WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The proliferation of hacking tools known as zero-day exploits is raising concerns at the highest levels in Washington, even as U.S. agencies and defense contractors have become the biggest buyers of such products.

White House cybersecurity policy coordinator Michael Daniel said the trend was "very worrisome to us."

Asked if U.S. government buying in the offensive market was adding to the problem, Daniel said more study was needed. "There is a lot more work to be done in that space to look at the economic questions...so we can do a better job on the cost-benefit analysis," he said.

Some security experts say the government's purchasing power could help instead of hurt. They argue the U.S. government should bring the market into the open by announcing it will pay top dollar for zero-days and then disclosing all vulnerabilities to the companies concerned and their customers.

"Given that people are now buying vulnerabilities, the U.S. should simply announce that it is cornering the market, that they will pay 10 times anyone else," said Dan Geer, chief information security officer at In-Q-Tel, the U.S. intelligence community's venture capital firm. He said he was speaking outside of his official capacity.

Richard Clarke, who served as counter-terrorism chief in the White House before becoming a cybersecurity advisor there a decade ago, said the government should at least review the exploits it has and disclose the vast majority.

"In some rare cases, perhaps the government could briefly withhold that information in order to run a high-priority collection mission," he said. "Even then, however, the government should closely monitor to see if anyone else has discovered the vulnerability and begun to use it."

Howard Schmidt, who served as White House cybersecurity czar under Obama, said he agreed with Clarke's approach. Asked if he had made the same argument during his recent two and a half years in the White House, he said he couldn't betray confidences by going into detail.

But Schmidt added: "The entire discussion on cascading effects and the sort of unintended consequences of any type of malware was had more than once...That's the discussion that needs to continue to take place."

(Reporting by Joseph Menn; Editing by Jonathan Weber and Claudia Parsons)

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The National Institutes of Health on Thursday halted a study testing an experimental HIV vaccine after an independent review board found the vaccine did not prevent HIV infection and did not reduce the amount of HIV in the blood.

The trial, started in 2009, is the latest in a series of failed HIV vaccine trials. The study, called HVTN 505, had enrolled 2,504 volunteers in 19 U.S. cities, and was looking at men who have sex with men and transgender people who have sex with men.

"This trial has provided a clear, swift answer about a specific vaccine strategy. It's not the answer we hoped for, but the search doesn't end here," Mitchell Warren, executive director of the nonprofit group AVAC: Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention, said in a statement.

"Researchers need to unpack the data from this trial to understand more about why this strategy didn't prevent infection," he said.

The review board has recommended that no further vaccinations be given. The National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Disease, which sponsored the study, said it would continue to follow study participants to further evaluate the trial data.

The HVTN 505 trial tested a two-part vaccine strategy designed to first prime the immune system and then provide a vaccine "boost."

The vaccine itself was based on a common cold virus that was used to sneak HIV genes into the body and grab the attention of the immune system.

So far, there are no vaccines approved to prevent infection with the human immunodeficiency virus or HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Several HIV trials are still in the works or in planning stages, including a follow-up to a Thai trial which in 2009 showed a vaccine combination cut HIV infections by 31.2 percent. Although the finding was not strong enough to approve the vaccine, it offered the first glimpse that a vaccine could work.

Both of these vaccines - the one in the Thai study and the HVTN 505 study - are largely designed to train immune system cells known as T-cells to recognize and kill cells already infected with HIV.

Researchers are studying other approaches, including vaccines that activate powerful antibodies to prevent HIV from infecting cells in the first place.

Matthew Rose, a vaccine advocate for AVAC who participated in the HVTN 505 study, said he remains hopeful in the search for a vaccine.

"These results do not change the fundamental view that an AIDS vaccine remains critical to any long-term strategy to end the AIDS epidemic," Rose said.

(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Vicki Allen)

But the truth is you cant believe all of what you read or see here, either. Most people know that food and drugs are regulated, so they assume that the ingredients in personal care and beauty products are as well. But thats not so. According to Stacy Malkan, director of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, Few safety studies exist for most of the toxic chemicals in use. That means that paying attention to your choice of personal care products is your responsibility.

(Photo: )

A spokesperson from Diversified Employee Benefit Services commented on the recognition: "This is quite an honor for us. The fact that San Antonio Business Journal included Diversified Employee Benefit Services in its selection of "Largest Employee Benefit Brokers," signals that our constant efforts towards business excellence are paying off.We are proud to be included in this recognition."

About Diversified Employee Benefit Services:a short profile by and about the honoree:

Diversified has been Designing, Implementing and Servicing all aspects of Employer/Employee Benefit plans for 44 years. DEBS has the ability to manage HSA, FSA, MERP (105,C & H), VEBA (Medical SIC) 419.a,f,6. DEBS has an approved formula to insure part time or 25 hours a week base Limited Benefit plan that will limit Federal Penality for non-qualified medical insurance then Employer offers buy up PPO coverage @ 75% participation. CAll for proposal.

Following the publication of Diversified Employee Benefit Services's selection for San Antonio Business Journal's "Largest Employee Benefit Brokers" list, American Registry seconded the honor and added Diversified Employee Benefit Services to the "Registry of Business Excellence". An exclusive recognition plaque, , has been designed to commemorate this honor.

For more information on Diversified Employee Benefit Services, located in San Antonio,Texas please call 210-558-3377, or visit .

This press release was written by American Registry, LLC with contributions from Diversified Employee Benefit Services on behalf of Diversified Employee Benefit Services and was distributed by PR Newswire, a subsidiary of UBM plc.

American Registry, LLC is an independent company that serves businesses and professionals such as Diversified Employee Benefit Services who have been recognized for excellence. American Registry offers news releases, plaques andThe Registry, an online listing of over 2 millionsignificant business and professional recognitions.Search The Registry at.

Contact Info:Diversified Employee Benefit ServicesPhone: 210-558-3377Email Address:

SOURCE Diversified Employee Benefit Services

TORONTO (Reuters) - Ontario's minority Liberal government unveiled a budget on Thursday that projected a narrower-than-expected 2013-14 deficit and included measures aimed at securing opposition support and preventing an early election for Premier Kathleen Wynne.

However, it was not clear whether the budget will receive enough support to keep the Liberals in power, as opposition New Democratic Party leader Andrea Horwath said she would consult with voters before deciding what to.

Canada's most populous province, which accounts for about 40 percent of the country's economy, will run a budget shortfall of C$11.7 billion ($11.60 billion) in 2013-14 under the C$127 billion budget plan unveiled by Finance Minister Charles Sousa, who succeeded Dwight Duncan in February.

The deficit is below the government's year-ago forecast of C$12.8 billion, but above its 2012-13 shortfall of C$9.8 billion.

With just 51 seats in the 107-seat Ontario legislature, Wynne's Liberals need the support of at least one opposition party to pass the budget and avert an automatic election.

The right-leaning Progressive Conservatives, who hold the second-most seats, said they will not support the document, while Horwath gave it a lukewarm reception, even as she acknowledged the government listened to many the demands she has made in recent weeks.

"This budget clearly reflects the budget proposal we put forward ... but we want to make sure (voters) get those results," she told reporters.

Wynne, whose party's popularity jumped when she took over from longtime Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty in January, has since watched poll numbers move in favor of the PCs, as her government struggled with the fallout of a power generation spending scandal.

The PCs currently enjoy 36 percent support, followed by 33 percent for the Liberals and 26 percent for the NDP, according to an aggregation of recent polls published in the Globe & Mail newspaper on Tuesday.

As such, the budget featured more than a little input from NDP leader Horwath in certain areas, most notably a pledge to cut auto insurance premiums 15 percent, as well as a C$295 million youth job creation program.

"We recognize that we're in a minority situation and we need to work with all sides of the house," Sousa told reporters.

The auto insurance reduction follows ballooning premiums in recent years, which insurers have blamed on rising claims and fraud-related costs.

Sousa said he has been in touch with insurance companies - Ontario's largest publicly traded auto insurer is Intact Financial Corp - and hopes to see rates start to come down within a year.

PATH TO BALANCED BUDGET

The deficit is seen shrinking to C$10.1 billion in 2014-15 and C$7.2 billion the following year, and disappearing by 2017-18, a projection that relies on average annual revenue increases of 3 percent over the next three years and expense growth of just 1.8 percent.

"To maintain that (expense growth), it's going to be very challenging," said Jonathan Bendiner, an economist at TD Economics.

Ontario's deficits spiraled higher in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis when global automakers shed jobs, sending tremors through the province's industrial base.

Public long-term borrowing during 2013-14 should total C$33.4 billion, down C$3.2 billion from 2012-13 and C$5.7 below forecasts, which the government attributed to lower-than-projected deficits in 2012-13 and 2013-14.

The government's total public debt is expected to hit C$272.8 billion next year.

The budget extends a freeze on corporate tax implemented in the previous year's budget and will extend an accelerated capital cost allowance program for manufacturers at a cost of C$265 million over three years.

(With additional writing by Allison Martell; Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson and Andre Grenon)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Toddlers are less likely to have asthma and itchy rashes if their parents "cleaned" their pacifiers by sucking on them when the kids were infants, a small new study suggests.

The findings don't prove that technique protects kids against asthma, eczema or other allergies. But researchers said it's possible the transfer of mouth microbes from parents to baby may help boost the bacterial diversity of the young child's digestive system and foster immunity.

"We know these bacteria are important for development," said Dr. Wilfried Karmaus from the University of Memphis, who has studied asthma and eczema but wasn't involved in the new research.

Being delivered through a vaginal birth, for example, exposes babies to more of their moms' bacteria and has been linked to fewer allergies in childhood. But no one has ever looked at transfer of bacteria through pacifiers, Karmaus said.

For the new study, researchers recruited pregnant women at one Swedish hospital and followed them and their children through phone calls and exams over three years. The 184 infants in the study were particularly allergy-prone: 80 percent had at least one parent with allergies.

When the babies were six months old, 65 parents reported "cleaning" their pacifiers by sucking on them. Most parents also said they rinsed pacifiers with tap water.

The children were then brought in for allergy testing at 18 and 36 months of age.

At the first visit, 46 of them had eczema and 10 had asthma symptoms. Kids whose pacifiers had been sucked on by parents were 63 percent less likely to have eczema at 18 months and 88 percent less likely to have asthma, compared to the children of parents who didn't use that cleaning technique.

By 36 months, the difference had gone away for asthma. Parental pacifier sucking was still tied to a 49-percent lower chance of a child having eczema, researchers led by Dr. Bill Hesselmar from Queen Silvia Children's Hospital in Gothenburg found.

There was no clear link between parents' pacifier cleaning method and babies' sensitization to common allergens, such as cat and dog dander or eggs and peanuts, at either age.

In a smaller analysis of 33 infants, the researchers found that babies whose parents did or didn't suck on their pacifiers had different types of bacteria living in their mouths, the group reported Monday in Pediatrics.

"With the different oral flora, it supports the hypothesis and the findings," Hesselmar told Reuters Health.

Still, he said the study can't prove the pacifier cleaning method protected kids against asthma and eczema, and that it's too early to recommend this technique to parents.

"It's always hard to tell if it's the only explanation, but we have tried to analyze as many other possibilities as we can think of," he said.

"This is a simple measure which is really, really nice," Karmaus said. "But we need a trial to be really sure that this is protective."

A gold-standard trial would involve randomly assigning some parents to regularly clean pacifiers by sucking on them and others to never use that method. In the current study, Karmaus said, it's possible parents who decided on their own to suck on their child's pacifier were different from parents who didn't in other important, allergy-related ways.

"It could be that these parents have more time with their children, a less stressful relationship with their children, hug their children more or whatever," he told Reuters Health.

For now, he said, parents should know that using their mouth to clean an infant's pacifier may be worth trying - and at the very least, shouldn't be harmful.

That technique may also be a necessity from time to time, Karmaus noted.

"Sometimes you take two or three pacifiers with you but if all are dirty and your child is crying, there's nothing you can do" but clean it yourself.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/cxXOG Pediatrics, online May 6, 2013.

1.Enrico Battaglin (Italy / Bardiani Valvole) 6:14:19"

2.Fabio Felline (Italy / Androni Giocattoli)ST

3.Giovanni Visconti (Italy / Movistar)

4.Rigoberto Uran (Colombia / Team Sky)

5.Arnold Jeannesson (France / FDJ)

6.Cadel Evans (Australia / BMC Racing)

7.Benat Intxausti (Spain / Movistar)

8.Ryder Hesjedal (Canada / Garmin)

9.Robert Kiserlovski (Croatia / RadioShack)

10. Luca Paolini (Italy / Katusha)

11. Tanel Kangert (Estonia / Astana)

12. Franco Pellizotti (Italy / Androni Giocattoli)

13. Vincenzo Nibali (Italy / Astana)

14. Samuel Sanchez (Spain / Euskaltel)

15. Mauro Santambrogio (Italy / Vini Fantini)

16. Giampaolo Caruso (Italy / Katusha)

17. Steven Kruijswijk (Netherlands / Blanco)

18. Robert Gesink (Netherlands / Blanco)

19. Carlos Betancur (Colombia / AG2R)

20. Wilco Kelderman (Netherlands / Blanco)

21. Michal Golas (Poland / Omega Pharma - Quick-Step)

22. Michele Scarponi (Italy / Lampre)

23. Ivan Santaromita (Italy / BMC Racing)

24. Danilo Di Luca (Italy / Vini Fantini)

25. Tom Danielson (U.S. / Garmin)

26. Przemyslaw Niemiec (Poland / Lampre)

27. Rafael Valls (Spain / Vacansoleil)

28. Diego Rosa (Italy / Androni Giocattoli)

29. Sergio Henao (Colombia / Team Sky)

30. Rafal Majka (Poland / Saxo - Tinkoff)

The Berman Law Firm is available to promote justice to any potential client injured in an auto accident. They are committed to the people of the state of Miami, Florida, and will travel whatever road necessary to achieve justice including courts, if necessary. They are dedicated to pursuing justice on their clients’ behalf and have won countless auto accident cases in the past. The goal of the Law Offices of Berman and Berman is to make available free consultation to the citizens of Miami, Florida, ensuring that people who would otherwise not be able to get legal advice or services, have expert legal representation.

The Berman Law Firm is qualified to handle various types of , as well as dealing with insurance companies. The attorneys specialize in major obstacles when collecting money for their clients’ damages.People who have been harmed in an automobile accident, please give a call to the Berman Law Group at 1-877-529-8995. They are available 24 hours a day and seven days a week to assist potential clients with any questions they may have.

The Berman Law groups has the resources necessary to reconstruct accident scenes to prove how the accident happened and what exactly caused their clients’ injuries.Providing , with offices conveniently located through the entire state, these attorneys are committed , who care for their clients and the community.

To learn more about The Berman Law group, call them locally at (305) 842-3160 or call their Florida hotline at 1-877-529-8995. Anyone interested can also visit their website atto fill out the consultation form and get a call back to discuss their options for justice.

Russell BermanThe Berman Law Group(877) 529-8995

The defendants said in court papers on Wednesday that before the IPO last May 18, Facebook had no obligation to publicly disclose internal projections on how increased mobile usage and product decisions might affect future revenue, even if it had provided the projections to its underwriters' analysts.

They said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has "consistently" refused to require issuers to publicly disclose all "material nonpublic information" that they share with analysts before an IPO, because of its potential negative impact on a company's ability to raise money.

"Plaintiffs would have this court impose - retroactively - a rule which the SEC has for decades thoughtfully rejected," the defendants said in papers filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. "This court should decline the invitation."

Among the defendants is Morgan Stanley, the lead underwriter of the IPO.

"There is no reasonable basis for dismissal," Max Berger, a partner at Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann representing pension fund and other investors that are collectively the lead plaintiffs, said in an email. "We will oppose the motion in due course."

The case before U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet consolidates 31 lawsuits over Facebook's IPO.

Sweet also oversees separate investor litigation against Nasdaq OMX Group Inc over allegations that orders to buy and sell Facebook shares were executed improperly on the first day of trading.

Facebook, based in Menlo Park, California, went public at $38 per share. Its share price rose as high as $45 on the first day, but quickly fell and remain below their offering price.

In Wednesday morning trading, Facebook shares were down 31 cents, or 1.1 percent, at $27.45 on the Nasdaq. Facebook is scheduled to report quarterly results after U.S. markets close on Wednesday.

The case is In re Facebook Inc IPO Securities and Derivative Litigation, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 12-md-02389.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Grant McCool)

The team announced the news late Monday night, long after Atlanta's game at Colorado was postponed because of snow and rescheduled as part of a split doubleheader Tuesday.

In a two-sentence press release, the Braves say Heyward had surgery Monday night at Rose Medical Center in Denver. There was no indication of how long he might be out of the lineup.

The 23-year-old slugger is off to a slow start this season, batting .121 with two homers and five RBIs. Still, the Braves have a 13-5 record that is tied with the Rockies for the best in baseball.