National / International News

Twenty more areas of England are to be given greater independence from Whitehall under the "city deal" scheme, deputy PM Nick Clegg announces.

The Australian Broadcasting Corp. reports that the man identified as Ben Zygier "was arrested by his own spymasters after they believed he told Australia's domestic intelligence agency about every aspect of his work with the Israelis." Zygier apparently committed suicide in 2010 after 10 months in prison.

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Sam Warburton has applauded interim Wales coach Rob Howley's decision to name his team a week early for the Italy clash.

Students in 21 schools in Shanghai were ordered to stop wearing uniforms that were found to contain the dye. The incident is the latest in quality-related hazards in the country.

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Honoring past presidents by shopping is now American tradition, let's face it.  And merchandisers aren't shy about using Presidents Washington or Lincoln to hawk their wares. But there have to be legal issues surrounding the idea of plastering presidential images on everyday merchandise like coffee mugs or key chains. Right?

Mitch Stein is a New York attorney who specializes in intellectual property.  He says slapping a president's face on an ad for discounted mattresses is -- perfectly legal. Sort of.

This all stems from something called "the right of publicity." These are laws granted by states that give an individual the right to control their own image. And the longevity of those rights -- whether or not they last after death -- depend on the state in which the individual was living in when they died.

In California, the heirs of an individual have rights to the image for 70 years after death. In New York, rights end after death. Lincoln and Washington had passed away long before the right of publicity was adopted as law so their images are considered fair game (even expected).

But President Regan? He passed away in 2004 as a resident of California. His family will own the rights until 2074. So that "Ronald Reagan is my homeboy t-shirt" you can find on the web? President Regan's family probably didn't license that.

Political statements (as the t-shirt could be considered) and art are protected under the First Amendment. But what about coffee mugs and bobble heads? That's where it gets dicey.

"We know art on the one hand is protected. Probably coffee mugs are probably not protected but where that line falls in the middle is really something that the courts continue to try to sort out," says Stein.

But Stein says you don't often see the heirs of former presidents taking the makers of such items to court.  

Honoring past presidents by shopping is now American tradition, let's face it.  nd merchandisers aren't shy about using Presidents Washington or Lincoln to hawk their wares. Which got us wondering about the legalities of plastering presidential images on everyday merchandise like coffee mugs or key chains.

Mitch Stein is a New York attorney who specializes in intellectual property.  He says slapping a president's face on an ad for discounted mattresses is -- perfectly legal. Sort of.

This all stems from something called "the right of publicity." These are laws granted by states that give an individual the right to control their own image. And the longevity of those rights -- whether or not they last after death -- depend on the state in which the individual was living in when they died.

In California, the heirs of an individual have rights to the image for 70 years after death. In New York, rights end after death. Lincoln and Washington had passed away long before the right of publicity was adopted as law so their images are considered fair game (even expected).

But President Regan? He passed away in 2004 as a resident of California. His family will own the rights until 2074. So that "Ronald Reagan is my homeboy t-shirt" you can find on the web? President Regan's family probably didn't license that.

Political statements (as the t-shirt could be considered) and art are protected under the First Amendment. But what about coffee mugs and bobble heads? That's where it gets dicey.

"We know art on the one hand is protected. Probably coffee mugs are probably not protected but where that line falls in the middle is really something that the courts continue to try to sort out," says Stein.

But Stein says you don't often see the heirs of former presidents taking the makers of such items to court.  

If you want to get an idea of how serious Idaho is about its potatoes, you don't need to go to a farm. All you need is a busy street. Every standard-issue license plate in Idaho is emblazoned with the words "Famous Potatoes." So, it's no surprise that alarm bells went off in Idaho last month. That's when the state learned a Turkish company was trying to trademark the Idaho name.

"I think it's clear. They want to create a brand and they want to call it 'Idaho,'" says Patrick Kole. Kole handles legal affairs for the Idaho Potato Commission.

He says the trademark would mean if Idaho producers sell their potatoes in Turkey, they wouldn't be allowed to put the word Idaho on them. Kole worries the closely guarded phrase "Idaho potatoes" could become generic.  

"You can look at a lot of terms that historically were associated with places. Whether it's Brussels sprouts or cheddar -- because there's a village in England called Cheddar. Feta. These terms have become generic so that they're not capable of being protected any longer," says Kole.  

Kole points to the struggle of winemakers in Champagne, France to reclaim the exclusive rights to their name. The Idaho legislature is eager to pick the same fight. State Rep. Ken Andrus called the foreign trademark "alarming."

"To protect that good 'Idaho' label, something needs to be done," said Andrus.

The Idaho legislature unanimously passed a resolution against the Turkish trademark. But on the House floor, Phylis King, a Democrat from Boise, had a question.  

"Why do the people in Turkey think they can use the Idaho label? Why do they want to do that?" she asked.

Why, indeed. Let's ask someone who knows her Turkish.

"I'm just very puzzled," says Pelin Bacsi, who teaches Turkish language and literature at Portland State University.   

"'Idaho' itself doesn't mean anything in Turkish. And I've tried different variations on this. It's not even remotely Turkish," says Bacsi.

Basci says, in Turkey, Idaho and its potatoes don't really have a reputation to steal.

"Ordinary people on the street would not know anything about Idaho," says Bacsi.

For an answer, I turned to the Turkish agricultural company itself. It's called Beta Ziraat. After unanswered emails to the company and its attorney, I tried calling. I eventually reached a manager who didn't want to be identified on air. He says there's no real attachment to the word "Idaho" -- it's just, Turkish farmers like foreign sounding words.

The company plans to use the "Idaho" label to market its own brand of vegetable seeds. But he says Beta Ziraat has no intention of using the name on potatoes. According to the manager, Turkish patent authorities are already reconsidering the trademark because of the reaction in the U.S.  

Bob Cumbow is a trademark and copyright lawyer in Seattle. He says even if Idaho wins this round, the global economy is making it tougher for places with unique names to control their brand.

"Because the whole idea of having enforceable geographical indications is still in discussion and dispute. The standards are going vary from country to country and for that reason it's going to be hit or miss where you can enforce these," says Cumbow.  

So far, the state's Potato Commission has trademarked the name "Idaho" and phrases like "Grown in Idaho" in 10 countries. But that leaves out a lot of places -- including Turkey.

The Republican senator is a two-term governor who ran for Senate in 2007. He was President Bush's agriculture secretary. His term ends in 2014.

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Can investing in the arts kickstart the economy?

If you usually wait until April to file your taxes, you might want to hurry up — before identity thieves beat you to it. Using stolen names and Social Security numbers, these criminals file fake tax returns. This generates big, and fraudulent, refunds, before the real taxpayer gets around to filing.

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US fast-food chain Burger King says its Twitter account may have been hacked after its profile picture was changed to a McDonald's logo and offensive messages were posted.

More than a million industrial robots work in manufacturing plants all over the world already.  And they're getting smaller, cheaper and smarter all the time.   Christopher Mims has written an article for Quartz titled "How Robots are Eating the Last of America's—and the World's—Manufacturing Jobs." He begins by remembering the party at which he met Baxter, a robot made by Rethink Robotics.

Baxter, he says, can be programmed "drunk and one handed" (he tried). Mims says you can “literally grab its wrist and show it what to do." The robot also has humanoid features including expressive eyes on a touch-screen face.

Mims notes Baxter’s low cost. One Baxter robot is expected to cost about $20,000 -- a far cry from the $100,000 and up that most manufacturing robots cost now. The average American worker making minimum wage makes around $15,000. And while Baxter is "experimental," Mims calls it "a taste of things to come, although it's an awful lot closer than previous robots have been."

In the future, a factory filled with Baxters might only have a handful of humans to run the machines, especially those that require high precision work. And of course, people will need to build the robots. But Mims says, "not surprisingly, companies that make robots are sometimes the first to adopt automation as well."

The rise of automation means -- without a doubt -- manufacturing jobs for humans continue to fade away. But economists aren't quite sure what this will mean for the jobs market. Education seems key, but Mims says "you definitely have a problem of where do no or low-skilled workers go and that has a lot of economists worried."

In his article for Quartz, Mims also says automation, not off-shoring, is the biggest threat to American jobs in the future.  

Two Russian cities 1,000 kilometres apart are disputing the unofficial title of the coldest inhabited place on earth.

Since you asked, one brilliant tip jar strategy can be found at Rize Coffee in Midtown Manhattan. It's actually two tip jars. Lee Major is the manager.

"Every day we change what each jar says, so it's usually a choice between two different things, For example, today the choice was between coffee and sleep. When you make your tip, you choose by placing a dollar and voting for coffee or sleep, whichever you prefer," says Major.

As you can imagine, coming up with a choice every day -- "bourbon vs. scotch," "Knicks vs. Nets," "duck-billed platypus vs. the sloth" -- can be pretty tough. And over time, he's learned some things about what makes people tip. But maybe not what you'd expect.

"Although it's a fun game, I don't think it really affects the amount of total tips. At the end of the day, what increases tips is good service and a great product," says Major.

Of course, this one coffee shop is a pretty small sample size. It's probably worth looking into the larger research on tipping.So, I went to TippingResearch.com. That's where you'll find Michael Lynn, a professor at Cornell's School of hotel management.

"I don't know of any studies that look into the effect of tip jar messaging on tips. I can speculate," says Lynn.

Which is exactly what we'll do. Professor Lynn thinks the Rize Coffee "vote by tip" method is probably a good strategy.

"People find the opportunity to say something about themselves valuable. I would fully expect that would increase tips," says Lynn.

We go through a little list of tip jar messages that I've seen, and he tells me what she thinks.

The classic one that says, "barista college fund."

"Um, I don't think that's terribly clever, funny. I would doubt that it would have a big impact," says Lynn.

One that says, "Every time you don't tip, a child gets a mullet."

He pauses. "OK, and my guess is that's an attempt to be funny. It creates positive affect, and people in a good mood tip more. My guess is that it would work," says Lynn."It's a joke at the expense of people who have mullets."

One that just says, "Don't be a selfish bastard."

"People who feel guilt, social pressure, are more likely to leave a tip, but they leave smaller amounts... The biggest thing you can do to increase tips is literally to communicate: 'Hey, everyone else is doing it, and you should too.' And frankly, the easiest way to communicate that is not through a message on the jar, but by salting the jar, putting money in yourself," says Lynn.  

OK baristas, ball's in your court. Back at Rize Coffee, Lee Major is emptying the tip jar and counting the day's results for the showdown between coffee and sleep. Quarters, dollars, the occasional fiver.

"And that's it, coffee wins by a landslide," says Major.

"I guess that's a good thing, right? I mean, you are a coffee shop?" I ask.

"I guess so. Although me, personally, I drink a lot of coffee, but a good night's sleep is something very special," says Major.

Look, no matter your preference, to Lee, and his tip jar, every day is election day. And the important thing is that you vote.

Since you asked, one brilliant tip jar strategy can be found at Rize Coffee in Midtown Manhattan. It's actually two tip jars. Lee Major is the manager.

"Every day we change what each jar says, so it's usually a choice between two different things, For example, today the choice was between coffee and sleep. When you make your tip, you choose by placing a dollar and voting for coffee or sleep, whichever you prefer," says Major.

As you can imagine, coming up with a choice every day -- "bourbon vs. scotch," "Knicks vs. Nets," "duck-billed platypus vs. the sloth" -- can be pretty tough. And over time, he's learned some things about what makes people tip. But maybe not what you'd expect.

"Although it's a fun game, I don't think it really affects the amount of total tips. At the end of the day, what increases tips is good service and a great product," says Major.

Of course, this one coffee shop is a pretty small sample size. It's probably worth looking into the larger research on tipping.So, I went to TippingResearch.com. That's where you'll find Michael Lynn, a professor at Cornell's School of hotel management.

"I don't know of any studies that look into the effect of tip jar messaging on tips. I can speculate," says Lynn.

Which is exactly what we'll do. Professor Lynn thinks the Rize Coffee "vote by tip" method is probably a good strategy.

"People find the opportunity to say something about themselves valuable. I would fully expect that would increase tips," says Lynn.

We go through a little list of tip jar messages that I've seen, and he tells me what she thinks.

The classic one that says, "barista college fund."

"Um, I don't think that's terribly clever, funny. I would doubt that it would have a big impact," says Lynn.

One that says, "Every time you don't tip, a child gets a mullet."

He pauses. "OK, and my guess is that's an attempt to be funny. It creates positive affect, and people in a good mood tip more. My guess is that it would work," says Lynn."It's a joke at the expense of people who have mullets."

One that just says, "Don't be a selfish bastard."

"People who feel guilt, social pressure, are more likely to leave a tip, but they leave smaller amounts... The biggest thing you can do to increase tips is literally to communicate: 'Hey, everyone else is doing it, and you should too.' And frankly, the easiest way to communicate that is not through a message on the jar, but by salting the jar, putting money in yourself," says Lynn.  

OK baristas, ball's in your court. Back at Rize Coffee, Lee Major is emptying the tip jar and counting the day's results for the showdown between coffee and sleep. Quarters, dollars, the occasional fiver.

"And that's it, coffee wins by a landslide," says Major.

"I guess that's a good thing, right? I mean, you are a coffee shop?" I ask.

"I guess so. Although me, personally, I drink a lot of coffee, but a good night's sleep is something very special," says Major.

Look, no matter your preference, to Lee, and his tip jar, every day is election day. And the important thing is that you vote.

Images from day four of London Fashion Week

Great Britain's Laura Robson is knocked out in the first round of the Dubai Duty Free Championship by Yulia Putintseva.

It doesn’t seem fair, right? The U.S. Treasury gets to borrow money at about 2 percent interest these days. That’s latest yield on the 10-year Treasury note. When the government turns around and loans that money to college students, most of them are paying well over 6 percent interest. Meanwhile, the average fixed rate on a 30-year mortgage these days is just over 3.5 percent.

To understand why student borrowers pay so much more, I started with my go-to guy for all things financial aid, Mark Kantrowitz of FinAid.org. He says there are two big reasons federal student loans cost more than, say, a mortgage or car loan. Nobody checks your credit. And there’s no collateral.

“If you default on a federal education loan, they can’t repossess your education,” he says.

Other kinds of unsecured debt -- like credit cards -- usually cost much more, he says. “For someone with a typical credit pattern of a college graduate, we’re talking a 10, 11 percentage interest rate -- maybe even as high as 14 percent.”

Even at comparatively low rates, more people are defaulting on their education loans. And unlike other types of debt, you can’t escape student loans by filing for bankruptcy.

One youth advocacy group is pitching an idea to make it easier to pay them off -- a federal loan refinancing program.

“If you refinance loans down to 5 percent -- so just the loans that are above that -- that would save people about $14 billion in interest rate payments for this year alone,” says Tobin Van Ostern, deputy director of Campus Progress. It's part of the liberal Center for American Progress.

“It would be huge,” says Jennifer Belmont Jennings, an attorney in St. Louis. “For us, personally, it would just add a significant level of security to us.”

Belmont Jennings finished law school just as high-paying legal jobs seemed to evaporate. She owes about $170,000 in student loans, and says she could really use a few hundred extra dollars a month.

“Just from a spending standpoint of being able to do things, you know,” she says. “We bought a house several years later than we would have had we had that extra money.”

When they did buy a house, this year, they got a mortgage rate of 3.7 percent.

It is possible to refinance student loans -- privately. SoFi makes loans to students and graduates of certain colleges. The loans are funded by alumni of those schools. For a re-fi CEO Mike Cagney says the average borrower comes in with a rate of about 7.2 percent.

“We’re refinancing them into rates between 6 and 6.5,” he says. “And the borrower’s savings have been about $10,000 over the life of the loan.”

But to qualify you have to have gone to one of the 79 schools SoFi works with, like Carnegie Mellon or the University of Michigan. To refinance on a large scale, Cagney says, the federal government would need to step in.

Nigerian militant group Ansaru says it kidnapped seven foreign workers in a raid in the north of the country that saw a security guard killed.

A system of favors among Greek media outlets, politicians and banks helped produce one of the most inflated media sectors in Europe. But the media have been hit hard by the country's massive austerity drive, and have taken a huge loss in terms of credibility.

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