Susan Powell's Father-in-Law Secretly Took 4,500 Pictures of Her

12/07/2012 at 07:30 PM EST

Wrapping up a year that has brought unimaginable frustration and heartbreak, Susan Powell's family marked the three-year anniversary of her disappearance at a ceremony this week near where her two sons are buried.

"It's a hard time of year," Susan's father, Chuck Cox, tells PEOPLE. "Our daughter's still missing. Someday, we will find out what happened to her."

He added that he is not sure what to make of a West Valley City, Utah, police announcement Thursday that their investigation into Susan's Dec. 6, 2009 disappearance remains active but "has been scaled down," with a reduction in the number of full-time investigators working the case.

The announcement came at the same time that more evidence emerged of the alleged obsession Susan's father-in-law, Steven Powell, had toward her. Authorities released nearly 4,500 pictures that they say he secretly took of her at home and elsewhere.

Cox says he's hopeful that the police are still doing everything possible to solve Susan's case, but he hasn't ruled out suing the department for failing to arrest Susan's husband, Josh Powell, for her murder.

More than two years after Susan's disappearance, Josh on Feb. 5 murdered the couple's two sons and committed suicide by blowing up his house.

Cox's lawyer, Anne Bremner, says Cox "goes back and forth" over whether to sue West Valley City. "He wants them to find her. A lawsuit can have a chilling affect on things."

Cox and Bremner say they do plan to file a lawsuit against the state of Washington for continuing to give Josh visitation with his children despite what they claim were mounting concerns regarding his mental stability.

Although Cox and the police believe that Josh Powell knew more than anyone what happened to Susan, they also strongly suspect that his father, Steven Powell, should still be looked at more closely.

Steven Powell

Ted S. Warren / AP

The Coxes hoped Steve Powell's voyeurism trial in May would unearth some answers but it did not. Powell invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when asked in jail about Susan.

In numerous interviews with PEOPLE, Steve and Josh Powell denied any involvement in Susan's disappearance and have suggested that she ran off with another man.

Steve Powell was prosecuted for surreptitiously photographing his neighbor's young daughters (and is serving a 30-month sentence), but the investigation also unearthed journals in which Powell described his interest in his daughter-in-law, as well as the thousands of photos, which were released Thursday to the Associated Press.

In a journal entry, Steven Powell recalls a sexually charged dream in which Susan asks him, “Do you think I would make a good wife for you?” None of the pictures show Susan naked, although there are images of her crotch and backside.

"We think he knows exactly where our daughter is," Cox says.

Once Susan disappeared, Josh sold the family's home in Utah and moved with the boys into Steven Powell's house in Puyallup, Wash., only about two miles from the Cox family.

On Thursday, families streamed to Puyallup’s Woodbine Cemetery to remember the Powell boys and other children who died tragically and to dedicate a memorial: a bronze angel inspired by the novella The Christmas Box, in which strangers learn the value of love following a child’s death.

The novella's author, Richard Paul Evans, also attended the dedication. The memorial is on a hill overlooking the boys' gravesites 75 yards away.

"We get a lot of support from a lot of people and we're going to make it through," Cox says.

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Smokers celebrate as Wash. legalizes marijuana

SEATTLE (AP) — The crowds of happy people lighting joints under Seattle's Space Needle early Thursday morning with nary a police officer in sight bespoke the new reality: Marijuana is legal under Washington state law.

Hundreds gathered at Seattle Center for a New Year's Eve-style countdown to 12 a.m., when the legalization measure passed by voters last month took effect. When the clock struck, they cheered and sparked up in unison.

A few dozen people gathered on a sidewalk outside the north Seattle headquarters of the annual Hempfest celebration and did the same, offering joints to reporters and blowing smoke into television news cameras.

"I feel like a kid in a candy store!" shouted Hempfest volunteer Darby Hageman. "It's all becoming real now!"

Washington and Colorado became the first states to vote to decriminalize and regulate the possession of an ounce or less of marijuana by adults over 21. Both measures call for setting up state licensing schemes for pot growers, processors and retail stores. Colorado's law is set to take effect by Jan. 5.

Technically, Washington's new marijuana law still forbids smoking pot in public, which remains punishable by a fine, like drinking in public. But pot fans wanted a party, and Seattle police weren't about to write them any tickets.

In another sweeping change for Washington, Gov. Chris Gregoire on Wednesday signed into law a measure that legalizes same-sex marriage. The state joins several others that allow gay and lesbian couples to wed.

The mood was festive in Seattle as dozens of gay and lesbian couples got in line to pick up marriage licenses at the King County auditor's office early Thursday.

King County and Thurston County announced they would open their auditors' offices shortly after midnight Wednesday to accommodate those who wanted to be among the first to get their licenses.

Kelly Middleton and her partner Amanda Dollente got in line at 4 p.m. Wednesday.

Hours later, as the line grew, volunteers distributed roses and a group of men and women serenaded the waiting line to the tune of "Chapel of Love."

Because the state has a three-day waiting period, the earliest that weddings can take place is Sunday.

In dealing with marijuana, the Seattle Police Department told its 1,300 officers on Wednesday, just before legalization took hold, that until further notice they shall not issue citations for public marijuana use.

Officers will be advising people not to smoke in public, police spokesman Jonah Spangenthal-Lee wrote on the SPD Blotter. "The police department believes that, under state law, you may responsibly get baked, order some pizzas and enjoy a 'Lord of the Rings' marathon in the privacy of your own home, if you want to."

He offered a catchy new directive referring to the film "The Big Lebowski," popular with many marijuana fans: "The Dude abides, and says 'take it inside!'"

"This is a big day because all our lives we've been living under the iron curtain of prohibition," said Hempfest director Vivian McPeak. "The whole world sees that prohibition just took a body blow."

Washington's new law decriminalizes possession of up to an ounce for those over 21, but for now selling marijuana remains illegal. I-502 gives the state a year to come up with a system of state-licensed growers, processors and retail stores, with the marijuana taxed 25 percent at each stage. Analysts have estimated that a legal pot market could bring Washington hundreds of millions of dollars a year in new tax revenue for schools, health care and basic government functions.

But marijuana remains illegal under federal law. That means federal agents can still arrest people for it, and it's banned from federal properties, including military bases and national parks.

The Justice Department has not said whether it will sue to try to block the regulatory schemes in Washington and Colorado from taking effect.

"The department's responsibility to enforce the Controlled Substances Act remains unchanged," said a statement issued Wednesday by the Seattle U.S. attorney's office. "Neither states nor the executive branch can nullify a statute passed by Congress."

The legal question is whether the establishment of a regulated marijuana market would "frustrate the purpose" of the federal pot prohibition, and many constitutional law scholars say it very likely would.

That leaves the political question of whether the administration wants to try to block the regulatory system, even though it would remain legal to possess up to an ounce of marijuana.

Alison Holcomb is the drug policy director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington and served as the campaign manager for New Approach Washington, which led the legalization drive. She said the voters clearly showed they're done with marijuana prohibition.

"New Approach Washington sponsors and the ACLU look forward to working with state and federal officials and to ensure the law is fully and fairly implemented," she said.

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Johnson can be reached at https://twitter.com/GeneAPseattle

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After generations of failure, a school and its students head for success

I was prepared for the dog-and-pony show — the choreographed "reveal" of a school makeover that's been in the works for years.

I didn't expect much beyond a grown-up version of show-and-tell. But I came anyway because I have a soft spot for Jordan High in Watts.

I've spent a decade tracking the school's efforts to improve; watched reformers arrive with big plans and leave with broken dreams.

The school's problems, they'd say, are too deep and expensive to fix; too intertwined with a neighborhood that will always be warped by dysfunction and poverty.

But on Wednesday, state schools Supt. Tom Torlakson visited the school with certificates announcing its improvement. Jordan's 93-point jump on the state's academic performance index was the biggest of any urban high school in California this year.

That's why Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa showed up after working "56 hours straight" on trade missions and labor deals. "No way I'd miss this," he said. His Partnership for Los Angeles Schools is the architect of Jordan's reforms.

And it's why philanthropist Melanie Lundquist, whose $50-million contribution keeps the partnership going, showed up ready to celebrate the return on her investment in this city's struggling schools.

We spent the morning visiting classrooms, talking with teachers, oohing and aahing over pristine hallways and perfectly manicured grounds.

But what moved me most was what I heard from students on a campus that, for generations, hasn't been able to shake its "failure" label.

"It used to be 'Why are we here at Jordan?'," said one 12th-grade girl. We knew what she meant:

Their school was nothing but a holding pen. Their neighborhood had been written off. Their lives would never change.

That's how it was for years, she said. "Now everybody is seeing the change, in the school and the community."

::

I don't know that everybody is seeing a difference. "Change" here has been a popular but failed refrain.

Two years ago, the school was failing so persistently, it was essentially dissolved — reconstituted, in edu-speak. Its students and campus were divided between two groups, Green Dot Charter and the mayor's Partnership for Los Angeles Schools.

Both schools on the campus posted gains this year. But the partnership's jump — from 515 to 608 on the state's academic performance index — surprised even its most ardent supporters.

Still, 608 isn't scholar status; scores at the best public high schools are more than 200 points higher. And Jordan isn't out of the woods. Its enrollment dropped this fall, after a charter school with "college" in its name opened up nearby.

The students I talked with understand that Jordan's reputation may be its biggest hurdle. And they intend to change that by succeeding, returning as mentors and spreading the word.

"We know that we're the ones that have to make the difference," said senior Esmeralda Diaz. She was Student of the Month in her chemistry class — for her good work and for helping classmates with theirs.

She's not sold on all the changes at Jordan. She misses the pep rallies, the socializing, the school spirit that disappeared when her campus was divided in half and its student body shrunk.

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Netanyahu, in Germany, Defends Settlement Plans

BERLIN — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel gave no ground on Thursday over his plans to expand Jewish settlements, which have been widely criticized by European allies.

Pool photo by Michael Sohn

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed that Germany and Israel remained close friends despite their disagreement over Israeli settlements.

Speaking at a news conference here with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, Mr. Netanyahu said the 3,000 new homes planned for settlers represented “a consistent policy” that Israel would continue under any version of an eventual peace deal with the Palestinians.

Mr. Netanyahu repeatedly emphasized that Germany and Israel remained close friends despite their disagreement, and he thanked Ms. Merkel for her unstinting support during the latest Gaza conflict.

Asked whether Israel had “lost Europe,” Mr. Netanyahu said that was not the case, but he acknowledged, “There is obviously a difference of view in Europe on the issue of the settlements.”

Ms. Merkel concurred. “On the question of settlements, we agreed that we do not agree,” she said.

Mr. Netanyahu’s visit followed a vote last week by the United Nations General Assembly on upgrading the status of Palestinians to nonmember observer state, in which Germany joined 40 other nations in abstaining. Germany’s decision had no effect on the outcome, with 138 nations voting for the proposal and 9 voting against it, including Israel and the United States.

Israel announced the next day that the government had approved 3,000 more units of housing in contested areas of East Jerusalem and the West Bank and was resuming planning and zoning work in an area east of Jerusalem known as E1. The announcement was viewed as a reaction to the United Nations vote, and critics said future construction in E1, which lies between East Jerusalem and the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, could irreparably harm the chances for a viable, contiguous Palestinian state there.

Most countries regard any Israeli settlement beyond the 1967 boundaries as illegal under international law. So the 3,000 new units would produce criticism in any case. But the apparent threat to build on E1, however symbolic for now, struck a deeper chord of criticism.

Any expectations that Mr. Netanyahu would try to defuse the situation or at least play it down during his visit to Berlin were dashed Thursday when he brushed aside criticism.

The usually warm relations between Israel and Germany have been especially strained in recent days. Israel’s loss of support from Germany in the United Nations vote stung especially hard. German leaders have backed Israel for decades as amends for the Holocaust, whether that came in the form of diplomatic help or arms shipments. But as the Nazi era recedes into the past, Germans have proved increasingly willing to criticize Israel.

With parliamentary elections coming up next month in Israel, Mr. Netanyahu had a strong incentive to take a tough stand after the United Nations vote.

Mr. Netanyahu came to Germany with several ministers for regularly scheduled intergovernmental consultations. The themes of the meeting were supposed to be innovation, sustainability and education, but that was overshadowed at the news conference by talk of the settlement construction.

Referring to the “special relationship” between the two countries, Mr. Netanyahu said to Ms. Merkel, “I want to take this opportunity to make it absolutely clear that I have no doubt whatsoever about the depth of your commitment to Israel’s security and to the well-being of the Jewish state.”

Steven Erlanger contributed reporting from Jerusalem.

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The X Factor Reveals Its Four Semi-Finalists

TV Watch

The X Factor

By Aaron Parsley

12/06/2012 at 09:20 PM EST

There were tears on The X Factor Thursday night.

With only four spots in next week's semi-finals, the six acts who performed two songs each Wednesday night were a tense bunch. Especially after last week's shocking elimination that sent home fan favorite Vino Alan.

A majority of PEOPLE.com readers picked Demi Lovato's only remaining contestant, CeCe Frey, as the singer who most deserved elimination. Was she able to make it through one more week? Keep reading for all the results ...

CeCe Frey was the first to go.

"I'm proud of everything that I've done on this show," she said. "I hope I've taught everyone at home that you need to love who you are, because the more you love who you are, the less you're going to need anybody else to."

Her coach tried to avoid tears but shed a few anyway. "I've grown so close to you," Demi said. "And I'm just so proud of you."

Three acts were then declare safe: Simon Cowell's boy band, Emblem3; Britney Spears's frontrunner, Carly Rose Sonenclar; and L.A. Reid's country singer, Tate Stevens, also a frontrunner.

That left Team Britney's Diamond White and Simon's other group, Fifth Harmony, to sing for survival.

Fifth Harmony sang Mariah Carey's "Anytime You Need a Friend," and Diamond sang Lee Ann Womack's "I Hope You Dance."

As expected, Simon and Britney voted to send home each other's acts. But it was the end of the road for Diamond, after L.A. and Demi both voted to send her home as well.

"I'm just thinking of Cher Lloyd right now," she said of the "Want U Back" singer. "She came in fifth and look where she is."

Here's how the top four ranked:
1. Tate Stevens
2. Carly Rose Sonenclar
3. Emblem3
4. Fifth Harmony

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Celebrations planned as Wash. legalizes marijuana

SEATTLE (AP) — Legal marijuana possession becomes a reality under Washington state law on Thursday, and some people planned to celebrate the new law by breaking it.

Voters in Washington and Colorado last month made those the first states to decriminalize and regulate the recreational use of marijuana. Washington's law takes effect Thursday and allows adults to have up to an ounce of pot — but it bans public use of marijuana, which is punishable by a fine, just like drinking in public.

Nevertheless, some people planned to gather at 12:01 a.m. PST Thursday to smoke in public beneath Seattle's Space Needle. Others planned a midnight party outside the Seattle headquarters of Hempfest, the 21-year-old festival that attracts tens of thousands of pot fans every summer.

"This is a big day because all our lives we've been living under the iron curtain of prohibition," said Hempfest director Vivian McPeak. "The whole world sees that prohibition just took a body blow."

In another sweeping change for Washington, Gov. Chris Gregoire on Wednesday signed into law a measure that legalizes same-sex marriage. The state joins several others that allow gay and lesbian couples to wed.

That law also takes effect Thursday, when gay and lesbian couples can start picking up their wedding certificates and licenses at county auditors' offices. Those offices in King County, the state's largest and home to Seattle, and Thurston County, home to the state capital of Olympia, planned to open the earliest, at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, to start issuing marriage licenses. Because the state has a three-day waiting period, the earliest that weddings can take place is Sunday.

The Seattle Police Department provided this public marijuana use enforcement guidance to its officers via email Wednesday night: "Until further notice, officers shall not take any enforcement action — other than to issue a verbal warning — for a violation of Initiative 502."

Thanks to a 2003 law, marijuana enforcement remains the department's lowest priority. Even before I-502 passed on Nov. 6, police rarely busted people at Hempfest, despite widespread pot use, and the city attorney here doesn't prosecute people for having small amounts of marijuana.

Officers will be advising people to take their weed inside, police spokesman Jonah Spangenthal-Lee wrote on the SPD Blotter. "The police department believes that, under state law, you may responsibly get baked, order some pizzas and enjoy a 'Lord of the Rings' marathon in the privacy of your own home, if you want to."

Washington's new law decriminalizes possession of up to an ounce for those over 21, but for now selling marijuana remains illegal. I-502 gives the state a year to come up with a system of state-licensed growers, processors and retail stores, with the marijuana taxed 25 percent at each stage. Analysts have estimated that a legal pot market could bring Washington hundreds of millions of dollars a year in new tax revenue for schools, health care and basic government functions.

But marijuana remains illegal under federal law. That means federal agents can still arrest people for it, and it's banned from federal properties, including military bases and national parks.

The Justice Department has not said whether it will sue to try to block the regulatory schemes in Washington and Colorado from taking effect.

"The department's responsibility to enforce the Controlled Substances Act remains unchanged," said a statement issued Wednesday by the Seattle U.S. attorney's office. "Neither states nor the executive branch can nullify a statute passed by Congress" — a non-issue, since the measures passed in Washington and Colorado don't "nullify" federal law, which federal agents remain free to enforce.

The legal question is whether the establishment of a regulated marijuana market would "frustrate the purpose" of the federal pot prohibition, and many constitutional law scholars say it very likely would.

That leaves the political question of whether the administration wants to try to block the regulatory system, even though it would remain legal to possess up to an ounce of marijuana.

Colorado's measure, as far as decriminalizing possession goes, is set to take effect by Jan. 5. That state's regulatory scheme is due to be up and running by October 2013.

___(equals)

Johnson can be reached at https://twitter.com/GeneAPseattle

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An actor despairs in Tinseltown

Seth Burnham sat in a dim corner of Kaldi Coffee & Tea, clutching a mug as he tried to conjure some confidence.

Being here in L.A., I'm giving it everything, he thought.

But after three years of living in Los Angeles, he hadn't had a single role he could be proud of. In a cable TV comedy, he played Percy the Carjacker, a dimwit blown to shreds by an air hose. For an independent film, he had been the best friend of a beautiful woman — a role the script called Small Gay Man.

Hollywood is one big lottery. You have to play it if you want a career in movies or TV....You have to be here. You have to believe.

Sometimes that was tough. Take STARmeter, the entertainment insider's website that measures the popularity of Hollywood actors.

"I was No. 80,000," Burnham said, "for a while."

Frustrated and fatigued, he would retire to this worn, cave-like cafe in Atwater Village.

He had found his surrogate Los Angeles family here, a group of a dozen or so who eased his loneliness and shared his Hollywood ambition: Amy, the animator who had worked on "South Park," Nicholas, whose latest film was well received at the Sundance Film Festival, and Amad, a rising African American actor who worried about being typecast in criminal roles.

They stayed for hours, talking, typing, hunched hard over laptops, nursing lattes. They were actors, writers and directors; stragglers, success stories and hard-luck cases like Burnham.

Many days, he sat in a torn leather chair reading through newspapers and memorizing scripts. He seemed swallowed in the furniture — brown-haired, bearded, not much more than 5 feet tall, with worry lines marching from the corners of his eyes.

Time was against him. Asked his age back in February, Burnham paused. "Mid 30s-ish, early 40s-ish," he said.

Outside of the cafe, he had few Los Angeles friends. His wife, a medical student, moved to St. Louis last year for a residency, but he stayed here. They decided that if she was going to devote herself fully to her dream, then he would too.

But how much more rejection could he handle? And was the unrelenting struggle worth more to him than his marriage?

::

Since his college days in the early 1990s, the acting quest had taken Burnham to several cities. He lived in San Francisco and London, where he trained at a drama school in the classical English style and started a theater company. He lived in Portland, Ore., and Seattle, where he got good reviews for his role in a modern adaptation of Chekhov's "The Seagull."

Everywhere he put down roots he found a place like Kaldi. "The anti-Starbucks," he said. "Just my style."

In Los Angeles, he developed a cafe routine. Each morning, he awoke in his cramped apartment, fed kibbles to his cats, threw on his sneakers and walked across Glendale Boulevard.

He drank two iced coffees a day, no more. He couldn't afford more, not when he didn't have a job — he had to be free for auditions. He relied on credit cards and his wife's salary to pay his bills.

Burnham didn't want fame; he wanted to simply be a journeyman, a working actor, appreciated for his skill, making roughly the same yearly salary as a union electrician.

He sat in the cafe for entire mornings and sometimes entire days. "Wrestling demons," he said.

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Elisabeth Murdoch, 103, Matriarch of a Journalism Family

Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, the 103-year-old mother of the media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, the widow of an Australian newspaper baron and one of her nation’s most noted philanthropists, died on Wednesday at her estate near Melbourne.

Mr. Murdoch announced her death.

Elisabeth Joy Greene was just a teenager, a shy, obedient girl of privilege, rail thin and fashionably coiffed (though not long out of pigtails), when she was introduced to Keith Murdoch in 1927. He was 42, already a wealthy, famous and worldly newspaperman destined to become one of Australia’s foremost publishers. He had seen her debutante picture in a society magazine and had come courting.

Months later, in June 1928, they were married. She was 19. As a wedding present he gave her a sprawling estate at Langwarrin, near Australia’s southeast coast. They called it Cruden Farm, after the ancestral parish of his Scottish forebears, and it became the seat of Murdoch family life for generations.

There, while her husband amassed a newspaper and radio empire in Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane and became a political power broker, she gave birth to her four children: Helen in 1929, Rupert in 1931, Anne in 1936 and Janet in 1939.

She reared them with what she called “loving discipline,” to discourage materialism, especially in the headstrong Rupert. She sent him for eight years to Geelong Grammar, a boarding school near Melbourne that imposed a military regimen and canings. He was bullied and teased and became decidedly unhappy, but his mother was firm.

“I was never indulgent with them because my husband was inclined to be a bit indulgent, so I had to swing the other way,” she told Frances Jones last year. “They all grew up to appreciate my attitude about material things.”

She was also alert to her husband’s self-indulgences. During the Depression, when the Murdochs hired men desperate for work to build stables and other outbuildings at the farm, she was aghast when her husband drove up one day in a Rolls-Royce. She ordered him to return it.

And she herself was frugal. For decades, according to The Australian, a national broadsheet, she refused to have heating in the house, resisted hairdressers and one year gave up a trip abroad to pay for a pool in the garden. The newspaper said she preferred to spend money on the garden rather than herself.

Dame Elisabeth, who was styled Lady Elisabeth when her husband was knighted in 1933 and Dame Elisabeth when she was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1963, said her philanthropies were inspired by Sir Keith, a trustee of national museums and galleries. He died in 1952.

Although much of her husband’s wealth went for taxes, she inherited shares in his media company, News Limited, and its subsidiaries; a Melbourne magazine, and a newspaper in New South Wales. The Adelaide News and Sunday Mail went to her son, and became the foundations of his international media empire.

Dame Elisabeth gave millions to more than a hundred charities. Her beneficiaries included deaf children, epileptics, victims of mental illness and substance abuse, prison inmates and Melbourne institutions. These included the Royal Children’s Hospital, of which she was president from 1954 to 1965, the Australian Ballet and the Royal Botanic Gardens. Last year she greeted Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, at ceremonies to dedicate new facilities at the hospital.

At Cruden Farm, she developed a magnificent garden, with a lake and vistas of woodlands, lawns and beds of roses, irises and honeysuckles. Rows of lemon-scented eucalyptus lined the long, winding driveway like sentries. The garden became a centerpiece of her life — she worked on it for more than 80 years — and a treasure of landscape architecture, which she opened to the public.

In a life that spanned a century, Dame Elisabeth met and entertained royalty, prime ministers and presidents and many world leaders in business, entertainment and other fields. The house at Cruden Farm was comfortable, if not imposing, with white columns across the portico and an Australian flag flying from the roof. The public rooms were filled with photographs, mementos and old oak furniture.

She was a matriarch from a gentler age, speaking softly, keeping track of appointments in a small red leather diary, writing letters in her own hand, reading biographies voraciously, and each week playing bridge, calling it her secret vice. In 2009, her family and 500 guests attended her 100th birthday, and the Spanish tenor José Carreras performed eight songs.

Even after her centennial, Dame Elisabeth, alert and observant, kept up a busy schedule of meetings, charity functions and gardening chores. She got around with a walker and a wheelchair, and in the garden used an electric buggy driven by her gardener as they discussed what to trim, remove, plant or rearrange.

Elisabeth Joy Greene was born on Feb. 8, 1909, in Melbourne, the third daughter of Rupert and Marie Grace De Lancey Forth Greene. Her father was the wool expert of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency and the son of a Scottish railway engineer who had emigrated to Australia. Her mother, descended from Scottish and English forebears, was active in society and philanthropic circles.

She attended elite schools in the Melbourne area, St. Catherine’s in Toorak and Clyde in Woodend. While still a schoolgirl, she knitted woolen shirts for babies at the Melbourne Children’s Hospital and was rewarded with a tour. There she saw victims of abuse and neglect, and she was appalled. She volunteered to work one day a week at a free kindergarten for poor children. She said these early experiences were the seeds of her philanthropies after her marriage.

Dame Elisabeth’s oldest child, Helen Handbury, died in 2004. Besides her son Rupert, she is survived by her two other daughters, Anne Kantor and Janet Calvert-Jones, as well as many grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. A News Limited newspaper, The Courier-Mail of Brisbane, said she is survived by 77 direct descendants.

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U.S. agency backs Apple in essential patent battle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Google unit Motorola Mobility is not entitled to ask a court to stop the sale of Apple iPhones and iPads that it says infringe on a patent that is essential to wireless technology, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said on Wednesday.

In June, Judge Richard Posner in Chicago threw out cases that Motorola, now owned by Google, and Apple had filed against each other claiming patent infringement. Both companies appealed.

In rejecting the Google case, Posner barred the company from seeking to stop iPhone sales because the patent in question was a standard essential patent.

This means that Motorola Mobility had pledged to license it on fair and reasonable terms to other companies in exchange for having the technology adopted as a wireless industry standard.

Standard essential patents, or SEPs, are treated differently because they are critical to ensuring that devices made by different companies work together.

Google appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The FTC said in its court filing that Posner had ruled correctly.

The commission, which has previously argued against courts banning products because they infringe essential patents, reiterated that position on Wednesday.

“Patent hold-up risks harming competition, innovation, and consumers because it allows a patentee to be rewarded not based on the competitive value of its technology, but based on the infringer’s costs to switch to a non-infringing alternative when an injunction is issued,” the commission wrote in its brief.

The case is Apple Inc. and NeXT Software Inc. V. Motorola Inc. and Motorola Mobility Inc., in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, no. 2012-1548, 2012-1549.

(Reporting By Diane Bartz)

Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Kate Receives Hospital Visit from Pippa and James

12/05/2012 at 07:30 PM EST

James and Pippa Middleton

Alpha /Landov; Inset:Allpix/ plash News Online

The Duchess of Cambridge had more hospital visitors on Wednesday.

Just two days after husband Prince William, 30, was photographed leaving the King Edward VII Hospital in Central London where a pregnant Kate, 30, was admitted for hyperemesis gravidarum, her sister, Pippa Middleton, brother James and mom Carole (not pictured), also dropped by to keep the mom-to-be company.

Pippa was bundled up in a coat, sporting a tan-colored ensemble, while her brother was casually dressed in jeans and layered tops.

The Palace announced the Duchess's pregnancy Monday in a statement. "Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Cambridge is expecting a baby," it said. "The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales, The Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Harry and members of both families are delighted with the news."

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