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Newtown swamped by charity for victims, families
Labels: HealthNEWTOWN, Conn. Peter Leone was busy making deli sandwiches and working the register at his Newtown General Store when he got a phone call from Alaska. It was a woman who wanted to give him her credit card number.
"She said, 'I'm paying for the next $500 of food that goes out your door,'" Leone said. "About a half hour later another gentleman called, I think from the West Coast, and he did the same thing for $2,000."
Funerals and tributes for Newtown victims
Money, toys, food and other gifts have poured in from around the world as Newtown mourns the loss of 20 children and six school employees at Sandy Hook Elementary School a little over a week ago. The 20-year-old shooter, Adam Lanza, killed his mother before attacking the school then killing himself. Police don't know what caused him to massacre first-graders, teachers, school staff or his mother.
Saturday, all the town's children were invited to town hall to choose from among hundreds of toys donated by individuals, organizations and toy stores.
The basement of the building resembled a toy store, with piles of stuffed penguins, Barbie dolls, board games, soccer balls and other fun gifts. All the toys were inspected and examined by bomb-sniffing dogs before being sorted and put on card tables. The children could choose whatever they wanted.
"But we're not checking IDs at the door," said Tom Mahoney, the building administrator, who's in charge of handling gifts. "If there is a child from another town who comes in need of a toy, we're not going to turn them away."
The United Way of Western Connecticut said the official fund for donations had $2.6 million in it Saturday morning. Others sent envelopes stuffed with cash to pay for coffee, and a shipment of cupcakes arrived from a gourmet bakery in Beverly Hills, Calif.
The Postal Service reported a six-fold increase in mail in town and set up a unique post office box to handle it. The parcels come decorated with rainbows and hearts drawn by school children.
Some letters arrive in packs of 26 identical envelopes — one for each family of the children and staff killed or addressed to the "First Responders" or just "The People of Newtown." One card arrived from Georgia addressed to "The families of 6 amazing women and 20 beloved angels." Many contain checks.
Postal worker Christine Dugas sorts letters at the post office in Newtown, Conn., Friday, Dec. 21, 2012, including a letter addressed to "The families of 6 Amazing Women and 20 Beloved Angels.
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AP Photo/Julio Cortez
"This is just the proof of the love that's in this country," said Postmaster Cathy Zieff.
Many people have placed flowers, candles and stuffed animals at makeshift memorials that have popped up all over town. Others are stopping by the Edmond Town Hall on Main Street to drop off food, or toys, or cash.
"There's so much stuff coming in," Mahoney, of Newtown, said. "To be honest, it's a bit overwhelming; you just want to close the doors and turn the phone off."
Mahoney said the town of some 27,000 with a median household income of more than $111,000 plans to donate whatever is left over to shelters or other charities.
Sean Gillespie of Colchester, who attended Sandy Hook Elementary, and Lauren Minor, who works at U.S. Foodservice in Norwich, came from Calvary Chapel in Uncasville with a car filled with food donated by U.S. Foodservice. But they were sent elsewhere because the refrigerators in Newtown were overflowing with donations.
"We'll find someplace," Gillespie said. "It won't go to waste."
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Urban Advocates Say New Gun Control Talk Overdue
Labels: Business
For years, voices have cried in the urban wilderness: We need to talk about gun control.
Yet the guns blazed on.
It took a small-town slaughter for gun control to become a political priority. Now, decades' worth of big-city arguments against easy access to guns are finally being heard, because an unstable young man invaded an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., with a military-style assault rifle and 30-bullet magazines. Twenty young children and six adults were slain.
President Barack Obama called the tragedy a "wake-up call." Vice President Joe Biden met Thursday with Obama's cabinet and law-enforcement officers from around the country to launch a task force on reducing gun violence. Lawmakers who have long resisted gun control are saying something must be done.
Such action is energizing those who have sought to reduce urban gun violence. Donations are up in some places; other leaders have been working overtime due to this unprecedented moment.
The moment also is causing some to reflect on the sudden change of heart. Why now? Why weren't we moved to act by the killing of so many other children, albeit one by one, in urban areas?
Certainly, Newtown is a special case, 6- and 7-year-olds riddled with bullets inside the sanctuary of a classroom. Even in a nation rife with violence, where there have been three other mass slayings since July and millions enjoy virtual killing via video games, the nature of this tragedy is shocking.
Critics Slam NRA for Proposing Armed School Guards Watch Video
Gun Violence Victims, Survivors Share Thoughts After Newtown Massacre Watch Video
But still: "There's a lot of talk now about we have to protect our children. We have to protect all of our children, not just the ones living in the suburbs," said Tammerlin Drummond, a columnist for the Oakland Tribune.
In her column Monday, Drummond wrote about 7-year-old Heaven Sutton of Chicago, who was standing next to her mother selling candy when she was killed in the crossfire of a gang shootout. Also in Chicago, which has been plagued by a recent spike in gun violence: 6-year-old Aaliyah Shell was caught in a drive-by while standing on her front porch; and 13-year-old Tyquan Tyler was killed when a someone in a car shot into a group of youths outside a party.
Wrote Drummond: "It has taken the murders of 20 babies and six adults in an upper-middle class neighborhood in Connecticut to achieve what thousands of gun fatalities in urban communities all over this country could not."
So again: What took so long? The answers are complicated by many factors: resignation to urban violence, even among some of those who live there; the assumption that cities are dangerous and small towns safe; the idea that some urban victims place themselves in harm's way.
In March, the Children's Defense Fund issued a report titled "Protect Children, Not Guns 2012." It analyzed the latest federal data and counted 299 children under age 10 killed by guns in 2008 and 2009. That figure included 173 preschool-age children.
Black children and teens accounted for 45 percent of all child and teen gun deaths, even though they were only 15 percent of the child/teen population.
"Every child's life is sacred and it is long past time that we protect it," said CDF president Marian Wright Edelman in the report.
It got almost no press coverage — until nine months later, when Newtown happened.
Tim Stevens, founder and chairman of the Black Political Empowerment Project in Pittsburgh, has been focusing on urban gun violence since 2007, when he said Pennsylvania was declared the worst state for black-on-black violence.
No new vote in Venezuela if Chavez sworn in late: official
Labels: WorldCARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela will not call fresh elections if Hugo Chavez's cancer prevents him from taking office by January 10, the head of Congress said on Saturday, despite a constitutional mandate that the swearing-in take place on that date.
Chavez is recovering in Cuba from a six-hour cancer operation that followed his October re-election. The socialist leader has not been heard from for nearly two weeks, raising doubts as to whether he will be fit to continue governing.
Opposition leaders may pounce on the issue of the swearing-in date to demand that authorities call fresh elections because of Chavez's apparently critical state of health due to an undisclosed type of cancer in the pelvic region.
A constitutional dispute over succession could lead to a messy transition toward a post-Chavez era in the South American nation with the world's largest oil reserves.
"Since Chavez might not be here in on January 10, (the opposition) hopes the National Assembly will call elections within 30 days. They're wrong. Dead wrong," said Diosdado Cabello, the National Assembly's president and one of Chavez's closest allies, during a ceremony to swear in a recently elected governor.
"That's not going to happen because our president is named Hugo Chavez, he was reelected and is in the hearts of all Venezuelans."
He suggested Chavez may need more time to recover from his surgery. Officials in recent weeks have recognized his condition was serious, and the garrulous leader's unusual silence has built up alarm even among supporters.
The constitution says "the elected candidate will assume the Presidency of the Republic on January 10th of the first year of their constitutional term, via swearing-in by the National Assembly."
It says new elections are to be called if the National Assembly determines a "complete absence" of the president because of death, physical or mental impairment or abandoning the job.
The opposition believes it would have a better shot against Chavez's anointed successor, Vice President Nicolas Maduro, than against the charismatic former soldier who for 14 years has been nearly invincible at the ballot box.
Chavez allies want to avoid a public debate over the president's health because his cancer has been treated as a state secret. His treatment in communist Cuba has helped keep his condition under wraps, and the Venezuelan government has given only terse and cryptic statements about his post-operation recovery.
Constitutional lawyer Jose Vice Harold said he expects the Supreme Court, which is controlled by Chavez allies, will rule that Chavez may extend his existing term without having to be sworn in with the expectation that he will eventually recover.
"What they are doing is taking the debate over succession from the National Assembly, which is where it belongs, and moving it to the Supreme Court where behind closed doors they can decide the next steps are," said Harold, a Chavez critic and constitutional law professor as the Universidad Catholic Andres Bellow.
Chavez has vastly expanded presidential powers and built a near-cult following among millions of poor Venezuelans, who love his feisty language and oil-financed social welfare projects.
Opposition leaders are smarting from this month's governors elections in which Chavez allies won 20 of 23 states. They are trying to keep attention focused on day-to-day problems from rampant crime to power outages.
(Reporting by Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Paul Simao)
CIA chief decries torture in Osama bin Laden hunt movie
Labels: Technology
WASHINGTON: Acting CIA director Michael Morell said that "Zero Dark Thirty," the Hollywood take on the hunt for Osama bin Laden, exaggerates the importance of information obtained by harsh interrogations.
The movie by Academy Award-winning director Kathryn Bigelow tells the story of the decade-long search after September 11, 2001 that climaxed in last year's dramatic and deadly raid in May on the Al-Qaeda terror leader's hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
The film shows US personnel using harsh interrogation techniques like water-boarding -- a method widely seen as torture -- to force captives to speak. The information obtained was crucial, according to the movie, in piecing together the trail that eventually led to bin Laden.
Not so, Morell said in a message to Central Intelligence Agency employees released to AFP on Saturday.
The movie "creates the strong impression that the enhanced interrogation techniques that were part of our former detention and interrogation program were the key to finding bin Laden. That impression is false."
Morell's message, sent to the employees on Friday, states that "multiple streams of intelligence" led CIA analysts to conclude that bin Laden was hiding in Abbottabad.
He acknowledged that "some" of the information "came from detainees subjected to enhanced techniques. But there were many other sources as well."
The controversial techniques were banned in 2009 by President Barack Obama.
Morell said that "whether enhanced interrogation techniques were the only timely and effective way to obtain information from those detainees, as the film suggests, is a matter of debate that cannot and never will be definitively resolved."
Morell is widely believed to be a top candidate for the job of CIA director after the resignation of David Petreaus, America's most celebrated military leader in a generation. Petreaus stepped down in November after admitting to an extra-marital affair with his biographer.
Morell's message, first reported by The New York Times, echoes a statement decrying the "Zero Dark Thirty" interrogation scenes signed by three senators, including Republican John McCain, himself a prisoner of war and torture victim during the Vietnam War.
In a letter to the head of Sony Pictures, McCain -- the 2008 Republican presidential candidate -- and Democratic senators Diane Feinstein and Carl Levin wrote that the movie "clearly implies that the CIA's coercive interrogation techniques were effective" in obtaining information that would lead to bin Laden.
"We have reviewed CIA records and know that this is incorrect," the senators wrote. "We believe that you have an obligation to state that the role of torture in the hunt for (Bin Laden) is not based on the facts, but rather part of the film's fictional narrative."
However two CIA officials active when suspects were tortured disputed those assertions.
Jose Rodriguez, who oversaw the CIA's counterterrorism operations when "harsh interrogation" methods were in use, wrote in the Washington Post in April that the path leading to bin Laden "started in a CIA black site ... and stemmed from information obtained from hardened terrorists who agreed to tell us some (but not all) of what they knew after undergoing harsh but legal interrogation methods."
And former CIA director Michael Hayden wrote in a Wall Street Journal in June 2011 that a "crucial component" of information that eventually led to bin Laden came from three CIA prisoners, "all of whom had been subjected to some form of enhanced interrogation."
Hayden claimed that he learned the information when, in 2007, he was first briefed about pursuing bin Laden through his courier network.
But interim CIA director Morell emphasized the film, a likely Oscar contender, "takes significant artistic licence, while portraying itself as being historically accurate."
"What I want you to know is that Zero Dark Thirty is a dramatization, not a realistic portrayal of the facts.
"CIA interacted with the filmmakers through our Office of Public Affairs but, as is true with any entertainment project with which we interact, we do not control the final product."
- AFP/jc
Why does my external hard drive only show 2.2TB?
Labels: LifestyleExternal hard drives are exceptionally useful for expanding storage capabilities for both backups and data management. While external hard drives are often sold in preconfigured packages by manufacturers, another popular option is to purchase an external hard-drive enclosure and then use any drive of your choice in it. This is beneficial because as your demands for storage increase, you can replace the enclosure's drive with a larger one.
These days, the availability of hard drives with 4TB of storage are enticing for people to swap into their existing enclosures; however, when doing so they may find that the system will only recognize 2.2TB of the drive, regardless of how they partition or format the device.
While modern file-system formats such as HFS+, NTFS, and ExFAT ought to handle volume sizes of between hundreds of gigabytes to zettabytes, and though operating systems like OS X have increased the maximum volume size from 2TB to 8EB (exabytes) over the years, there are hardware limitations that may limit the size of the volume that can be used. If you are using an older drive enclosure for your large hard drive, then the controllers on it may not be capable of handling over 2.2TB, regardless of the software environment being used around it.
This problem happens because of the use of LBA (logical block addressing) in modern hard-drive controllers coupled with a hardware-based limit of how many blocks can be included in the LBA scheme. Early LBA controllers used 32-bit (or lower) addressing coupled with a maximum supported block size of 512 bytes. This means they support up to 2^32 or 4,294,967,296 blocks for a device, and with each block being 512 bytes, this translates to a maximum of 2,199,023,255,552 bytes, or 2.199TB.
Unfortunately in many cases these limits are hard-coded in enclosure's firmware, so even though modern drives use 4,096-byte sectors, the system will still only address these sectors as 512 bytes in size, resulting in both a waste of space and degraded performance.
The only way around this problem is to replace your drive enclosure with a new one that has proper support for both 48-bit (or greater) LBA and 4,096-byte sectors in hard drives. Luckily most enclosures on the market today do support this, so if you run into this problem, you should be up and running in no time.
Questions? Comments? Have a fix? Post them below or !
Be sure to check us out on Twitter and the CNET Mac forums.
NRA: Guns in schools would protect students
Labels: HealthUpdated: 6:44 p.m. ET
In a press conference reflecting on last week's massacre in Newtown, Conn., the National Rifle Association's Wayne LaPierre today called on Congress to put armed law enforcement agents in every American school, insisting that guns in schools -- not tougher gun laws -- would most effectively protect children from school shootings.
A "good guy with a gun" in every school?
LaPierre, who did not take any questions and whose remarks were interrupted twice by pro-gun control protesters, disdained the notion that stricter gun laws could have prevented "monsters" like Adam Lanza from committing mass shootings, and wondered why students, unlike banks, don't have the protection of armed officials. He also called for a "national database of the mentally ill."
"The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," he said.
Twenty first-grade students were gunned down at their Connecticut elementary school last Friday, when 20-year-old Lanza reportedly opened fire in the school. Six adult faculty members were killed in his rampage, and Lanza also took his own life. Shortly before entering Sandy Hook Elementary School, Lanza is believed to have killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, in her bed. In the aftermath of the shootings, there has been much speculation as to the state of Adam Lanza's mental health, but no concrete evidence has been established that he was mentally ill.
60 Minutes archives: Understanding the NRA
In the aftermath of the shooting, the NRA stayed largely silent, making only a brief comment earlier this week when announcing today's press conference. In his remarks today, however, LaPierre vehemently defended the pro-gun agency against critics and offered up a solution of his own.
"We must speak for the safety of our nation's children," said LaPierre. "We care about our money, so we protect our banks with armed guards. American airports, office buildings, power plants, courthouses, even sports stadiums, are all protected by armed security. We care about our president, so we protect him with armed Secret Service agents. Members of Congress works in offices surrounded by Capitol police officers, yet when it comes to our most beloved innocent and vulnerable members of the American family -- our children -- we as a society leave them every day utterly defenseless. And the monsters and the predators of the world know it and exploit it."
"That must change now," argued LaPierre, moments before being interrupted by a protester carrying a large pink sign proclaiming that the "NRA is killing our kids." "The truth is that our society is populated by an unknown number of genuine monsters -- people so deranged, so evil, so possessed by voices and driven by demons that no sane person can possibly ever comprehend them. They walk among us every day. And does anybody really believe that the next Adam Lanza isn't planning his attack on a school he's already identified at this very moment?"
60 Minutes archives: The anti-gun lobby
Alternately criticizing politicians, the media, and the entertainment industry, LaPierre argued that "the press and political class here in Washington [are] so consumed by fear and hatred of the NRA and America's gun owners" that they overlook what he claims is the real solution to the nation's recent surge in mass shootings -- and what, he said, could have saved lives last week.
"What if, when Adam Lanza started shooting his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School last Friday, he had been confronted by qualified, armed security?" he asked. "Will you at least admit it's possible that 26 innocent lives might have been spared? Is that so abhorrent to you that you would rather continue to risk the alternative?"
LaPierre called on Congress to put a police officer in every school in America, which according to a Slate analysis would cost the nation at least $5.4 billion. LaPierre recognized that local budgets are "strained," but urged lawmakers "to act immediately, to appropriate whatever is necessary to put armed police officers in every school." He offered up the NRA's unique "knowledge, dedication, and resources" to assist in efforts to train those forces, but made no mention of a fiscal contribution.
Columbine High School employed an armed guard, Neil Gardner, at the time of the 1999 school shootings. According to CNN, Gardner was eating lunch in his car when violence broke out in the school, and 13 people were killed.
Protesters disrupt NRA press conference
Gun control advocates immediately decried LaPierre's comments, and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the press conference a "shameful evasion of the crisis facing our country."
"Instead of offering solutions to a problem they have helped create, they offered a paranoid, dystopian vision of a more dangerous and violent America where everyone is armed and no place is safe," he said. "Leadership is about taking responsibility, especially in times of crisis. Today the NRA's lobbyists blamed everyone but themselves for the crisis of gun violence."
On Twitter, Senator-elect Chris Murphy, D-Ct., called LaPierre's comments "the most revolting, tone-deaf statement I've ever seen."
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Obama Says He Is 'Ready and Willing' to Get Deal
Labels: Business
President Barack Obama says he is "ready and willing" to get a big package done to deal with the "fiscal cliff" and says there's no reason not to protect middle-class Americans from tax increases.
Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
Fiscal Cliff: Boehner Doesn't Have Votes for Plan B Watch Video
Next Steps for Fiscal Cliff? 'God Only Knows,' Says Boehner Watch Video
'Fiscal Cliff' Negotiations: Boehner's Plan B Watch Video
Obama says he spoke Friday with House Speaker John Boehner and met with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. He says Congress should pass a plan to extend tax breaks for the middle class and extend unemployment benefits.
Obama says no one can get 100 percent of what they want and there are "real consequences" to how they deal with the across-the-board tax increases and steep spending cuts scheduled to kick in Jan. 1. Economists fear the combination could deliver a blow to the U.S. economy.
Italy PM Monti resigns, elections likely in February
Labels: WorldROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti tendered his resignation to the president on Friday after 13 months in office, opening the way to a highly uncertain national election in February.
The former European commissioner, appointed to lead an unelected government to save Italy from financial crisis a year ago, has kept his own political plans a closely guarded secret but he has faced growing pressure to seek a second term.
President Giorgio Napolitano is expected to dissolve parliament in the next few days and has already indicated that the most likely date for the election is February 24.
In an unexpected move, Napolitano said he would hold consultations with political leaders from all the main parties on Saturday to discuss the next steps. In the meantime Monti will continue in a caretaker capacity.
European leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso have called for Monti's economic reform agenda to continue but Italy's two main parties have said he should stay out of the race.
Monti, who handed in his resignation during a brief meeting at the presidential palace shortly after parliament approved his government's 2013 budget, will hold a news conference on Sunday at which he is expected clarify his intentions.
Ordinary Italians are weary of repeated tax hikes and spending cuts and opinion polls offer little evidence that they are ready to give Monti a second term. A survey this week showed 61 percent saying he should not stand.
Whether he runs or not, his legacy will loom over an election which will be fought out over the painful measures he has introduced to try to rein in Italy's huge public debt and revive its stagnant economy.
His resignation came a couple of months before the end of his term, after his technocrat government lost the support of Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right People of Freedom (PDL) party in parliament earlier this month.
Speculation is swirling over Monti's next moves. These could include outlining policy recommendations, endorsing a centrist alliance committed to his reform agenda or even standing as a candidate in the election himself.
The centre-left Democratic Party (PD) has held a strong lead in the polls for months but a centrist alliance led by Monti could gain enough support in the Senate to force the PD to seek a coalition deal which could help shape the economic agenda.
BERLUSCONI IN WINGS
Senior figures from the alliance, including both the UDC party, which is close to the Roman Catholic Church, and a new group founded by Ferrari sports car chairman Luca di Montezemolo, have been hoping to gain Monti's backing.
He has not said clearly whether he intends to run, but he has dropped heavy hints he will continue to push a reform agenda that has the backing of both Italy's business community and its European partners.
The PD has promised to stick to the deficit reduction targets Monti has agreed with the European Union and says it will maintain the broad course he has set while putting more emphasis on reviving growth.
Berlusconi's return to the political arena has added to the already considerable uncertainty about the centre-right's intentions and increased the likelihood of a messy and potentially bitter election campaign.
The billionaire media tycoon has fluctuated between attacking the government's "Germano-centric" austerity policies and promising to stand aside if Monti agrees to lead the centre right, but now appears to have settled on an anti-Monti line.
He has pledged to cut taxes and scrap a hated housing tax which Monti imposed. He has also sounded a stridently anti-German line which has at times echoed the tone of the populist 5-Star Movement headed by maverick comic Beppe Grillo.
The PD and the PDL, both of which supported Monti's technocrat government in parliament, have made it clear they would not be happy if he ran against them and there have been foretastes of the kind of attacks he can expect.
Former centre-left prime minister Massimo D'Alema said in an interview last week that it would be "morally questionable" for Monti to run against the PD, which backed all of his reforms and which has pledged to maintain his pledges to European partners.
Berlusconi who has mounted an intensive media campaign in the past few days, echoed that criticism this week, saying Monti risked losing the credibility he has won over the past year and becoming a "little political figure".
(Additional reporting by Gavin Jones, Massimiliano Di Giorgio and Paolo Biondi; Writing by Gavin Jones and James Mackenzie; Editing by Michael Roddy)
Strong 6.8 quake strikes off Vanuatu: USGS
Labels: Technology
SYDNEY: A strong 6.8-magnitude earthquake hit off the coast of the South Pacific island of Vanuatu on Saturday, the US Geological Survey said, but no immediate tsunami warning was issued.
The quake struck at a depth of more than 200 kilometres around 2230 GMT Friday some 130 kilometres north of Santo, USGS said.
"It's quite deep ... so there's no tsunami," said David Jepsen, a seismologist with Geoscience Australia which measured the quake at 6.6 magnitude.
"I think it's well away from (the capital) Port Vila... but it's closer to some of the islands further to the northwest, but they would have had some moderate shaking really," he told AFP.
The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said a destructive tsunami was not generated, based on the earthquake and historical tsunami data.
Vanuatu lies on the so-called "Pacific Ring of Fire", a zone of frequent seismic activity caused by friction between shifting tectonic plates.
It has been rocked by several large quakes in recent years, averaging about three magnitude 7.0 or above incidents every year without any major damage.
- AFP/jc
Instagram rolls back terms of service after ownership dustup
Labels: Lifestyle
In the wake of user backlash over image ownership, Instagram announced today that it would revert its terms of service back to the back to the version that has been in place since the service launched two years ago.
The Facebook-owned app ignited a storm of protest with the announcement earlier this week that it was claiming perpetual rights to sell users' photographs without notifying or compensating the photographer. Under the new policy, Facebook claimed the perpetual right to license all public Instagram photos to companies or any other organization, including for advertising purposes, effectively transforming the Web site into the world's largest stock photo agency.
Since the publication of the updates, "it became clear that we failed to fulfill what I consider one of our most important responsibilities -- to communicate our intentions clearly," Instagram founder and CEO Kevin Systrom wrote in a company blog post. "I am sorry for that, and I am focused on making it right."
"Going forward, rather than obtain permission from you to introduce possible advertising products we have not yet developed, we are going to take the time to complete our plans, and then come back to our users and explain how we would like for our advertising business to work," he said.
Systrom also denied that the company ever intended to sell users' images.
"I want to be really clear: Instagram has no intention of selling your photos, and we never did. We don't own your photos -- you do," he said.
more to come ...
It's already Dec. 21 in Europe, so where's doomsday?
Labels: HealthMERIDA, Mexico Doomsday hour is here, at least in much of the world, and so still are we.
According to legend, the ancient Mayans' long-count calendar ends at midnight Thursday, ushering in the end of the world.
Didn't happen.
"This is not the end of the world. This is the beginning of the new world," Star Johnsen-Moser, an American seer, said at a gathering of hundreds of spiritualists at a convention center in the Yucatan city of Merida, an hour and a half from the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza.
"It is most important that we hold a positive, beautiful reality for ourselves and our planet. ... Fear is out of place."
Only place to be spared by Mayan apocalypse
Doomsday loophole?
Instinct for survival: Ways we've tried to stave off apocalypse
As the appointed time came and went in several parts of the world, there was no sign of the apocalypse.
Indeed, the social network Imgur posted photos of clocks turning midnight in the Asia-Pacific region with messages such as: "The world has not ended. Sincerely, New Zealand."
In Merida, the celebration of the cosmic dawn opened inauspiciously, with a fumbling of the sacred fire meant to honor the calendar's conclusion.
Gabriel Lemus, the white-haired guardian of the flame, burned his finger on the kindling and later had to scoop up a burning log that fell from the ceremonial brazier onto the stage.
Still, Lemus was convinced that it was a good start, as he was joined by about 1,000 other shamans, seers, stargazers, crystal enthusiasts, yogis, sufis and swamis.
"It is a cosmic dawn," Lemus declared. "We will recover the ability to communicate telepathically and levitate objects ... like our ancestors did."
Celebrants later held their arms in the air in a salute to the Thursday morning sun.
"The galactic bridge has been established," intoned spiritual leader Alberto Arribalzaga. "At this moment, spirals of light are entering the center of your head ... generating powerful vortexes that cover the planet."
Despite all the ritual and banter, few here actually believed the world would end Friday; the summit was scheduled to run through Sunday. Instead, participants said they were here to celebrate the birth of a new age.
A Mexican Indian seer who calls himself Ac Tah, and who has traveled around Mexico erecting small pyramids he calls "neurological circuits," said he holds high hopes for Friday.
"We are preparing ourselves to receive a huge magnetic field straight from the center of the galaxy," he said.
Terry Kvasnik, 32, a stunt man from Manchester, England, said his motto for the day was "be in love, don't be in fear." As to which ceremony he would attend on Friday, he said with a smile, "I'm going to be in the happiest place I can."
At dozens of booths set up in the convention hall, visitors could have their auras photographed with "Chi" light, get a shamanic cleansing or buy sandals, herbs and whole-grain baked goods. Cleansing usually involves having copal incense waved around one's body.
Visitors could also learn the art of "healing drumming" with a Mexican Otomi Indian master, Dabadi Thaayroyadi, who said his slender hand-held drums are made with prayers embedded inside. The drums emit "an intelligent energy" that can heal emotional, physical and social ailments, he said.
During the opening ceremony, participants chanted mantras to the blazing Yucatan sun, which quickly burned the fair-skinned crowd.
Violeta Simarro, a secretary from Perpignan, France, taking shelter under an awning, noted that the new age won't necessarily be easy.
"It will be a little difficult at first, because the world will need a complete 'nettoyage' (cleansing), because there are so many bad things," she said.
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Obama, Boehner Not Far Apart on 'Cliff'? Not Really
Labels: BusinessDec 20, 2012 5:09pm
Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo; Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo
There are some in Washington and around Capitol Hill who keep saying that House Speaker John Boehner and President Obama really aren’t that far apart on the “fiscal cliff” and there will be a deal despite Boehner’s proposal to hold a vote on his “Plan B.”
Let’s deconstruct the two parts of that thinking.
Boehner and Obama really aren’t that far apart?
Not really.
The differences are more significant than just tax rates. Republicans say the Democratic offer is really $800 billion in spending cuts and $1.3 trillion in tax increases. That is because the inflation adjustment applies to tax rates* as well as Social Security — resulting in less than $100 billion in added tax revenues.
Democrats count that as a spending cut. Republicans say that is a tax hike. So the real difference, from their perspective, is $450 billion. The $400,000 vs. $1 million threshold for tax rates hikes is just one part of this. Republicans want more spending cuts and fewer tax increases.
Related: Read More About the Fiscal Cliff
Obama and Senate Democrats are fond of saying they are this close (fingers close together). They say Boehner should just accept the president’s offer.
But, as I asked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., earlier today: If you are this close why not just accept Boehner’s offer? He dodged, saying that Boehner’s offer wasn’t really an offer and likened him to Lucy and the football — you’ll recall the routine in which the “Peanuts” character would pull away the ball at the last second and leave Charlie Brown kicking at nothing but air.
Both sides like to talk about Lucy and the football, but that is another story. Will there be a deal?
They should be able to do a deal. I know where the deal should be. So do you. But, really, they aren’t quite as close as the nifty charts like this one from the Washington Post suggest. And this is about much more than the $400,000 tax-rate threshold.
*By lowering the government’s calculation for inflation, the income level for the top rates would rise at a slower rate, putting more and more people into the top rates.
SHOWS: World News
Syrian rebels fight for strategic town in Hama province
Labels: WorldBEIRUT (Reuters) - Rebels began to push into a strategic town in Syria's central Hama province on Thursday and laid siege to at least one town dominated by President Bashar al-Assad's minority sect, activists said.
The operation risks inflaming already raw sectarian tensions as the 21-month-old revolt against four decades of Assad family rule - during which the president's Alawite sect has dominated leadership of the Sunni Muslim majority - rumbles on.
Opposition sources said rebels had won some territory in the strategic southern town of Morek and were surrounding the Alawite town of al-Tleisia.
They were also planning to take the town of Maan, arguing that the army was present there and in al-Tleisia and was hindering their advance on nearby Morek, a town on the highway that runs from Damascus north to Aleppo, Syria's largest city and another battleground in the conflict.
"The rockets are being fired from there, they are being fired from Maan and al-Tleisia, we have taken two checkpoints in the southern town of Morek. If we want to control it then we need to take Maan," said a rebel captain in Hama rural area, who asked not to be named.
Activists said heavy army shelling had targeted the town of Halfaya, captured by rebels two days earlier. Seven people were killed, 30 were wounded, and dozens of homes were destroyed, said activist Safi al-Hamawi.
Hama is home to dozens of Alawite and Christian villages among Sunni towns, and activists said it may be necessary to lay siege to many minority areas to seize Morek. Rebels want to capture Morek to cut off army supply lines into northern Idlib, a province on the northern border with Turkey where rebels hold swathes of territory.
From an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, Alawites have largely stood behind Assad, many out of fear of revenge attacks. Christians and some other minorities have claimed neutrality, with a few joining the rebels and a more sizeable portion of them supporting the government out of fear of hardline Islamism that has taken root in some rebel groups.
Activists in Hama said rebels were also surrounding the Christian town of al-Suqeilabiya and might enter the city to take out army positions as well as those of "shabbiha" - pro-Assad militias, the bulk of whom are usually Alawite but can also include Christians and even Sunnis.
"We have been in touch with Christian opposition activists in al-Suqeilabiya and we have told them to stay downstairs or on the lowest floor of their building as possible, and not to go outside. The rebels have promised not to hurt anyone who stays at home," said activist Mousab al-Hamdee, speaking by Skype.
He said he was optimistic that potential sectarian tensions with Christians could be resolved but that Sunni-Alawite strife may be harder to suppress.
SECTARIAN FEARS
U.N. human rights investigators said on Thursday that Syria's conflict was becoming more "overtly sectarian", with more civilians seeking to arm themselves and foreign fighters - mostly Sunnis - flocking in from 29 countries.
"They come from all over, Europe and America, and especially the neighboring countries," said Karen Abuzayd, one of the U.N. investigators, told a news conference in Brussels.
Deeper sectarian divisions may diminish prospects for post-conflict reconciliation even if Assad is ousted, and the influx of foreigners raises the risk of fighting spilling into neighboring countries riven by similar communal fault lines.
Some activists privately voiced concerns of sectarian violence, but the rebel commander in Hama said fighters had been told "violations" would not be tolerated and argued that the move to attack the towns was purely strategic.
"If we are fired at from a Sunni village that is loyal to the regime we go in and we liberate it and clean it," he said. "So should we not do the same when it comes to an Alawite village just because there is a fear of an all-out sectarian war? We respond to the source of fire."
President Vladimir Putin of Russia, Assad's main ally and arms supplier, warned that any solution to the conflict must ensure government and rebel forces do not merely swap roles and fight on forever. It appeared to be his first direct comment on the possibility of a post-Assad Syria.
The West and some Arab states accuse Russia of shielding Assad after Moscow blocked three U.N. Security Council resolutions intended to increase pressure on Damascus to end the violence, which has killed more than 40,000 people. Putin said the Syrian people would ultimately decide their own fate.
Assad's forces have been hitting back at rebel advances with heavy shelling, particularly along the eastern ring of suburbs outside Damascus, where rebels are dominant.
A Syrian security source said the army was planning heavy offensives in northern and central Syria to stem rebel advances, but there was no clear sign of such operations yet.
Rebels seized the Palestinian refugee district of Yarmouk earlier this week, which put them within 3 km (2 miles) of downtown Damascus. Heavy shelling and fighting forced thousands of Palestinian and Syrian residents to flee the Yarmouk area.
Rebels said on Thursday they had negotiated to put the camp - actually a densely packed urban district - back into the hands of pro-opposition Palestinian fighters. There are some 500,000 Palestinian refugees and their descendants living in Syria, and they have been divided by the uprising.
Palestinian factions, some backed by the government and others by the rebels, had begun fighting last week, a development that allowed Syrian insurgents to take the camp.
A resident in Damascus said dozens of families were returning to the camp but that the army had erected checkpoints. Many families were still hesitant to return.
LEBANON BORDER POST TAKEN
Elsewhere, Syrian insurgents took over an isolated border post on the western frontier with Lebanon earlier this week, local residents told Reuters on Thursday.
The rebels already hold much of the terrain along Syria's northern and eastern borders with Turkey and Iraq respectively.
They said around 20 rebels from the Qadissiyah Brigade overran the post at Rankus, which is linked by road to the remote Lebanese village of Tufail.
Video footage downloaded on the Internet on Thursday, dated December 16, showed a handful of fighters dressed in khaki fatigues and wielding rifles as they kicked down a stone barricade around a small, single-storey army checkpoint.
Syrian Interior Minister Ibrahim al-Shaar arrived in Lebanon on Wednesday for treatment of wounds sustained in a bomb attack on his ministry in Damascus a week ago.
Lebanese medical sources said Shaar had shrapnel wounds in his shoulder, stomach and legs but they were not critical.
The Syrian opposition has tried to peel off defectors from the government as well as from the army, though only a handful of high-ranking officials have abandoned Assad.
The conflict has divided many Syrian families. Security forces on Thursday arrested an opposition activist who is also the relative of Vice President Farouq al-Sharaa, the Syrian Observatory said. The man was arrested along with five other activists who are considered pacifists, it said.
Sharaa, a Sunni Muslim who has few powers in Assad's Alawite-dominated power structure, said earlier this week that neither side could win the war in Syria. He called for the formation of a national unity government.
(Reporting by Erika Solomon; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
Dollar steady as investors await fiscal cliff sign
Labels: Technology
WASHINGTON: The dollar lost a little bit of ground against the euro and was largely flat against the yen in quiet trade on Thursday as investors awaited a clear sign from US "fiscal cliff" talks.
The euro stood at $1.3241 towards 2200 GMT, up from $1.3226 late Wednesday. It also rose against the Japanese yen, reaching 111.72 yen compared to 111.59 yen a day earlier.
The dollar held steady against the yen, after reaching its highest level against the currency since April 2011 on Wednesday.
On Thursday, the greenback edged lower to 84.38 yen towards 2200 GMT from 84.39 yen a day earlier.
Japan's central bank unveiled more huge monetary easing earlier on Thursday in the wake of a weekend election won by the Liberal Democratic Party.
With an end-of-year deadline approaching, the markets are watching whether Washington can avert the so-called fiscal cliff, a mix of tax hikes and spending cuts set to take effect in January that could plunge the world's biggest economy back into recession.
Analysts said remarks by top Republican John Boehner had sparked slight optimism, increasing investors' appetite for risk, for the euro among other things.
Talks between President Barack Obama and Boehner on averting the "fiscal cliff" have stalled amid accusations of political grandstanding on both sides.
In other currencies, the dollar slipped to 0.9115 Swiss francs, while the pound rose to $1.6280.
- AFP/fa
2012 Car Tech Awards: And the winner is...
Labels: Lifestyle
CNET Tech Car of the Year for 2012
2012 Tesla Model S
Our choice for CNET Tech
Car of the Year goes to the 2012 Tesla Model S, a car that shows superb technology throughout while also challenging our conceptions of how a car should work. Most people know the Model S for its electric drivetrain, which not only gives it tremendous acceleration, but also the best range among current production electric cars. Compared to an internal combustion engine, the Tesla's electric motor delivers magnitudes of better energy efficiency. The EPA estimates the cost of electricity for a year of driving at $700, about 25 percent of the cost for gasoline in an equivalent luxury sedan.
Beyond its efficiency, the Model S modernizes the whole idea of a car's cabin. Tesla streamlined the entire process of getting into the car and setting off, taking out steps that have become anachronistic. A big touch screen handles all in-cabin functions, eliminating the need for an array of buttons across the dashboard. A 3G data connection feeds the infotainment functions, providing maps, destination search, and music, similar to what we have become used to with our personal electronics.
The Model S went up against the Audi S5, BMW 640i Gran Coupe, Ford Focus Electric, and Toyota Prius C, a formidable field nominated for technical excellence in drivetrain and cabin. The BMW proved popular with our jury, and we liked how the Focus Electric drove, but the Model S trumped the others with its innovative approach and capabilities.
The Car Tech 10
There was a lot more going on in the past year besides five really, really good tech cars. So that's why we have The Car Tech 10, a set of inconsistent awards for various achievements in automotive technology.
Most popular
2012 Chevrolet Volt
With a solid five-star User Review score, it's clear that you guys and gals really love the 2012 Chevrolet Volt. That's cool, because we loved it too. The range-extended electric vehicle combines enough electric range for most drivers to get from home to work and back with a gasoline range extender that lets you keep on driving when you need to. It's sort of the best of both worlds: a do-everything, full-size EV that can become a hybrid when you need it to.
However, with 136 comments on our review as I write this, it's also clear that nearly as many of you love to hate it. This is probably because, with a car like the Volt, the adage "your mileage may vary" becomes a massive understatement, with reported cruising ranges and fuel economy averages of drivers varying by many orders of magnitude. Either way, the Volt is an amazingly flexible car that captured your imaginations, earning it our Most Popular award.
Most worthy of its hype
2012 Scion FR-S
As rumors of a new sports car from Toyota began to circulate a few years ago, we were merely intrigued. When it became known this would be a joint venture between Subaru and Toyota, we took notice. A couple of years and a few concept cars later, we finally got to see and drive the car we -- and the rest of the world -- had been so anticipating. Actually, the hype was apparently worth three cars, the Subaru BRZ, Scion FR-S, and Toyota GT86. We got a little seat time in the BRZ, and a full review of the FR-S. Our desires and expectations for a quick, little affordable sports car were met, then exceeded by the supremely engaged handling.
Runner-up in this category was the 2012 Ford Focus ST, which brought our simulated Gran Turismo and Forza racing into the real world.
Most improved car
2013 Porsche Boxster
The mid-engined roadster has always been one of Porsche's best-kept secrets, having been overlooked by enthusiasts and usually wasted on drivers more interested in looking good than going fast. For 2013, the Boxster steps up to the plate with a more muscular, expensive-looking aesthetic that borrows heavily from supercars like the Carrera GT and performance that simultaneously adds gobs of refinement without losing any of the sharpness that made the old car great. For the rare feat of fixing nearly everything that was wrong with the previous model without diminishing anything that made it awesome, the 2013 Porsche Boxster earns our award for Most Improved.
Ford earns a runner-up spot with the 2013 Escape, which merits an honorable mention for its improved aesthetic and tech.
Best concept car of 2012
Acura NSX
This car was the hit of the 2012 Detroit auto show and earns best concept for a number of reasons. First, it brings back the legendary NSX name, a model the loss of which was lamented by many a gearhead. Next, it signifies a new -- and much-needed -- era of drivetrain tech for Acura. A new direct injection engine, mid-mounted, drives the rear wheels, while two electric motors drive the front wheels. This arrangement makes for all-wheel-drive with a torque split between the fronts, with potential for wildly good handling. Finally, the styling comes off as incredibly smooth, with a bubble over the passenger cell making it look like a futuristic NSX -- which is exactly what it is.
Kind of an anti-runner-up, the Bentley EXP 9 was an odd attempt at an SUV that showed the British car maker which design direction not to take.
Most OMG!! car
2012 Bentley Mulsanne
We get some very nice cars here at CNET, but only rarely do we see one so deserving of excited acronyms as the Bentley Mulsanne. When the car arrived in our garage, our text messages and tweets were pretty much all 'Mulsanne OMG 752 pound-feet of torque and 2,200 watt Naim audio'. Driving a car as expensive as a midwestern house inspires a certain kind of awe that cuts right through our jaded auto reviewer personas. Knowing that we are sitting on leather taken from Scandinavian bulls (no barb wire means unblemished hide) engenders a certain sort of specialness, kind of like in kindergarten when that certain someone gives you an unexpected Valentine card. OMG indeed.
Most exciting car in the solar system
Mars Curiosity Rover
There were many amazing rides launched this year, but the car that captured the imagination of the world was literally launched into space in late 2011. All eyes were on the Mars Curiosity Rover when it made landfall in August after its 350 million mile journey. The rover is easily one of the coolest cars in this solar system. Powered by a nuclear-electric generator, it rolls on six 20-inch wheels arranged on a crazy Rocker-Bogie suspension configuration. It's hardened to withstand temperatures ranging from negative 197 to 104 degrees F, and carries more than 180 pounds of sensitive scientific equipment.
The $2.5 billion Curiosity beams information of visual, meteorological, radiation, chemical, mineral, and spectrographic nature back to Earth. Thanks to the Rover, we're getting the best look at our interplanetary neighbor that we've ever had, and it might even find extraterrestrial life. Plus, it's got a robotic arm! For being central to one of the most important scientific moments of 2012 and for simply being an epic set of wheels, we salute the Mars Curiosity Rover.
Best-sounding stereo
Beats by Dre in the Dodge Charger
Quite a number of cars with very impressive audio systems have come through our garage during 2012, and we applaud brands such as Naim, Bang & Olufsen, and Mark Levinson for their excellent efforts. However, for this award we favor a system that's attainable by the masses, Chrysler's implementation of the Beats by Dre system in the Dodge Charger. Dr. Dre started his audio brand to combat the low sound quality from the ubiquitous ear buds showing up everywhere. Extending this thinking to the car, Beats by Dre came up with an 11-speaker system using a 12-channel amp to produce exceptionally clean, tight sound. Listening to it at
CES 2012, we appreciated the careful tuning given to this system, such that it could be turned up extremely loud without distortion. Its bass punches you in the chest, and if you close your eyes, it seems like your favorite artist is singing right on top of the dashboard.
Best app integration
Ford Sync AppLink
As one of the only automakers supporting app integration for
Android, iOS, and BlackBerry, Ford's Sync AppLink is clearly ahead of the curve. Ford's system supports over a dozen apps. For music streaming, there's Pandora, MOG, TuneIn Radio, iHeartRadio, and Slacker. NPR, Stitcher, and MLB at Bat bring news, podcasts, and sports to the mix. Scout and Sync Destinations help navigate from point A to B. Apps supported vary by your phone's platform -- for example, Allergy Alert and Roximity are iOS-only affairs -- but Ford adds more apps every few months. Now, we just want to see this system implemented more universally across Ford's lineup.
Best aftermarket device
Parrot Minikit Neo and Neo App Suite
We've always been fans of Parrot's Bluetooth speakerphones. However, the Minikit Neo builds on Parrot's fantastic audio quality and voice command system with a svelte new form factor and NFC-based pairing technology. The Neo is also compatible with an app for Android and iOS that further boosts its functionality, letting your phone automatically mark your parking spot when you leave the car, remind you to feed the parking meter with its timer, or use your phone's voice command (such as Siri or Google's voice dialer) if you prefer.
Runner-up goes to Pioneer's AppRadio 2, which builds on its previous generation's promising iOS app integration with compatibility for a number of Android apps.
Most promising future tech
Near Field Communications (NFC)
Perhaps NFC isn't the newest tech on the block, but we feel like automakers have only just scratched the surface of the applications for this technology. Right now, about the best that you can do with the tech is pay for gas or pair your smartphone with a Bluetooth speakerphone (like the aforementioned Parrot Minikit Neo). Soon, you'll be able to automatically pair with your car by tossing your phone into the cupholder. But why stop there?
In the future, you will be able to unlock your doors by tapping the handle with your NFC-enabled phone, and maybe even start the engine. Drivers who want to lend their car to friends and family members will be able to grant them the same access by tapping phones or e-mailing an NFC key. In areas where car-sharing services are popular, being able to unlock, start, and pay for a rental with NFC will vastly simplify the car-sharing process.
More funerals for victims of Newtown shooting
Labels: Health(CBS News) NEWTOWN, Conn. - In Newtown, Connecticut, more children and a teacher -- victims of the deadly shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School -- were laid to rest Wednesday.
Daniel Barden, 7, a victim in the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 14, 2012.
/
Rex Features via AP Images
Firefighters from across the northeast came to honor seven-year-old Daniel Barden. He wanted to be a firefighter someday.
"The firefighters were here in tribute to this young child and all the souls that were lost in this community" said Eddy Bowls of New York.
Newtown massacre: Teacher Vicki Soto's heroics remembered
Complete coverage: Elementary School Rampage
Sandy Hook's fire department also stood at attention for Caroline Previdi's funeral procession. She loved to draw and dance.
Victoria Soto, a first grade teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School, who was killed while protecting her students from a mass shooter on Dec. 14, 2012.
/
Sandy Hook
And at teacher Vicki Soto's funeral, the crowd was so large that people stood outside. Inside, singer Paul Simon performed "The Sound of Silence."
"It was just heartbreaking when you see the small casket," said family friend Joseph Secola. "You think the girl is six years old. But she obviously was a lovely girl who gave joy to a lot of people, and that is what they have to hold on to."
Charlotte Bacon, the seventh student to be laid to rest since the shooting, was remembered for her love of animals and the color pink.
There is still no clear evidence as to what triggered Adam Lanza's rampage. The medical examiner is bringing in a geneticist to see if Lanza might have had a medical condition that could have played a role in the shooting.
Scammers Could Profit Off Sandy Hook Tragedy
Labels: Business
Scammers may be looking to cash in on the public's generosity following the Sandy Hook massacre, the Better Business Bureau warned.
"It is a challenge to be on guard because public sympathy and emotions are running high," said Bennett Weiner, chief operating officer of the BBB Wise Giving Alliance, a group that helps charitable donors make informed decisions.
Weiner said it's difficult for scams to be detected in the first week following every national tragedy, however he suspects unscrupulous people are already out there, eager to cash in on the massacre.
How to Help Newtown Families
False websites or phone calls soliciting help for the victims' families are two of the easiest and most common scams Weiner said he sees.
"They're hard to identify because people don't know they've been taken and they're not going to know until down the road," he said.
Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post/Getty Images
Newtown Children Return to School After Sandy Hook Massacre Watch Video
Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting: Victims Laid to Rest Watch Video
Connecticut School Shooting: Children Among Multiple Fatalities Watch Video
After the Sandy Hook massacre, countless Facebook pages for the victims, listings on crowdfunding sites and community drives have been established to solicit donations.
Timeline: Tragedy At Sandy Hook
While many of them may be legitimate, Weiner warns people to do their research.
"You really have to be watching out for newly created things. There may be some well-intended effort, but you have no way to look at their track record," he said. "I can tell you from experience there are some cautions associated with it."
Any fundraising effort that makes vague statements, such as "we're going to help the victims and families," is another red flag to watch out for, Weiner said.
Whether it's fundraising for the Aurora theater victims or a local terminally ill child, Weiner said the BBB sees these kinds of scams "time and time again" and actively investigates them.
"It is a challenge to be on guard after a tragedy," he said. "But you shouldn't give to any organization without checking them out first."
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U.S. State Dept officials resign under pressure over Benghazi killings
Labels: WorldWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three senior U.S. State Department officials were asked to resign after an official inquiry harshly criticized their offices for failing to provide adequate security at the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, before it came under attack in September, a U.S. official said on Wednesday.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Eric Boswell, the assistant secretary for diplomatic security; one of his deputies, Charlene Lamb; and an unnamed official in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs were asked to step down because of the inquiry panel's report, which did not fault Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in connection with the attack.
State Department officials declined to comment on the matter, saying it was a personnel issue. The Associated Press first reported that the three officials had resigned.
An unclassified version of the report released Tuesday by the State Department concluded that the mission was completely unprepared to deal with a September 11 attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
"We did conclude that certain State Department bureau-level senior officials in critical positions of authority and responsibility in Washington demonstrated a lack of leadership and management ability appropriate for senior ranks," retired Admiral Michael Mullen, one of the leaders of the inquiry, told reporters on Wednesday.
The inquiry's chair, retired Ambassador Thomas Pickering, said the panel had determined that responsibility for security shortcomings in Benghazi belonged at levels lower than Clinton's office.
"We fixed (responsibility) at the assistant secretary level, which is, in our view, the appropriate place to look for where the decision-making in fact takes place, where - if you like - the rubber hits the road," Pickering said after closed-door meetings with congressional committees.
The report by the Accountability Review Board probing the attack and comments by its two lead authors suggested that Clinton, who accepted responsibility for the incident, would not be held personally culpable.
"The secretary of state has been very clear about taking responsibility here, (yet) it was from my perspective not reasonable in terms of her having a specific level of knowledge," said Mullen, the former chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Pickering and Mullen spoke to the media after briefing members of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee behind closed doors on classified elements of their report.
Clinton had been expected to appear at an open hearing on Benghazi on Thursday, but is recuperating after suffering a concussion, dehydration and a stomach bug last week and will instead be represented by her top two deputies.
"GROSSLY INADEQUATE"
The unclassified version of the report cited "leadership and management" deficiencies, poor coordination among officials and "real confusion" in Washington and in the field over who had the authority to make decisions on policy and security concerns.
The scathing report could tarnish Clinton's four-year tenure as secretary of state, which has seen her consistently rated as the most popular member of President Barack Obama's Cabinet.
Clinton, who intends to step down in January, said in a letter accompanying the review that she would adopt all of its recommendations, which include stepping up security staffing and requesting more money to fortify U.S. facilities.
The National Defense Authorization Act for 2013, which is expected to go to Congress for final approval this week, includes a measure directing the Pentagon to increase the Marine Corps presence at diplomatic facilities by up to 1,000 Marines.
Some Capitol Hill Republicans who had criticized the Obama administration's handling of the Benghazi attacks said they were impressed by the report.
"It was very thorough," said Senator Johnny Isakson. Senator John Barrasso said: "It was very, very critical of major failures at the State Department at very high levels." Both spoke after the closed-door briefing.
Others, however, kept up their criticism of the administration and called for Clinton to testify as soon as she is able.
"The report makes clear the massive failure of the State Department at all levels, including senior leadership, to take action to protect our government employees abroad," Representative Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement.
Senator Bob Corker, who will be the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when the new Congress is seated early next year, said Clinton should testify about Benghazi before her replacement is confirmed by the Senate.
"I do think it's imperative for all concerned that she testify in an open session prior to any changing of the regime," Corker said.
Republicans have focused much of their firepower on U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, who appeared on television talk shows after the attack and suggested it was the result of a spontaneous protest rather than a premeditated attack.
The report concluded that there was no such protest.
Rice, widely seen as President Barack Obama's top pick to succeed Clinton, withdrew her name from consideration last week.
(Additional reporting by Tabassum Zakaria and Susan Cornwell; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Philip Barbara)
US dollar strengthens against yen in nervous trade
Labels: Technology
NEW YORK: The US dollar strengthened against the yen and slipped slightly against the euro on Wednesday in nervous trade as talks over how to avert the US 'fiscal cliff' dragged on.
The dollar rose against the yen, reaching 84.39 yen towards 2300 GMT, down slightly from 84.62 earlier in the day - its highest level in 20 months. Late Tuesday, it finished at 84.19.
The euro stood at $1.3226 towards 2300 GMT, compared to $1.3225 late Tuesday. Earlier, it had reached its highest level in eight and a half months at $1.3308.
Boris Schlossberg of BK Asset Management said investors were disappointed by the lack of movement in protracted talks between US President Barack Obama and Republicans on a long-term deficit deal to avert the "fiscal cliff" crisis of sweeping tax hikes and spending cuts.
The euro was up against the Japanese currency at 111.59 yen, after reaching its highest level in 16 months - 112.50 yen - in earlier trade. Late Tuesday, it stood at 111.35 yen.
Japan's incoming prime minister Shinzo Abe, whose Liberal Democratic Party swept to an electoral victory in elections on Sunday, has vowed to step up pressure on the central bank for more aggressive action to boost the economy.
The hawkish LDP head wants the bank to set a two percent inflation target as part of a goal to drag Japan out of the deflationary spiral that has haunted it for years.
In other currencies, the dollar rose to 0.9133 Swiss francs, while the pound slipped to $1.6245.
- AFP/de
Observe the science of a snowflake
Labels: Lifestyle
Educate yourself about the tough time this fella went through on the way to see you.
(Credit:
Basilicofresco)
You might agree that the complex design in a snowflake appears almost comparable to a work of art. Do you know how that tiny frozen masterpiece comes to life, though? If you're like me, you may never have witnessed a complete representation of that journey from cloud to ground before.
The trip isn't as simple as you think.
According to an animated video by the American Chemical Society, clouds carry around one of the usual suspects of a snowflake -- a small piece of dust. When water vapor attaches to a dust grain, it creates an icy droplet ready to fall to the ground. While floating in mid-air, the droplet crystallizes, and a prism with six faces forms.
As the ice grows toward the edges of each side of the prism, six branches sprout out from the center and create the familiar shape of a snowflake -- since freezing water molecules chemically bond in a hexagonal fashion. From there, the snowflake develops its unique series of branches due to shifts in temperature before hitting the ground. Isn't science wonderful?
Watch the two-minute video to see the science of a snowflake in more detail; I'll be sure to play it at my next holiday gathering to geek things up a little bit. On second thought, such behavior might ensure I don't get invited back next year.
Texas school district encourages armed teachers for protection
Labels: HealthHARROLD, Texas -- There's at least one school that welcome firearms to class.
It believes nothing makes a school safer than teachers who are armed,
The Harrold Independent School District is one building with 103 students. It's 20 minutes away from the nearest sheriff's station. Superintendent David Thweatt created what he calls a "guardian plan" after the attack at Virginia Tech.
"These people that go in and do these horrible acts, they're evil. But they're not that crazy -- they always know where they are going to get resistance," Thweatt said.
NRA promises "meaningful contributions" to avert another Newtown
The Newtown shootings, as they happened
Complete Coverage: Elementary School Rampage
Teachers and administrators here carry concealed handguns. They won't say how many faculty members are armed. They get extra training, but the district would not give us details.
Some people are horrified when he starts talking about putting guns in schools with children, but Thweatt said it's important to be safe.
"Sure, but it's a pretty horrific thing that happened the other day." Thweatt said. "And quite a few people are not horrified. Quite a few people we have in our district, since we have a high-transfer district, people bring their students to us for that protection."
Texas law allows concealed weapons in schools with a district's permission. Harrold was the first district to do it. A similar proposal was vetoed by Michigan's governor Tuesday.
Thweatt says allowing the firearms into the school will dissuade anyone who wants to hurt the kids.
"That's the bottom line," he said.
Since the shootings in Connecticut, Superintendent Thweatt has gotten calls from districts around the state and as far away as Missouri from school administrators asking whether they might be able to implement similar plans.
Can Cops Read Shooter's Sabotaged Computer?
Labels: Business
Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter Adam Lanza may have tried to sabotage his own computer before going on a murderous rampage that claimed the lives of 20 children, but experienced investigators said today that law enforcement forensic experts could still recover critical evidence from the damaged drives.
Connecticut State Police Lt. Paul Vance revealed Monday that a computer crimes unit was working in conjunction with a forensics laboratory to "dissect" any evidence relevant to the case, but he declined to comment further on what type of evidence was involved and in what condition it was in. Later that day, law enforcement officials told ABC News that police recovered a badly damaged computer from Lanza's home that appeared to have been attacked by a hammer or screwdriver.
Sources said if they can still read the computer's hard drive, they hope to find critical clues that may help explain Lanza's motives in the killing.
Former FBI forensic experts told ABC News that in cases similar to this one, damage to the computer does not necessarily mean the computer files cannot be accessed.
"If he took a hammer to the outside, smashed the screen, dented the box, it's more than likely the hard drive is still intact," said Al Johnson, a retired FBI special agent who now works privately examining digital evidence and computer data. "And even if the hard drive itself is damaged, there are still steps that can be taken to recover everything."
Gun Control Debate Resurfaces After Sandy Hook Shooting Watch Video
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Brett Harrison, a former FBI computer forensics expert who now works with a D.C. consulting firm, said that authorities have a great deal of technology at their disposal to retrieve that data. How much is recovered, he said, will depend entirely on how much damage was done to the well-insulated "platters" -- discs lodged deep inside the machine -- where Lanza's every digital footstep was recorded.
It is likely, he said, that Lanza's computer has been moved to a "clean room" where, if the discs are intact, they could be removed and then carefully re-inserted in a fresh hard drive. If the calibrations are done correctly, investigators would still be able to unlock the clues on the discs.
If the discs aren't in perfect condition, Harrison said, "There is equipment they can use to read the data off a record even if a portion of it is damaged."
Johnson said it is tedious work done in a clean environment because the tolerances of the discs is so precise – even a particle of dust could destroy crucial evidence.
"We're talking about a tolerance of less than a human hair," said Johnson, who now does computer forensics for a South Carolina-based investigative firm.
Police have not said exactly what they expect to find on the computer's hard drive, but the former FBI experts said typically there could be record of visits to violent web sites, or to online stores that sell ammunition, or to email that might reveal if Lanza shared any hints of his plans with others.
"I'm not big on speculation," Harrison said, "but you're talking about potentially finding all the normal things that people do with their computer – Facebook pages, internet activity, email, you name it."
For now, the FBI is keeping mum on what kind of computer forensic help it could be offering in the case.
"At this time, in deference to the ongoing investigation being conducted by the CSP, the FBI is not releasing information regarding operational or forensic assistance provided in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting," an FBI spokesperson said.
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Egypt opposition protests against constitution
Labels: WorldCAIRO (Reuters) - Opponents of Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi staged protests in Cairo on Tuesday against an Islamist-backed draft constitution that has divided Egypt but looks set to be approved in the second half of a referendum this weekend.
Several hundred protesters outside the presidential palace chanted "Revolution, revolution, for the sake of the constitution" and called on Mursi to "Leave, leave, you coward!". While the protest was noisy, numbers were down on previous demonstrations.
Mursi obtained a 57 percent "yes" vote for the constitution in the first part of the referendum last weekend, state media said, less than he had hoped for.
The opposition, which says the basic law is too Islamist, will be encouraged by the result but is unlikely to win the second part this Saturday, which is to be held in districts seen as even more sympathetic towards Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood.
The National Salvation Front opposition coalition said there were widespread voting violations last Saturday and called for protests to "bring down the invalid draft constitution".
The Ministry of Justice said it was appointing judges to investigate complaints of voting irregularities.
Opposition marchers converged on Tahrir Square, cradle of the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak almost two years ago, and Mursi's presidential palace, still ringed with tanks after earlier protests.
A protester at the presidential palace, Mohamed Adel, 30, said: "I have been camping here for weeks and will continue to do so until the constitution that divided the nation, and for which people died, gets scrapped."
Shortly after midnight, a few hundred protesters who had planned to spend the night in tents set up around the presidential palace were attacked with stones.
"Unknown people threw stones at us from behind the walls the army had built at all entrances to the palace, and some of the protesters were injured in the leg and head," protester Karim el-Shaer told Reuters.
The build-up to the first day of voting saw clashes between supporters and opponents of Mursi in which eight people died. Recent demonstrations in Cairo have been more peaceful, although rival factions clashed on Friday in Alexandria, Egypt's second city.
RESIGNATION
A judges' club urged its members on Tuesday not to supervise Saturday's vote. But the call is not binding and balloting is expected to go ahead.
If the constitution is passed, national elections can take place early next year, something many hope will help end the turmoil that has gripped Egypt since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak almost two years ago.
But the closeness of the first day of voting and the low turnout suggest more difficulties ahead for Mursi as he seeks to rally support for difficult economic reforms.
"This percentage ... will strengthen the hand of the (opposition) National Salvation Front, and the leaders of this Front have declared they are going to continue this fight to discredit the constitution," said Mustapha Kamal Al-Sayyid, a professor of political science at Cairo University.
Mursi is likely to become more unpopular with the introduction of planned austerity measures, Sayyid told Reuters.
To tackle the budget deficit, the government needs to raise taxes and cut fuel subsidies. Uncertainty surrounding economic reform plans has already prompted the postponement of a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. The Egyptian pound has fallen to eight-year lows against the dollar.
Mursi and his backers say the constitution is needed to move Egypt's democratic transition forward. Opponents say it is too Islamist and ignores the rights of women and of minorities, including 10 percent of Egyptians who are Christian.
Demonstrations erupted when Mursi awarded himself extra powers on November 22 and then fast-tracked the constitution through an assembly dominated by his Islamist allies and boycotted by many liberals.
The referendum has had to be held over two days because many of the judges needed to oversee polling staged a boycott in protest. In order to pass, the constitution must be approved by more than 50 percent of those voting.
(Additional reporting by Tamim Elyan and Edmund Blair; Writing by Giles Elgood; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
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