ticketing System - Slick-Ticket
The Brekford Slick-Ticket product is a fully portable over the seat organizer for public safety vehicles, specially designed to house a printer and scanner to allow law enforcement officers to quickly access driver's license and registration information as well as issue tickets, warnings and citations.

Mobile Data Solutions - Mobile technology
Brekford develops integrated, inter-operable, feature-rich mobile systems enabling first respondents, police, fire and EMS, to obtain and exchange information in real-time. The rapid dissemination of real-time information is critical to determine and assure timely and precise resource allocation by public sector decision makers. As a premiere Panasonic Tough book partner, we augment these rugged laptops by designing and manufacturing vehicle mounting systems and docking stations for in-vehicle communications equipment. From rugged laptop computers, tablets and hand-held, GPS terminals, two-way radios, and full console systems, we provide ergonomically sound mounting products with full port replication.



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Boost Supply by Chain for Car Industry

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The UK’s Car Industry plans to create 15,000 new jobs and 200 fresh projects in its supply chain over the next three years.

The sector hopes to capitalize on over £6 billion of investment in the last two years and an 8% rise in production in 2012.  The number of cars manufactured in the UK is expected to double between 2009 and 2017, hitting 2 million per year.

Chief executive of the Automotive Investment Organisation Joe Greenwell said: “The goal is to maintain and extend this momentum. I want to remove reasons why people may not want to come here.  “We need to recapture and repatriate business that we lost in the past few decades, business that went elsewhere to places like western and eastern Europe and Asia. We want to get it back.”

The Automotive Investment Organisation was set up earlier this year as part of a £3 million government scheme to boost the car manufacturing supply chain.



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Business Awards

The Finalists for the  MEN Business 2013 Awards.

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Firms in sectors from aviation to property and brewing to recruitment have made the shortlists for this year’s event. Scores of companies threw their hats into the ring for the awards, with judges visiting the hopefuls to run the rule over the entries.

In the category for businesses with a turnover of £100m or more, Manchester Airports Group capped a busy 12 months by making the shortlist.  The firm, which earlier this year concluded a deal to buy Stansted Airport, is joined by procurement and storeroom management software firm IESA, of Warrington.  The final firm on the shortlist for that category is oil and gas recruitment specialist Fircroft, which was founded in Sale in 1970 and now has its headquarters in Warrington, with 45 offices worldwide.  It is the battle of the brewers in the £50m-100m category, with Stockport’s Frederic Robinson going up against JW Lees, of Middleton.  The two beer-makers are joined by New Mills-based confectioner Swizzels Matlow, best-known for producing Love Hearts.  In the £25m-50m category, Manchester-Based Insurance Industry recruitment specialist Oliver James Associates makes the shortlist.

It is up against IT firm Intrinsic Technology, based in Haydock, and Assura Group, the listed developer and investor in primary healthcare premises, of Warrington. The firms up for the £10m-£25m prize include Manchester-based Duo Plastics, which makes polythene packaging products. It is up against fellow Manchester firm Party Delights, an online retailer of celebration products, and Liquid Personnel, a niche recruiter of social care workers, also based in the city.  There are four firms set to battle it out in the under £10m turnover category, reflecting the high volume of entries.  They include IT firms Outsourcery, headed by Dragons’ Den star Piers Linney, and Imerja, which specialises in the healthcare sector and has its headquarters in Bolton.

The two businesses will go up against packaging manufacturer Glossop Cartons and Whaley Bridge fashion distributor Country Attire.  The three firms up for the Young Business award are Manchester real estate firm OBI Property, food manufacturer SM Sauces, run by sisters Lisa and Helen Tse, also from the city, and Trafford Park marketing firm The Market Creative.  This year’s awards will take place at Manchester’s Midland Hotel on November 7.  Sponsors are law firm Pinsent Masons, business advisers PwC, data centre specialist Telecity and recruitment giant Robert Walters.  Speaker for the night is infamous businessman Gerald Ratner, with the event hosted by BBC presented Nicholas Owen.

MEN Media head of business Adam Jupp said: Arriving at the final shortlists was no easy task, with scores of great entries in all categories.  Thanks go to all the judges who have taken part in visits to the entrants and for the businesses themselves for being so accommodating. All finalists have done extremely well to make it this far.

All finalists will now give a presentation to a panel of judges who will then decide on a winner for each category.


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INSURANCE

Flood Insurance

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WASHINGTON  Louisiana U.S. Sens. Mary Landrieu and David Vitter led a bipartisan group of 24 senators who wrote Friday to the Senate leadership asking that a plan to stop skyrocketing flood insurance rates be included in any viable legislative vehicle.

Last month, U.S. Reps. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge; Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, and the other House members of the Louisiana congressional delegation signed a letter with 73 members asking House leaders to help move a one-year delay to National Flood Insurance Program rate increases.

Speaking from the U.S. Senate floor Friday, Landrieu said lawmakers are still working to agree on the right changes to make to the flood insurance program, but that coalition to enact changes is growing. In Louisiana, this is our No. 1 problem and challenge right now, she said.  The NFIP was changed last year by Congress to make the program more financially self-sustainable. Many of the changes amount to phasing out the status that allowed properties built decades ago to be grandfathered into the flood insurance system at much lower rates.  The cure was worse than the disease, Landrieu said. The NFIP has been in financial distress with a loss of nearly $25 billion, largely due to payments made after hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. Louisiana has nearly 500,000 flood insurance policies and there are more than 5.5 million NFIP policyholders nationwide.

Louisiana lawmakers specifically want to change some rates impacting grandfathered properties and a trigger that allows rates to jump suddenly to unaffordable levels when homes are sold in some areas. Rate increases for some properties began being phased in on Oct. 1.

The government shutdown has caused the indefinite delay of a congressional symposium and a U.S. House hearing to discuss the flood insurance concerns.  But Cassidy, U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, and a group of nearly 20 House members met behind closed doors on Wednesday to discuss possible solutions.  Cassidy said afterwards that many in Congress are recognizing the problem.

The system that’s been set up would put the program into a death spiral  at which point it ceases to exist, Cassidy said, adding that he recognizes House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, is busy with government negotiations. But, I’d like to think that we can make this come to his attention, he said.  The House already approved a one-year delay to rate hikes and the Senate has a pending Homeland Security appropriations bill that does the same thing. The federal budget stalemate is preventing further progress for now.

The rate increases are beginning to being phased in this month. They apply to some homes and businesses built prior to the first 1973 federal flood maps.  The Oct. 1 trigger applies to properties  businesses, secondary vacation homes and homes that have been repeatedly flooded  that were grandfathered into artificially lower premiums for flood insurance before flood maps were created. Such impacted policyholders will see 25 percent annual premium increases over a few years.  But such subsidized properties sold after July 6 last year when changes in the law first began being put into service will not have their new rates phased in. That is because the rates for such subsidized residences are triggered all at once when a home is sold or the flood insurance policy lapses.

About 18,000 Louisiana policies will see immediate impacts as non-primary residences, businesses and repetitive-loss properties built before the flood maps.  Another 50,000 or so primary residences from before the 1973 flood maps are not impacted until they are sold or the policy lapses, according to FEMA.

However, many more policyholders currently not listed in high-risk flood zones will see rate hikes in a year or more as new flood maps are finalized. More properties will be listed in higher risk flood areas in updated maps as homes lose their grandfathered statuses.



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Stopping Bonuses, Violation of Human Rights

Bank of England Warned for Stopping Bonuses,

It is a Violation of Human Rights,

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Tough new powers to strip top bankers of their bonuses at banks that need taxpayer support and to hold them personally accountable for management failures risk violating their human rights, the Bank of England has warned.

Officials said that the proposals would need to be carefully considered in order to comply with European human rights law.  The Bank's concerns about the proposals' legality came in response to the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, which originally called for the tighter banking rules and was set up to investigate banking regulation in the wake of the financial crisis and the Libor interest rate rigging scandal.

The government has indicated that senior banking executives could be subjected to a "reverse burden of proof", requiring them to show they took reasonable steps to stop any rule breaches in the department they managed in order to avoid any disciplinary measures.  However, the Bank of England warned: "The use of remedial requirements or enforcement action must reinforce the deterrent effect of the new regime without encroaching upon human rights.  "The PRA [the Bank's Prudential Regulation Authority] is considering these questions closely with the Treasury and the Financial Conduct Authority."

The Bank also voiced concerns about proposals to restrict bonuses in state-backed banks, which could affect organisations like Lloyds and the Royal Bank of Scotland. The Bank said: "The PRA will consider how to address this, consistent with European Human Rights provision."  This comes after chancellor George Osborne launched a bid to save RBS from a £471,000-a-year EU annual bonus cap. Andrew Tyrie, the Tory MP who chaired the Parliamentary commission on banking standards, warned that the proposals needed to be "translated into action" and implemented in full.  Banks are not the only institutions to have suffered from serious lapses. So did regulators, he said.  The vigour with which the new regulators embrace the Banking Commission’s proposals  which give them new powers as well as new responsibilities  will be a litmus test of the extent to which they are putting these lapses right.

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Drugs Pharmacy

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Texas officials on Monday refused to return lethal drugs they plan to use for an execution this week, despite a demand from the provider which wanted to remain anonymous but has been thrust into a controversy over capital punishment. Fly to go Texas, chose cheap flight i.e. www.cheap-flight-4u.com/

"The drugs were purchased legally by the agency," the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said on Monday. "TDCJ has no intention of returning the pentobarbital."  The statement from Texas, which executes more inmates than any other state, comes at a time when many states are turning to compounding pharmacies to secure lethal injection supplies after major pharmaceutical manufacturers have said they do not want their drugs used for executions.

The drugs mixed by compounding pharmacies are not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and their use in providing execution drugs has come under fire from capital punishment opponents and others, who say the drugs these pharmacies provide may not be pure and potent and may cause needless suffering to the codemned.

Texas announced on October 2 that it had purchased pentobarbital from The Woodlands Compounding Pharmacy in The Woodlands, Texas, near Houston. Two days later, on October 4, Woodlands demanded the drugs be returned in a letter to state corrections officials and to the state attorney general's office. Company owner Jasper Lovoi said he had been promised secrecy by the state.

"It was my belief that this information would be kept on the 'down low' and that it was unlikely that it would be discovered that my pharmacy provided these drugs," Lovoi said in the letter. He demanded that the state "immediately return the vials of compounded pentobarbital."  A copy of Lovoi's letter was submitted as part of a lawsuit filed by three inmates on Texas' death row last week.

The inmates sued in part because of the state's efforts to rely on a compounding pharmacy for execution drugs. They said use of the drugs could be cruel and unusual punishment because they are produced by a compounding pharmacy and are not approved by the FDA, according to court documents.

Among the inmates suing the state is Michael Yowell, scheduled to be executed on Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Lynn on Saturday ordered the execution of Yowell to proceed. Yowell's attorneys said Monday they are appealing that decision to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

"The letter (from the compounding pharmacy) is further evidence of the TDCJ's pattern of misconduct with respect to their efforts to obtain the drugs and how they intend to proceed with executions," said Maurie Levin, one of the attorneys representing the three inmates.

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Miranda Kerr Suffers Wardrobe Malfunction Double Nipple Slip on Red Carpet - Pictures

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The supermodel was adjusting her hair when her laced see-through dress readjusted itself to expose her boobs

Oh dear, Miranda Kerr has suffered another embarrassing double nipple slip.

The stunning supermodel was on the red carpet in New York City when her revealing see-through dress failed to save her modesty.

Her laced floral-designed dress was strategically covering her nips without so much of a mishap.

That was, of course, until she started fiddling with her hair and unknowingly exposed BOTH her boobs to the snapping photographers.

Miranda, 30, was attending the premiere of Mademoiselle C on September 6 when the blushing incident happened.


The wife of Hollywood actor Orlando Bloom isn’t unfamiliar with flashing a bit of flesh in her day job but it’s not the first time the former Victoria’s Secret beauty was left red faced.

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At a photoshoot on a Miami beach in May, the mum-of-one suffered a similar double-slip when a gust of wind robbed her of a jumper when she was completely bra-less.

She hasn’t ever been too bothered by it...








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British Army 'Screwed Up' After Taliban Attack on Camp Bastion Killed Two American Marines, Claims US General

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British Army 'screwed up' after Taliban attack on Camp Bastion killed two American Marines, claims US General

A Former US Military General claims the British army 'screwed up' after two US Marines were killed during a Taliban attack on Camp Bastion last year, it has emerged. The British army was responsible for security on the base when the attack - which also injured 16 soldiers - took place in September last year.

US Major-General Gregg Sturdevant, who was forced to retire following the attack , claimed today that the British army should have strengthened security at the military base, which houses around 30,000 coalition forces.In a statement released to The Independent, Major-General Sturdevant claimed he did not realize until after the attack that "there were unmanned towers out there... The Brits were embarrassed."  He added: "It took a while for the real story to come out. It was unfortunate, and it was not a pretty story. For the tower to be unmanned with the terrain out there, I questioned that."

Following the attack - which left eight American aircraft worth more than $200m either destroyed or damaged - the US took over responsibility for security.  Major-General Sturdevant added: "I told them that we were no longer willing to accept not being in charge of overall security.  "The attack definitely changed the environment. They knew that they had screwed up."  The claims were made in newly released documents by the US military which were previously secret.  It comes as British forces prepare to leave Afghanistan by the end of next year.

Following the claims, the Ministry of Defence said it is to "consider" the findings of the US review.  An MoD spokesman said: "Following the attack on Camp Bastion in December 2012 the UK has contributed fully to a number of Isaf, US and UK reviews. As a result, force protection measures at Camp Bastion have been reviewed and are appropriate to current threat levels.  "As stated in the US review, a concertina wire, a ditch, berm obstacle and a 30ft high boundary chain link fence were in place around Camp Bastion at the time of the attack.

"The US review further states that a separate internal perimeter fence would likely not have presented any serious challenge, barrier or impediment to the enemy on the day of the attack.  "The insurgents were repelled by US Marines and Royal Air Force Regiment personnel whose courageous actions prevented greater loss of life and equipment.  "While the US Review was intended to examine US actions only and not those of coalition forces, the UK will consider its findings in detail to confirm our earlier assessment that no further UK action is required."



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