Adrian Piper

Adrian Piper

ELIZABETH DEE GALLERY

For her first solo show in New York after a seven-year hiatus, influential first-generation Conceptualist Adrian Piper, known for infusing her rigorous practice with the concerns of identity politics, focused on impermanence and loss. Piper presented a selection from a series begun in 2003 titled "Everything," short for "Everything will be taken away," a chilling apocalyptic statement that is inscribed on most of the works. The show was thrilling and disturbing but above all confounding; there was nothing here to indicate why she had been quiet for so long. But that, it seemed, was part of the point.

On entering the gallery, visitors …

Natural citrus.(New Products)

Dry Soda introduced its new Blood Orange flavor of less sweet soft drinks. Dry Blood Orange Soda has fruity, bright and high acidic characteristics and 50 calories per 12-ounce bottle. Like the remainder of Dry Soda's lineup, Dry Blood Orange Soda contains four ingredients per bottle and is all-natural, caffeine-free, vegan and kosher. The new variety joins the Dry Soda lineup that includes Lavender, Lemongrass, Rhubarb, Cucumber, Juniper Berry and Vanilla Bean. The company also redesigned its packaging to …

U.S. `condolence' payouts in Iraq soar; Military cash given to families of civilian victims raises scrutiny.(Main)

Byline: BRYAN BENDER Boston Globe

WASHINGTON - The amount of cash the U.S. military has paid to families of Iraqi civilians killed or maimed in operations involving American troops skyrocketed from just under $5 million in 2004 to almost $20 million last year, according to Pentagon financial data.

The dramatic spike in what's known as condolence payments - distributed to Iraqi families whose loved ones were caught in U.S. crossfire or victimized during U.S. ground and air assaults - suggests that American commanders made on-the-spot restitution far more frequently, according to congressional aides and officials familiar with a special fund at the disposal of military officers in Iraq.

Defense Department officials maintain that the idea behind the payments - which officials said range from a few hundred dollars for injuries …

Baidu Realigns 4 Main Business Functions.

Baidu, a Chinese language Internet search provider, announced the realignment of four main business functions: Sales, Commercial Operations, User Products and Technologies, and Commercial Products and Technologies.

Baidu will implement an executive rotational program.

"With the development and rising complexity of Baidu's business, promoting organizational innovation and personnel training have become important tasks," said Robin Li, Baidu's chairman and chief executive officer. "Over the past decade, we have constantly upgraded and improved our operations to deliver excellent results. With the realignment of Baidu's four main business functions, I'm confident that we will spur exciting new developments in technologies and products, create greater efficiencies in our sales operations, and enhance synergies in our management structure."

The Company said vice president Zhan Wang has been named as head of Sales, which will unify Baidu's direct sales, channel sales, key accounts sales and search engine marketing functions. Wang joined Baidu in July 2000 and has served as the Company's vice president since January 2010. He previously was in charge of Baidu's commercial products and mobile Internet business.

Vice president Hailong Xiang has been appointed to oversee the Commercial Operations functions, which will incorporate commercial product applications, service management, sales operations, Baidu Union, and commercial product development functions. Xiang joined Baidu in February 2005 and has served as vice president of sales since April 2007. He previously oversaw direct sales for Baidu's search marketing business nationally.

According to a release, vice president Mengqiu Wang has been assigned to head the User Products and Technologies functions, bringing together the client-side software and user R&D functions. Wang joined Baidu in November 2002, and was promoted to vice president in January 2011. She currently oversees search technology R&D and other related activities, and will retain these responsibilities in her new role.

Vice president Jing Wang has been named as head of the Commercial Products and Technologies (including Cloud Computing and Mobile) functions, which will incorporate Baidu's commercial products and technologies, mobile and IT infrastructure functions. Wang joined the Baidu team in April 2010 as vice president of engineering. He previously oversaw the research and development of Baidu's commercial products as well as the company's IT infrastructure.

Baidu also announced that senior vice president Haoyu Shen is resigning from the Company for personal reasons and will leave at the end of this month.

"We are grateful for Haoyu's contribution to the company's development over the last few years and we wish him every success in the future," Li added.

Separately, the Company noted that Victor Liang, senior director of Baidu's legal department, has been promoted to vice president. In his new role, Liang will oversee the legal department, online systems management, policy research, intellectual property and patent-related matters. He will report to Jennifer Li, Baidu's chief financial officer.

((Comments on this story may be sent to newsdesk@closeupmedia.com))

HOT's 2010 net income up 34.7 percent.(ISRAEL)

Israeli cableco HOT Telecommunication Systems has revealed a 34.7 percent year-on-year increase in net profit for the 12 months ending December 31, 2010.

The telco saw net income climb to ILS106 million (US$29.66 million), up from ILS85 million a year earlier, on revenues that increased 4 percent against the previous year to ILS3.13 billion.

Cable television services remained the company's largest revenue generator, while turnover from fixed-line voice and broadband Internet services was ILS1.03 billion. In operational terms HOT's fixed voice subscriber base increased from 521,000 to 610,000, while broadband customer numbers rose from 701,000 to 752,000.

Commenting on the results HOT CEO Herzl Ozer said, "The 2010 business results were very good, reflecting the strong and steady improvement in performance during the year. We intend to continue to focus on strategic areas, including improving service, development and upgrading of infrastructures, and promoting triple-play services."

American Airlines Adds Sabre to Federal Antitrust Lawsuit.

American Airlines also Cooperating with U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Probe into Global Distribution Systems Monopoly Behavior

FORT WORTH, Texas, June 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- American Airlines today added Sabre Holdings Corp., (Sabre) to the federal antitrust lawsuit originally filed in April 2011 against Travelport, LLC. The amended lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, seeks to stop exclusionary, anti-consumer and anti-competitive business practices of the defendants and recover monetary damages that American has incurred as a result of these harmful actions.

Both the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice and the United States Department of Transportation have, in the past, recognized that GDSs exercise significant market power over airlines. In addition, American recently received a Civil Investigative Demand (CID) from the U.S. Department of Justice, which is investigating certain practices by global distribution systems (GDSs), such as Sabre and Travelport, and American intends to cooperate with that investigation.

American Airlines lawsuit claims that Sabre and Travelport, which combined control over 90 percent of bookings made by U.S. based travel agencies and dominate an essential link to travel agents and many consumers, continue to engage in anti-competitive conduct to protect their market position from new competition by alternative technologies that are both less expensive and more capable, including aggressively suppressing the ability of travel agents to seek alternative methods to book tickets directly with airlines using direct connections with airlines.

The illegal actions of Sabre and Travelport have harmed consumers and travel agents alike in a number of ways, including suppressing innovation that would enable travel agents to better serve their customers. The suit also alleges GDS actions have hurt airline passengers by forcing airlines to seek to charge higher fares to recoup the high, supracompetitive GDS fees. In addition to requesting injunctive relief from the defendants' actions, American is seeking recovery of unspecified monetary damages.

American's decision to include Sabre to the antitrust lawsuit comes after American attempted for several months to resolve disputes over distribution of the airline's fares and schedules, as American sought commercially reasonable terms for distribution through the Sabre GDS, but Sabre has been unresponsive to those requests. American intends to honor its existing contractual obligations with Sabre, and separately with Travelport, throughout the proceedings of this action and expects it will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

More information about American's intent to improve distribution, as well as a copy of the modified complaint, is available at www.DistributionUpdate.com.

Current AMR Corp.(NYSE: AMR) releases can be accessed on the Internet.

The address is http://www.aa.com

SOURCE American Airlines

Research and Markets: Medical Industry Conference Calendar 2011.(Conference news)(Calendar)

M2 PRESSWIRE-May 13, 2011-: Research and Markets: Medical Industry Conference Calendar 2011(C)1994-2011 M2 COMMUNICATIONS

RDATE:13052011

Dublin - Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/62f7af/medical_industry_c) has announced the addition of the "Medical Industry Conference Calendar" report to their offering.

"At-A-Glance View" - Easily locate medical meetings & programs in USA, Europe & international markets

Great desktop resource tool for networking, sales & new business development

The directory includes e-mail and internet website addresses from most of the 2,000 events to be held in more than 35 countries worldwide

The all-new 2011 edition of Medical Industry Conference Calendar. This product, in an easy to use MS-Excel 'view' file, has hundreds of newly-created conferences and medical events listed, the publisher announced today. For users who often attend trade shows or others wanting one handy document, easily locate any meeting or medical industry event from among over 2,000 upcoming meetings or programs listed, including annual conferences, trade shows, CME courses and other upcoming programs. You don't have to sort through hundreds of websites to find a program or to see what medical events are happening in a city at any given time.

Keep this resource on your desktop for easy reference and 'look-up functionality' for any program topic, location or event date for any program or location. The file is also editable so you can add other meetings as they become available or filter out only those events you need. The calendar listings are arranged chronologically (by date), and can be easily searched and sorted by city, country or subject matter.

Over 2,000 Important Medical Meetings, Conferences, Seminars, Trade Shows and Exhibitions Listed! You had one source on medical events taking place in your area, the USA, internationally, or other city at any given time?

Medical meetings are a terrific way to network, find new suppliers/partners, generate sales leads and other activities

Over 2,000 important medical meetings, conferences, seminars, trade shows and exhibitions included

Covers calendar year 2009 with supplemental listings for 2010

INCLUDES:

- Events in the US and in several countries worldwide as well as FDA/Regulatory seminars/conferences

- Locate from among 2,000 key medical meetings, trade exhibitions, seminars, symposiums and CME course

- Locate by date, meeting name, city, country or topic matter

- Find trade shows that you could never find on your own -- all in one comprehensive document

- Arranged chronologically (by date), with basic contact information including contact name, phone, fax, website and email

- Events are listed in MS-Excel spreadsheet format for easy use or export/import of the data

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/62f7af/medical_industry_c

CONTACT:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager,

press@researchandmarkets.com

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

((M2 Communications disclaims all liability for information provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data supplied by named party/parties. Further information on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at http://www.presswire.net on the world wide web. Inquiries to info@m2.com)).