Archives - February, 2010



27 Feb 10

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cviy Apple readying MacBook makeover-_134

Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. Before joining CNET News in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers. E-mail Steven.


However, Apple typically unveils new or redesigned products at media events, but after the September 9 music event, Apple has no such events on the calendar for the rest of the year.

Is Apple giving its last remaining MacBook a makeover?

That move left many speculating on the lone remaining model’s chances of survival. But the MacBook remains very popular with consumers. AppleInsider notes that Apple’s online store says the white MacBook is the second best-selling model behind the iMac.

Apple’s 13-inch notebook in currently undergoing an industrial redesign that will also feature new internal architecture, according to a report on AppleInsider. The redesign, which would be the entry-level machine’s first overhaul in three years, is expected to be unveiled in the coming months, the site reported.



Indeed,Mac sales have been very impressive lately. Data provided by market research firm IDC showed the entire PC industry down more than 3 percent for April, May, and June, but Apple sold 4 percent more computers that quarter than it did during the same quarter in 2008. The company’s laptops were responsible for that surge: MacBook and MacBook Pro shipments were up 13 percent.

Apple readying MacBook makeover?

Apple is getting ready to introduce a slimmer, lighter MacBook, according to an Apple blog citing unnamed sources.

(Credit:CNET)

At its annual Worldwide Developer’s Conference in June, Apple introduced new versions of its 13- and 15-inch notebooks that use the same battery technology found in the 17-inch models. The rebranding of the 13-inch unibody MacBook to the MacBook Pro line left the polycarbonate white plastic casing as the only true “MacBook.”


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27 Feb 10

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4pcu Apple says it’s not to blame for ‘exploding’

France’s trade minister declined to comment on a meeting with Apple about an investigation that the country’s consumer protection agency is conducting into the reports, according to Bloomberg.



“The iPhones with broken glass that we have analyzed to date show that in all cases, the glass cracked due to an external force that was applied to the iPhone,” Apple said in a statement cited by the BBC.

However, after conducting an internal investigation into the cause of the broken touch-screen glass, Apple denies that there is an underlying iPhone flaw. In fact, Apple said that in all cases it investigated, some kind of force was applied to the iPhone, causing the glass to break, according to a BBC report Friday.

The investigation’s findings don’t mean much to France’s Frank Benoiton, a consumer who said his wife’s iPhone cracked, and it “was not dropped and experienced no unusual shock,” he told the Associated Press.

(Credit:Apple)

Jim Dalrymple has followed Apple and the Mac industry for the last 15 years, first as part of MacCentral and then in various positions at Macworld. Jim also writes about the professional audio market, examining the best ways to record music using a Macintosh. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. He currently runs The Loop. You can follow him on Twitter @jdalrymple.


As part of its investigation, Apple also looked into complaints of the iPhone battery overheating but again said it found no problems. “To date, there are no confirmed battery-overheating incidents for iPhone 3GS, and the number of reports we are investigating is in the single digits,” according to the statement.

The European Commission also issued a warning using its rapid-alert system, Rapex, which warns of dangerous consumer products.

Last Tuesday, in response to a European Commission investigation into accusations of overheating and exploding iPhones, Apple referred to its internal investigation, saying, “We are waiting to receive the iPhones from the customers.”

Apple says it's not to blame for 'exploding' iPhones

Apple’siPhone may be the darling of the mobile-phone industry right now, but some users in France aren’t singing its praises, claiming that the device explodes or cracks without warning.


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27 Feb 10

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0upe Apple Stock Price Hits Record_31

Apple Stock Price Hits Record

By Kelly Riddell and Nick Turner

Google (GOOG), based in Mountain View, California, rose $4.39 to $622.87 on the Nasdaq. The shares have doubled this year.

The 51 percent increase in downloads compares with 22 percent for Android, Flurry said. Downloads for the iPod Touch, a device that offers many of the iPhone’s features without the phone, soared more than 1,000 percent on Christmas Day, compared with previous Fridays in December.

‘Staggering Rates’

"Apple downloads continue to grow at staggering rates," said Peter Farago, a spokesman for San Francisco-based Flurry. "IPod Touch devices must have flooded the market over Christmas."

The download volume for Apple is more than 13 times larger than for Android, according to Flurry data. Android application downloads increased 93 percent on Christmas Day.



Apple rose $2.57, or 1.2 percent, marking the sixth straight day of increases. The shares have more than doubled this year, compared with a 61 percent rise for the S&P 500 information-technology index.

(Bloomberg) — Apple Inc. (AAPL), maker of the iPhone and Macintosh computer, climbed to a record $211.61 on the Nasdaq Stock Market today, following a report that sales of its devices may have surged over the Christmas holiday.


Software downloads for Apple’s devices grew 51 percent in December from the previous month, according to research firm Flurry Inc. That signals that sales of the iPhone and iPod Touch jumped during the holiday season. The iPhone has less than 1 percent of the total global market, giving it plenty of room to grow, said Brian Marshall, an analyst at Broadpoint AmTech Inc. in San Francisco.

Apple, based in Cupertino, California, offers more than 100,000 applications on its iTunes online store, giving its phones and media players an edge over rivals. Google Inc., whose Android operating system runs phones made by Motorola Inc. (MOT) and HTC Corp., has about 12,000 applications.

"Despite the enormous success of the iPhone since inception in July ’07, we strongly believe the device is still in its infancy," he said today in a report. Marshall, who recommends buying Apple stock, expects the shares to reach $260 within the next year.


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27 Feb 10

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Xmyx Apple updates Safari, AirPort, and Multi-Touc

Safari 4.0.3 comes just six days after Apple released an upgrade for Safari 4.0.2 as part of its Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.8 update, indicating fixes were not implemented in the previous version or problems were caused by its release.

Apple updates Safari, AirPort, and Multi-Touch

It was a busy Tuesday for Apple’s software team. The company released updates for itsSafari Web browser, its wireless AirPort client, and the Multi-Touch trackpad for users who have Windows installed on theirMac.

(Credit:Apple)

The AirPort client update is recommended for users of 13-inch MacBooks from late 2007 and 2008, 15-inch MacBook Pros from 2008, and 17-inch MacBook Pros from 2008. Again indicating the problem was caused by Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.8, the update is only required for those computers with the newest operating system.

Jim Dalrymple has followed Apple and the Mac industry for the last 15 years, first as part of MacCentral and then in various positions at Macworld. Jim also writes about the professional audio market, examining the best ways to record music using a Macintosh. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. He currently runs The Loop. You can follow him on Twitter @jdalrymple.


Among the changes in Safari 4.0.3 are several stability improvements, including enhancements for Web pages that use the HTML 5 video tag, third-party plug-ins, and Safari’s Top Sites feature. The update also corrected a problem that prevented some users from being able to log in to iWork.com and fixed an issue that caused some Web content to be displayed in grayscale.

The final update, Multi-Touch Trackpad Update 1.1 for Windows, is for users who installed Windows XP or Vista on their Mac using Boot Camp. The update, according to Apple, improves performance of the multitouch trackpad.



Several of the changes in Safari affect the security of the application, and are fixes for flaws that could allow hackers to execute code on the user’s machine.


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27 Feb 10

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Vqsn Apple fixes hole with Mac OS X image viewing_



Apple fixes hole with Mac OS X image viewing

Apple on Wednesday issued a security update that fixes 18 vulnerabilities including several that put computers runningMac OS X at risk of remote code execution if a maliciously crafted image is viewed.

The update, which arrives as part of the release of Mac OS X v10.5.8, extends the list of content types the Mac OS X will flag as potentially unsafe when downloaded from the Web. It also fixes a problem with how XML content is handled and resolves the way the kernel handles AppleTalk response packets.

Apple also identified and fixed a problem with MobileMe. Signing out of MobileMe does not remove all credentials and a person with access to the local user account could continue to access associated systems.

Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service, and the Associated Press. E-mail Elinor.


In addition to fixing a problem with how PNG images are handled, Security Update 2009-003 fixes issues related to ImageIO’s handling of OpenEXR images, EXIF metadata, as well as Canon RAW images and images with an embedded ColorSync profile.


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27 Feb 10

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Uhty Apple breaks App Store silence_627

Perhaps now that the FCC is taking a closer look at the Google Voice debacle, Apple will now start to finally give developers and iPhone users some specific input on the criteria it uses to approve or deny iPhone applications. To this point, the process has been a black box, frustrating developers time and time again.

Apple breaks App Store silence

In an extremely rare move, an Apple executive has publicly commented on the App Store approval process as it relates to a controversial dictionary application.

But while the debate over Ninjawords will rage on, what’s perhaps most significant is that Apple has directly commented on its decision-making process regarding the approval or rejection of a specific iPhone application. As far as I can tell, Apple has never done this in the year-plus history of the App Store, with the notable exception of Baby Shaker. But even then, Apple didn’t explain the reasoning behind its decision to approve an application it eventually called “deeply offensive.”

(Credit:James Martin/CNET)

The developer of Ninjawords isn’t exactly mollified by Apple’s reasoning. “Apple may slap a 17+ rating on our app and wash their hands, saying ‘you’re not required to censor your app’, but at the same time, they’re putting a great deal of pressure on us to do so. Who wants to be the only illicit dictionary on the App Store?” said Phil Crosby of Matchstick, which created the application. Crosby and Gruber noted that several other dictionaries in the App Store contain language that some may find objectionable yet are not required to carry the equivalent of an R movie rating.

Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Internet search, including Google, Yahoo, online advertising, and portals, as well as the evolution of mobile computing. He has written about traditional PC companies, chip manufacturers, and mobile computers, spending the last three years covering Apple. E-mail Tom.


Gruber credited Apple with perhaps waking up to the reality that at some point, the App Store approval process went off the rails. “That Schiller was willing to respond in such detail and length, on the record, is the first proof I’ve seen that Apple’s leadership is trying to make the course correction that many of us see as necessary for the long-term success of the platform. The improvement I consider most important is a significant focus on fairness, consistency, and common sense in the App Store review process,” he wrote.



Apple’s Phil Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide marketing and last seen playing the role of Steve Jobs at Apple events this year, e-mailed John Gruber of Daring Fireball to comment on the approval process of Ninjawords, a dictionary application that was initially rejected from the App Store because it supplied the definition of several dirty words. Schiller blamed the snafu on poor timing, saying that Apple never directly censored the application but felt it deserved a 17+ rating, which wasn’t formally available as an option until parental controls were released along with the iPhone 3.0 software in June.

Ninjawords draws on Wiktionary.com for its definitions, Schiller said, which means it offers up a few more choice words than the folks at the Oxford English Dictionary have gotten around to including. “Apple rejected the initial submission of Ninjawords for this reason, provided the Ninjawords developer with information about some of the vulgar terms, and suggested to the developer that they resubmit the application for approval once parental controls were implemented on theiPhone,” Schiller told Gruber via e-mail.

Apple's Phil Schiller, seen here at Macworld in January, commented on the App Store approval process this week–a move that seems to be unprecedented.


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27 Feb 10

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oqrz AOL- We’ve Got Garlinghouse_163

On Sept. 8, AOL said Garlinghouse would head its Internet and mobile communications division, which includes e-mail and instant messaging products. The hire comes as AOL prepares to be spun out from its corporate parent Time Warner (TWX) later this year—and as freshly minted Chief Executive Tim Armstrong leads an effort to trim costs and home in on what AOL does best, including display advertising. Garlinghouse, who most recently served as an adviser to venture capital firm Silver Lake Partners, will likely play a key role in helping Armstrong forge alliances and make acquisitions, while deemphasizing or even spinning off noncore businesses.

Similarly at AOL, enhancing focus on some products may come at the expense of other units. "There are areas where we will need to invest further, there are areas we will certainly need to reevaluate," Garlinghouse says. Look for some of the biggest changes at AOL Ventures, the unit the company created for businesses that seek venture investment, and which now owns social networking site Bebo and video search engine Truveo. Garlinghouse’s responsibilities will include acting as the West Coast head of AOL Ventures. While he admits some of these businesses may be sold or spun off, he says the unit will allow many of them "comfortable ways to grow in some ways distinct from the mother ship, AOL." He didn’t say which companies may be restructured.

The former Yahoo exec also gained props for helping the company pick winners from among existing businesses. In 2007, Garlinghouse helped convince Yahoo to give up its photo service and instead focus on Flickr, says former Yahoo executive Jeff Bonforte. "It was like him living the ‘Peanut Butter Manifesto,’" Bonforte says. Flickr is one of the most widely used photo-sharing services.

On his first day at the new job, Garlinghouse wouldn’t rule out acquisitions, though he said he’s not planning a shopping spree. "If there are attractive opportunities, we’ll look at those," he says. It’s about time AOL looks for ways to update its communication tools, says Colin Sebastian, an analyst at Lazard Capital Markets. "The way people communicate changes very quickly—Twitter and Facebook are clear examples of that in recent history," Sebastian says. "AOL seems to still have more of a foot in the past than in the future."

Responsibilities at AOL Ventures, Too

Garlinghouse has experience bringing outside services into the fold. In 2004 he led Yahoo’s $30 million acquisition of e-mail service Oddpost. "That was something that jump-started Yahoo’s growth in e-mail," Garlinghouse says. He was also involved in the company’s 2007 acquisition of Zimbra.

One of his main approaches will be collaborating with—and potentially acquiring—other players in Internet communication. "You are seeing the Twitters of the world and the Facebook updates of the world changing the dynamics of online communication," Garlinghouse says. "I definitely come to the table thinking about, ‘How do we collaborate in this ecosystem?’" In recent weeks, AOL Instant Messenger began letting users update their Facebook and Twitter pages directly from its desktop client.



AOL: We've Got Garlinghouse

Former Yahoo! executive Brad Garlinghouse earned notoriety in 2006 when he sent a scathing memo to the company’s top brass. In what came to be known as the "Peanut Butter Manifesto," Garlinghouse said Yahoo (YHOO) had spread itself too thinly across many businesses. Now Garlinghouse is headed to another company that needs to improve its focus.


Garlinghouse is the latest in a series of outside hires for CEO Armstrong, who himself came from Google (GOOG) in March. Last month, Armstrong named fellow Google alum Jeff Levick as AOL’s new head of sales, Patch Media’s Jon Brod as head of AOL Ventures, and Time Warner Cable (TWC) executive Artie Minson as his new chief financial officer.

AOL: "More of a Foot in the Past"

In some ways, the biggest challenges facing Garlinghouse at AOL are of his own making. At Yahoo, he led the effort that put Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Messenger ahead of AOL Mail and AOL Instant Messenger in terms of U.S. visitors. In July, Yahoo’s e-mail service had more than 106 million unique visitors, almost three times the tally for AOL, according to comScore (SCOR). Now he’s determined to revive the flagging properties at AOL. "I’m a very competitive person," Garlinghouse tells BusinessWeek. "I’m here to win and if I didn’t think there was a chance [of beating Yahoo in e-mail and IM], I would not have joined."


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27 Feb 10

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Wpwj Ancestry.com files for IPO_711

With almost 1 million customers, Ancestry.com relies on paying subscribers rather than advertising to bring in the cash.

Ancestry.com’s foray into the public arena comes at a time when funding from venture capitalists to start-ups and IPOs is down. The company is hoping its past growth and success will help it buck the trend.



Profits have risen steadily over the past couple of years. For the first six months of 2009, Ancestry.com took in earnings of $8.18 million on sales of $99.9 million, according to its SEC filing. Those results compare with earnings of $1.24 million on sales of $87.4 million for the first six months of 2008.

As a genealogy site, Ancestry.com enables people to research their family history to find out who their ancestors were and how their family tree blossomed. The company started life in 1983 as a book publisher and then jumped online in 1997.

Ancestry.com is run by a firm previously known as The Generations Network, which changed its own name in early July to Ancestry.com to capitalize on the brand name. The majority of the company is owned by Spectrum Equity Investors, a communications business that paid around $300 million in 2007 for a 67 percent stake. Underwriters for the IPO are Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Clarification, Wednesday 5:07 a.m. PDT:The headline on this story has been changed from the original to avoid confusion.

Ancestry.com files for IPO

Popular genealogy site Ancestry.com is going public, hoping to raise around $75 million, according to its SEC filing for an initial public offering submitted Monday.

Lance Whitney wears a few different technology hats–journalist, Web developer, and software trainer. He’s a contributing editor for Microsoft TechNet Magazine and writes for other computer publications and Web sites. You can follow Lance on Twitter at @lancewhit. Lance is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and he is not an employee of CNET.



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27 Feb 10

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Hzxm AmEx Presale Tickets for AMERICAN IDIOT Now A



“Experiencing American Idiot on stage in Berkeley was incredible,” says Billie Joe Armstrong. “We have really enjoyed working with Michael, Steven, Tom and the cast. The energy and chemistry of the group is contagious. Michael Mayer was able to bring life to the characters of American Idiot and Tom Kitt’s musical arrangements are breathtaking. We’re so proud that the show is coming to Broadway!”


Based on the Reprise Records Grammy® Award-winning album of the same name, AMERICAN IDIOT features the music of Green Day and the lyrics of its lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong. The show is directed by Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening), who also collaborated with Armstrong on the book, and choreographed by Olivier Award-winning Steven Hoggett (Blackwatch). The Tony-winning composer Tom Kitt (Next to Normal) is the music supervisor, orchestrator and music arranger. In addition, Kitt also provided string arrangements for Green Day’s latest album 21st Century Breakdown.

Tickets for the Broadway run of AMERICAN IDIOT are now available exclusively to American Express card holders. Tickets will go on sale to the general public on February 14th. AMERICAN IDIOT will begin previews on Wednesday, March 24, 2010 and open on Broadway Tuesday, April 20, 2010 at the ST. James Theatre.

AMERICAN IDIOT follows working-class characters from the suburbs to the city to the Middle East, as they seek redemption in a world filled with frustration – an exhilarating journey borne along by Green Day’s electrifying songs. This high-octane show includes every song from the album, as well as several new songs from 21st Century Breakdown. Green Day won two Grammys ®- Best Rock Album and Record of the Year – for its multi-platinum American Idiot, which sold more than 12 million copies worldwide. Now the band brings this explosive album to the stage with the director of Spring Awakening, which won eight Tony Awards in 2007.

The limited engagement of AMERICAN IDIOT at Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theatre began previews on September 4, 2009, opened on September 16, 2009, extended twice and played its final performance on Sunday, November 15, 2009. AMERICAN IDIOT’s record breaking run brought in the biggest advance sale in the Theatre’s 41-year history, the biggest day at the box office, 17 of the top 20 days ever and due to ticket demand had to announce the first extension before it had played its first performance.

The show features scenic design by Tony-nominee Christine Jones (Spring Awakening), costume design by Baryshnikov fellow Andrea Lauer (The Butcher of Baraboo), lighting design by two-time Tony-winner Kevin Adams (Hair), Sound design by Obie Award-winner Brian Ronan (Cabaret), as well as video design by Darrel Maloney.

The cast of AMERICAN IDIOT collaborated with Green Day to record a new version of the hit single “21 Guns.” Produced by the band’s singer and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, the track was released by Reprise Records on December 22, 2009 for purchase through all digital retailers. “21 Guns” is the second single from Green Day’s gold album 21st Century Breakdown. The digital version of the track has gone platinum, selling more than one million downloads, earned 2010 Grammy® Nominations for “Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals” and “Best Rock Song”, while the video won three 2009 MTV Video Music Awards in September, including “Best Rock Video.”

Michael Mayer comments, “Green Day’s iconic album is one of the most brutally honest, eloquent, and poetically theatrical responses to the post 9/11 world that I have encountered. I hear in these amazing songs the frustration and anger and dreams of a lost generation of Americans. Collaborating with Billie Joe and the band has been a mind-blowing thrill from day one.”

AmEx Presale Tickets for AMERICAN IDIOT Now Available

Related Links Full Cast Announced for AMERICAN IDIOT; Cast to Appear on Grammy Awards STAGE TUBE: A Look Back at the Berkeley Rep Production of AMERICAN IDIOT AMERICAN IDIOT Moves To Broadway; Opens at St. James Theatre April 20, 2010 Cast of AMERICAN IDIOT Featured On Green Day’s New Version of Their Single ’21 Guns’

Purchase TicketsAmerican Idiot On BWW.TV

AMERICAN IDIOT will be produced on Broadway in association with Berkeley Repertory Theatre.For more information, visit www.AmericanIdiotOnBroadway.com.

“American Idiot is that rare and tricky creature, a true rock opera,” says Charles Isherwood of The New York Times. “Directed with polish and precision by Michael Mayer, American Idiot has its own voice: bitter and melancholy, attuned to an era more doubting than hopeful. Perhaps most strongly – and promisingly? – the show’s story of young men on a confused search for themselves during a time of changing social mores and foreign wars recalls Hair, the musical about the make-love-not-war generation. (Both musicals also do most of their storytelling in song.) Mournful as it is about the prospects of 21st-century Americans, the show possesses a stimulating energy and a vision of wasted youth that holds us in its grip.”


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27 Feb 10

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Gftn Anti-India protest erupts in Kashmir_331

Since 1989, more than a dozen rebel groups have fought Indian rule in the Himalayan region, split between India and Pakistan and claimed by both in its entirety.

More than 68,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the conflict.


Also on Sunday, security forces recovered a large quantity of arms and ammunition hidden in two empty plastic water tanks in an orchard in Mamoosa, a village nearly 45km northwest of Srinagar, said Farooq Ahmed, a top police officer.

Anti-India protest erupts in Kashmir
January 25, 2010

AP



Chanting “Down with India” and “We want freedom”, the protesters blocked a highway passing through Kalampora, a village 35km south of Srinagar, as they waited on Sunday for authorities to hand over Mir’s body, said police officer Farooq Ahmed. Srinagar is the main city in the Indian portion of Kashmir.

Colonel Vineet Sood, an army officer, denied the protesters’ accusation and said Mir was hit by bullets when suspected rebels fired at Indian soldiers.

Anti-India sentiment runs deep in Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state, where most people favour independence from Hindu-majority India or merger with mostly Muslim Pakistan.

A local resident, Shabir Ahmed, said on Sunday army soldiers fatally shot local businessman Mushtaq Ahmed Mir during Saturday’s search operation.

“It’s a major seizure in several years,” he said.

The seizure included one machine gun, 200 grenades, 10kg of explosives, including RDX, more than 2,000 bullets, four wireless radio sets and hundreds of improvised explosive device connectors, Ahmed told AP.


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