FAA moving toward easing electronic device use

FILE - This Feb. 23, 2011 file photo shows United Airlines planes taxing at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco. The government is moving toward easing restrictions on the use of electronic devices by airline passengers during taxiing, takeoffs and landings. An industry-labor advisory committee was expected to make recommendations next month to the Federal Aviation Administration on easing the restrictions, but the FAA said Friday that deadline has been extended to September. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)

FILE - This Feb. 23, 2011 file photo shows United Airlines planes taxing at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco. The government is moving toward easing restrictions on the use of electronic devices by airline passengers during taxiing, takeoffs and landings. An industry-labor advisory committee was expected to make recommendations next month to the Federal Aviation Administration on easing the restrictions, but the FAA said Friday that deadline has been extended to September. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The government is moving toward easing restrictions on airline passengers using electronic devices to listen to music, play games, read books, watch movies and work during takeoffs and landings, but it could take a few months.

An industry-labor advisory committee was supposed to make recommendations next month to the Federal Aviation Administration on easing the restrictions. But the agency said in a statement Friday the deadline has been extended to September because committee members asked for extra time to finish assessing whether it's safe to lift restrictions.

"The FAA recognizes consumers are intensely interested in the use of personal electronics aboard aircraft; that is why we tasked a government-industry group to examine the safety issues and the feasibility of changing the current restrictions," the statement said.

The agency is under public and political pressure to ease the restrictions as more people bring their e-book readers, music and video players, smartphones and laptops with them when they fly.

Technically, the FAA doesn't bar use of electronic devices when aircraft are below 10,000 feet. But under FAA rules, airlines that want to let passengers use the devices are faced with a practical impossibility ? they would have to show that they've tested every type and make of device passengers would use to ensure there is no electromagnetic interference with aircraft radios and electrical and electronic systems.

As a result, U.S. airlines simply bar all electric device use below 10,000 feet. Airline accidents are most likely to occur during takeoffs, landings, and taxiing.

Cellphone calls and Internet use and transmissions are also prohibited, and those restrictions are not expected to be lifted. Using cellphones to make calls on planes is regulated by the Federal Communications Commission. There is concern that making calls from fast-flying planes might strain cellular systems, interfering with service on the ground. There is also the potential annoyance factor ? whether passengers will be unhappy if they have to listen to other passengers yakking on the phone.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that a draft report by the advisory committee indicates its 28 members have reached a consensus that at least some of the current restrictions should be eased.

An official familiar with FAA's efforts on the issue said agency officials would like to find a way to allow passengers to use electronic devices during takeoffs and landings the same way they're already allowed to use them when planes are cruising above 10,000 feet. The official requested anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak by name.

FAA Administrator Michael Huerta told a Senate panel in April that he convened the advisory committee in the hope of working out changes to the restrictions.

"It's good to see the FAA may be on the verge of acknowledging what the traveling public has suspected for years ? that current rules are arbitrary and lack real justification," Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., one of Congress' more outspoken critics of the restrictions, said in a statement. She contends that unless scientific evidence can be presented to justify the restrictions, they should be lifted.

Edward Pizzarello, the co-founder of frequent flier discussion site MilePoint, says lifting the restriction is "long overdue."

"I actually feel like this regulation has been toughest on flight attendants. Nobody wants to shut off their phone, and the flight attendants are always left to be the bad guys and gals," said Pizzarello, 38, of Leesburg, Va.

Actor Alec Baldwin became the face of passenger frustration with the restrictions in 2011 he was kicked off a New York-bound flight in Los Angeles for refusing to turn off his cellphone. Baldwin later issued an apology to fellow American Airlines passengers who were delayed, but mocked the flight attendant on Twitter.

"I just hope they do the sensible thing and don't allow people to talk on their cellphones during flight," said Pizzarello, who flies 150,000 to 200,000 miles a year. "There are plenty of people that don't have the social skills necessary to make a phone call on a plane without annoying the people around them. Some things are better left alone."

"It'll be nice not to have to power down and wait, but it never really bothered me. As long as they don't allow calls I'll be happy," said Ian Petchenik, 28, a Chicago-based consultant and frequent flier.

Airline consultant Robert Mann said the biggest benefit would come on short flights, where passengers would have much more time to use the devices since they are above 10,000 feet for a shorter period of time. That would ultimately give the airlines more time to sell stuff ? whether that's Wi-Fi or movies and TV shows on demand.

Henry Harteveldt, an analyst with Hudson Crossing, said airlines would only profit if the FAA also amended the rules to allow passengers to access the Internet earlier ? something that is not being suggested.

"Unless the FAA is considering relaxing the rules on Wi-Fi access, this is not about making money. This is about keeping the passenger entertained," he said.

Heather Poole, a flight attendant for a major U.S. airline, blogger and author of the novel "Cruising Attitude," said easing the restrictions would make flight attendants' jobs "a whole lot easier."

There is a lot of pressure for airlines to have on-time departures, she said. Flight attendants are dealing with an "out-of-control" carry-on bag situation and then have to spend their time enforcing the electronics rule.

"These days, it takes at least five reminders to get people to turn off their electronics, and even then, it doesn't always work," Poole said. "I think some passengers believe they're the only ones using their devices, but it's more like half the airplane doesn't want to turn it off."

But there is concern about whether easing restrictions will result in passengers becoming distracted by their devices when they should be listening to safety instructions.

On a recent flight that had severe turbulence, a business class passenger wearing noise-canceling headphones missed the captain's announcement to stay seated, Poole recalled.

"Takeoff and landing is when passengers need to be most aware of their surroundings in case ? God forbid ? we have to evacuate," she said. "I don't see that guy, or any of the ones like him, reacting very quickly."

___

Mayerowitz reported from New York.

___

Follow Joan Lowy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-06-21-US-Cellphones-Planes/id-81a5941d7e5a47ae84f396f7fe8d18ca

wfaa prince david beckham Bill Hader tim mcgraw WWE Extreme Rules 2013 powerball winner

94% Blancanieves

All Critics (55) | Top Critics (15) | Fresh (51) | Rotten (3)

The Brothers Grimm would have been surprised, possibly amused.

A sensual and sophisticated retelling of a beloved fairytale re-imagined as a homage to European silent cinema, Spanish writer-director Pablo Berger's black-and-white Blancanieves will leave you transfixed.

Most films are experiences to be ignored or at best forgotten. "Blancanieves" is a little classic to be treasured.

It is a full-bodied silent film of the sort that might have been made by the greatest directors of the 1920s, if such details as the kinky sadomasochism of this film's evil stepmother could have been slipped past the censors.

Blancanieves, which won 10 Goyas (Spain's equivalent of the Oscars) and was a smash hit in its native Spain, has traces of a kinky undertone and an uncommon willingness to embrace the darkness inherent in this fairy tale.

As if bewitched, the legend of Snow White is transferred to Seville in the early twentieth century and transformed into high melodrama.

Blancanieves is painstakingly crafted, emotionally gripping at times, and more authentically Grimm than most interpretations, and it puts a slightly unsettling new spin on Prince Charming and the proverbial happily-ever-after ending.

The film is -- to understate the matter -- overconceptualized.

Like The Artist, Blancanieves is delightfully novel, but it also feels trapped by its innovative gimmickry.

A boldly conceived fairy tale from Spain

Succeeds in all its cinematic experiments

The story might be familiar, but Berger's film is so beautifully shot and so wonderfully scored - and so distinctively Spanish - that it stands as its own film.

Blancanieves holds to the structure, but not strictures, of the source fairy tale.

A new, purely silent movie from Spain that never once speaks and doesn't need to speak. What's more, it seems to get the infinite possibilities of silence, and how much passion can come from it.

Berger's film doesn't show loyalty to any traditional version of Snow White. Berger's Blancanieves takes a darker approach, which seems appropriate.

A completely enchanting fairy tale about the vicissitudes of fate, in live action and glorious black and white.

The fun in the Spanish "Blancanieves" is the way it plays with our expectations.

May not have much depth to its characters or particular surprise, but its lovely depiction of family's ability to harm and mend has the flair of flamenco and the sorrow of opera.

No, "Blancanieves" isn't subtle, but it's an unforgettable time at the movies.

Inspired filmmaking steeped in the imagery of silent film history, a dark Iberian strain of Roman Catholicism and the magic of fairy tales.

... lusty and heartfelt, fiery flamenco and spirited country jig. Don't go expecting a Disney-fied fable. Berger seasons with S&M and the kind of macabre touches you'd expect in vintage Browning or Bunuel.

If not for some faintly disturbing imagery and a pleasingly feminist heroine, you could mistake this for a movie actually made in the 1920s (and even those two factors weren't utterly unknown then).

No quotes approved yet for Blancanieves. Logged in users can submit quotes.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blancanieves/

Ryan Lochte Bayern Munich the blaze Michael Shannon Chrissy Amphlett Java stevie wonder

Google Street View Car Captures Google Street View Bike Captures Google Street View Car

"Oh, um... hey, Google Maps Car."

"Uh, hey, Google Maps Tricycle."

"...I can see you."

"Yeah, I can see you too."

"Like, right now. I can see you. It will be on Google Maps later."

"I know that. It's what I do."

"It's what I do too, okay?"

"..."

"..."

"This is a lot more awkward than I thought it would be."

"Whatever."

"Hey, wait a minute... you don't think this will, I don't know, make the universe collapse on itself or something, do you? Like me capturing you capturing me capturing you will create some kind of paradox that will unravel the time/space continuum, or something like that?"

"..."

"Well?"

"...Probably."

Photos credit Google Maps via Google Street View World

Hat tip to Mark!

Source: http://jalopnik.com/google-street-view-car-captures-google-street-view-bike-531205395

bill nye Snooki Baby terrell owens terrell owens neil armstrong little league world series us open tennis

Report: Cyclist Jan Ullrich admits blood doping

BERLIN (AP) ? Jan Ullrich, the 1997 Tour de France winner, has admitted for the first time that he received blood-doping treatment from Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes during his career, according to an interview with a German magazine published Saturday.

Ullrich had previously acknowledged having unspecified "contact" with Fuentes, but went further in an interview with the weekly Focus.

"Yes, I received treatment from Fuentes," the German rider was quoted as saying.

Asked if he only engaged in blood doping with Fuentes, Ullrich replied that "the doctor's diagnosis says that." He said he couldn't remember how many times he had received treatment from Fuentes.

In February 2012, the Court of Arbitration for Sport banned Ullrich for two years for blood doping.

The CAS ruled that the German was "fully engaged" in Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes' doping program, exposed in the Operation Puerto probe. The court stripped him of his third-place finish at the 2005 Tour. Ullrich retired in 2007.

Ullrich didn't contest the CAS ruling, saying at the time that he wanted to "put an end to the issue."

IOC vice president Thomas Bach said the confession is "too little, too late."

"Jan Ullrich had his chance for a creditable admission a couple of years ago and he missed it," Bach said in an emailed statement. "Today's confirmation of some of the already well known and established facts does not help Jan Ullrich nor cycling."

The head of Germany's cycling union echoed that sentiment.

"He would have done himself and cycling a favor years ago with such a confession," Rudolf Scharping told German news agency dpa. "But this no longer has anything to do with cycling today."

In Saturday's interview, the 39-year-old Ullrich said that while he had made bad decisions during his career, "I did not harm or defraud anyone."

"Almost everyone took performance-enhancing substances then. I took nothing that the others didn't also take," he was quoted as saying. "For me, fraud starts when I gain an advantage. That wasn't the case. I wanted to ensure equality of opportunities.

"The issue is dealt with for me. I only want to look forward, and never again backward."

Germany's national anti-doping agency said it welcomed acknowledgement of past wrongdoing by athletes, but added that it hoped Ullrich would go beyond the interview and answer its questions.

The agency said in a statement that it would try to get in touch with Ullrich for "further leads and background" which might help its work.

Ullrich's interview comes after Lance Armstrong, the dominant cyclist of his generation, acknowledged in January that he doped for all seven of his Tour wins from 1999-2005. On three of those occasions, Ullrich finished second.

"I am no better than Armstrong, but no worse either," Ullrich was quoted as saying. "The great 'heroes' of earlier years are now people with failures that they have to come to terms with."

Earlier this year, Armstrong said doping became so routine it was "like saying we have to have air in our tires or water in our bottles."

Asked about that comment, Ullrich told Focus: "I can't understand that. I always knew that I was doing something forbidden and wrong."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/report-jan-ullrich-admits-blood-doping-091803638.html

Grammys 2013 2013 Grammy Winners abraham lincoln Chris Dorner 1800 Flowers walking dead The Pope

Nevada's governor shows GOP strength in states

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) ? When Republican governors in November gathered in Las Vegas to discuss how to recover from their party's latest electoral drubbing, the popular GOP governor of Nevada wasn't there.

Instead, Brian Sandoval was in Washington, D.C., meeting with Obama administration officials to seal the deal that made him the first Republican governor to expand Medicaid as part of the president's health care initiative.

It was part of the pragmatic, centrist, low-key approach that has kept Sandoval popular in a Democratic-trending state and makes him the heavy favorite in his re-election bid next year.

With all the hand-wringing about the future of the GOP, the party has an often-overlooked strength: popular governors like Sandoval who run most of the states in the nation, testing new policies, winning credit for the economic recovery and building records and expertise for possible runs at national office.

Partly due to the party's dominance in the 2010 election, Republicans hold 30 of the nation's 50 governorships.

"The larger the electoral arena, the worse the Republicans seem to do," said Eric Herzik, a political science professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, noting the GOP has lost the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections and blown a number of high-profile races.

"The one electoral arena that the Republicans have done fairly well in are the governorships," he said.

The 2010 wave ushered in a number of envelope-pushing conservatives. Some, like Florida's Rick Scott and Pennsylvania's Tom Corbett, are long-shots for re-election while others like Wisconsin's Scott Walker or Ohio's John Kasich have weathered early rough patches and are now doing well in the polls.

Sandoval offers a contrasting approach.

"He doesn't get boxed in or pinned down by labels. He's someone who's willing to set aside traditional boundaries if it's going to solve problems," said Greg Ferraro, a longtime Sandoval friend and adviser. "To me, he's the kind of Republican that's going to rebuild the party."

Growing numbers of migrants from the coasts and an expanding immigrant population have steadily pushed Nevada into the Democrats' column in presidential elections. But Sandoval has helped act as a GOP bulwark at the state level. He vetoed a bill to expand background checks for gun purchases as well as another to expand the period for voter registration and nixed a law to place calorie counts on chain restaurant menus.

He is so popular that Democrats have yet to field a challenger, and most analysts predict he will be handily re-elected.

But many of the things that have endeared Sandoval to Nevada voters would make him radioactive among the activists and interest groups who dominate national Republican politics. He supports abortion rights. Although he has refused to approve new taxes, he has twice extended what were supposed to be temporary taxes totaling more than $620 million.

This month, Sandoval signed a bill granting cards that permit driving to people in the country illegally.

"He's got a nice smile, a sunny disposition," said Chuck Muth, president of the Nevada conservative group Citizen Outreach and one of Sandoval's critics from the right. "But that's not something that's going to carry him very far if he ever gets into a competitive primary."

Sandoval had previously served as a state legislator and Nevada's attorney general and had a comfortable position as a federal judge when he agreed to run for governor in 2010. The incumbent, Republican Jim Gibbons, was badly tarred by a painfully public divorce case that included allegations of infidelity. Sandoval ousted him in the Republican primary and easily beat Rory Reid, son of U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, in the general election.

He is one of two Hispanic GOP governors elected that year, and he co-chairs a task force with his New Mexico counterpart, Susana Martinez, to recruit more Hispanic Republican candidates. But Sandoval only won 33 percent of the Hispanic vote, just three percentage points higher than Sharron Angle, the Republican challenger to Sen. Reid who campaigned on her stance on illegal immigration.

Sandoval is a halting public speaker and cautious politician. He frustrated many Nevada Republicans by only giving lukewarm support to his party's nominee, Mitt Romney, in the 2012 presidential election.

In many states, the governor has unrivaled power and ability to set the agenda. That's certainly true in Nevada, where the legislature meets for 120 days every two years. In the 2013 regular session, Sandoval came out on top, his $6.6 billion general fund budget proposal left mostly intact thanks to a GOP minority in both chambers that kept Democrats from a two-thirds vote margin needed to raises taxes.

But Sandoval came under criticism from both the right and left when just hours after the June 3 midnight deadline, he called lawmakers back into special session to act on five measures that died in the final hectic minutes ? including a sales tax increase in Clark County, where Vegas is located, to fund more police officers.

The Nevada Policy Research Institute, a conservative think tank, chided him for pushing the sales tax bill while abandoning education reforms that were rejected by Democrats.

Liberals also derided him for the special session, saying he should have pursued more tax hikes.

Sandoval also took heat earlier this year after a mentally ill man hospitalized at a Las Vegas psychiatric hospital was given a one-way bus ticket to Sacramento, Calif., where he knew no one. It prompted a weekslong investigation by The Sacramento Bee about "patient dumping." Sandoval eventually fired two staffers and ordered an independent review of practices at the hospital.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal civil rights suit this week on behalf of one patient, and city attorneys in two California cities have criminal investigations underway.

There is already speculation in Nevada that Sandoval, if re-elected, could challenge Reid in 2016, setting up a clash of the state's political titans. Reid and his hard-edged operatives have been relatively polite in discussing the governor, and some Democrats clearly respect Sandoval.

Billy Vassiliadis, a veteran Democratic operative, said the governor's low-key, bipartisan demeanor is a clear asset, but it remains to be seen whether that approach would resonate with the GOP's more aggressive, national approach.

"There's an evolution happening in the Republican Party that will largely determine whether a more moderate Republican like Brian Sandoval could stand on a national stage," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nevadas-governor-shows-gop-strength-states-152516350.html

New Orleans Pelicans chris brown hillary clinton apple stock Pro Bowl 2013 Kick Ass Torrents jamarcus russell

Thankful Registry Is A Wedding Gift Registry For Thoughtful Couples

Registries present an etiquette quandary for engaged couples. Open one at a major retailer, fill it with suggestions from a checklist and you end up looking greedy (how many newlywed couples really need a gravy boat?). Skip the registry, and you risk receiving multiple toasters from well-meaning guests. Thankful Registry tackles that problem by re-imagining registries as a way for couples to sign up for a thoughtful selection of items while connecting with gift buyers.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/1VDAMzI8oM4/

us news law school rankings gael glen rice jr bars lindzi cox bachelor finale courtney robertson

Government on offensive outside Syria's capital

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian government forces stepped up their attack against rebel strongholds north of the capital Damascus on Saturday, while opposition fighters declared their own offensive in the country's largest city Aleppo.

Both sides intensified operations as an 11-nation group that includes the U.S., dubbed the Friends of Syria, began meeting in Qatar to discuss how to coordinate military and other aid to the rebels seeking to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on an extensive network of activists in Syria, said the shelling of the district of Qaboun has killed three children, including two from the same family, since Friday.

Activists reported heavy shelling on many fronts on districts north of Damascus, apparently an attempt to cut links between rebel-held districts that have served as launching pads for operations against the capital.

The Lebanese TV station Al-Mayadeen, which had a reporter embedded with Syrian government forces in the offensive, quoted a military official as saying that the operation aims to cut rebel supply lines, separate one group from another, and secure the northern entrances to the capital. The regime's forces have struggled for months to regain control of these suburbs.

The Observatory said the neighborhood was being attacked from several different sides, while the shelling has caused structural damage and started fires. Activists from Qaboun posted on Facebook that government forces had brought up new tanks to reinforce its positions outside the neighborhood, and the bombardment had brought buildings down.

The Observatory said rebels targeted a police academy in the nearby Barzeh area Saturday, pushing back against a government attempt to storm the neighborhood. One rebel was killed in overnight fighting, it said.

A recent declaration by the U.S. that it had conclusive evidence that President Bashar Assad's regime used chemical weapons on a small scale against opposition forces prompted Washington to authorize the arming of rebels, a major shift in policy. The decision also followed advances by the government forces aided by fighters from Lebanon's Hezbollah.

Rebels say they have already received new weapons from allied countries? but not the U.S. ? that they claim will help them to shift the balance of power on the ground. Experts and activists said the new weapons include anti-tank missiles and small quantities of anti-aircraft missiles.

It was not clear if any of the new weapons have made it to the Damascus area. A spokesman for one of the main groups fighting outside of Damascus, the al-Islam brigade, said his group had none of the new weapons. The unnamed spokesman spoke to The Associated Press through Skype.

He said government forces were shelling Barzeh from Qasioun mountain overlooking Damascus. Syria's main Western-backed opposition group said Thursday that 40,000 civilians in the two northern districts of Damascus are suffering from shortages of food and medical supplies.

Rebels and government also clashed in and around the northern city of Aleppo, where government forces announced an offensive earlier this month. Activists said troops clashed in the southern neighborhoods of Rashideen and Hamdaniya and in the western suburbs.

The Observatory said rebels pounded a military academy in the area, causing a fire in the compound. There were no immediate reports of casualties. In Rashideen, rebel forces have pushed government forces out from parts of the neighborhood, according to the local Aleppo Media Center network and posts on Facebook.

A statement by a coalition of rebel groups, posted on the Center's page, declared that the fighters are launching a new operation to seize control of the western neighborhoods of Aleppo. Amateur showed what appeared to be intense government shelling of villages in the area.

On Saturday, a dozen shells from Syrian forces landed in a northern Lebanese border town, some landing near homes, causing a panic among residents, the Lebanese news agency reported.

Syria's official news agency said government troops were targeting a group of infiltrators across the border. It gave no further details.

Rockets from Syria fall regularly into towns and villages near the border. On Friday, a rocket slammed into a suburb of Beirut, bringing the war closer to Lebanon's bustling capital, the second in less than a month. No one claimed responsibility for that attack, but rebels in Syria have vowed to retaliate against Hezbollah's Beirut strongholds for its increasingly active role assisting Assad.

Syria's 2-year civil war has killed nearly 93,000 people. It increasingly pits Sunni against Shiite Muslims and threatening the stability of Syria's neighbors.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/government-offensive-outside-syrias-capital-113710792.html

deep impact miesha tate vs ronda rousey idiocracy usssa baseball alex o loughlin the godfather cape breton

Senators urge inclusion of food safety in Smithfield review

By Doug Palmer

(Reuters) - A bipartisan group of 15 U.S. senators urged the Obama administration on Thursday to consider whether the proposed sale of Smithfield Foods Inc to the Chinese meat company Shuanghui International posed a threat to the U.S. food supply that could justify blocking the deal.

"We believe that our food supply is critical infrastructure that should be included in any reasonable person's definition of national security," the senators said in a letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, whose department chairs the interagency panel that reviews foreign investment for national security threats.

Smithfield, based in Smithfield, Virginia, is the world's largest producer and processor of pork. Shuanghui is planning to acquire it for $4.7 billion in what would be the biggest takeover of a U.S. company by a Chinese firm.

"We strongly encourage you to include the Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration in any CFIUS (Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States) review of this transaction," the senators said.

The group included 15 of the 20 members of the Senate Agriculture Committee, including the Democratic chairman, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, and the panel's top Republican, Thad Cochran of Mississippi.

They said the Agriculture Committee had not taken a formal position on the proposed sale but planned to "further examine how this transaction is reviewed and how these transactions will be reviewed in the future," given the potential for other foreign purchases of U.S. food assets.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, were among the five Agriculture Committee members who did not sign the letter.

The CFIUS review process does not typically include either the USDA or FDA, although the statute allows the president to bring in additional agencies on a case-by-case basis.

In addition to Treasury, other CFIUS members include the Departments of Justice, Homeland, Security, Commerce, Defense, State and Energy as well as the offices of the U.S. Trade Representative and Science and Technology Policy.

The senators urged Lew to make the USDA one of the lead agencies in the Smithfield review and to consider "the broader issues of food security, food safety and biosecurity" posed by the proposed takeover.

They also suggested the U.S. government should require certain safeguards, if the deal was approved, to ensure Shuanghui complied with U.S. food safety and biosecurity standards.

"We welcome a full review and fair consideration of the Shuanghui-Smithfield combination from the U.S. government," a Smithfield spokeswoman said, noting the company would continue to collaborate with Congress and CFIUS.

"We believe the proposed combination does not present any national security concerns, is good for U.S. farmers and agriculture, and will advance U.S.-China relations," the spokeswoman said.

RISING 'TO OUR STANDARDS'

U.S. Treasury Department spokeswoman Holly Shulman declined to comment on the senators' letter, citing confidentiality requirements of CFIUS reviews.

"By law, information filed with CFIUS may not be disclosed by CFIUS to the public. Accordingly, the Department does not comment on information relating to specific CFIUS cases, including whether or not certain parties have filed notices for review," Shulman said.

Nancy McLernon, president of the Organization for International Investment, which represents foreign companies that invest in the United States, said she believed the Smithfield purchase would be approved and there was already no question that Shuanghui would have to abide by U.S. law.

"When foreign companies invest here, it's not a race to the bottom. It's about having them rise to our standards, because we have laws and regulations that they have to abide by. That's the price of entry into our market," McLernon said.

Treasury should respond quickly to the senators' letter so "the concerns don't spiral out any further," McLernon added.

CFIUS could sign off on the deal by mid-July if the companies satisfactorily answer all its questions in an initial 30-day review. But some analysts expect the investigation will go into a second phase, which could take up to 45 additional days.

(Reporting by Doug Palmer and Ros Krasny; Editing by Peter Cooney and Bill Trott)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senators-urge-inclusion-food-safety-smithfield-review-011910470.html

bay news 9 today show George Karl Shannon Rogers Guess Richardson Cricinfo Leslie Van Houten paris jackson

Wright's two blasts power Mets past Braves

By GEORGE HENRY

Associated Press

Associated Press Sports

updated 9:44 p.m. ET June 20, 2013

ATLANTA (AP) - David Wright hit two solo homers, New York's bullpen pitched five-plus scoreless innings and the Mets overcame an injury to starter Jonathon Niese in a 4-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Thursday night.

Niese left the game in the fourth with left shoulder discomfort and the Mets trailing 3-2, but the Mets' bullpen shut down Atlanta for the next 5 2-3 innings.

Closer Bobby Parnell earned his 11th save in 14 chances by facing the minimum in the ninth, retiring Freddie Freeman and Justin Upton on groundouts and B.J. Upton on a lineout.

LaTroy Hawkins (2-0), New York's third pitcher, earned the victory after allowing two hits and striking out two in two innings.

The Mets have won four of six, thanks in part to a bullpen that's 1-0 with a 1.55 ERA over the last nine games.

Mike Minor (8-3) allowed nine hits, four runs and two walks in six-plus innings for Atlanta. The left-hander struck out six.

Wright, who went 3 for 4, has 32 homers against Atlanta, his most against any opponent, including 18 at Turner Field.

In his last 14 games overall, Wright is hitting .407 with four homers and eight RBIs since June 5. It was his 20th multihomer game and second this season.

Atlanta used four singles in the third to go ahead 3-1. Chris Johnson's RBI single scored Freeman from second and moved Justin Upton to third. Gerald Laird's RBI single drove in Upton.

Those runs came off Niese, who winced in the fourth after making a pitch to Tyler Pastornicky. Niese motioned to the dugout that he was hurt and was done for the night after manager Terry Collins visited the mound.

Niese gave up eight hits and three runs with five strikeouts in 3 1-3 innings.

Wright gave the Mets a 1-0 lead in the first with his 10th homer and led off the fourth with his 11th to cut Atlanta's lead to 3-2.

After Wright's second homer, New York loaded the bases with no out, but Minor escaped the jam on Juan Lagares' flyout and Omar Quintanilla's double play grounder.

Andrew Brown's pinch-hit homer to lead off the Mets' fifth tied to score at 3-all.

David Aardsma replaced Niese and pitched out of a jam with runners on first and second when Justin Upton lined out. After Hawkins faced four batters in the fifth and four in the sixth, Brandon Lyon faced the minimum in the seventh.

The Mets took a 4-3 lead in the top of the seventh. Omar Quintanilla doubled on the 10th pitch he saw from Minor and scored from second when pinch-hitter Josh Satin doubled down the right-field line to chase Minor.

Jordan Walden got the next six outs, facing the minimum, for Atlanta.

In the eighth against Lyon, Andrelton Simmons reached with one out on Wright's fielding error and advanced to third on Pastornicky's broken-bat single to right.

Josh Edgin ended the threat when Jason Heyward grounded out.

Luis Avilan faced the minimum for Atlanta in the ninth.

NOTES: Braves 3B Chris Johnson committed three errors, including two on the same play in the ninth. ... Niese's road ERA rose to 6.66 in five starts this year. ... On a bobble-head night for B.J. Upton, the promotion's namesake went 0 for 5 with two strikeouts. Upton, who signed a five-year $75.25 million contract that's the biggest in franchise history, is batting.169 in his first season with Atlanta ... Niese missed a turn in the rotation with tendinitis in his left shoulder late last month, but avoided the disabled list. He received 12 days of rest before making his next start June 9, a no-decision against Miami in which he allowed two earned runs in 6 2-3 innings.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

advertisement

More news

Valuable 'mates

??HBT Daily: O's teammates Chris Davis and Manny Machado lead the early AL MVP race. Who does Craig Calcaterra favor for the award?

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/52270523/ns/sports-baseball/

michigan football askew blue moon ann romney Paul Ryan Speech chris cooley chris cooley

Grads preferred to grandmas in proposed immigration bill

By Rachelle Younglai

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Immigration authorities would give preference to better-educated and trained visa-seekers who can contribute to the American economy under a less-noticed provision of the immigration bill in the Congress.

The bi-partisan bill in the Senate would rewrite the half-century-old standards that control legal immigration to favor skills over family ties.

The winners of this proposed "merit-based" system, experts say, would be primarily from Asia, particularly from India, China and the Philippines, whose citizens are more likely to have attended college or have on-the-job training in skilled occupations such as engineering and technology. The losers are likely to be Mexicans and Central Americans.

The new system, long advocated by economists and politicians who believe the main purpose of immigration laws should be to serve economic growth, would replace one geared mainly to reuniting families.

As an example, an engineering graduate from India would have a better chance of immigrating to the United States than the grandmother of a naturalized U.S. citizen who does not speak English.

The best known provisions of the Senate bill would provide a path to legal status for roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States, reinforce borders to control the flow of future illegal immigrants, and establish a new system for temporary "guest workers" to meet the needs of employers seeking lower-skilled workers.

So far, those are the most controversial elements of the bill, which is scheduled for consideration next week in the Senate Judiciary Committee, the first step in a prolonged debate in the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The merit-based approach may provoke a fight as well.

Currently, most foreigners can only get a green card - which allows them to stay and work in the United States - if an immediate family member or company sponsors them. Cubans and refugees are admitted under different programs.

The bill proposed by four Democrats and four Republicans would make it harder for the siblings and adult children of citizens to get permanent residence visas, or green cards. The legislation would also eliminate "diversity" green cards, which has helped Africans immigrate to the United States.

But the bill would create another way to get a green card, where immigrants would be awarded the most points based on their level of education, employment experience, entrepreneurship in business, English language proficiency and family ties.

"Our immigration system has been holding us back," said Lanae Erickson Hatalsky, social policy director with the centrist Third Way think tank. "It has not been set up to make economic growth our priority and this is a huge step in that direction."

Foreigners would be awarded 15 points for a doctorate degree and another 10 points if they had a full-time job in the United States, according to the bill. They could also score two points for every year they were lawfully employed in the United States and another 10 points for speaking and writing English fluently.

Merit-based visas would go first to applicants with the highest number of points.

"People are going to rack up a lot of points through education and employment," said Jen Smyers, associate director for immigration and refugee policy with humanitarian group Church World Service. "What does that mean for someone who needs their sibling to be here because they are facing trauma? What does it mean for a woman in Iran who does not have education opportunities?"

Church World Service, the AFL-CIO union and other groups are urging senators not to reduce family reunification visas.

If enacted, the bill would align the United States with countries like Canada and Australia that use a points system to attract skilled, educated workers.

The Republican administration of George W. Bush seized on the idea of using immigration as an economic policy tool. But it failed in 2007 to pass a broad immigration bill that would have provided a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants and would have shifted the bulk of future immigrants to a points system.

At the time, President Barack Obama, who was then a freshman Democratic senator, said it did not "reflect how much Americans value the family ties that bind people to their brothers and sisters or to their parents."

Obama has so far praised the Senate bill and has not taken a position on the merit-based system.

MISTAKES

The last time the immigration system was changed substantially was in 1986. The legislation legalized the three-to-five million illegal immigrants in the country, the majority from Mexico. But it failed to create new avenues for foreigners to come to United States legally.

One concern about the new approach is that the country could find itself unintentionally leaving gaps in low-skilled jobs.

By 2020, the U.S. economy will need at least three million additional workers to care for the elderly, do construction jobs, and prepare food, among other lower-skilled jobs, according to data from the Department of Labor.

As the population ages, demand for home health and personal care aides is expected to increase considerably, the department said in its occupational outlook.

"The number of authorized migration slots doesn't come close to meeting the needs of the economy," said Michael Clemens, an economist and senior fellow with the Center for Global Development think tank. "Employers will once again be forced to resort to black-market employment to fuel the economy."

The new system could also favor men over women.

"The point system favors people who have had access to education and work in the formal labor sector," said an analysis by the National Immigration Law Center. "Many women - who are often caregivers and caretakers for family members - and low-wage workers will have difficulty qualifying for a visa."

It is difficult to gauge at this stage the extent to which the merit-based system might complicate passage of the bill.

Industry and organized labor have so far focused most of their attention on guest-worker provisions and increases under the bill in allocations of so-called non-immigrant H-1B visas for specialty occupations.

(Reporting by Rachelle Younglai; Editing by Fred Barbash and Claudia Parsons)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/grads-preferred-grandmas-proposed-immigration-bill-050406680.html

pineapple upside down cake free ecards flying car masters golf tournament the replacements how to hard boil eggs new nfl uniforms

Piece of 9/11 plane was from wing

NEW YORK (AP) ? Authorities now say a 5-foot part that's believed to be from a hijacked 9/11 World Trade Center jetliner came from a wing.

Police said Monday the rusted metal part from a Boeing 767 is a trailing edge flap support structure. It helps secure wing flaps that aid in regulating plane speed.

Investigators initially thought it was part of the landing gear, because both pieces have similar hydraulics.

Authorities believe the aircraft part is from one of the two hijacked planes that brought down the trade center and killed nearly 3,000 people on Sept. 11, 2001. But Boeing officials can't determine which flight.

The chief medical examiner's office says its workers will sift soil at the site for human remains starting Tuesday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jet-part-found-last-week-nyc-wing-163129144.html

the band colton dixon houston weather dwyane wade the night they drove old dixie down levon robbie robertson

Gene sequencing helps identify drug-resistant malaria

Know your enemy and the fight becomes easier. Researchers have pinpointed three sub-populations of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum that appear to be a major force in drug resistance. The findings could help efforts to track the spread of resistant malaria in future.

The first signs of resistance to the front-line malarial drug artemisinin emerged in Cambodia in 2009. If this resistance spreads worldwide, it will leave people with malaria without an effective drug to treat their illness.

Olivo Miotto at the University of Oxford, and a large international team, studied the genomes of 825 malarial parasites from south-east Asia and west Africa in an effort to understand why some parasite populations become resistant.

The work identified three drug-resistant P.?falciparum sub-populations in western Cambodia that were different from each other, and different from populations in eastern Cambodia, neighbouring countries and west Africa.

"For the first time we have identified the emergence of sub-populations associated with a drug resistance to artemisinin," says Miotto.

Why Cambodia?

Cambodia is thought to be a breeding ground for resistance. Past drug therapies in the country encouraged sole use of artemisinin to treat malaria, which could have been a factor.

Demographic factors could also have played a part: the Khmer Rouge regime of the late 1970s left the country with poor infrastructure and small, isolated communities. In those circumstances, a resistant strain can replicate itself quickly through inbreeding: in west Africa there is more outbreeding, which may slow the spread of resistance there.

"This research sheds light on the evolution of artemisinin resistance and suggests that the situation is more complicated than we thought," says Lisa Ranford-Cartwright from the University of Glasgow, UK, who was not involved in the study.

A full understanding of the mechanisms that build resistance is still out of reach, but the new study does mean researchers will be able to use genetic tests to identify any geographical spread of the three resistant sub-populations in future.

"Being able to detect if there is a sudden explosion of one particular type of parasite will indicate if something is going wrong," Miotto says.

Journal reference: Nature Genetics, DOI: 10.1038/ng.2624

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

Have your say

Only subscribers may leave comments on this article. Please log in.

Only personal subscribers may leave comments on this article

Subscribe now to comment.

All comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.

If you are having a technical problem posting a comment, please contact technical support.

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/2b4e5c38/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn234540Egene0Esequencing0Ehelps0Eidentify0Edrugresistant0Emalaria0Bhtml0Dcmpid0FRSS0QNSNS0Q20A120EGLOBAL0Qonline0Enews/story01.htm

pro bowl victoria azarenka Royal Rumble 2013 senior bowl norovirus Eclampsia Kendrick Lamar

First snapshot of organisms eating each other: Feast clue to smell of ancient Earth

Apr. 29, 2013 ? Tiny 1,900 million-year-old fossils from rocks around Lake Superior, Canada, give the first ever snapshot of organisms eating each other and suggest what the ancient Earth would have smelled like.

The fossils, preserved in Gunflint chert, capture ancient microbes in the act of feasting on a cyanobacterium-like fossil called Gunflintia -- with the perforated sheaths of Gunflintia being the discarded leftovers of this early meal.

A team, led by Dr David Wacey of the University of Western Australia and Bergen University, Norway, and Professor Martin Brasier of Oxford University, reports in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the fossil evidence for how this type of feeding on organic matter -- called 'heterotrophy' -- was taking place. They also show that the ancient microbes appeared to prefer to snack on Gunflintia as a 'tasty morsel' in preference to another bacterium (Huroniospora).

'What we call 'heterotrophy' is the same thing we do after dinner as the bacteria in our gut break down organic matter,' said Professor Martin Brasier of Oxford University's Department of Earth Sciences, an author of the paper. 'Whilst there is chemical evidence suggesting that this mode of feeding dates back 3,500 million years, in this study for the first time we identify how it was happening and 'who was eating who'. In fact we've all experienced modern bacteria feeding in this way as that's where that 'rotten egg' whiff of hydrogen sulfide comes from in a blocked drain. So, rather surprisingly, we can say that life on earth 1,900 million years ago would have smelled a lot like rotten eggs.'

The team analysed the microscopic fossils, ranging from about 3-15 microns in diameter, using a battery of new techniques and found that one species -- a tubular form thought to be the outer sheath of Gunflintia -- was more perforated after death than other kinds, consistent with them having been eaten by bacteria.

In some places many of the tiny fossils had been partially or entirely replaced with iron sulfide ('fool's gold') a waste product of heterotrophic sulfate-reducing bacteria that is also a highly visible marker. The team also found that these Gunflintia fossils carried clusters of even smaller (c.1 micron) spherical and rod-shaped bacteria that were seemingly in the process of consuming their hosts.

Dr Wacey said that: 'recent geochemical analyses have shown that the sulfur-based activities of bacteria can likely be traced back to 3,500 million years or so -- a finding reported by our group in Nature Geoscience in 2011. Whilst the Gunflint fossils are only about half as old, they confirm that such bacteria were indeed flourishing by 1,900 million years ago. And that they were also highly particular about what they chose to eat.'

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Oxford, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. David Wacey, Nicola McLoughlin, Matt R. Kilburn, Martin Saunders, John B. Cliff, Charlie Kong, Mark E. Barley, and Martin D. Brasier. Nanoscale analysis of pyritized microfossils reveals differential heterotrophic consumption in the ?1.9-Ga Gunflint chert. PNAS, April 29, 2013 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1221965110

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/strange_science/~3/hiDQhD4eNRI/130429154107.htm

presidential debate debate marco scutaro Russell Means Taylor Swift Red Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 2 celiac disease

Activists, UN put 'killer robots' in the crosshairs

Nidhi Subbaraman , NBC News ? ? ? 2 hrs.

Nearly every fighting ship in the U.S. Navy carries a Phalanx defense system, a computerized Gatling gun set on a six-ton mount that uses radar to spot targets flying out of the sky, or cruising across the ocean's surface. Once it "evaluates, tracks, engages and performs a kill assessment," a human gives the order to rattle off 4,500 rounds per minute.

This sort of "supervised" automation is not out of the ordinary. When Israel's "Iron Dome" radar spots incoming missiles, it can automatically fire a counter missile to intercept it. The German Air Force's Skyshield system can now also shoot down its targets with very little human interaction.

For years, "sniper detectors" have pointed telltale lasers at shooters who are firing on troops; DARPA is even working on a version that operates "night and day" from a moving military vehicle that's under fire. Meanwhile, sniper rifles themselves are getting smarter: In the case of the TrackingPoint precision guided firearm, the operator pulls the trigger, but the gun's built-in computer decides when the bullet flies.

"We are not in the 'Terminator' world and we may never reach there," says Peter Singer, author of "Wired for War" and director of the Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence at the Brookings Institution. "But to say there isn't an ever increasing amount of autonomy to our systems ? that's fiction."

Preparing for a future in which robots may be given a tad more independence, an international coalition of humans rights organizations including Human Rights Watch are banding together to propose a treaty ban on "killer robots."

The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots publicly launched April 23 with the goal of bringing the discussion about autonomous weapons systems to regular people, not just politicians and scientists. Also this month, the United Nations Special Rapporteur recommended a suspension of autonomous weapons ? or "lethal autonomous robotics" ? until their control and use is discussed in detail. But critics of those reports argue that it's too early to call for a ban because the technology in question does not yet exist. Others say this is the reason to start talking now.

"Our feeling is that [it is] morally and ethically wrong that these machines make killing decisions rather than humans [making] killing decisions," Stephen Goose, director of the arms division at the Human Rights Watch, told NBC News.

The group clarifies that it isn't anti-robot, or anti-autonomy ? or even anti-drone. It's just that when a decision to kill is made in a combat situation, they want to ensure that decision will always be made by a human being.

Goose says the title of the new campaign is deliberately provocative and designed to catalyze conversation. He said, "If you have a campaign to stop 'Fully autonomous weapons,' you will fall asleep."

"The problem with modern robotics is there's no way a robot can discriminate between a civilian and a soldier," said Noel Sharkey, a professor of artificial intelligence and robotics at the University of Sheffield in the U.K. and an outspoken advocate for "robot arms control." "They can just about tell the difference between a human and a car."

But a treaty prohibition at this time is unnecessary and "might even be counterproductive," cautions Matthew Waxmann, a national security and law expert at Columbia Law School. Waxmann told NBC News that he anticipates a day when robots may be better than human beings at making important decisions, especially in delicate procedures like surgeries.

"In some of these contexts, we are going to decide not only is it appropriate for machines to operate autonomously, we may demand it, because we are trying to reduce human error," said Waxmann.

Michael Schmitt, professor of international law and chairman of the U.S. Naval War College, told NBC News that a ban now, as a matter of law, is a "bad idea." When the Human Rights Watch wrote a 50-page report on the future of robotic warfare, Schmitt wrote a rebuttal in Harvard's National Security Journal. His main argument: "International humanitarian law's restrictions on the use of weapons ... are sufficiently robust to safeguard humanitarian values during the use of autonomous weapon systems."

Singer, whose work has made him an ombudsman in the growing debate over robotic warfare, says that now is the time to talk ? now, when Google cars are guiding themselves through San Francisco's streets and algorithm-powered stock trading accounts crash markets based on keywords.

Singer thinks the debate needs to gain traction before governments and big companies become invested in the technology ? and begin to influence the direction of policy. "People aren't pushing for more autonomy in these systems because it is cool. They're pushing for it because companies think they can make money out of it," he said.

Autonomous weapon systems that can operate independently are "not centuries away," Singer told NBC News. "We're more in the years and decades mode."

Nidhi Subbaraman writes about technology and science. Follow her on Twitter and Google+.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653377/s/2b533093/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Ctechnology0Cfutureoftech0Cactivists0Eun0Eput0Ekiller0Erobots0Ecrosshairs0E6C9633925/story01.htm

mothers day bachelor justin timberlake gerard butler danielle fishel daylight savings Daylight Savings Time 2013

Visualized: Space hurricane! NASA's Cassini records super cyclone on Saturn (video)

If the crashing sound of lightning striking Saturn wasn't enough to excite your inner-meteorologist, then perhaps footage of a raging extraterrestrial hurricane will win you over. After orbiting the ringed planet for nine years, NASA's Cassini probe has managed to snag video of a super storm on the celestial body's north pole. Cloaked by the darkness of winter, the hurricane's eye became visible as Saturn's northern hemisphere transitioned into spring. Unlike the tropical cyclones of Earth (see: Hurricane Katrina, Sandy and Irene), this furious typhoon has been spinning for several years and has winds that flow at speeds exceeding 300MPH. Further differentiating itself from our world's whirlwinds, this alien cyclone is locked to its planet's north pole and is fueled by small amounts of water vapor instead of an actual ocean. Completely in a category of its own, the hurricane's eye measures about 1,250 miles wide and is surrounded by fluffy white clouds the size of Texas. To see this Saturnian fury in all its glory, check out the video after the break and feel free to leave your gratuitous hurricane names in the comments below.

Filed under: Science, Alt

Comments

Source: NASA

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/29/visualized-nasa-cassini-saturn-hurricane/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

freedom riders 9th circuit court of appeals gisele bundchen tom brady randy travis arrested dickens greg kelly cujo

NBA's Michael Jordan marries ex-model over weekend

Michael Jordan got married over the weekend, with Tiger Woods, Spike Lee and Patrick Ewing among those attending the NBA Hall of Famer's wedding in Palm Beach, Fla.

Jordan married 35-year-old former model Yvette Prieto on Saturday, manager Estee Portnoy told The Associated Press on Sunday.

The 50-year-old Jordan owns the Charlotte Bobcats.

Nearly 300 guests were present as they exchanged vows. The reception took place at a private golf club in Jupiter designed by Jack Nicklaus. Jordan owns a home near the course.

Entertainment included DJ MC Lyte, singers K'Jon, Robin Thicke and Grammy Award winner Usher and The Source, an 18-piece band.

The six-time NBA champion and Prieto met five years ago and were engaged last December.

Jordan had three children with former wife Juanita Vanoy. The couple's divorce was finalized in December 2006.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nbas-michael-jordan-marries-ex-model-over-weekend-024122152.html

anencephaly tesla model x lou gehrig toby mac blue ivy carter photos purple squirrel blade runner

Sanford, Colbert Busch debate for first time

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) ? Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and Democrat Elizabeth Colbert, after sparring from a distance for weeks, finally face off Monday in the pitched race for the state's vacant 1st Congressional District seat.

The two meet Monday evening at The Citadel in a debate sponsored by the Patch news service, the South Carolina Radio Network and Charleston television station WCBD. The debate is being cablecast by C-SPAN.

It's their first joint appearance in the campaign that started earlier when incumbent congressman Tim Scott was appointed to the state's vacant U.S. Senate seat. Sanford and Colbert Busch, as well as Green Party Candidate Eugene Platt, compete May 7 in a special election in the district that runs from northeast of Charleston south to the resort of Hilton Head Island.

Sanford's public career was sidelined in 2009 after he revealed he had an extramarital affair with an Argentine woman to whom he is now engaged. For weeks now, Sanford has been trying to make a political comeback, hammering Colbert Busch, the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert, for not debating more.

Sanford has accused her of running what he called a stealth campaign, fueled by out-of-state money and that the voters don't know where she stands on the issues.

"In the absence of everything else this (debate) takes on added significance because she hasn't debated," Sanford said.

Colbert Busch's campaign has responded that she has been busy with her own aggressive campaign schedule.

"I'm really looking forward to this debate," Colbert Busch said Friday. "I think what you will see when Mark and I are standing on the same stage is you will see an enormous difference between the two of us and you will see an enormous difference between the two campaigns. I'm really looking forward to it."

But she said she didn't think the campaign turns on the debate.

"I think people understand our campaign and what our campaign is doing resonates throughout the district," she added.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-04-29-1st%20District-South%20Carolina/id-5d2306ad348a445d921bc2d399dd285c

jaleel white levi johnston 2013 srt viper scott walker recall fisker atlantic social darwinism wisconsin recall election

Teachers trash Mexican political party offices in regional capital

By Luis Enrique Martinez

ACAPULCO, Mexico (Reuters) - Angry teachers on Wednesday attacked offices of Mexico's main political parties in the capital of the southwestern state of Guerrero to protest against an education overhaul, breaking windows, spray-painting walls and starting fires.

Dozens of teachers opposed to President Enrique Pena Nieto's new education reform ran riot in the city of Chilpancingo, trashing installations of his Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the main opposition parties.

Police were nowhere to be seen.

Television footage showed masked protesters throwing chairs, papers and plants out of the upper floors of the PRI offices in Chilpancingo as others destroyed images of Pena Nieto and sprayed colorful graffiti about him on the walls of buildings.

Teachers in Guerrero, home to the popular beach resort of Acapulco, are fighting the legislation that aims to revamp the country's failing education system by imposing tougher oversight of teaching standards and cracking down on abuses.

The law takes away control of teacher assessment from a powerful teachers union and seeks to end the practice of teachers passing on posts to relatives or simply selling them.

Teachers have been one of the most militant groups in Mexico in recent years, periodically causing major disruptions in some states during efforts to force through change.

"We need to avoid the law of the jungle imposing itself, chaos and the breakdown of public order," PRI chairman Cesar Camacho said, pledging to investigate the unrest.

Images from Milenio Television also showed protesters armed with sticks attacking offices of the conservative National Action Party (PAN) and the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), which also backed the education reform.

The footage showed people had set fire to a building next to the PRI complex. It was unclear if it belonged to the party.

Milenio's website quoted Chilpancingo Mayor Mario Moreno as saying the city lacked the means to take on the protesters. "We've already asked for federal assistance," he said.

Previous demonstrations in Guerrero have shut down main roads in the state, which is already suffering from a wave of violence that spawned vigilante-style "community self-defense" groups.

The groups have taken the law into their own hands, rounding up who they see as suspects, including police, and prompting criticism the government is no longer in control of some areas.

Guerrero state police said elements from the self-defense groups were among the people attacking the political offices.

The protests in Chilpancingo kicked off after Guerrero's state congress on Tuesday rejected demands from the teachers to amend the education bill, which involves constitutional changes that must be approved by Mexico's state legislatures.

To escape disruption from the protests, the state congress moved this week to Acapulco, which last year became the murder capital of Mexico with more than 1,000 homicides reported.

Pena Nieto signed the education law in February. Lawmakers must still draw up separate legislation to implement it.

(Additional reporting by Gabriel Stargardter; Writing by Dave Graham; Editing by Simon Gardner and Mohammad Zargham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/teachers-trash-mexican-political-party-offices-regional-capital-155435081.html

Chicago Marathon 2012 texas rangers steve jobs meningitis bobby valentine bobby valentine miguel cabrera

Syrian troops capture key town near Damascus

BEIRUT (AP) ? After five weeks of battle, Syrian government troops captured a strategic town near Damascus, cutting an arms route for rebels trying to topple President Bashar Assad's regime, state media and activists said Thursday.

By taking the town of Otaybah, east of the capital, the army dealt a major setback to opposition forces that in recent months have made gains near the city they eventually hope to storm.

Also on Thursday, rare fighting broke out in the tightly controlled central city of Hama between troops and rebels who ambushed an army vehicle and took over a school that the regime was using as a base. At least seven people were killed.

With fresh supplies of weapons from foreign backers, the rebels have recently seized military bases and towns south of the capital in the strategically important region between Damascus and the border with Jordan, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) away.

The regime has largely kept the rebels at bay in Damascus, although opposition fighters control several suburbs of the capital from which they have threatened the heart of the city, the seat of Assad's power. Last month government troops launched a campaign to repel the rebel advances near the capital, deploying elite army units to the rebellious suburbs and pounding rebel positions with airstrikes.

The director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul-Rahman, said government troops regained control of Otaybah late Wednesday.

State-run SANA news agency said Thursday that the army has "restored complete control" over Otaybah. The official news services also said Assad's troops "discovered a number of tunnels which were used by terrorists to move and transfer weapons and ammunitions."

The regime and state media refer to rebels as terrorists and accuse them of being part of a foreign plot seeking to destroy Syria.

"It's a huge victory for the regime, and a big blow to the opposition that is now in danger of losing other towns and villages around Damascus," Abdul-Rahman said of the army's campaign.

On Thursday, the army was already capitalizing on the territorial gains, pounding southern suburbs of Damascus including the long-contested Daraya with artillery barrages and air strikes, according to the Observatory. The group relies on a network of activists on the ground that also reported fierce clashes between rebels and army troops to the east of the capital.

The army's offensive to dislodge rebel fighters from neighborhoods ringing Damascus is part of the government's broader campaign to secure central provinces of Hama and Homs, and areas along the Lebanese border. The region is of strategic value to Assad's regime because it links Damascus with the coastal enclave that is the heartland of Syria's Alawites and also home to the country's two main seaports, Latakia and Tartus.

Syria's regime is dominated by the president's minority Alawite sect ? an offshoot of Shiite Islam ? while the rebels are mostly from the country's Sunni majority. Assad's major allies, the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group and Iran, are both Shiite.

Otaybah is located on a road linking Damascus with the eastern suburbs of Damascus known as Eastern Ghouta. Rebels have been using the road to transport weapons and other supplies to the capital. Many of the capital's surrounding towns and neighborhoods have been opposition strongholds during the 2-year-old conflict.

Losing control of the town will make the defense of rebel enclaves in northeastern suburbs such as Douma, Harasta and others very difficult, Abdul-Rahman said.

In Hama, rebels ambushed and destroyed an army vehicle after a six hour battle with troops. Amateur videos uploaded by activists online showed an army vehicle in flames amid sounds of intense gun battles.

Another video showed rebels raising black Islamic flags over the Nasseh Alwani school after "liberating it" from troops who had transformed it into a military base, and what appeared to be the bodies of soldiers burning inside.

The videos appeared consistent with Associated Press reporting from the area.

Fighting in Hama is rare because the government keeps it under tight control. The city was the site of a notorious massacre in 1982, when Assad's father and predecessor, Hafez, ordered the military to quell a Sunni rebellion. Amnesty International has estimated that between 10,000 and 25,000 people were killed in the siege, though conflicting figures exist and the Syrian government has never made an official estimate.

The Syrian conflict started with largely peaceful protests against Assad's regime in March 2011 but eventually turned into a civil war.

The fighting has exacted a huge toll on the country, killing more than 70,000 people, laying waste to cities, towns and villages and forcing more than a million people to flee their homes and seek refuge abroad. Millions have also been displaced inside Syria.

International aid agencies have been pleading for funds to help refugees in neighboring countries such as Jordan and Lebanon. They have also been asking the Syrian government to allow aid convoys into the country and facilitate access to the area inside cities and towns that have been affected by fighting.

The latest damage to the country's rich cultural heritage came on Wednesday, when the minaret of the landmark 12th century Umayyad Mosque in the northern city of Aleppo was destroyed during fighting in the old walled city.

About 500 Syrian refugees held a strike in Jordan's largest refugee camp at Zaatari near the border to demand an international humanitarian zone be set up in southern Syria to enable their return home.

They shuttered makeshift shops in the camp in the first of what they said would be daily strikes in the hope of drawing attention to difficult conditions inside the desert facility.

But some of Zaatari's 120,000 residents complained that the closure will only harm people inside the camp who need food and other basic supplies the shops offer.

The U.N. refugee agency has warned against establishing buffer zones in Syria fearing the possibility that Bosnia-like massacres would occur.

___

AP journalist Mohammad Hannon reported from Zaatari.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-troops-capture-key-town-near-damascus-064600068.html

odd lamar d antoni fashion star andrew bird lizzie borden lizzie borden