Some 794 swine flu cases are confirmed across the world but none in Romania, Romanian Health Ministry State Secretary Aurel Nechita informed this weekend, presenting a European Center for Virus Control report. 23 people lost their life due to the virus that spread to 20 countries already. In Mexico there were 568 cases, US 226 and Canada 101.
Among EU countries, Spain registered 44 cases and Great Britain 18. In Germany, another two cases were conformed on Sunday, raising the number of cases to 8. New cases sprang in Austria and Hong Kong.
Other confirmed cases:
Columbia - 1 case
South Korea - 1 case
Costa Rica - 4
Denmark - 1
France - 2
Israel - 4
Ireland - 1
Italy - 2
New Zealand - 4
Salvador - 2
Switzerland - 1
Netherlands - 1
Moreover, all countries are investigating possible swine flu cases. In Romania 33 people returning from countries were confirmed not to have contacted the virus. Romania's Health ministry decided that, started Saturday, it will set up a permanent information service. Plus, a public information campaign will be launched, to inform the population on the way it can prevent contacting the virus and what are the symptoms.
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
NATO to start military exercises in Georgia. Russia qualifies it as a challenge
NATO troops start, on Wednesday, in Georgia a series of military exercises, a day after Tbilisi authorities managed to end a military strike at a base nearby Gori, BBC informs. Russia condemned the move, and classified it as a challenge. Moreover, it refused NATO's request to send in observers.
Last week, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev signed an agreement qualifying Russia to have complete control over the de facto borders of the Georgian separatist regions - Abkhazia and South Ossetia with Georgia for five years.
NATO exercises in the area come nine months after the war between Georgia and Russia. Some 1000 soldiers will be deployed in the region for the military exercises for three weeks.
Last week, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev signed an agreement qualifying Russia to have complete control over the de facto borders of the Georgian separatist regions - Abkhazia and South Ossetia with Georgia for five years.
NATO exercises in the area come nine months after the war between Georgia and Russia. Some 1000 soldiers will be deployed in the region for the military exercises for three weeks.
Professors give up protests as the government offers new proposal
Education unions announced that protests are suspended and tomorrow pupils will be able to take their Romanian language and literature thesis. Government representatives, present at negotiations put forward a new proposal and all four national unions signed the agreement.
Labor minister Marian Sarbu declared that an agreement contract on 10 points was signed. He added that the government did its duty. Union representatives declared that the agreement stands as long as the government will keep up the promises.
The agreement foresees three essential points: a 6% of GDP budget for Education, the laws on salaries and on decentralization, union representative Liviu Pop declared. Education minister Ecaterina Andronescu declared that in a discussion with PM Emil Boc he agreed to assume the agreement and the document will be cosigned by the Prime Minister.
Andronescu added that dialogue can solve everything unlike confrontation. At his turn, Sarbu said that there will be no lay offs in education. Two days ago professors decided to give up protests as negotiations with government officials were undergoing.
Labor minister Marian Sarbu declared that an agreement contract on 10 points was signed. He added that the government did its duty. Union representatives declared that the agreement stands as long as the government will keep up the promises.
The agreement foresees three essential points: a 6% of GDP budget for Education, the laws on salaries and on decentralization, union representative Liviu Pop declared. Education minister Ecaterina Andronescu declared that in a discussion with PM Emil Boc he agreed to assume the agreement and the document will be cosigned by the Prime Minister.
Andronescu added that dialogue can solve everything unlike confrontation. At his turn, Sarbu said that there will be no lay offs in education. Two days ago professors decided to give up protests as negotiations with government officials were undergoing.
Liberals urge for the President's resignation for approving the 50% salary increase for professors
Liberals urge President Traian Basescu to resign after he approved, last year, the law ruling a 50% increase in teachers' salaries. The announcement was made in Cluj, central Romania, by Liberal deputy Horea Uioreanu, NewsIn informs.
He declared that he urges the President's resignation and dismiss the government he control, equally guilty for the promulgation of the law. Moreover, He declared that his declaration is sustained by the Liberal Party.
On Monday, Basescu declared that he will share the guilt, together with the political class of that law and explained that at the time, Romania's economy was not affected by the crisis. Basescu underlined that he would have been legally compelled to pass the law eventually.
He declared that he urges the President's resignation and dismiss the government he control, equally guilty for the promulgation of the law. Moreover, He declared that his declaration is sustained by the Liberal Party.
On Monday, Basescu declared that he will share the guilt, together with the political class of that law and explained that at the time, Romania's economy was not affected by the crisis. Basescu underlined that he would have been legally compelled to pass the law eventually.
Commerce, constructions and transports: sectors to register most bankruptcies
Commerce, constructions and transports were the main risky sectors in Romania, registering over 50% bankruptcy cases of the total bankruptcy rates in the economy, a Coface Romania study reveals. By the end of last year, some 14,489 were on the verge of bankruptcy.
Like previous years, commercial companies are the first in the top, registering a 49.85% increase in the number of bankruptcies compared to the previous year. Thus, last year, 3553 companies started official bankruptcy procedures.
Moreover, the constructions sector was the most affected in 2008, with a 56.28% increase in bankruptcy cases compared to 2007. In Romania, this was the first sector affected by the crisis, due to the real estate market blockage and the banks' decision to stop credits.
In transports, data confirms the same trend: the sector was highly affected by the economic crisis as international demands dropped significantly. In 2008, there were 811 bankruptcy cases in the sector, representing a 12.71% increase to last year.
Like previous years, commercial companies are the first in the top, registering a 49.85% increase in the number of bankruptcies compared to the previous year. Thus, last year, 3553 companies started official bankruptcy procedures.
Moreover, the constructions sector was the most affected in 2008, with a 56.28% increase in bankruptcy cases compared to 2007. In Romania, this was the first sector affected by the crisis, due to the real estate market blockage and the banks' decision to stop credits.
In transports, data confirms the same trend: the sector was highly affected by the economic crisis as international demands dropped significantly. In 2008, there were 811 bankruptcy cases in the sector, representing a 12.71% increase to last year.
Romanian PM Emil Boc: financial aid for Romania approved by the European Commission
Romania's Prime Minister Emil Boc announced on Wednesday, after a governmental meeting that the financial aid pack from the European Commission was approved. Follow the most important declarations in the article.
Here are the most important declarations:
* At this point, we can certify that Romania received a loan from both the IMF and the European Commission
* The IMF agreement was approved on May 4 and the European Commission report was validated today through an official letter from the Commission
* The 13 billion euro from the IMF are destined for the Central Bank. We will try to maintain a balanced Leu-Euro exchange rate and the second objective is to relaunch the economy and thus credits.
* I want to express my gratitude to the professors for giving up protests, in the interest of the pupils.
Here are the most important declarations:
* At this point, we can certify that Romania received a loan from both the IMF and the European Commission
* The IMF agreement was approved on May 4 and the European Commission report was validated today through an official letter from the Commission
* The 13 billion euro from the IMF are destined for the Central Bank. We will try to maintain a balanced Leu-Euro exchange rate and the second objective is to relaunch the economy and thus credits.
* I want to express my gratitude to the professors for giving up protests, in the interest of the pupils.
World Health Organization toll: 1516 swine flu cases across 22 countries
22 countries reported, by Wednesday 1516 swine flu cases, the latest World Health Organization toll reads. Most cases were registered in Mexico with a total of 822 cases of which 29 deaths, US with 403 cases and 1 death and Canada, 165 cases.
In Europe, most cases were registered in Spain with 57 cases, Great Britain 27, Germany 9, Italy 5, France 4 and Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland, just 1. In Israel, 4 swine flu cases were confirmed.
Moreover, New Zealand registered 6 cases, South Korea and El Salvador 2 and China, Hong Kong, Columbia, Costa Rica and Guatemala 1 case in each.
WHO underlined that the virus is no transmitted through processed meat or pork made products. The toll of cases increased from 1,124 cases on Tuesday.
In Europe, most cases were registered in Spain with 57 cases, Great Britain 27, Germany 9, Italy 5, France 4 and Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland, just 1. In Israel, 4 swine flu cases were confirmed.
Moreover, New Zealand registered 6 cases, South Korea and El Salvador 2 and China, Hong Kong, Columbia, Costa Rica and Guatemala 1 case in each.
WHO underlined that the virus is no transmitted through processed meat or pork made products. The toll of cases increased from 1,124 cases on Tuesday.
Download DestroyTwitter
Download DestroyTwitter 1.6.0 Beta
Included in this release: Introducing the 1.6.0 Beta
What is DestroyTwitter?
Included in this release: Introducing the 1.6.0 Beta
What is DestroyTwitter?
DestroyTwitter is a compact though robust Twitter application built to run on Mac, Windows, and Linux using Adobe AIR. It consists of a series of canvases that constantly update to keep tweets up-to-date using notifications that appear when a new tweet arrives. DestroyTwitter uses a minimal amount of memory compared to its AIR-based alternatives without sacrificing functionality and performance. As a result, it can easily run in the background as an automated process.
About the Developer
Jonnie Hallman is a designer and programmer based in Baltimore. He develops applications for fun between work and school. DestroyTwitter is his thesis.
DestroyTwitter opens with a login screen where the user's username and password are entered to access the application.
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About Window
The About Window can be prompted either by clicking the Application icon in the bottom navigation bar or by selecting About DestroyTwitter under the DestroyTwitter menu in Mac OS X. The window displays the running version of DestroyTwitter as well as a number of useful links. Included are links to the DestroyTwitter website, donate via PayPal, leave feedback, and report a bug.
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Navigation
The main navigation in DestroyTwitter consists of two bars on the top and bottom of the window.
The top navigation consists of buttons that represent the tweet/message canvases, which are part of the top workspace. Clicking a button will select its canvas, sliding the workspaces vertically to its workspace and the workspace horizontally to the canvas.
The bottom navigation holds the Application, Preferences, Account, and People buttons along with the Away and Tweet toggles. The Application button opens the About window. The other three buttons represent the respectable canvases. The Away toggle turns Away mode on and off. Tweet toggle opens and closes the Tweet composition. In Mac OS X, the key shortcut command+t toggles the composition as well.
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Canvases
The Home canvas consists of tweets by both the user and the user's friends. Unlike the other canvases, it can retrieve up to 200 tweets by using the Home tweet count preference.
The Replies canvas consists of tweets that have been in response to one of the user's tweets.
The Saved canvas consists of tweets that have been either marked as a favorite on Twitter or saved in DestroyTwitter. This canvas only refreshes when a tweet is saved in DestroyTwitter.
The Search canvas consists of tweets that match a given keyword or set of keywords. Replies found in this canvas do not have a Dialogue option because the API method doesn't return the original tweet's ID. Codes similar to Gmail's search can be used such as "to:[username]", "from:[username]", "[keyword] AND [keyword]", and "[keyword] OR [keyword]".
The Messages canvas consists of direct messages sent to the user. These are shown with the sender's icon above the user's icon.
The Sent canvas consists of direct messages sent from the user. These are shown with the user's icon above the recipient's icon.
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Tweets
Tweets consist of the senders' icon, text, username, timestamp, and actions. Clicking the icon navigates to the user's profile in the People canvas. The text highlights usernames, hash tags, and URLs. Clicking a username navigates to the profile like the icon. Clicking a hash tags navigate to the Search canvas where a search for that tag is performed. The timestamp indicates when the tweet was created and can be clicked to navigate to the tweet's permalink in an external browser. If the tweet is a reply, a double chevron (») appears to the right of the timestamp. Clicking it opens the Dialogue panel and shows the tweet along with the tweet is in response to. The tweet's actions appear on rollover or when selected. There are also a number of key shortcuts for quick actions.
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Messages
Messages consist of many of the items included with tweets, but differ in a few ways. Each message has two icons—the sender's above and the recipient's below. Regarding actions, a message can be replied to or deleted.
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Compositions
The Compositions are used for all outgoing communication. Each has its own attachment if any, but all have the standard components and actions. These include a character counter, URL shortener using is.gd, TwitPic integration, and drag and drop TwitPic.
The Tweet composition sends a simple tweet. It is toggled by either the Tweet button in the bottom right or in Mac OS X with the key shortcut command+t.
The Reply composition sends a reply to a specified tweet and includes the original tweet as reference. It also adds the recipient's username to the beginning of the message to show it's a reply, but since the tweet is marked as a reply, the prefix is not required.
The Message composition sends a direct message to a specified user and includes the recipient's icon, name, and username as reference.
The Reply Message composition sends a reply to a specified direct message and includes the original direct message as reference.
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Notifications
When new tweets/messages appear, a notification popup drops down from the top right of the screen. It includes the type of new tweets/messages, count, and the most recent tweet/message.
When a canvas contains a new tweet/message, its button's text highlights. Selecting the canvas unhighlights the text. If the Highlight unread tweets/messages preference is selected, the text remains highlighted until the canvas's tweets/messages are marked as read.
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Preferences
There is a growing list of preferences in DestroyTwitter, giving users a lot of flexibility. The preferences are divided by section to keep things organized and improve readability.
The Refresh Intervals preferences allow the user to set how often a canvas new content. Clicking and dragging the sliders will adjust the canvas' refresh times in real-time and display them to the right of the sliders' labels. As the times update, the left-over API calls are calculated and displayed below the sliders. Twitter allows each user to make no more than 100 API calls in one hour, regardless of the client or application. For example, retrieving tweets for a single canvas requires one API call. To disable a canvas, simply uncheck the checkbox to the right of its slider.
The Application preferences provide a number of useful settings. Open at startup sets DestroyTwitter to launch when the user's computer boots up. Log in automatically skips the login screen and loads the user's workspace immediately on startup. Hide on close/Hide to system tray on minimize causes the DestroyTwitter window to become invisible on close (Mac OS X) or minimize (Windows/Linux) to save screen space instead of quitting the application. Always in front keeps the window in front of all others regardless of whether its in focus or not.
The Workspace preferences allow the user to control settings specific to the workspace as a whole. These settings include the Wider workspace preference, which makes the workspace three columns wide for easier viewing. Automatically switch canvas after tweeting navigates to the canvas specific to the composed tweet/message after submitting it. Disable transitions removes animations between canvases, switching instantaneously.
The Rules preferences are used for filtering the Home canvas. They allow the user to restrict the canvas to only showing particular users' tweets. What makes it different though is ability to exclude users as well. Excluding users shows tweets from all users except the ones listed under "Exclude these users." There is also an option to show only tweets that contain links. Users are added to each list by either clicking the plus sign or pressing the hotkey Command + Shift + I/E (Mac) or Control + shift + I/E (PC) to prompt Quick Friend Lookup where I is include and E is exclude. Users can also be added in other canvases by pressing either I or E while a tweet is selected. This adds the user who posted the selected tweet. To remove a user from a list, hold Option (Mac) or Alt (PC) and click the username. Clicking the username without holding the modifier navigates to that user's profile. Rules are applied the next time the Home canvas refreshes. Clicking "Apply rules" applies them immediately.
The Canvas preferences currently has a single preference—Home tweet count. This controls how many tweets appear in the Home canvas. The default is 20 and the count can be set up to 200, but CPU and memory usages are affected in doing so.
The Tweet/Message preferences deal with individual tweet and message appearance and functionality. International character support sets the font to Arial MS Unicode, which supports most languages. Bigger text increases the font's size from 11px to 14px for easier readability. Display users' real names shows the tweet author's actual name instead of his/her username. Twenty-four hour time displays each tweets timestamp in twenty-four hour format instead of twelve hour with AM/PM. Alternate retweet marker uses '>' instead of 'RT' to mark as tweet as a retweet. This saves characters by requiring only one character. Highlight unread tweets and messages draws a light border around tweets and messages that haven't been read yet. Read tweets and messages on hover marks unread tweets and messages as read by mousing over them rather than clicking. This works even if the DestroyTwitter window is not in focus.
The Notifications preferences control notifications that appear when DestroyTwitter retrieves new tweets or messages. Disable notifications prevents DestroyTwitter from displaying the Notification window. Disable home notifications prevents only notifications from the Home canvas. Disable search notifications prevents only notifications from the Search canvas. Mute notification sound stops the notification sound from playing when the Notification window is displayed.
The Debug preferences enable the user to clear icon cache and perform a complete cleaning of all cache and preferences. The latter of the two comes in handy if there's any innaccuracies and it needs to be tested.
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Key Shortcuts
- With a tweet selected, r replies
- With a tweet selected, t retweets
- With a tweet selected, s saves/unsaves
- With a tweet selected, m messages the sender
- With a tweet selected, u navigates to the sender's profile
- With a tweet selected, i adds the sender to the Include list
- With a tweet selected, e adds the sender to the Exclude list
- With a tweet selected, → opens the Dialogue panel
- With a tweet selected, ← closes the Dialogue panel
- With a tweet selected, up and down select the previous/next tweet
- Shift+up/down and Page up/down scroll to the previous/next group of tweets
- Home and End scroll to the top and bottom
- Cmd+K (Mac) / Ctrl+K (PC) marks all tweets as read
- Cmd+Shift+K (Mac) / Ctrl+Shift+K (PC) marks all canvases as read
- Cmd+T (Mac) / Ctrl+T (PC) toggles the Tweet panel
- Cmd+R (Mac) / Ctrl+R (PC) refreshes the current canvas
- Cmd+Opt+A (Mac) / Ctrl+Alt+A (PC) sets the Home canvas to All
- Cmd+Opt+I (Mac) / Ctrl+Alt+I (PC) sets the Home canvas to Include
- Cmd+Opt+E (Mac) / Ctrl+Alt+E (PC) sets the Home canvas to Exclude
- Cmd+Opt+L (Mac) / Ctrl+Alt+L (PC) sets the Home canvas to Links
- Cmd+Shift+I (Mac) / Ctrl+Shift+I (PC) prompts the Quick Friend Lookup for the Include list while in the Preferences canvas
- Cmd+Shift+E (Mac) / Ctrl+Shift+E (PC) prompts the Quick Friend Lookup for the Exclude list while in the Preferences canvas
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Dialogue
The Dialogue panel displays a reply and the tweet its in response to. This is accessible by clicking the "»" to the right of a reply's date or pressing the right arrow key with a reply selected.
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TwitPic Integration
TwitPic is available in all compositions and it can be prompted in two way—the twitpic button at the bottom left of the composition or drag and drop.
At any time, whether the composition is open or not, an image can be dragged to the window and the composition appears. Releasing the file begins the upload.
Once the upload begins, progress of the file transfer appears and upon completion the URL is pasted in the message.
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Quick Friend Lookup
Quick Friend Lookup helps entering usernames in compositions. Typing "@" prompts the lookup where the beginning letters to a friend's username narrow down the selection. The top username in the list is highlighted, so when the intended username is selected, pressing the enter/return key will auto-complete and paste it. Usernames in the list can also be clicked. Pressing escape will close the lookup.
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Away Mode
Away Mode pauses all tweet canvases in case the user needs to step away from the computer without it continuing to update. It can also be used to disable notifications in a single click without navigating to the Preferences canvas.
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