Sunday, June 30, 2013

Obama: Make climate change a must for your vote

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama is urging Americans to make climate change a political litmus test, asking them to declare they won't vote for any politicians who don't protect future generations from environmental devastation.

Obama says Americans are already paying the price for climate change, including in lost lives and hundreds of billions of dollars. He says America will be judged as a people and a nation by how it responds.

"If you agree with me, I'll need you to act," Obama says, appealing to Americans to spread the word to their family, friends and classmates. "Remind everyone who represents you, at every level of government, that there is no contradiction between a sound environment and a strong economy ? and that sheltering future generations against the ravages of climate change is a prerequisite for your vote."

Obama's remarks in his weekly radio and Internet address, released Saturday but recorded at the White House prior to the start of Obama's weeklong trip to Africa, marks the start of a new phase for Obama's efforts on climate change: convincing the public to sell it for him.

Obama last week unveiled a national plan to combat climate change and prepare for its effects, bypassing Congress after years of frustrated efforts to get lawmakers to pass legislation to deal with the issue. At the core of Obama's plan are new controls on new and existing power plants that emit carbon dioxide ? heat-trapping gases blamed for global warming. The program also will boost renewable energy production on federal lands, increase efficiency standards and prepare communities to deal with higher temperatures.

None of the measures in Obama's plan require Congress to act ? a consideration that liberates the president but also poses risks if it's perceived as executive overreach. Republicans and some Democrats have already denounced the plan as a job-killing "war on coal," and opponents could try to undercut Obama's plan or hinder it through legal action if Americans don't seem to be on board.

"The question is not whether we need to act. The question is whether we will have the courage to act before it's too late," Obama says.

In the Republican address, Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas says there are troubling, unanswered questions about the implementation of Obama's health care law.

"We must put an end to the fear and uncertainty," Roberts says. "Those 'bumps' and 'glitches' the president talks about? It's a train wreck, folks, and we have to get America out of the way."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-climate-change-must-vote-100111195.html

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Is it possible to swap the 3.0 out of my 07 ford taurus into my 98 ford ranger with he 2.5l 5 speed?

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Source: http://answers.edmunds.com/question-Is-swap-3-0-07-ford-taurus-98-ford-ranger-2-5l-5-speed-174976.aspx

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Saturday, June 29, 2013

New Relic Teams With Microsoft To Offer Performance Monitoring On Windows Azure

new relic logoNew Relic and Microsoft will offer performance anaytics to gain insight into the performance of native apps and websites running on Windows Azure. The company already provides app performance for the Windows Azure services and solutions. These include?Windows Azure Virtual Machines,?Windows Azure Cloud Services, Web and Worker Role Instances. They also offer integration with?Windows Azure SQL Database, which is available as a plugin to send data to the New Relic Platform.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Cv5FDOvxpis/

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Friday, June 28, 2013

Violent birth of neutron stars: Computer simulations confirm sloshing and spiral motions as stellar matter falls inward

June 27, 2013 ? A team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics conducted the most expensive and most elaborate computer simulations so far to study the formation of neutron stars at the center of collapsing stars with unprecedented accuracy. These worldwide first three-dimensional models with a detailed treatment of all important physical effects confirm that extremely violent, hugely asymmetric sloshing and spiral motions occur when the stellar matter falls towards the center. The results of the simulations thus lend support to basic perceptions of the dynamical processes that are involved when a star explodes as supernova.

Stars with more than eight to ten times the mass of our Sun end their lives in a gigantic explosion, in which the stellar gas is expelled into the surrounding space with enormous power. Such supernovae belong to the most energetic and brightest phenomena in the universe and can outshine a whole galaxy for weeks. They are the cosmic origin of chemical elements like carbon, oxygen, silicon, and iron, of which Earth and our bodies are made of, and which are bred in massive stars over millions of years or freshly fused in the stellar explosion.

Supernovae are also the birth places of neutron stars, those extraordinarily exotic, compact stellar remnants, in which about 1.5 times the mass of our Sun is compressed to a sphere with the diameter of Munich. This happens within fractions of a second when the stellar core implodes due to the strong gravity of its own mass. The catastrophic collapse is stopped only when the density of atomic nuclei -- gargantuan 300 million tons in a sugar cube -- is exceeded.

What, however, causes the disruption of the star? How can the implosion of the stellar core be reversed to an explosion? The exact processes are still a matter of intense research. According to the most widely favored scenario, neutrinos, mysterious elementary particles, play a crucial role. These neutrinos are produced and radiated in tremendous numbers at the extreme temperatures and densities in the collapsing stellar core and nascent neutron star. Like the thermal radiation of a heater they heat the gas surrounding the hot neutron star and thus could "ignite" the explosion. In this scenario the neutrinos pump energy into the stellar gas and build up pressure until a shock wave is accelerated to disrupt the star in a supernova. But does this theoretical idea really work? Is it the explanation of the still enigmatic mechanism driving the explosion?

Unfortunately (or luckily!) the processes in the center of exploding stars cannot be reproduced in the laboratory and many solar masses of intransparent stellar gas obscure our view into the deep interior of supernovae. Research is therefore strongly dependent on most sophisticated and challenging computer simulations, in which the complex mathematical equations are solved that describe the motion of the stellar gas and the physical processes that occur at the extreme conditions in the collapsing stellar core. For this task the most powerful existing supercomputers are used, but still it has been possible to conduct such calculations only with radical and crude simplifications until recently. If, for example, the crucial effects of neutrinos were included in some detailed treatment, the computer simulations could only be performed in two dimensions, which means that the star in the models was assumed to have an artificial rotational symmetry around an axis.

Thanks to support from the Rechenzentrum Garching (RZG) in developing a particularly efficient and fast computer program, access to most powerful supercomputers, and a computer time award of nearly 150 million processor hours, which is the greatest contingent so far granted by the "Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE)" initiative of the European Union, the team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (MPA) in Garching could now for the first time simulate the processes in collapsing stars in three dimensions and with a sophisticated description of all relevant physics.

"For this purpose we used nearly 16,000 processor cores in parallel mode, but still a single model run took about 4.5 months of continuous computing," says PhD student Florian Hanke, who performed the simulations. Only two computing centers in Europe were able to provide sufficiently powerful machines for such long periods of time, namely CURIE at Tr?s Grand Centre de calcul (TGCC) du CEA near Paris and SuperMUC at the Leibniz-Rechenzentrum (LRZ) in Munich/Garching.

Many Terabytes of simulation data (1 Terabyte are thousand billion bytes) had to be analysed and visualized before the researchers could grasp the essence of their model runs. What they saw caused excitement as well as astonishment. The stellar gas did not only exhibit the violent bubbling and seething with the characteristic rising mushroom-like plumes driven by neutrino heating in close similarity to what can be observed in boiling water. (This process is called convection.) The scientists also found powerful, large sloshing motions, which temporarily switch over to rapid, strong rotational motions. Such a behavior had been known before and had been named "Standing Accretion Shock Instability," or SASI. This term expresses the fact that the initial sphericity of the supernova shock wave is spontaneously broken, because the shock develops large-amplitude, pulsating asymmetries by the oscillatory growth of initially small, random seed perturbations. So far, however, this had been found only in simplified and incomplete model simulations.

"My colleague Thierry Foglizzo at the Service d' Astrophysique des CEA-Saclay near Paris has obtained a detailed understanding of the growth conditions of this instability," explains Hans-Thomas Janka, the head of the research team. "He has constructed an experiment, in which a hydraulic jump in a circular water flow exhibits pulsational asymmetries in close analogy to the shock front in the collapsing matter of the supernova core." This phenomenon was named "SWASI" ("Shallow Water Analogue of Shock Instability") and allows one to demonstrate dynamical processes in the deep interior of a dying star by a relatively simple and inexpensive experimental setup of table size, of course without accounting for the important effects of neutrino heating. For this reason many astrophysicists had been sceptical that this instability indeed occurs in collapsing stars.

The Garching team could now demonstrate for the first time unambiguously that the SASI also plays an important role in the so far most realistic computer models. "It does not only govern the mass motions in the supernova core but it also imposes characteristic signatures on the neutrino and gravitational-wave emission, which will be measurable for a future Galactic supernova. Moreover, it may lead to strong asymmetries of the stellar explosion, in course of which the newly formed neutron star will receive a large kick and spin," describes team member Bernhard M?ller the most significant consequences of such dynamical processes in the supernova core.

The researchers now plan to explore in more detail the measurable effects connected to the SASI and to sharpen their predictions of associated signals. Moreover, they plan to perform more and longer simulations to understand how the instability acts together with neutrino heating and enhances the efficiency of the latter. The goal is to ultimately clarify whether this conspiracy is the long-searched mechanism that triggers the supernova explosion and thus leaves behind the neutron star as compact remnant.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/xulUjZRJoLM/130627083034.htm

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WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross to embark on a spoken word tour

WWE.com's Joey Styles recently sat down with Jim Ross to discuss the WWE Hall of Famer's upcoming spoken word tour. The two former Raw broadcasters talked about J.R.'s history in wrestling and what fans can expect at his shows.

WWE.COM: Why did you decide to do a spoken word tour?

JIM ROSS: I?d like to think that I have an interesting story to tell. Growing up as an only child in a rural, eastern Oklahoma, I had chores to do and responsibilities to take care of. I was an avid reader of the monthly wrestling magazines and we had one hour of wrestling on TV that came on Saturdays. As best I recall, it came on at 4 p.m. My mom and my dad didn?t get home until 5 p.m. or 5:30 p.m., so I would have that one hour that I could get all of my chores done and get in front of the TV. I think that my journey from starting out as a kid on that farm to getting into the [wrestling] business when I didn?t have any contacts is a real story. I?m hoping that this is going to be as motivational and inspirational as it's going to be informational. We?re going to have fun. It?s going to be entertaining. We?re going to get some laughs out of it, share some information and some stories. I hope that at the end of the night, everybody who attends is more confident in their own future and what they can become if they invest in themselves properly.

WWE.COM: Why did you decide to start this endeavor in the U.K.?

ROSS: There?s a successful track record of guys we know who have made tours of the U.K. I won?t say that one day I won?t do these sorts of events over in the United States or North America, in general, because that?s certainly in the plans at some point. I think it?s a good way to get my toe in the water.

WWE.COM: Being that you have 40 years of broadcast experience, what wrestlers that are included in your stories would today?s fans recognize?

ROSS: That depends on how long they?ve been a fan. There were people that I met like Lou Thesz; the original ?Nature Boy,? Buddy Rogers; and my mentor, ?Cowboy? Bill Watts. Through the 1970s and the '80s, guys like Ernie Ladd, Junkyard Dog and Ted DiBiase before he became The Million Dollar Man. All those guys in the Mid-South and the UWF territory that went on to greatness, like Jim Duggan, Terry Taylor, Magnum T.A., Dusty Rhodes, The Road Warriors?? when they were relatively new ??and two guys named Sting and Rock, who became The Ultimate Warrior. When I was the WWE's Exectuive Vice President of Talent Relations, our department signed many of today?s stars. John Cena, Randy Orton and Kane, to name a few. With The Monday Night War and The Attitude Era, I was in the right place at the right time.

WWE.COM: Who else on WWE programming today do you have a history with?

ROSS: I was Paul Heyman's first broadcast partner. Paul Heyman had never done broadcasting until he came to WCW. When I needed a broadcast partner, the powers that be asked who was available. When I suggested Paul Heyman, they asked, ?How much experience does he have?? I said, ?Very little, but that means he doesn?t have any bad habits. He?s very bright and we'll be fine. It will be a great contrast with my Oklahoma accent and his New York accent. It will be very distinctive.?

WWE.COM: What has working for WWE taught you?

ROSS: I?ve learned a lot from Vince?s philosophy. Making sure you?re eating right and doing the right thing for your health. Even though I don?t travel with him any longer and I?m not in meetings with him any longer, we still talk. I?m 61 years old and my mother and my father both died when they were 64. I have come to the realization that I want to live longer than they did. I have to be healthier and take better care of myself. After having some serious health scares in the last few years, I'm spending more time on my health. I?m watching what I eat and going to the gym on a regular basis. Things that I should have been doing all along, I?m doing now. I think those are some messages that I?m going to share on these spoken word tours. You?re never too old to make changes, nor are you too young to make changes ??changes that are essential in our growth.

WWE.COM: Is that what you'll be talking about on your tour?

ROSS: A lot of those stories I?m going to be able to share. I think they?re all part of a changing time. I got in the wrestling business young; I was 22. Just chronologically getting into the business and being able to work the territory as a referee, and then a ring crew guy, and then ring announcing, and then broadcasting, and then promoting. I think this whole journey from when I started in the mid-'70s until today is going to be informative, and I think fans that are really fans are going to enjoy it, as well as the Q&A session, which will be a big part of the shows.

Tickets are available here for WWE fans and others looking to hear Jim Ross share his life experiences and the lessons learned from them.

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Source: http://www.wwe.com/inside/overtheropes/jim-ross-spoken-word-tour-q-and-a

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Stop Attacking Male Writers for Being Sexist

Actor Tom Skerritt (L) and former US Pilot James Salter speak at the IWC Schaffhausen Top Gun Gala Event  during the 22nd SIHH High Jewellery Fair.

Author James Salter has been criticized for the bad behavior of his male characters.

Photo by the Image Gate/Getty Images for IWC

Is it time to stop attacking male writers for being misogynistic if their characters sleep with a lot of people, or not in the right way? Roxana Robinson?s recent attack on James Salter for being a misogynist was infinitely more graceful and nuanced than these sorts of attacks usually are, but the underlying charge that a male writer is sexist if you don?t like their male character is a flawed way to approach the delicate and mysterious possibilities of literature. These sorts of emotionally and politically charged arguments stray too far from the words that are actually on the page, and hold the writer to a standard of behavior that is more suited to who you want to be friends with or sleep with than who you want to read; it becomes character assassination rather than literary criticism.

Robinson writes of Salter?s main character in All That Is: ?Cold and withholding, Bowman?s character denies the deepest and most fundamental aspects of compassion.? She writes that he ?feels entitled to his vindictiveness: He has no scruples and feels no remorse.? She does not, in other words, like him very much.

Of course all of this evokes the recent fracas over Claire Messud?s character being unlikable. Messud implied it was sexist to say a female character should be likable; but Robinson is essentially saying Salter is sexist for his male character being unlikable. Which brings us to the question: Does everyone have to write likable characters? (Robinson seems to think yes, as even Lolita can?t be counted as great literature in her book because Humbert Humbert is not conflicted enough to be sympathetic.) But should our central experience of literature be whether or not we would like to take the protagonist out to dinner? Should we be combing books for friends, or lovers, or even characters whose actions we can wholeheartedly condone?

Writing about feminist literary critics, Joan Didion argues that rigid politics have no place in the free, roaming creative space of fiction: ?That fiction has certain irreducible ambiguities seemed never to occur to these women, nor should it have, for fiction is in most ways hostile to ideology,? she writes in her 1972 essay, ?The Women?s Movement.? Salter?s main character may sleep with a lot of women, but his relation to them is trickier than his sexual history suggests. One of Bowman?s paramours says to him, ?Women are very weak.? And he replies, ?That?s funny. I haven?t found that to be so.?

Here is part of Robinson?s proof of Bowman?s cold, unfeeling nature. When his wife won?t have sex with him: ?He knew he should try to understand, but felt only anger. It was unloving of him, he knew, but he couldn?t help it.? Is every man who feels that particular variety of anger at some point in their life a ?misogynist?? Is admitting the irrational angers and rages that flow through intimate life sexist, or is it the work of literature to show or expose precisely this type of rogue emotional undercurrent? (And as a sidebar: don?t women sometimes feel those kinds of anger too?)

When Kate Millett launched her impressive attack on male novelists for being misogynistic in Sexual Politics, Norman Mailer made a relevant point. He argued that a particularly depressing Henry Miller scene about two men and a hungry prostitute was not a crude celebration of exploitation but an investigation of missed connections, a report from the bleakest frontiers of human loneliness. He argued Miller (and by extension himself, Lawrence, and the others) were often taking on the loneliness in sex as their subject, not just swaggering through an encounter. (And of course one could also argue that swaggering through an encounter is not sexist, always, and women writers have their own versions of this sort of reveling. See for instance Mary McCarthy?s wickedly comic sex scenes.)

One of the important issues is that there is a certain amount of distance between an author and a character. When for instance Salter writes that during Bowman?s wedding, ?Bowman was happy or felt he was,? he is giving the reader a much more complicated and intricate perspective on romantic attachment than Robinson gives him credit for. Salter?s story does not straightforwardly or simple-mindedly endorse all of Bowman?s adventures; it is too cagey, too shrewd, too melancholy for that. Something can be indicted and glamorized at the same time; it can be beautiful and sad.

One of the problems with emotionally fraught criticism is that it often glosses over the words on the page; its loyalty is to some higher interpretation, and it can?t be bothered with small things like the book itself. For instance Robinson writes that Bowman caddishly won?t marry one of his girlfriends: ?She finds him a beautiful house in the Hamptons. He won?t marry her, but he buys the house in both their names.? In fact, Bowman says to Christine, ?It?s going to be very nice living here. We could even get married.? She says, ?Yes, we could.? He says ?Is that an acceptance?? and she hedges. It is she who doesn?t want to marry him, and she who won?t commit. In fact their relationship falls apart because she cheats on him and takes him to court to get the house he bought for them to live in, claiming that he bought it for her, and not for them together. To interpret this affair as Bowman?s crass philandering is to very creatively and deliberately skew the text, to subdue story to idea. I bring this up only to point out the dangers inherent in ideological readings, the somewhat flimsy relation they often have to anything the reader might recognize as the book itself.

Robinson?s main (and most powerful) condemnation of Bowman is ?there is no conflict in this human heart.? But Bowman is conflicted, complicated, though it is true that unlike a male protagonist in a book by a younger male writer, like Jeff Eugenides or Michael Chabon he does not often talk directly or muse endlessly about this conflict. To argue that a conflict doesn?t exist because it is not put into words directly, analyzed with agonizing precision, effusively, guiltily mulled over, would be an error in judgment; it overlooks the great varieties of psychological composition and style. Salter writes conflict, he just writes it more subtly, more indirectly, more in the style of a Hemingway reader, than a post-feminist English major; he shades it in. To ask Bowman?s World War II veteran to speak effusively about his feelings (and to compare him, as Robinson does, to Iago if he doesn?t) is to fundamentally misunderstand the nuances and varieties of the human heart.

To read a book with true openness or receptiveness, we have to let Salter?s character be his character, not a character so upstanding, so compassionate, we would want to marry him ourselves. One of the dangers of rigid politicized reading is that it imposes the ideas of the critic on the novelist, it asks the novelist to dream up a person acceptable to the critic, not a person who acts freely in their own world. One could even argue that an important benefit of fiction is that you learn about other kinds of people, alien people, people you don?t already understand or necessarily relate to, people you don?t like. You hear messages from a different kind of consciousness.

Another fallacy of this type of angry reading is that it often conflates the author with the character. In writing about his character?s relation to love, Robinson says, ?What Salter does is reveal his own incapacity for that huge and engulfing passion.? Is she really trying to argue that Salter himself, that 88-year-old man with the straw hat and twinkling eyes, currently in a long-term attached relationship, by all accounts, is incapable of love? The capaciousness of this indictment reveals some sort of animus against a slippery archetype of the badly behaved man that defies the intellectual neatness of the argument. The elevation of Bowman to a full-scale Shakespearean villain, rather than a guy sort of sadly and sometimes joyously muddling through, reveals perhaps not enough conflict in the critic?s own ?human heart.?

Source: http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/roiphe/2013/06/james_salter_author_of_all_that_is_is_not_a_sexist.html

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Thursday, June 27, 2013

Nerve grafts let paralysed rats pee again

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Windows 8.1 - Business Insider

Microsoft Build PCs

Business Insider/Julie Bort

Microsoft shows off a new crop of PCs running Windows 8.1

Microsoft has been talking about its next version of Windows 8 for months, and has already shown off bits and pieces of it.

The new version, Windows 8.1, debuts today. It's not the final version, although anyone with a Windows 8 device can download it from Windows Update or the Windows app store to try it out.

The release comes on the opening day of Microsoft's big developers conference in San Francisco called Build.

We got to take the preview version of Windows 8.1 for a spin. Here's what you can expect to change when you make the free upgrade later this year.

It fixes some of the things that people hated in the original version of Windows 8 and it added a bunch of new features.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/windows-8-1-2013-6

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No sign of Snowden at Moscow airport

MOSCOW (AP) ? Russian President Vladimir Putin says that fugitive National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden has been in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport since flying in from Hong Kong ? meaning that he has not officially entered the country. If true, it's effectively a life of airport limbo for Snowden, whose American passport has been revoked by U.S. authorities.

Here's a look at how the place looks and operates.

WHAT IT'S LIKE

The area where Snowden is purportedly staying serves both connecting passengers traveling via Moscow to onward destinations and passengers departing from Moscow who have passed border and security checks. An Associated Press reporter entered the area Wednesday by flying from Kiev, Ukraine.

The huge area unites three terminals: the modern, recently built D and E, and the older, less comfortable F, which dates to the Soviet era. The transit and departure zone is essentially a long corridor, with boarding gates on one side and gleaming Duty Free shops, luxury clothing boutiques and souvenir stores selling Russian Matryoshka dolls on the other. About a dozen restaurants owned by local and foreign chains serve various tastes.

Hundreds of Russian and foreign tourists await flights here, some stretched out on rows of gray chairs, others sipping hot drinks at coffee shops or looking out through giant windows as silver-blue Aeroflot planes land and take off.

Business ran as usual at the terminals on Wednesday morning. An Asian girl, about 10 years old, slept peacefully on her father's lap. A middle-aged mother and her teenage daughter tried out perfume samples at a Duty Free store, while nearby a woman in a green dress picked out a pair of designer sunglasses. A pilot was buying lunch at Burger King.

NO TRACE OF SNOWDEN

Putin insisted Tuesday that Snowden has stayed in the transit zone without passing Russian immigration and is free to travel wherever he likes. Snowden, who arrived Sunday on a flight from Hong Kong, registered for a Havana-bound flight Monday en route to Venezuela, but didn't board the plane. His ultimate destination was believed to be asylum in Ecuador. Dozens of Russian and foreign journalists boarded the Havana flight only to photograph Snowden's empty seat 17A during the 12-hour journey.

The U.S. move to annul Snowden's passport might have further complicated his travel plans.

Hordes of journalists armed with laptops and photo and video cameras have camped in and around the airport, looking for Snowden or anyone who may have seen or talked to him. But after talking to passengers, airport personnel, waiters and shop clerks, the press corps has discovered no trace of the elusive leaker.

Russian news agencies, citing unidentified sources, reported that Snowden was staying at a hotel in the transit terminal, but he was nowhere to be seen at the zone's only hotel, called "Air Express." It offers several dozen capsule-style spaces that passengers can rent for a few hours to catch some sleep. Hotel staff refused to say whether Snowden was or has in the past stayed there.

"We only saw lots of journalists, that's for sure," said Maxim, a waiter at the Shokoladnitsa diner not far from Air Express. He declined to give his last name because he wasn't allowed to talk to reporters.

PLACES TO HIDE

The departure and transit area is huge and has dozens of small rooms, some labeled "authorized personnel only," where one could potentially seek refuge with support from airport staff or security personnel. And security forces or police patrolling the area can easily whisk a person out of this area though back doors or corridors.

There are also a few VIP lounge areas, accessible to business-class passengers or people willing to pay some $20 per hour. Snowden was not seen in those areas.

Exiting the area would either require boarding a plane or passing through border control. Both require a valid passport or other identification.

Sheremetyevo's press service declined to comment on Snowden's whereabouts. A policeman at the airport laughed off a question from an AP reporter about Snowden's whereabouts. "Journalists have searched this place for three days and have found nothing. Was he ever here in the first place?" the policeman asked. He spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/no-sign-snowden-moscow-airport-151838273.html

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Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Correction: Manning-WikiLeaks story

FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) ? In a story June 25 about Army leaker Pfc. Bradley Manning, The Associated Press reported erroneously that attorneys for Manning did not object to the judge temporarily closing his court-martial to the public and press to protect classified information in written witness statements to be read aloud in court. On Tuesday, defense attorneys did not object having the judge read those portions of the statements to herself, negating the need for courtroom closures.

A corrected version of the story is below:

Manning defense OK with plan to avoid court closure

Manning defense raises no objection to judge silently reading witness statements to avoid court closure

By DAVID DISHNEAU

Associated Press

FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) ? Lawyers for Army leaker Pfc. Bradley Manning raised no objection Tuesday to a proposal to have the military judge in the case silently read written witness statements to protect their confidentiality.

As the trial entered its fourth week, defense attorney David Coombs told the military judge, Army Col. Denise Lind, he had no objection to the plan. Classified material in the statements would be protected if the statements are not read aloud, which would mean the courtroom would not need to be closed while they are read.

Prosecutors have said they expect to present as many as 17 such statements this week. The statements, called stipulations of expected testimony, may include evidence about more than 250,000 State Department diplomatic cables Manning is accused of stealing from a classified computer database.

Manning denies the theft charge but has acknowledged he sent the cables, along with hundreds of thousands of classified war logs and some Iraq and Afghanistan battlefield videos to the anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks. The former intelligence analyst has said he leaked the material to expose wrongdoing by American service members and diplomats.

The trial at Fort Meade, near Baltimore, is to determine whether Manning is guilty of espionage, theft, computer fraud and aiding the enemy, which carries a possible life sentence.

If Manning is convicted at the bench trial, his future will be determined by a different general than the one who ordered the court-martial.

On Monday, Maj. Gen. Jeffery S. Buchanan succeeded Maj. Gen. Michael S. Linnington as commander of the Military District of Washington. In the military justice system, court-martial verdicts and sentences can be thrown out or reduced by the convening authority ? the commander who ordered the court-martial. Upon a change of command, that authority passes to the new commander.

Buchanan's last job was as deputy commanding general of I Corps at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington. Before that, he directed strategic efforts of U.S. forces in Iraq and served as their chief spokesman there from July 2010 to December 2011.

Linnington has been nominated for promotion to lieutenant general and a Pentagon job as military deputy for readiness in the defense secretary's office.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/correction-manning-wikileaks-story-142838001.html

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Egypt's presidency: military won't step in

CAIRO (AP) ? An Egyptian presidential spokesman on Monday dismissed an apparent threat by the military to both Egypt's president and opposition that it would step in if political fighting descends into chaos, as president's allies prepare for another mass rally in few days to counter June 30 opposition-led demonstrations.

The spokesman, Ihab Fahmy, told foreign reporters that the military's mission is guarding the borders and securing vital institutions, and that it has no intention to play any other role.

"There is a president ruling the country in a democratic way, and (through) democratic elections. We can't imagine that the army would come back," Fahmy said. "The army has one role ? protecting the borders and securing the strategic institutions. There is no political role for the army."

His remarks came a day after Defense Minister Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi gave the nation's Islamist rulers and their opponents a week to reach an understanding before planned June 30 opposition protests demanding resignation of President Mohammed Morsi. El-Sissi issued a toughly worded warning that the military will intervene to stop the nation from entering a "dark tunnel."

El-Sissi's statement indicated to Morsi's hard-line backers that the military will step in if protesters are attacked during their demonstrations.

June 30 marks one year since Morsi took office. Opponents charge that Morsi is monopolizing power for his Muslim Brotherhood, excluding others, while failing to make progress toward solving the country's critical problems, like economic malaise, fuel shortages, electricity blackouts and increasing unemployment. They demand that he step down and hold early presidential elections.

Fahmy said that el-Sissi's message, like any other statements from the military, comes in coordination with the presidency.

"These statements were intended to defuse tension," he said. "President Morsi is the supreme commander of the army, and anything that happens within the army is coordinated through him and with him."

In a statement Monday, the presidency said Morsi chaired a National Security Council meeting, attended by el-Sissi and top officials, stressing that all state institutions are "respecting and protecting the constitutional and legal legitimacy," a reference to the president.

Fahmy said Morsi has extended an open-ended invitation for dialogue with opposition.

Morsi's supporters charge the opposition has shunned his offers to talk and now are turning to force to remove him, because they have been unable to compete at the ballot box.

While the presidency claims it is making efforts to ease tensions, allies of hard-line and ultraconservative Islamists like the former militant group Gamaa Islamiya announced Monday that they will organize another mass rally this Friday. There are indications that Islamists will hold an open-ended sit-in, raising fears of street clashes with Morsi's opponents near the president's palace, where the opposition demonstration is also scheduled a few days later.

Last Friday, some 100,000 Morsi supporters staged a rally as a show of strength.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypts-presidency-military-wont-step-183632030.html

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Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Police Search Again Near Home Of Patriots' Aaron Hernandez

NORTH ATTLEBOROUGH, Mass. -- Police again searched the area near the home of New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, a week after his friend's body was found about a mile away.

Some law enforcement officers wore wetsuits Monday while searching near both Hernandez's home and the industrial park where Odin Lloyd's body was found.

Lloyd, a 27-year-old semi-pro football player for the Boston Bandits, was found slain June 17. His relatives said he was dating the sister of Hernandez's fiancee, that the two men were friends and that both men were out together on the last night of Lloyd's life.

An Attleboro District Court official said no new documents were available in connection with the case Monday morning. The Bristol County district attorney's office also didn't release any new information about the case, which their spokeswoman called "an active, ongoing investigation."

A court official said last week that three search warrants had been issued, but none of them had been returned, meaning they weren't yet public.

Hernandez hasn't commented on the homicide investigation, but has been seen with his lawyer.

The Patriots drafted him out of the University of Florida in 2010, and last summer gave him a five-year contract worth $40 million.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/24/police-search-wetsuits-aaron-hernandez_n_3491094.html

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Giant panda gives birth to twin cubs in China

A rare giant panda has given birth to a pair of infant pandas. The panda twins are the first born in captivity this year.

By Elizabeth Barber,?Contributor / June 24, 2013

A researcher holds a newborn giant panda in Wolong National Nature Reserve, Sichuan province. Giant panda Hai Zi gave birth to the world's first twin pandas this year in the reserve on Saturday.

Reuters

Enlarge

In the animal kingdom, this birth was royal.

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A giant panda gave birth to twins in China on Saturday, the first pair of the rare species to be born this year, The Telegraph reported.

Born to panda-mother Haizi in Sichuan province?s Wolong Nature Reserve, in China's southwest, the two cubs join just some 1,900 pandas worldwide (including about 300 endangered animals in captivity).

"This is the first time a giant panda has given birth to twins, anywhere in the world, this year," conservation expert Liu Chunhua told The Telegraph.

While panda twins are not unusual, they pose special challenges because panda mothers tend to ignore one of the twins.? But the Chengdu Panda Breeding Research Center in China has had success in boosting the survival rate of twins by secretly swapping them. The BBC reports:

"Whenever a cub was abandoned after birth, keepers at the Chengdu centre swiftly moved it to an incubator. Panda mothers were tricked into caring for twins as staff stealthily rotated them between their mother and the incubators. The survival rate of cubs rose to 98% through this combination of maternal care and artificial support."

Generally, pandas are difficult to breed, especially in captivity. Female pandas are fertile for only about two or three days a year. Haizi became pregnant after conservationists introduced her to male pandas Bai Yang and Yi Bao in March.

Staff at the reserve have not yet been able to determine the gender of the first-born cub, as its mother is still cradling the baby animal in her arms. But staff have said that its sounds and apparent size suggest that it is healthy.?

The second cub, born some 10 minutes after its sibling, is a female cub weighing under 79.2 grams. That puts the little pink infant at about 1/900 the size of its mother.

The giant panda, the WWF?s mascot animal, is an international symbol of conservation efforts. Efforts to protect its dwindling forest habitat in China and to rescue it from poachers have surged in recent years, with the Chinese government establishing more 50 panda reserves within some 45 percent of the giant panda?s habitat. Still, some 40 percent of China's pandas do not live in protected zones.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/2zHVMOBXwqQ/Giant-panda-gives-birth-to-twin-cubs-in-China

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Monday, June 24, 2013

Egypt's Shiite killings raise alarm on hate speech

CAIRO (AP) ? Egypt's Islamist president on Monday condemned the brutal killing of four Shiites by a cheering Sunni Muslim mob while the police looked on, saying the culprits must be swiftly brought to justice.

But opponents of President Mohammed Morsi said he was in part to blame for implicitly supporting his hard-line allies as they stir up incitement against Shiites in response to Syria's civil war. A week earlier, Morsi appeared on stage with hard-line clerics denouncing Shiites as "filthy." Critics warn that militant Islamists are acting with dangerous impunity.

Sunday's attack in the village of Zawiyet Abu Musalam, near the Pyramids of Giza, came as about 30 Shiites were having a meal to mark a religious occasion. Hundreds of young men descended on them in the house.

In online videos of the killings, young men armed with metal and wooden clubs, swords and machetes, beat the Shiites on the head and back, trapping them in the narrow entrance of the house.

The Shiites beg for mercy as blood streams down their heads and soaks their robes. A crowd pressing around them triumphantly chants "Allahu akbar" or "God is great." Others screamed "You sons of dogs!" One video shows a young man dragging the motionless and bloodied body of one victim by a rope.

The videos appeared genuine and conformed with Associated Press reporting on the attack.

Among those killed was a prominent Shiite cleric, Hassan Shehata. Afterward, the attackers congratulated each other, one witness, local activist Hazem Barakat, said in written and video account of the events he posted online. He said that in the weeks preceding the attack, ultraconservative Salafi clerics in the area had been speaking out against Shiites.

A two-paragraph statement by Morsi's office condemned the killings. It said the culprits must be found quickly and brought to justice, vowing that authorities will not be "lenient" with anyone who interferes with the nation's security and stability.

Police identified 13 suspects but have not yet made any arrests, security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.

A spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, from which Morsi hails, also denounced the killings.

But in a seeming show of conservative Sunnis' distaste for the sect, he would not refer to the victims as Shiites. In a posting on his Facebook page, Ahmed Aref identified them as "the four dead who have beliefs of their own that are alien to our society."

The violence was startling, even in a country where violence has increased dramatically in the two years after the ouster of autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Mobs in rural areas have in recent months lynched suspected criminals amid a rise in gangs robbing motorists and banks. Police still often don't act to stop crimes, and the public has grown increasingly frustrated over increasing economic hardships and shortages. Violence has also become a feature of Egypt's polarized politics, with opponents and supporters of Morsi repeatedly clashing in the streets.

Attacks against Christians, their businesses or churches have risen in frequency. They are often sparked by specific feuds ? even if fed by hard-line clerics' anti-Christian statements.

Sunday's attack, in contrast, seemed a straight-forward unleashing of hatreds, prompted only by the Shiites' religious practice. Egypt's population of 90 million is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim, with about 10 percent Christians. The small Shiite minority is largely hidden and its size never firmly established, though some estimates put it as high as 1 or 2 million.

"Killing and dragging Egyptians because of their faith is a hideous result of the disgusting 'religious' discourse which was left to mushroom," top reform campaigner Mohamed ElBaradei wrote in his Twitter account.

"We are waiting for decisive steps from the regime and Al-Azhar (mosque) before we lose what is left of our humanity."

His Dustour Party blamed the president. It said the attack was "a direct result of the disgusting hate speech ... escalating and expanding under the sight ... of the regime and in presence of its president and with his blessings."

Al-Azhar, the world's primary seat of Sunni Islamic learning, which has also warned against the spread of Shiism in Egypt, said in a statement Monday that it was "terrified" by the killings. "Islam, Egypt and the Egyptians are unfamiliar with killing because of religion, doctrine or ideology," it said.

The past few months have seen a dramatic rise in anti-Shiite hate speech by Salafis, many of whom are Morsi supporters. Salafis, an ultraconservative movement of Sunni Islam, view Shiites as heretics and regularly denounce them on TV talk shows, websites and in mosque sermons, warning they seek to bring their faith to Egypt. The divide between the two main sects of Islam dates back to a dispute over succession following the death of the Prophet Muhammad in the 7th Century.

Bahaa Anwar Mohammed, a spokesman for Egypt's Shiites, accused Morsi and the Brotherhood of "sacrificing Egypt's Shiites to please the Salafis."

A presidential spokesman on Monday rejected any link between Morsi and anti-Shiite comments.

"The presidency is responsible for the official statements and will not comment on unofficial statements," spokesman Ihab Fahmy told reporters. "The president's position is against any kind of incitement of violence or hatred among Egyptian society."

But analysts believe Morsi is trying to strengthen Salafi backing ahead of mass protests due June 30 by secular and liberal opposition and youth movements calling for his ouster. The tactic came after one Salafi group, al-Nour Party, dropped its support for the president.

At a June 15 rally attended by Morsi, aimed at showing support for Syrian rebels, Salafi clerics railed against Shiites. One cleric, Mohammed Hassan, called on Morsi "not to open the doors of Egypt" to Shiites, saying that "they never entered a place without corrupting it." Another called Shiites "filthy." Morsi remained silent during the speeches.

In a similar vein, a cleric who addressed the rally denounced those participating in the June 30 protests as non-believers, reciting a prayer traditionally used against "enemies" of God and Islam.

The increase in anti-Shiite rhetoric came in part as a backlash against an attempt by Morsi to reach out to mainly Shiite Iran after nearly 30 years of frosty Cairo-Tehran relations. The conflict in Syria, pitting Sunni rebels against the regime dominated by Alawites ? an offshoot of Shiism ? has further fueled the rhetoric.

The al-Nour Party has put up posters around the county saying Shiites have distorted the Quran, Islam's holy book, and kill Sunnis.

Khaled Said, a spokesman for the Salafi Front, a major group in the movement, condemned the killings in Zawiyet Abu Musalam.

But, he added, "this is a normal reaction to blasphemy and corruption of the faith by Shiites."

"We said before that we will not permit Iranian intervention and expansion in Egypt."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypts-shiite-killings-raise-alarm-hate-speech-192036237.html

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Smithsonian Folklife Festival Gets Back To Its Roots

  • The Dalai Lama speaks during the Smithsonian Folklife Festival

    The Dalai Lama speaks July 2, 2000 during the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington. Approximately 40,000 people came to listen to the Nobel Peace Prize winner speak near the U.S. Capitol. (Photo by Alex Wong/Newsmakers)

  • Dancers who are part of UNUKUPUKUPU, a community dance group out of Hawai?i Community College, perform at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington, Friday, July 6, 2012. In the midst of an all-consuming Civil War, Congress was able to pass legislation signed by President Abraham Lincoln that would transform public education in the United States. The Morrill Act in 1862 established the nation?s network of public land-grant universities so that working class people could study agriculture, military tactics, mechanics and classical studies to obtain a liberal and practical college education. Today these 217 schools across the country enroll more than 3.5 million undergraduates and 1.1 million graduate students. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

  • People visit the AIDS Memorial Quilt on display as part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington, Thursday, July 5, 2012. An AIDS-free generation: It seems an audacious goal, considering how the HIV epidemic still is raging around the world. Yet more than 20,000 international HIV researchers and activists will gather in the nation's capital later this month with a sense of optimism not seen in many years _ hope that it finally may be possible to stem the spread of the AIDS virus. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

  • People visit the Campus and Community section of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington, Friday, July 6, 2012. In the midst of an all-consuming Civil War, Congress was able to pass legislation signed by President Abraham Lincoln that would transform public education in the United States. The Morrill Act in 1862 established the nation?s network of public land-grant universities so that working class people could study agriculture, military tactics, mechanics and classical studies to obtain a liberal and practical college education. Today these 217 schools across the country enroll more than 3.5 million undergraduates and 1.1 million graduate students. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

  • Cory Arcak

    Cory Arcak, with Texas A&M University, right, works on a water filtration mold of clay and sawdust at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington, Friday, July 6, 2012. In the midst of an all-consuming Civil War, Congress was able to pass legislation signed by President Abraham Lincoln that would transform public education in the United States. The Morrill Act in 1862 established the nation?s network of public land-grant universities so that working class people could study agriculture, military tactics, mechanics and classical studies to obtain a liberal and practical college education. Today these 217 schools across the country enroll more than 3.5 million undergraduates and 1.1 million graduate students. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

  • Bhutanese monks play instruments in a te

    Bhutanese monks play instruments in a temple built for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on July 3, 2008 at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Situated in the eastern Himalayas and bordered by China and India, Bhutan rises in just a few hundred miles from steamy jungles to some of the world's highest peaks.The Festival will celebrate Bhutan's special approach towards life in the 21st century. AFP PHOTO / TIM SLOAN (Photo credit should read TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images)

  • A Bhutanese archer cheers after shooting

    A Bhutanese archer cheers after shooting a near bulls eye during an archery demonstration at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on July 3, 2008 at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Situated in the eastern Himalayas and bordered by China and India, Bhutan rises in just a few hundred miles from steamy jungles to some of the world's highest peaks.The Festival will celebrate Bhutan's special approach towards life in the 21st century, which, as national policy, is described as the pursuit of 'Gross National Happiness.' AFP PHOTO / TIM SLOAN (Photo credit should read TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images)

  • Smithsonian Folklife Festival Celebrates World Cultures

    WASHINGTON - JULY 2: A cyclist looks at a collection of photos during the 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall July 2, 2006 in Washington, DC. The yearly event, which started in 1967, presents contemporary culture and encourages visitors to learn through participation in song, dance, conversation and eating. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)

  • Smithsonian Folklife Festival Celebrates World Cultures

    WASHINGTON - JULY 2: Zacki Ghuo, a graphic designer, works on painting in a mural by Gamaliel Ramirez during the 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall July 2, 2006 in Washington, DC. The yearly event, which started in 1967, presents contemporary culture and encourages visitors to learn through participation in song, dance, conversation and eating. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)

  • Smithsonian Folklife Festival Celebrates World Cultures

    WASHINGTON - JULY 2: A dancer performs Latino dance during a performance at the 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall July 2, 2006 in Washington, DC. The yearly event, which started in 1967, presents contemporary culture and encourages visitors to learn through participation in song, dance, conversation and eating. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)

  • Smithsonian Folklife Festival Celebrates World Cultures

    WASHINGTON - JULY 2: Children practice uncovering fossils at an exhibit on paleontology during the 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall July 2, 2006 in Washington, DC. The yearly event, which started in 1967, presents contemporary culture and encourages visitors to learn through participation in song, dance, conversation and eating. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)

  • Washington, UNITED STATES: A camel walks through the Mall near the US Capitol building during the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washignton, DC, 30 June 2005. The festival is a special annual event sponsored each June-July by the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage celebrating cultural traditions around the world. The festival includes daily and evening music and dance performances, crafts and cooking demonstrations, storytelling and discussions of cultural issues. AFP PHOTO/Jim WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

  • Smithsonian Folklife Festival Celebrates Heritage

    WASHINGTON - JUNE 26: Different kinds of spices are displayed during the 39th annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival at the National Mall June 26, 2005 in Washington, DC. This year's folklife festival features a total of four programs -- 'Oman: Desert, Oasis and Sea,' 'Forest Service, Culture and Community,' 'Nuestra Musica,' and 'Food Culture USA.' (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

  • WASHINGTON, : Workers and tourists brave heat and humidity 25 June 2002 as final touches are put on the exhibits at the 2002 Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the Mall in Washington, DC. Exhibits feature life on the Silk Road. AFP PHOTO/ Shawn THEW (Photo credit should read SHAWN THEW/AFP/Getty Images)

  • Washington, UNITED STATES: People watch an Omani coppersmith at work at an exhibition on Oman at the 39th annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the Mall in Washington 26 June 2005. Some 110 Omanis arrived in Washington to showcase the country's music, dance, textiles, perfumes, metalwork and pottery, all under Folklife's mission of presenting the aesthetics of people around the world. AFP PHOTO/Nicholas KAMM (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

  • Smithsonian Folklife Festival

    Three teenagers play a street game called 'Ace, King, Queen,' also known as Chinese Handball, July 5, 2001 during the Smithsonian Folklife Festival at the National Mall in Washington, DC. The Smithsonian Institution held its annual Folklife Festival with New York City lifestyles as one of the themes of the Festival. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

  • Smithsonian Folklife Festival

    Paul Noone of Washington, DC observes the interior of a Checker Cab July 5, 2001 during the Smithsonian Folklife Festival at the National Mall in Washington, DC. The Smithsonian Institution held its annual Folklife Festival with the New York City lifestyle as one of the themes. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

  • Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/24/smithsonian-folklife-festival-2013_n_3490707.html

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    BTTF's Grays Sports Almanac iPad Case Only Makes You Rich in Spirit

    BTTF's Grays Sports Almanac iPad Case Only Makes You Rich in Spirit

    Trumped only by the time-traveling Delorean itself as the greatest movie plot device of all time, the copy of Grays Sport Almanac that put the events of Back to the Future II into motion can now be yours?as an iPad case. Gone are the pages and pages of sports scores and statistics, not that they'd be any good to you for predicting the future anyways, because they only go up to the year 2000.

    Read more...

        


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    Why Hezbollah has openly joined the Syrian fight

    The Lebanese Shiite militant organization once denied its involvement in Syria, but is now holding lavish public funerals for its fighters killed in action.?

    By Nicholas Blanford,?Correspondent / June 23, 2013

    Wounded Hezbollah fighters cheer during a televised address from their leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah on June 14.

    Bilal Hussein/AP

    Enlarge

    The face of Abbas Farhat, a combatant with the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah killed recently in Syria, looms down from a banner outside his home in this winding hill village.

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    He is one of two Hezbollah men from the village to die during fierce fighting last month in the strategic Syrian town of Qusayr, which had been in rebel hands for a year before it was overrun on June 5 after a 17-day Hezbollah-led assault.

    A male relative, who asked for anonymity because Hezbollah had instructed the family not to speak to reporters, admits that he and his other kin have been inspired by Abbas? sacrifice.

    ?I want to talk about Abbas. We are very proud of him,? he says. ?I would go and fight in Syria?tomorrow?if I could.?

    Such comments echo across Shiite-populated areas of Lebanon today, even as dozens of dead Hezbollah men are brought back from the battlefields of Syria for lavish funerals in their towns and villages.

    The?continued support?is the result of Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah?s?successful?efforts to persuade Hezbollah?s core constituency to embrace the party's radical and potentially dangerous new path of intervention in the Syrian civil war.

    ?The care and time [Sheikh] Nasrallah invested in crafting and marketing this narrative is indicative of Hezbollah?s assessment that their base needs convincing about the party?s involvement in Syria,? says Randa Slim, a scholar with the Middle East Institute in Washington who writes regularly on Hezbollah affairs.

    Growing openness

    Hezbollah?s decision to fully participate in Syria?s bloody two-year war on behalf of the regime of Bashar al-Assad is a dramatic development for an organization that has always been defined as a champion of anti-Israel resistance.

    Yet today, Hezbollah finds itself fighting fellow Arab Muslims, albeit Sunnis, who make up the bulk of the Syrian armed opposition. Hezbollah and its patron, Iran, stand to be weakened if their ally, the Assad regime, falls and is replaced by a Sunni-dominated administration that moves closer to the West and Arab Gulf states.

    Rumors of Hezbollah involvement in Syria began circulating soon after the uprising broke out in March 2011, but the early claims were generally unconvincing and lacked evidence. In October 2011, Sheikh Nasrallah said?in a television interview that?accusations that Hezbollah had deployed fighters into Syria were ?absolutely untrue.?

    ?There are no thousands or a thousand or even half a soldier [in Syria],? he said.

    However, by early 2012, it was becoming?public knowledge?within Lebanese Shiite circles that some Hezbollah fighters were being sent into Syria. That summer there were a flurry of reports in the Lebanese media of funerals for slain Hezbollah fighters. Hezbollah released statements saying that they had died ?while performing their jihadi duty,? a possible allusion to combat-related deaths.

    Unusually, there was some quietly muttered dissent in Shiite circles, including within Hezbollah?s support base, about the morality of dispatching fighters to help the Assad regime?s brutal repression of the opposition.

    On Oct. 3, 2012, the rebel Free Syrian Army announced that it had killed Ali Nassif, a veteran Hezbollah commander, near Qusayr in Syria. Four days later, Nasrallah called continuing allegations that Hezbollah was fighting in Syria a??lie.??However, he conceded that Nassif and some other Hezbollah members were voluntarily fighting to defend their homes against rebel attacks in several Shiite-populated villages just inside Syria.

    By December 2012, videos allegedly portraying Hezbollah fighters in southern Damascus, home to a shrine revered by Shiites, had emerged.

    Meanwhile, any sympathy toward the Syrian opposition was beginning to fade amid increasing evidence of atrocities committed by the armed opposition and the escalation of anti-Shiite rhetoric from groups like the Al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra. Meanwhile, Hezbollah leaders emphasized the threat posed to Lebanon?s stability by ?Takfiri? groups in Syria, a reference to extremist Sunnis who view as apostates anyone that does not share their austere interpretation of Islam.

    In April, fighting flared near Qusayr as the Assad regime and Hezbollah fighters launched a campaign to drive rebels from nearby villages before staging an assault on the town.?At the end of the month, Nasrallah came closer to admitting Hezbollah was in Syria, saying he was especially proud of the ?martyrs who fell in the past few weeks" and warned that the Assad regime had ?real friends? who would not allow Syria to fall into the hands of ?American or Israel or Takfiri groups.?

    On?May 19, Hezbollah fighters spearheaded an attack on the rebel-held town of Qusayr. Six days later, Nasrallah finally admitted what by now was common knowledge that Hezbollah was operating in Syria. He said that ?by taking this position, we believe we are defending Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria.?

    Fractures

    While Lebanon?s Shiites have generally accepted Hezbollah?s rationale for intervening in Syria, reactions have ranged from dismay to fury elsewhere in Lebanon and the region. Brief clashes have broken out in several areas of Lebanon between Shiite and Sunni gunmen. Michel Suleiman, the Lebanese president, has urged Hezbollah to withdraw its forces from Syria.

    The Lebanese government, presently operating in a limited caretaker capacity, follows a policy of neutrality toward the conflict in Syria, but lacks the heft to force the powerful Hezbollah to retreat.

    Still, not all Shiites back Hezbollah?s intervention. A minority of Shiites openly oppose Hezbollah?s dominance of the community. One of them, Hashem Salman, a 27-year-old company manager from Adloun in south Lebanon, was among a group of anti-Hezbollah Shiites who attempted to hold a demonstration outside the Iranian embassy in Beirut two weeks ago. The demonstrators were attacked by suspected Hezbollah men wielding batons. Salman was shot three times in the scuffles and bled to death on the road.

    ?Hashem died for freedom,? says his brother Hassan during a condolence session at the family home in Adloun. ?They [Hezbollah] don?t fear weapons in the hands of their opponents, they fear open minds and freedom.?

    Hezbollah?s popularity within the Shiite community is unlikely to be seriously challenged in the foreseeable future. But loyalists may balk at a lengthy intervention in Syria, especially if the casualty toll remains high, anti-Shiite sentiment continues to flare across the region, and former supporters turn away from the party.

    Three weeks ago, Sheikh Youssef Qaradawi, an influential Sunni cleric who once defended Hezbollah,?called for jihad against the party?which he dubbed the ?Party of Satan.? Hezbollah means the Party of God in Arabic.

    There could be economic considerations too. Arab Gulf states have said they will expel Hezbollah members living in their countries.?

    Hezbollah has given no indication that it intends to pull out of Syria soon. Since Qusayr fell on June 5, Hezbollah fighters reportedly have been engaged in battles around Damascus and are being sent to Aleppo ahead of an anticipated offensive against rebel forces?in the northern city.

    ?I do not think there is a consensus inside Hezbollah?s constituency around a protracted never-ending involvement in Syria,? says Slim, the Hezbollah scholar. ?The higher the death toll, especially as the party moves toward northern Syria, will raise concerns about the costs of this involvement.?

    Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/awysVJgUukc/Why-Hezbollah-has-openly-joined-the-Syrian-fight

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    Brazil: 250K protest against govt corruption

    SAO PAULO (AP) ? More than 250,000 anti-government demonstrators again took to streets in several Brazilian cities Saturday and engaged police in some isolated, intense conflicts. Anger over political corruption emerged as the unifying issue for the demonstrators, who vowed to stay in the streets until concrete steps are taken to reform the political system.

    Across Brazil, protesters gathered to denounce legislation, known as PEC 37, that would limit the power of federal prosecutors to investigate crimes ? which many fear would hinder attempts to jail corrupt politicians.

    Federal prosecutors were behind the investigation into the biggest corruption case in Brazil's history, the so-called "mensalao" cash-for-votes scheme that came to light in 2005 and involved top aides of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva buying off members of congress to vote for their legislation.

    Last year, the supreme court condemned two dozen people in connection to the case, which was hailed as a watershed moment in Brazil's fight against corruption. However, those condemned have yet to be jailed because of appeals, a delay that has enraged Brazilians.

    The protests continued despite a prime-time speech the night before from President Dilma Rousseff, a former leftist guerrilla who was tortured during Brazil's military dictatorship. She tried to appease demonstrators by reiterating that peaceful protests were a welcome, democratic action and emphasizing that she would not condone corruption in her government.

    "Dilma is underestimating the resolve of the people on the corruption issue," said Mayara Fernandes, a medical student who took part in a march Saturday in Sao Paulo. "She talked and talked and said nothing. Nobody can take the corruption of this country anymore."

    The wave of protests began as opposition to transportation fare hikes, then became a laundry list of causes including anger at high taxes, poor services and high World Cup spending, before coalescing around the issue of rampant government corruption. They have become the largest public demonstrations Latin America's biggest nation has seen in two decades.

    Across Brazil, police estimated that about 60,000 demonstrators gathered in a central square in the city of Belo Horizonte, 30,000 shut down a main business avenue in Sao Paulo, and another 30,000 gathered in the city in southern Brazil where a nightclub fire killed over 240 mostly university students, deaths many argued could have been avoided with better government oversight of fire laws. Tens of thousands more protested in more than 100 Brazilian cities, bringing the nationwide total to 250,000, according to a police count published on the website of the Globo TV network, Brazil's largest.

    In Belo Horizonte, police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters who tried to pass through a barrier and hurled rocks at a car dealership. Salvador also saw protests turn violent.

    During her pre-recorded TV speech, Rousseff promised that she would always battle corruption and that she would meet with peaceful protesters, governors and the mayors of big cities to create a national plan to improve urban transportation and use oil royalties for investments in education.

    Many Brazilians, shocked by a week of protests and violence, hoped that Rousseff's words after several days of silence from the leader would soothe tensions and help avoid more violence, but not all were convinced by her promises of action.

    Victoria Villela, a 21-year-old university student in the Sao Paulo protest, said she was "frustrated and exhausted by the endless corruption of our government."

    "It was good Dilma spoke, but this movement has moved too far, there was not much she could really say. All my friends were talking on Facebook about how she said nothing that satisfied them. I think the protests are going to continue for a long time and the crowds will still be huge."

    Around her, fathers held young boys aloft on their shoulders, older women gathered in clusters with their faces bearing yellow and green stripes, the colors of Brazil's flag.

    In the northeastern city of Salvador, where Brazil's national football team played Italy and won 4-2 in a Confederations Cup match, some 5,000 protesters gathered about 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the stadium, shouting demands for better schools and transportation and denouncing heavy spending on next year's World Cup.

    They blocked a main road and clashed with riot police who moved in to clear the street. Protesters said police used rubber bullets and even tossed tear gas canisters from a helicopter hovering overhead. The protesters scattered and fled to a nearby shopping mall, where they tried to take shelter in an underground parking garage.

    "We sat down and the police came and asked us to free up one lane for traffic. As we were organizing our group to do just that, the police lost their patience and began to shoot at us and throw (tear gas) canisters," said Rodrigo Dorado.

    That was exactly the type of conflict Rousseff said needed to end, not just so Brazilians could begin a peaceful national discussion about corruption but because much of the violence is taking place in cities hosting foreign tourists attending the Confederations Cup.

    Brazil's news media, which had blasted Rousseff in recent days for her lack of response to the protests, seemed largely unimpressed with her careful speech, but noted the difficult situation facing a government trying to understand a mass movement with no central leaders and a flood of demands.

    With "no objective information about the nature of the organization of the protests," wrote Igor Gielow in a column for Brazil's biggest newspaper, Folha de S. Paulo, "Dilma resorted to an innocuous speech to cool down spirits."

    At its height, some 1 million anti-government demonstrators took to the streets nationwide on Thursday night with grievances ranging from public services to the billions of dollars spent preparing for international sports events.

    Outside the stadium in Belo Horizonte where Mexico and Japan met in a Confederations Cup game, Dadiana Gamaleliel, a 32-year-old physiotherapist, held up a banner that read: "Not against the games, in favor of the nation."

    "I am protesting on behalf of the whole nation because this must be a nation where people have a voice ... we don't have a voice anymore," she said.

    She said Rousseff's speech wouldn't "change anything."

    "She spoke in a general way and didn't say what she would do," she said. "We will continue this until we are heard."

    ___

    Associated press writers Tales Azzoni and Ricardo Zuniga in Salvador, Stan Lehman in Sao Paulo and Rob Harris in Belo Horizonte contributed to this report

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/brazil-250k-protest-against-govt-corruption-015658186.html

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