Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.
troy miracle andy whitfield kennedy demi moore roy oswalt kevin martin
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Costa Concordia removal could take up to a year
Rough seas around the cruise ship Costa Concordia, stopped efforts to find the missing, and remove the fuel. A setback, as the ship continues to sink, in conditions too dangerous for divers. For survivors-- they're still coming to terms with their emotions, what they lost on board-- and whether the company's offer of compensation, is enough. NBC's Michelle Kosinski reports.
By msnbc.com news services
Updated at 3:50 p.m. ET
GIGLIO, Italy --?The Costa Concordia, precariously resting on one side, will likely be a part of the scenery off the Italian island of Giglio for the better part of a year.
The cruise line is considering bids for the ship's removal and is expected to make a decision -- based on method and costs -- in two months, NBC News has learned. Actual removal could take up to 10 months.
Inclement weather over the weekend shut down search and salvage efforts at the site of the ship wreck off the Tuscan coast. High winds and rough seas delayed plans to begin pumping 500,000 gallons of fuel off the Concordia. That effort will likely continue midweek.?A barge carrying pumping equipment that was attached to the capsized ship was withdrawn after strong winds and high waves worsened conditions for the divers working on the huge wreck.
A 17th body is recovered from the Costa Concordia, but at least 16 more people are missing as weather hampers efforts to remove a half-million gallons of fuel. NBC's Michelle Kosinski reports from Isola del Giglio.
The operation, aimed at preventing an environmental disaster in the pristine waters off a marine nature reserve, could take up to one month to complete.
The ship shifted more than one and a half inches over a six-hour period, and rescue divers were pulled from the water and are waiting for better conditions.
On Saturday, divers searching the submerged sixth floor deck found a 17th body, identified as Erika Soria Molina, a crew member from Peru.?Sixteen people are still unaccounted for.
Officials have virtually ruled out finding anyone alive more than two weeks after the Costa Concordia hit a reef, but were reluctant to give a final death toll for the Jan. 13 disaster. The crash happened when the captain deviated from his planned route, creating a huge gash that capsized the ship. More than 4,200 people were on board.?
"Our first goal was to find people alive," Franco Gabrielli, the national civil protection official in charge of the operation, told a daily briefing. "Now we have a single, big goal, and that is that this does not translate into an environmental disaster."?
DigitalGlobe
The Costa Concordia, carrying more than 4,200 passengers, ran aground Jan. 13 off the coast of Italy. At least 15 people died in the accident, and rescuers continue to search for others missing.
Residents of Giglio have been circulating a petition to demand that officials provide more information on how the full-scale operations can coexist with the important tourism season. At the moment, access to the port for private boats has been banned and all boats must stay at least one mile from the wrecked ship, affecting access to Giglio's only harbor for fishermen, scuba divers and private boat owners.
"We are really sorry, we would have preferred to save them all. But now other needs and other problems arise," said Franca Melils, a local business owner who is promoting a petition for the tourist season. "It's about us, who work and make a living exclusively from tourism. We don't have factories, we don't have anything else."?
The cruise ship disaster is expected to trigger the most expensive maritime insurance claim ever, and has set off a legal battle in which U.S. and Italian lawyers are preparing class-action and individual lawsuits against the operator, Costa Cruises.
In a bid to limit the fallout, Costa, a unit of Carnival Corp., the world's largest cruise ship operator, has offered the more than 3,000 passengers $14,460 each in compensation on condition they drop any legal action.
Carnival Corp said on Monday that it will take a hit between $155 million and $175 million against fiscal 2012 net income because of the Concordia wreck. In an annual report filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Carnival also said it significantly reduced its marketing activities after the wreck.
"Costa's booking activity is difficult to interpret because of the significant re-booking activity stemming from the loss of the ship's use and related re-deployments," the company said. "However, we believe it to be down significantly. Despite these recent trends, we believe the incident will not have a significant long-term impact on our business."
Related: Passengers on wrecked ship offered $14,460
The Concordia's captain, Francesco Schettino, is under house arrest, suspected of causing the accident by steering too close to shore, and faces charges of multiple manslaughter and abandoning ship before the evacuation was complete.
The ship's first officer, Ciro Ambrosio, has also been questioned by prosecutors but the company itself has not been implicated in the investigation at this stage.
NBC News, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
brock lesnar dick clark new years eve first night ball drop obscura chick fil a chick fil a
Syrian troops storm areas near capital of Damascus (AP)
BEIRUT ? In dozens of tanks and armored vehicles, Syrian troops stormed rebellious areas near the capital Sunday, shelling neighborhoods that have fallen under the control of army dissidents and clashing with fighters. At least 62 people were killed in violence nationwide, activists and residents said.
The widescale offensive near the capital suggested the regime is worried that military defectors could close in on Damascus, which has remained relatively quiet while most other Syrian cities descended into chaos after the uprising began in March.
The rising bloodshed added urgency to Arab and Western diplomatic efforts to end the 10-month conflict.
The violence has gradually approached the capital. In the past two weeks, army dissidents have become more visible, seizing several suburbs on the eastern edge of Damascus and setting up checkpoints where masked men wearing military attire and wielding assault rifles stop motorists and protect anti-regime protests.
Their presence so close to the capital is astonishing in tightly controlled Syria and suggests the Assad regime may either be losing control or setting up a trap for the fighters before going on the offensive.
Residents of Damascus reported hearing clashes in the nearby suburbs, particularly at night, shattering the city's calm.
"The current battles taking place in and around Damascus may not yet lead to the unraveling of the regime, but the illusion of normalcy that the Assads have sought hard to maintain in the capital since the beginning of the revolution has surely unraveled," said Ammar Abdulhamid, a U.S.-based Syrian dissident.
"Once illusions unravel, reality soon follows," he wrote in his blog Sunday.
Soldiers riding some 50 tanks and dozens of armored vehicles stormed a belt of suburbs and villages on the eastern outskirts of Damascus known as al-Ghouta Sunday, a predominantly Sunni Muslim agricultural area where large anti-regime protests have been held.
Some of the fighting on Sunday was less than three miles (four kilometers) from Damascus, in Ein Tarma, making it the closest yet to the capital.
"There are heavy clashes going on in all of the Damascus suburbs," said Rami Abdul-Rahman, director of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, who relies on a network of activists on the ground. "Troops were able to enter some areas but are still facing stiff resistance in others."
The fighting using mortars and machine guns sent entire families fleeing, some of them on foot carrying bags of belongings, to the capital.
"The shelling and bullets have not stopped since yesterday," said a man who left his home in Ein Tarma with his family Sunday. "It's terrifying, there's no electricity or water, it's a real war," he said by telephone on condition of anonymity, for fear of reprisals.
The uprising against Assad, which began with largely peaceful demonstrations, has grown increasingly militarized recently as more frustrated protesters and army defectors have taken up arms.
In a bid to stamp out resistance in the capital's outskirts, the military has responded with a withering assault on a string of suburbs, leading to a spike in violence that has killed at least 150 people since Thursday.
The United Nations says at least 5,400 people have been killed in the 10 months of violence.
The U.N. is holding talks on a new resolution on Syria and next week will discuss an Arab League peace plan aimed at ending the crisis. But the initiatives face two major obstacles: Damascus' rejection of an Arab plan that it says impinges on its sovereignty, and Russia's willingness to use its U.N. Security Council veto to protect Syria from sanctions.
Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby told reporters Sunday in Egypt that contacts were under way with China and Russia.
"I hope that their stand will be adjusted in line with the final drafting of the draft resolution," he told reporters before leaving for New York with Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim.
The two will seek U.N. support for the latest Arab plan to end Syria's crisis. The plan calls for a two-month transition to a unity government, with Assad giving his vice president full powers to work with the proposed government.
Because of the escalating violence, the Arab League on Saturday halted the work of its observer mission in Syria at least until the League's council can meet. Arab foreign ministers were to meet Sunday in Cairo to discuss the Syrian crisis in light of the suspension of the observers' work and Damascus' refusal to agree to the transition timetable, the League said.
U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said he was "concerned" about the League's decision to suspend its monitoring mission and called on Assad to "immediately stop the bloodshed." He spoke Sunday at an African Union summit in Addis Ababa.
While the international community scrambles to find a resolution to the crisis, the violence on the ground in Syria has continued unabated.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 27 civilians were killed Sunday in Syria, most of them in fighting in the Damascus suburbs and in the central city of Homs, a hotbed of anti-regime protests. Twenty-six soldiers and nine defectors were also killed, it said. The soldiers were killed in ambushes that targeted military vehicles near the capital and in the northern province of Idlib.
The Local Coordination Committees' activist network said 50 people were killed Sunday, including 13 who were killed in the suburbs of the capital and two defectors. That count excluded soldiers killed Sunday.
The differing counts could not be reconciled, and the reports could not be independently confirmed. Syrian authorities keep tight control on the media and have banned many foreign journalists from entering the country.
Syria's state-run news agency said "terrorists" detonated a roadside bomb by remote control near a bus carrying soldiers in the Damascus suburb of Sahnaya, killing six soldiers and wounding six others. Among those killed in the attack some 12 miles (20 kilometers) south of the capital were two first lieutenants, SANA said.
In Irbil, a Kurdish city in northern Iraq, about 200 members of Syria's Kurdish parties were holding two days of meetings to explore ways of supporting efforts to topple Assad.
Abdul-Baqi Youssef, a member of the Syrian Kurdish Union Party, said representatives of 11 Kurdish parties formed the Syrian Kurdish National Council that will coordinate anti-government activities with Syria's opposition.
Kurds make up 15 percent of Syria's 23 million people and have long complained of discrimination.
___
Associated Press writers Maamoun Youssef in Cairo; Yahya Barzanji in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq; and Luc van Kemenade in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, contributed to this report.
ios 5 release date ios 5 update joojoo joseph addai joseph addai michael jackson autopsy michael jackson autopsy
Flavor Flav?s Daughter Is Behind Bars Following A Family Dispute
Flavor Flav’s daughter Dazayna was arrested in Las Vegas on Sunday following an alleged domestic dispute. Officials were called to the rapper’s home after an argument between the 19 year old and her stepbrother allegedly turned violent. The Flavor of Love star tried to intervene and break up the fight but to no avail, prompting [...]
x factor judges x factor judges raiders news raiders news ice cream sandwich android ice cream sandwich android harry belafonte
Monday, January 30, 2012
What do killer whales eat in the Arctic?
ScienceDaily (Jan. 29, 2012) ? Killer whales (Orcinus orca) are the top marine predator, wherever they are found, and seem to eat everything from schools of small fish to large baleen whales, over twice their own size. The increase in hunting territories available to killer whales in the Arctic due to climate change and melting sea ice could seriously affect the marine ecosystem balance. New research published in BioMed Central's re-launched open access journal Aquatic Biosystems has combined scientific observations with Canadian Inuit traditional knowledge to determine killer whale behaviour and diet in the Arctic.
Orca have been studied extensively in the northeast Pacific ocean, where resident killer whales eat fish, but migrating whales eat marine mammals. Five separate ecotypes in the Antarctic have been identified, each preferring a different type of food, and similar patterns have been found in the Atlantic, tropical Pacific, and Indian oceans. However, little is known about Arctic killer whale prey preference or behaviour.
Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) is increasingly being used to supplement scientific observations. Researchers from Manitoba visited 11 Canadian Nunavut Inuit communities and collated information from over 100 interviews with hunters and elders.
The Inuit reported that killer whales would 'eat whatever they can catch', mainly other marine mammals including seals (ringed, harp, bearded, and hooded) and whales (narwhal, beluga and bowhead). However there was no indication that Arctic killer whales ate fish. Only seven of the interviewees suggested that killer whales ate fish, but none of them had ever seen it themselves.
The type of reported prey varied between areas. Most incidents of killer whales eating bowhead whales occurred in Foxe Basin and narwhal predation was more frequent around Baffin Island. Inuit were also able to describe first-hand how killer whales hunted, including several reports of how killer whales co-operated to kill the much larger bowhead. During the hunt some whales were seen holding the bowhead's flippers or tail, others covering its blowhole, and others biting or ramming to cause internal damage. Occasionally dead bowheads, with bite marks and internal injuries but with very little eaten, are found by locals.
'Aarlirijuk', the fear of killer whales, influenced prey behaviour with smaller mammals seeking refuge in shallow waters or on shore and larger prey running away, diving deep, or attempting to hide among the ice. Even narwhal, which are capable of stabbing a killer whale with their tusks (although this is likely to result in the deaths of both animals), will run to shallow waters and wait until the whales give up.
Killer whales are seasonal visitors to the area and have recently started colonising Hudson Bay (possibly due to loss of summer sea ice with global warming). Local communities are reliant on the very species that the orcas like to eat. Dr Steven Ferguson from the University of Manitoba who led this research commented, "Utilising local knowledge through TEK will help scientists understand the effects of global warming and loss of sea ice on Arctic species and improve collaborative conservation efforts in conjunction with local communities."
Recommend this story on Facebook, Twitter,
and Google +1:
Other bookmarking and sharing tools:
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by BioMed Central, via AlphaGalileo.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Steven H Ferguson, Jeff W Higdon and Kristin H Westdal, Aquatic Biosystems. Prey items and predation behavior of killer whales (Orcinus orca) in Nunavut, Canada based on Inuit hunter interviews. Aquatic Biosystems, 2012 (in press)
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/~3/bXQiFIfQ8OU/120129232818.htm
matt cassel snowman playstation network down martin scorsese houston astros google music 2013 ford escape
Climate of intolerance in West Bank, activists say (AP)
RAMALLAH, West Bank ? A Palestinian atheist who was jailed and beaten last year for expressing anti-Muslim views on Facebook and in blogs says Palestinian security forces are harassing him again, despite government pledges to respect human rights.
The blogger's renewed ordeal is part of a persistent climate of intolerance of dissent in the territories controlled by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, say human rights activists. They say they've seen improvements, including a marked decrease in the mistreatment of detainees, but that Abbas' security forces, who are partially funded by the West, must halt harassment and arbitrary detention.
Government spokesman Ghassan Khatib acknowledged occasional lapses, but said that in the past two years, "there's been great progress and success in reducing abuses."
Such promises mean little to atheist blogger Walid Husayin, who has lived in fear of the security forces since being released from a nine-month prison stint last summer.
"I'm sick and tired. My life has come to a halt," the 28-year-old Husayin said in a phone interview from his home in the northern West Bank town of Qalqiliya.
Since his release on bail, he has been picked up several times by security agents and held for days at a time. In one of those detentions, he was beaten with cables and forced to stand in a painful position on empty cans, said Husayin, the son of a Muslim preacher. Interrogators smashed his two computers and demanded that he stop expressing his views, he said.
Activists from three rights organizations said they witnessed an increase in arbitrary detentions in recent months, including calling in "troublemakers" for repeated interrogation, but said they hadn't yet collated 2011 figures.
Those targeted include loyalists of the Islamic militant Hamas, Abbas' political rival, and supporters of Hezb al-Tahrir, or the "Liberation Party," a puritan Islamic movement considered apolitical.
The increased pressure on dissent coincides with pro-democracy uprisings of the Mideast Arab Spring, but it's not clear if there is a direct link. Anti-government demonstrations in the West Bank usually draw just a few dozen or few hundred people, tiny compared to protests that toppled rulers in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia over the past year.
There appears to be little popular sympathy for those targeted in the crackdown, said Jamil Rabah, an independent Palestinian pollster.
In Gaza, ruled by the Islamic Hamas since a violent takeover in 2007, the Islamists appear to dealing even more harshly with critics, particularly on religious matters.
In both territories, those who violate social norms find themselves in the crosshairs. In Gaza, Hamas recently banned a televised amateur singing contest on modesty grounds because it included female contestants.
In the West Bank, Palestinian-American comedian Maysoon Zayid said her husband was roughed up and lightly hurt last fall after she mocked Palestinian officials in a skit. Witnesses identified the assailants as plainclothes security men, said Zayid, a contributor to "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" on Current TV, a U.S. cable show.
She said it was the first attempt at intimidation after years of West Bank performances.
"I feel like the Palestinian Authority is going backward," said Zayid, a resident of Cliffside Park, New Jersey. "That is not the state I am fighting for."
Blogger Husayin, who got his start with anonymous Facebook posts, caused an uproar in the Arab world in 2010 by mocking Islam's Prophet Muhammad, dismissing Islam as a primitive religion and sarcastically referring to himself as God.
In November 2010, he was caught in a sting that used Facebook to find him. In the West Bank, it's against the law to defame Islam or Christianity.
He was initially held without charges, but eventually he was accused of blasphemy and insulting people's beliefs. For four of the nine months of his initial detention, he was kept in solitary confinement. He told the New York-based Human Rights Watch that he was shackled for long periods and so harshly beaten that he vomited blood. After his release on bail in August, a court gave him a three-year suspended sentence.
Husayin returned home to his conservative Muslim family, rarely venturing out. He said his family is ashamed of what people might say about him, because of his unorthodox views. Husayin said he doesn't want people to see him either ? he still fears vigilante retribution.
The blogger wouldn't allow reporters to visit, saying he feared it would inflame family tensions.
Adnan Damiri, a spokesman for the Palestinian security forces, said he was not aware of harassment against Husayin.
"It isn't acceptable to summon somebody for ideological reasons. I am prepared to deal with this case," he said.
Khatib, the government spokesman, portrayed attempts to stifle dissent as growing pains. "We can promise that in 2012, we will have progress from last year. We are building a state, and there are difficulties in doing that," he said.
While the blogger's "crime" is unusual in the West Bank, his arbitrary detention fits a pattern, activists from three human rights groups said. Shawan Jabarin of the rights group al-Haq said he was aware of hundreds of arbitrary detentions in the past few months.
The bulk of those detained are Hamas supporters.
"We haven't seen tremendous improvement in rights and freedoms," said Randa Siniora of the Independent Commission for Human Rights.
The worst abuses receded over the past two years, like torture of political activists and lengthy detentions, the activists said, and the practice of trying civilians in military courts has largely stopped, they said.
Damiri, the police spokesman, said lessons have been learned.
"There are individual cases of abuse, but we don't have a culture of revenge," he said.
Rights activists say it's too soon to speak of a major shift in attitude.
"There's a lack of accountability, a lack of laws enshrining rights," said Jabarin. "We can't talk about a culture of institutions and the rule of law."
stanford oklahoma state university badgers badgers mendenhall nbc sports network demarcus cousins
Jury finds Afghan family guilty in honor killings
KINGSTON, Ontario (AP) ? A jury on Sunday found an Afghan father, his wife and their son guilty of killing three teenage sisters and a co-wife in what the judge described as "cold-blooded, shameful murders" resulting from a "twisted concept of honor."
The jury took 15 hours to find Mohammad Shafia, 58; his wife Tooba Yahya, 42; and their son Hamed, 21, each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder in a case that shocked and riveted Canadians from coast to coast. First-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.
After the verdict was read, the three defendants again declared their innocence in the killings of sisters Zainab, 19, Sahar 17, and Geeti, 13, as well as Rona Amir Mohammad, 52, Shafia's childless first wife in a polygamous marriage.
Their bodies were found June 30, 2009, in a car submerged in a canal in Kingston, Ontario, where the family had stopped for the night on their way home to Montreal from Niagara Falls, Ontario.
Prosecutors said the defendants allegedly killed the three teenage sisters because they dishonored the family by defying its disciplinarian rules on dress, dating, socializing and going online. Shafia's first wife was living with him and his second wife. The polygamous relationship, if revealed, could have resulted in their deportation.
The prosecution alleged it was a case of premeditated murder, staged to look like an accident after it was carried out. Prosecutors said the defendants drowned their victims elsewhere on the site, placed their bodies in the car and pushed it into the canal.
Defense lawyers said the deaths were accidental. They said the Nissan car accidentally plunged into the canal after the eldest daughter, Zainab, took it for a joy ride with her sisters and her father's first wife. Hamed said he watched the accident, although he didn't call police from the scene.
After the jury returned the verdicts, Mohammad Shafia, speaking through a translator, said, "We are not criminal, we are not murderer, we didn't commit the murder and this is unjust."
His weeping wife, Tooba, also declared the verdict unjust, saying, "I am not a murderer, and I am a mother, a mother."
Their son, Hamed, speaking in English said, "I did not drown my sisters anywhere."
But Judge Robert Maranger was unmoved, saying the evidence clearly supported their conviction for "the planned and deliberate murder of four members of your family."
"It is difficult to conceive of a more despicable, more heinous crime ... the apparent reason behind these cold-blooded, shameful murders was that the four completely innocent victims offended your completely twisted concept of honor ... that has absolutely no place in any civilized society."
The family had left Afghanistan in 1992 and lived in Pakistan, Australia and Dubai before settling in Canada in 2007. Shafia, a wealthy businessman, married Yahya because his first wife could not have children.
The prosecution painted a picture of a household controlled by a domineering Shafia, with Hamed keeping his sisters in line and doling out discipline when his father was away on frequent business trips to Dubai.
The months leading up to the deaths were not happy ones in the Shafia household, according to evidence presented at trial. Zainab, the oldest daughter, was forbidden to attend school for a year because she had a young Pakistani-Canadian boyfriend, and she fled to a shelter, terrified of her father, the court was told.
The prosecution said her parents found condoms in Sahar's room as well as photos of her wearing short skirts and hugging her Christian boyfriend, a relationship she had kept secret. Geeti was becoming almost impossible to control: skipping school, failing classes, being sent home for wearing revealing clothes and stealing, while declaring to authority figures that she wanted to be placed in foster care, according to the prosecution.
Shafia's first wife wrote in a diary that her husband beat her and "made life a torture," while his second wife called her a servant.
The prosecution presented wire taps and cell phone records from the Shafia family in court to support their honor killing theory. The wiretaps, which capture Shafia spewing vitriol about his dead daughters, calling them treacherous and whores and invoking the devil to defecate on their graves, were a focal point of the trial.
"There can be no betrayal, no treachery, no violation more than this," Shafia said on one recording. "Even if they hoist me up onto the gallows ... nothing is more dear to me than my honor."
Defense lawyers argued that at no point in the intercepts do the accused say they drowned the victims.
Associated Pressactivision blizzard acrylamide advent calendar adobe air 2005yu55 advanced search alexander the great
UN nuclear team arrives in Iran (AP)
TEHRAN, Iran ? A U.N. nuclear team arrived in Tehran early Sunday for a mission expected to focus on Iran's alleged attempt to develop nuclear weapons.
The U.N. nuclear agency delegation includes two senior weapons experts ? Jacques Baute of France and Neville Whiting of South Africa ? suggesting that Iran may be prepared to address some issues related to the allegations.
The delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency is led by Deputy Director General Herman Nackaerts, who is in charge of the Iran nuclear file. Also on the team is Rafael Grossi, IAEA chief Yukiya Amano's right-hand man.
In unusually blunt comments ahead of his arrival in Tehran, Nackaerts urged Iran to work with his mission on probing the allegations about Iran's alleged attempts to develop nuclear weapons, reflecting the importance the IAEA is attaching to the issue.
Tehran has refused to discuss the alleged weapons experiments for three years, saying they are based on "fabricated documents" provided by a "few arrogant countries" ? a phrase authorities in Iran often use to refer to the United States and its allies.
Ahead of his departure, Nackaerts told reporters at Vienna airport he hopes Iran "will engage with us on all concerns."
"So we're looking forward to the start of a dialogue," he said: "A dialogue that is overdue since very long."
In a sign of the difficulties the team faces and the tensions that surround Iran's disputed nuclear program, a dozen Iranian hard-liners carrying photos of slain nuclear expert Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan were waiting at Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport early Sunday to challenge the team upon arrival.
That prompted security officials to whisk the IAEA team away from the tarmac to avoid any confrontation with the hard-liners.
Iran's official IRNA news agency confirmed the team's arrival and said the IAEA experts are likely to visit the underground Fordo uranium enrichment site near the holy city of Qom, 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of the capital, Tehran.
During their three-day visit, the IAEA team will be looking for permission to talk to key Iranian scientists suspected of working on a weapons program, inspect documents related to such suspected work and secure commitments from Iranian authorities to allow future visits to sites linked to such allegations. But even a decision to enter a discussion over the allegations would be a major departure from Iran's frequent simple refusal to talk about them.
The United States and its allies want Iran to halt its enrichment of uranium, which they worry could eventually lead to weapons-grade material and the production of nuclear weapons. Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes, such as generating electricity and producing medical radioisotopes to treat cancer patients.
Iran has accused the IAEA in the past of security leaks that expose its scientists and their families to the threat of assassination by the U.S. and Israel.
Iranian state media say Roshan, a chemistry expert and director of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran, was interviewed by IAEA inspectors before being killed in a brazen bomb attack in Tehran earlier this month.
Iranian media have urged the government to be vigil, saying some IAEA inspectors are "spies," reflecting the deep suspicion many in Iran have for the U.N. experts sent to inspect Iran's nuclear sites.
___
AP writer George Jahn contributed to this report from Vienna.
steve jobs commencement speech sarah palin espn body issue ijustine visionary guy kawasaki jani lane
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Disability Insurance Rates
Are you worried because you are self-employed and fear that your health may anytime take a toll on your job? Do you work in risky environments? Are you totally dependant on your job? If the answer to all comes to yes, then you may read below to know more about disability insurance and disability insurance rates. It is worth considering rates of disability insurance before you buy, as there are many providers in the market claiming to offer the best rates. To break this myth, you require putting yourself into a little homework on what aspects should you consider before deciding which plan to go for. In either case, you need to buy disability insurance, as it directly protects you from financial mishaps.
?
Disability Insurance Plans:
Most disability insurance plans sound alike. That is, all offer you a chance to take some benefits in one way or another. However, you must be careful when it comes to looking disability insurance policy. Some plans may involve special conditions that restrict you from availing a few benefits. On the other hand, you may find some plans providing good flexibilities, but at a higher cost. While choosing between plans, cost plays an important role. Further, you may call for a free quotation to have a look at. Sometimes, it may occur to you that two policies provide you same benefits but at different costs.
?
In addition, providers of disability insurance plans have different ways of calculating risks. One may cost you considerably high, whereas other may offer you same or little less feature. The reason for this difference is different way of analyzing the risk of the situation in which you are working. Further, if you are working with risky jobs, then the probability that you may have to shell extra money is higher than shelling out if you are employed with lesser risk-orientated job.
?
Moreover, disability insurance rates may vary depending on your yearly emoluments from the firm. If you are earning high salary packages higher than market standards, then chances are that you may lose your job upon being disabled. Further, your dependence on high salaries is sure to put you at greater risk when you are disable. Hence, if you are earning higher salary than market norms, then too you may have to pay a slightly higher rate.
?
Cost of Disability Insurance:
Cost does affect your decision over choosing one plan over another. For instance, probability of person A opting for plan X will be higher if plan X provides same benefits like any other policy although comes comparatively at most competent cost. Thus, cost of disability insurance does impacts the plans that people buy. In case you are considering insurance plan for disability, then you may demand for quotes from at least five different companies for plans that suit best to your needs. Upon receipt of quotes, you may compare plans based on your interests and later may compare them based on their cost.
?
Sometimes, cost of disability insurance is not the only factor that you may look at when it comes to buying plans, as feature too plays an important role. There is no point in buying a policy, which lacks features providing you immunity for your financial goals, even if it comes at a cheaper cost. Thus, it entirely depends on your sole interests, which puts one policy on par than other.
?
Disability Insurance Policy:
?
It is ideal to have a careful look at the policy before referring to buy it. Sometimes, different plans may look similar in terms of their cost and benefits. However, they may differ when it comes to policy of the plans. It is important to have a stringent look at all aspects if policy and norms along with disability insurance rates. Missing details can be punishing particularly when they act as a barrier between you and your financial aspirations. Further, to save your skin, you may appoint a financial adviser to have a clean understanding on the policies and norms that part of the insurance plan that you buy.
?
According to insurance analysts, it becomes easier for customers to choose a plan over another particularly when disability insurance policy of one plan is clearly understood to them. Hence, insurance companies invest a good deal in insurance advisers for their firms, as they acknowledge the fact that a good adviser will always helps their clients to be clear about the policies of insurance plan.
Source: http://individualshorttermdisabilityinsurance.org/disability-insurance-rates/
batman arkham city weather orlando winston churchill winston churchill arkham city conjugated linoleic acid world series schedule
Tiger falters as Rock wins Abu Dhabi Championship (AP)
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates ? Robert Rock held his nerve Sunday to hold off U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship for the biggest win of the Englishman's career.
The 117th-ranked Rock shot a 2-under 70 for an overall 13-under 275 to beat the 22-year Northern Irishman by a shot and the 14-time major winner by two. Woods finished in a tie for third with Thomas Bjorn (68) and Graeme McDowell (68). Matteo Manassero (69), the 18-year-old Italian, and George Coetzee (70) of South Africa were a further shot back.
Woods started the final round tied for the lead with the unheralded Rock. He appeared poised to win his second tournament in a row after ending a two-year winless drought with a victory last month at the Chevron World Challenge.
But the control Woods displayed for much of the weekend abandoned him Sunday, and it was Rock who held it together down the stretch.
"I didn't hit the ball as well as I would like to," Woods said. "Today I was just a touch off. I was righting the ball through the fairways. I was hitting the ball a little bit further than I thought I would ... So something to look at, and something to try and figure out."
Woods started strong and it looked as though he might pull away from Rock, sinking a 40-footer on No. 2 for birdie and chipping to within a foot of the cup for a second birdie on the 3rd. But Rock ? who said Saturday he was a bit overwhelmed to face his idol ? didn't blink. He also birdied two of the first three holes to keep pace.
Then Woods began to unravel.
He started spraying his drives into the thick rough and fairway bunkers, resulting in the first of three bogeys. When Woods wasn't missing the fairways, he was scrambling to save par as he did on the 11th when overshooting the green. As he approached his shot in deep rough just off the 11th green, he sighed heavily and let out a stream of obscenities under his breath.
Woods managed to save par on 11 by sinking a 12-footer and Rock just missed a birdie putt. Woods pumped his fist and appeared to be regaining momentum as he pulled within one shot of Rock on No. 13 when the Englishman had one of his three bogeys. But the 34-year-old Rock birdied two of the next three holes to seize control.
Rock wobbled on the 18th when his drive landed in a pile of rocks near the water ? forcing him to take a drop. But he recovered beautifully, reaching the green in four and then two-putting for the win.
"It's pretty hard to believe that I managed to win today. Very surprised," said Rock. "I played good. So I guess I had a chance from early on, a couple of birdies made the day feel a little bit easier."
"But it's difficult playing with Tiger. You expect almost every shot to threaten to go in. I felt a lot of pressure and couldn't afford any lapses in concentration at all."
Rock said he drew strength from the struggles of Woods and his other playing partner Peter Hanson (78) and used that to bounce back from several bogeys.
"I was just focusing on trying to hit fairways and then hit my iron shots as good as I have been and give myself chances at birdies," Rock said. "Both Tiger and Peter struggled on occasions on a few holes and I managed to keep my ball in the right position and didn't put myself under too much stress until the last, which was a relief."
It was a storybook ending for Rock, who rose from a club pro to join the tour in 2003 and only got his first tour win last year at the Italian Open. The victory will elevate him into the top 60.
"It doesn't get an awful lot harder than playing with Tiger Woods," Rock said. "So I guess barring a major championship, I know I can handle that again. So that's pretty nice to know."
The loss is the second straight time Woods has failed to win with at least a share of the lead after 54 holes. He lost the Chevron World Challenge in 2010 after going into the final round with a four-shot lead over McDowell.
Woods acknowledged it wasn't the way he wanted to start the 2012 season but said he took solace from the control he showed the first three days and the putts he made over the final three.
"Obviously the ultimate goal is to win and I didn't win," said Woods, who missed out on his 84th career win.
"I hit the ball good enough to win the golf tournament this week," he said. "Today I just didn't give myself enough looks at it. Most of my putts were lag putts. I didn't drive the ball in as many fairways as I should have. Some of the balls were running through. Other balls, I was just missing. It was a day I was just a touch off off the tee and consequently I couldn't get the ball close enough to give myself looks."
While most of the attention was on Rock and Woods, several players surged into contention down the stretch.
McIlroy, playing ahead of Rock and Woods, birdied 18 to move to 12 under and give himself a chance. But he came up short with four rounds of par or better golf being undone by several costly mistakes ? the worst coming Friday when the third-ranked McIlroy was penalized two shots for brushing away sand in front of his ball in the rough of the 9th.
"You know, you've got to take the positives," McIlroy said. "It's the first week of the year, and you know, it looks like it's going to be the second year in a row here that I'll finish second. But still a very good start to the season and something I'll build on."
McDowell played the most exciting round of the tournament on Sunday, with an ace on No. 12, a chip-in on 13 and then a shot off the grandstand at 18 that led to a birdie and a tie for third. For the 2010 U.S. Open champion, it was a good way to start the year after failing to win in 2011.
"Any time you come back in 31 shots on a Sunday, semi in the mix is always a good day's work," said McDowell. "It was certainly an eventful last seven holes with a hole-in-one and a nice ricochet off the grandstand at the last."
___
Follow Michael Casey on Twitter at https://twitter.com/mcasey1
carol burnett cbs red tails red tails tuskegee airmen mike james red tails trailer
Florida Voters Worry About GOP Baggage, But Still Focus on Toppling Obama (ContributorNetwork)
RIVERVIEW, Fla. -- There are four candidates left in the Republican run for president: Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul. On Tuesday, Florida will help decide who goes on and who stays home in the battle against President Barack Obama.
We asked Floridians on Thursday: What candidate are you leaning toward for the primary? Why? Did the debates in Florida help you with your decision? Do you think your choice of candidate has a chance to beat President Obama in the presidential race in November?
Here is a sampling of their responses:
"I am still undecided. I think each candidate has their good and bad points. The debates did not do enough to help me decide, but I hope to decide by Tuesday. I think Romney may do the best against President Obama because Gingrich has too much baggage. I am not sure how I would feel about a president who cheated on his wife and the first lady would also be the lady he cheated with. It makes me feel very strange." -- Kurt Borkowski, 44, hospital cook, St. Petersburg
"I like Mitt Romney because he is a Mormon. I am not Mormon, but I know when a Mormon gives you his word and shakes your hand, he keeps it. I trust Romney more than the other candidates and I also believe America will trust him more than Obama. Gingrich looks and acts like a liar. I also do not want to cancel out my wife's vote because she is voting for Romney." -- Doug Kalbach, 52, cleaning-business owner, Riverview
"I know we need to pick somebody who can beat President Obama. He is ruining our country and making our government too big. I love that Romney is a huge business success. He has done great in business and I believe he can straighten out our economy. We need jobs and Obama is not the answer. I want my children to grow up in a country they can be proud of and right now I am not proud to have a president who I do not trust." -- Emelita Legaspi, 44, accountant, Tampa
"I like Ron Paul because he will take our government back to where it used to be. Ron Paul believes our government is too big. I think the government interferes with our business too much and I don't trust our current president. I believe any of the candidates can beat Obama in the presidential election, but I like Paul the best." -- Charles Ward, 46, medical supplies industry, Tampa
"I would like to see Newt Gingrich debate President Obama. Gingrich has no fear of the elite media or our liberal president. He says what he means and he puts a bunch of spirit into it. I admit that Gingrich has some baggage, but look at President Obama. Obama has done a horrible job as president and he needs to go. I think Gingrich can help him on his way out of the White House." -- Nick Franklin, 32, vendor, St. Petersburg
"I like Rick Santorum, but I won't be voting for him. I think he is the best candidate, but the debates prove he does not have what it takes to go the distance against President Obama. I will vote for Mitt Romney because I think he is conservative enough and he has the best chance to beat the president. President Obama needs to go and I think Romney can send him home." -- Jeff Weaver, 38, computer expert, Lithia Springs
"Mitt Romney is my choice. I am a bit concerned about his religion, but he will do. I am a Christian, but I am a realist. We need a man with experience and the ability to fix all the mistakes our current president made since he took office. I believe Romney will repeal Obamacare. I believe he will allow us to drill oil and I believe he will create the jobs we need to succeed as Americans." -- Susan Butler, 29, manager, Tampa
"I want Rick Santorum to win. I will vote for him because I think he is the best candidate. I do not like Romney or Gingrich and I think Ron Paul is a nut case. I am a Christian and I think we need a conservative in the White House. If Santorum doesn't win, I will support the other candidates because I think Obama is evil and he needs to go." -- Mike Siemens, 36, pizza manager, Riverview
powerball winner narwhals narwhals gmail app gmail app phentermine port of oakland
This Centimeter of Dried Glue Is Apparently Worth Thousands [Video]
navy football 50/50 50/50 dreamhouse pan am susan g komen whats your number
Fresh iPhone Apps for Jan. 27: Frequency, Steam Mobile, RAGE HD update, Baseball Superstars 2012 (Appolicious)
Start your weekend with all the best videos the Internet has to offer with Frequency, an iPad app that makes finding and organizing great videos from all over the place a snap. It?s our top Fresh App today, followed by Steam Mobile, an iOS app that ties to the popular digital video game download portal and lets you impulse-buy during Steam?s crazy game sales no matter where you are. A big update with new levels to RAGE HD tops off our games picks for this weekend, followed by a new, free edition to the Baseball Superstars series from Gamevil.
You might think of Frequency as a kind of Pandora for video. The app makes it easy to find and watch videos from a variety of sources right on your iPad, but what?s better is that it will create customized channels for you based on your preferences. You can create channels based on your favorite sites, on specific topics and trends, or even just a running list of what your friends are sharing on Facebook and Twitter.
Frequency makes it easy to group videos into channels and see everything you want quickly and easily, but it also helps you search through all that information for the best bits. The app will pull highlights from all your channels that you can flip through more quickly, keep you up to date on trends and allow you to find things you?re already following quickly with its TUNER feature. It also includes AirPlay support, which means you can watch your videos on your other iOS devices, including Apple TV.
An iOS tie-in to the uber-popular online video game distribution, Steam allows PC gamers the ability to access their accounts on the portal, talk to friends, view games and trailers ? basically everything they can do with the Steam PC app, except for the part about playing video games. But you can still shop for them and purchase them to be digitally downloaded on your computer when you return to it.
Steam lets you search for games, see new releases, read about titles and watch their trailers, all from your iOS device. You can buy games for yourself or for friends, or add them to your ?wishlist? for later (or to encourage people to give you gifts). You?ll need a Steam account to access your account through the app, and the system is currently still in beta, so you?ll need to wait for developer Valve to send you an invite. But downloading the app and signing-in puts you on Valve?s list of interested users, which might help fast-track your beta invite.
Last year, id Software released RAGE HD as an iOS title to go along with its first-person shooter, also titled RAGE. The iOS version contains some slick graphics and great shooter controls, making use of both the touchscreen and the built-in gyroscope to make aiming your weapons feel natural. A ?rail shooter,? RAGE takes care of the movement in the game (it?s as if you were on a rollercoaster), while you do the shooting.
A big update has just dropped for the title, bringing new content to iOS players. RAGE HD contains two new levels to work through, filled with pesky, murderous mutants. Those levels can be downloaded through in-app purchase, and the game now supports HDMI output so you can play on your TV and iOS 5. It?s also received a host of bug fixes to tighten up the experience.
Gamevil?s yearly update to its cartoonish home run-hitting baseball title has gone freemium in Baseball Superstars 2012, but the core of the game will keep fans of the long-running series happy. Like other titles in the Baseball Superstars series, you?ll manage your team and play against others, both computer controlled and online, where you?ll do the pitching and the hitting for your team.
Baseball Superstars 2012 features HD graphics and online play that allows you to take on other players as well as trade your baseball team members with your friends. It also features a story campaign you can work through on your own with multiple endings, and Game Center support for achievements and leaderboards.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Forums: 16GB vs. 32GB, Jailbreak help
We’ve rolled through this week and now we’re heading on into the weekend, we’re gathering up plenty of MacWorld coverage for you all so you’ll want to stay tuned for
 |  |
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/SzzKvSFUHnI/story01.htm
young guns concord safe and sound botticelli x factor winner footlocker julia gillard
More than 50 killed in 2 days of turmoil in Syria
This citizen journalism image provide by the Local Coordination Committees in Syria and released early Friday Jan. 27, 2012, purports to show a Syrian man, right, mourning over the dead body of his son, who was shot by the Syrian forces, in Idlib province, Syria, on Thursday Jan. 26, 2012. A "terrifying massacre" in the restive Syrian city of Homs has killed more than 30 people, including small children, in a barrage of mortar fire and attacks by armed forces loyal to President Bashar Assad, activists said Friday. (AP Photo/Local Coordination Committees in Syria) EDITORIAL USE ONLY, NO SALES, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS HANDOUT PHOTO
This citizen journalism image provide by the Local Coordination Committees in Syria and released early Friday Jan. 27, 2012, purports to show a Syrian man, right, mourning over the dead body of his son, who was shot by the Syrian forces, in Idlib province, Syria, on Thursday Jan. 26, 2012. A "terrifying massacre" in the restive Syrian city of Homs has killed more than 30 people, including small children, in a barrage of mortar fire and attacks by armed forces loyal to President Bashar Assad, activists said Friday. (AP Photo/Local Coordination Committees in Syria) EDITORIAL USE ONLY, NO SALES, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS HANDOUT PHOTO
This citizen journalism image provided by the Local Coordination Committees in Syria and released on Friday Jan. 27, 2012, purports to show the bodies of five Syrian children wrapped in plastic bags, with signs in Arabic identifying them by name. Activists say the children were killed in a shelling attack by Syrian forces, in the Karm el-Zaytoun neighborhood of Homs, Syria, on Thursday Jan. 26, 2012 A "terrifying massacre" in the restive Syrian city of Homs has killed more than 30 people, including small children, in a barrage of mortar fire and attacks by armed forces loyal to President Bashar Assad, activists said Friday. (AP Photo/Local Coordination Committees in Syria) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS HANDOUT PHOTO EDITORIAL USE ONLY
Syrian army defectors, celebrate shortly after they defected and join the anti-Syrian rgime protesters at Khalidiya area in Homs province, central Syria, on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. Syrian troops stormed a flashpoint suburb of Damascus on Thursday, rounding people up in house-to-house raids and clashing with army defectors, activists said, as the 10-month-old uprising inches ever closer to the capital. (AP Photo)
A Syrian army defector, flashes victory sign as he carries on his shoulders a boy shortly after he defected and join the anti-Syrian regime protesters at Khalidiya area in Homs province, central Syria, on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. Syrian troops stormed a flashpoint suburb of Damascus on Thursday, rounding people up in house-to-house raids and clashing with army defectors, activists said, as the 10-month-old uprising inches ever closer to the capital. (AP Photo)
Syrian army defectors, celebrate and wave the Syrian revolution flag shortly after they defected and join the anti-Syrian regime protesters at Khalidiya area in Homs province, central Syria, on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. Syrian troops stormed a flashpoint suburb of Damascus on Thursday, rounding people up in house-to-house raids and clashing with army defectors, activists said, as the 10-month-old uprising inches ever closer to the capital. (AP Photo)
BEIRUT (AP) ? In two days of bloody turmoil in Syria, more than 50 people were killed as forces loyal to President Bashar Assad shelled residential buildings, fired on crowds and left bleeding corpses in the streets in a dramatic escalation of violence, activists said Friday.
Much of the violence was focused in Homs, where heavy gunfire hammered the city Friday in a second day of chaos. A day earlier, the city saw a flare-up of sectarian kidnappings and killings between its Sunni and Alawite communities, and pro-regime forces blasted residential buildings with mortars and gunfire, according to activists who said an entire family was killed.
Video posted online by activists showed the bodies of five small children, five women of varying ages and a man, all bloodied and piled on beds in what appeared to be an apartment after a building was hit in the Karm el-Zaytoun neighborhood of the city. A narrator said an entire family had been "slaughtered."
The video could not be independently verified.
Activists said at least 30 people were killed in Homs on Thursday and another 21 people were killed across the country Friday.
In an attempt to stop the bloodshed in Syria, the U.N. Security Council was to hold a closed-door meeting Friday to discuss the crisis, a step toward a possible resolution against the Damascus regime, diplomats said.
At least 384 children have died, as of Jan. 7, in the crackdown on Syria's uprising since it began nearly 11 months ago, the U.N. children's agency UNICEF said Friday, according to a count based on reports from human rights groups. Most of the children killed were boys and most of the deaths took place in Homs, UNICEF said. The United Nations estmates that more than 5,400 people have died in the turmoil.
The Syrian uprising, which began in March with mostly peaceful protests, has become increasingly violent in recent months as army defectors clash with government forces and some protesters take up arms to protect themselves. The violence has enflamed the potentially explosive sectarian divide in the country, where the Alawite minority dominates the regime despite a Sunni Muslim majority.
The head of Arab League observers in Syria said in a statement that violence in the country has spiked over the past few days. Sudanese Gen. Mohammed Ahmed al-Dabi said the cities of Homs, Hama and Idlib have all witnessed a "very high escalation" in violence since Tuesday.
Early Friday morning, Assad's forces launched a "fierce military campaign" in the Hamadiyeh district of Hama, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and other activists. They said the sound of heavy machine-gun fire and loud explosions reverberated across the area.
Some activists reported seeing uncollected bodies in the streets of Hama.
Elsewhere, a car bomb exploded Friday at a checkpoint outside the northern city of Idlib, the Observatory said, citing witnesses on the ground. The number of casualties was not immediately clear.
In the Egyptian capital Cairo, around 200 opposition Syrians protested outside the Syrian Embassy, throwing stones at the building and jostling with police and soldiers. Several dozen broke into the building's lobby, smashing a picture of Assad and some windows before being hustled out.
Details of Thursday's wave of killings in Homs were emerging from an array of residents and activists on Friday, though they said they were having difficulty because of continuing gunfire.
"There has been a terrifying massacre," Rami Abdul-Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told the AP on Friday, calling for an independent investigation.
Thursday started with a spate of sectarian kidnappings and killings between the city's population of Sunnis and Alawites, a Shiite sect to which Assad belongs as well as most of his security and military leadership, said Mohammad Saleh, a centrist opposition figure and resident of Homs.
There was also a string of attacks by gunmen on army checkpoints, Saleh said. Checkpoints are a frequent target of dissident troops who have joined the opposition.
The violence culminated with the evening killing of the family, Saleh said, adding that the full details of what happened were not yet clear.
The Observatory said at least 11 people, including eight children, died when a building came under heavy mortar and machine gun fire. Some residents spoke of another massacre that took place when shabiha ? armed regime loyalists ? stormed the district, slaughtering residents in an apartment, including children.
"It's racial cleansing," said one Sunni resident of Karm el-Zaytoun, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. "They are killing people because of their sect," he said.
Some residents said kidnappers were holding Alawites in the building hit by mortars and gunfire, but the reports could not be confirmed.
Thursday's death toll in Homs was at least 35, said the Observatory and the Local Coordination Committees, an umbrella group of activists. Both groups cite a network of activists on the ground in Syria for their death tolls. The reports could not be independently confirmed.
Syria tightly controls access to trouble spots and generally allows journalists to report only on escorted trips, which slows the flow of information.
The Syrian uprising began last March with largely peaceful anti-government protests, but it has grown increasingly violent in recent months.
Also Friday, Iran's official IRNA news agency said gunmen in Syria have kidnapped 11 Iranian pilgrims traveling by road from Turkey to Damascus.
Iranian pilgrims routinely visit Syria ? Iran's closest ally in the Arab world ? to pay homage to Shiite holy shrines. Last month, 7 Iranian engineers building a power plant in central Syria were kidnapped. They have not yet been released.
The Free Syrian Army ? a group of army defectors ? released a video on its Facebook page claiming responsibility for the kidnapping and saying the Iranians were taking part in the suppression of the Syrian people. The leader of the group could not be reached for comment.
Bassma Kodmani, a spokeswoman for the opposition Syrian National Council, said the group is working to help the army defectors to link them up and supply them with everything from communications equipment to clothes. Speaking in Paris, she said defectors are increasingly swelling the ranks of the Free Syrian Army and it is becoming a critical force in the uprising.
Assad's regime claims terrorists acting out a foreign conspiracy are behind the uprising, not protesters seeking change, and that thousands of security forces have been killed.
International pressure on Damascus to end the bloodshed so far has produced few results.
The Arab League has sent observers to the country, but the mission has been widely criticized for failing to stop the violence. Gulf states led by Saudi Arabia pulled out of the mission Tuesday, asking the Security Council to intervene because the Syrian government has not halted its crackdown.
The U.N. Security Council has been unable to agree on a resolution since violence began in March because of strong opposition from Russia and China.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said Friday that Moscow will oppose a new draft U.N. resolution on Syria worked out by the West and some Arab states because it does not exclude the possibility of outside military interference.
Associated Presslana peters lana peters jennifer nettles jennifer nettles giants vs saints suh suh
Pilot Season: CBS Picks Up Three Drama Pilots, Including One from The L Word Creator (omg!)
CBS has green-lit three new drama pilots, including one from The L Word's Ilene Chaiken.
Chaiken's Quean follows an edgy and independent Millennial hacker girl who teams up with an Oakland police detective to solve crimes. (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in America?) Joel Silver will serve as executive producer alongside Chaiken.
Pilot Season: CBS picks up a Super Fun comedy, and a detective drama
The untitled Ralph Lamb project is a period piece set in the '60s that tells the true story of Lamb, a rodeo cowboy turned longtime sheriff of Las Vegas. Nicholas Pileggi and Greg Walker will write and executive-produce alongside James Mangold, Cathy Konrad and Arthur Sarkissian.
Based on Ayelet Waldman's Mommy Track Mysteries book series, Applebaum centers on a former public defender who becomes a private investigator to keep from being bored to death as a stay-at-home mom. Waldman will write and executive-produce alongside Jennifer Levin and Sherri Cooper. Chris Columbus is also attached as the pilot's director and will also executive-produce.
Pilot Season: CBS orders Jerry Bruckheimer drama Trooper
CBS previously picked up the pilots Elementary, a modern take on Sherlock Holmes, a project from Jerry Bruckheimer, the legal drama Baby Big Shot, a half-hour comedy from Bridesmaids' Rebel Wilson, Widow Detective from CSI's Carol Mendelsohn, and an untitled Nick Stoller comedy.?
Related Articles on TVGuide.com
English footballer warned over Twitter predictions
By ROB HARRIS
AP Sports Writer
Associated Press Sports
updated 9:30 a.m. ET Jan. 26, 2012
LONDON (AP) -Predicting the outcome of football matches on Twitter could land players in trouble, as the English football authorities are wary they could be seen to be providing inside betting information.
Queens Park Rangers captain Joey Barton used Twitter on Thursday to claim that the English Football Association had warned him not to provide opinions about the outcome of matches.
The FA regulations warn players that they cannot bet on games in competitions in which their club is involved or "pass inside information on to someone else which they then use for betting."
On Sunday, Barton correctly predicted to more than 1.1 million followers ahead of Sunday's Premier League matches that Manchester City would beat Tottenham and Manchester United would win at Arsenal.
According to Barton, the comments raised alarm bells at FA headquarters, although the governing body declined to comment.
"Just received my weekly warning letter from FA headquarters, this time regarding me tweeting about predicting the weekend's Manchester double," Barton wrote Thursday on his verified Twitter account. "According to the FA, I am not allowed to give my opinion of possible results in case that is seen as insider information. These people are so out of touch with reality it's untrue.
"What difference does my opinion of the outcome of a match have on the result? None."
The FA rules warn players: "You should be aware that the passing of information would not just be by word of mouth - the rule applies equally to emails or social networking sites (e.g. Facebook, Twitter)."
But Barton believes the FA has not got "to grips with the change that's happening in the world around them," claiming that he has "probably" received 30 letters from the organization since he started tweeting in July 2010.
The midfielder first revealed in October that the FA had told him to moderate his online comments.
"The FA came to hush me down or make me not have an opinion," he said.
While using Twitter to transform his image since being jailed in 2008 for assault in a street fight, Barton has also used the platform to attack the hierarchy at former club Newcastle and criticize Neil Warnock after he was fired as QPR manager earlier this month.
---
Rob Harris can be reached at www.twitter.com/RobHarrisUK
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
advertisement
More newsAFP - Getty ImagesBarca holds off Madrid rally
Pedro Rodriguez and Daniel Alves scored first-half goals, and Barcelona held off a spirited Real Madrid comeback attempt to eliminate the defending Copa del Rey champion with a 2-2 tie Wednesday night.
Do-or-die
The U.S. women's soccer team was still on the field, having dispatched rival Mexico, when Abby Wambach gathered her teammates for a little speech.
Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/46145514/ns/sports-soccer/
walmart jcpenney loft old navy cyber monday best deals cyber monday best deals brownback
Friday, January 27, 2012
Obama urges Congress to act in election year (AP)
CAMBRIDGE, Md. ? President Barack Obama rallied House Democrats for an election-year fight, urging them to work with Republicans if they show some willingness to put politics aside but telling the rank and file to call them out if they stand in the way.
Addressing Democrats on the final day of their three-day annual retreat, Obama outlined the political stakes over the next few months as congressional Democrats try to push his agenda in the face of Republican opposition, the GOP choses its nominee and signs of recovery in a fragile economy go a long way to determining his re-election chances and the party's fate.
Obama said Democrats should seize the opportunity "whenever there is a possibility that the other side is putting some politics aside for just a nanosecond in order to get something done for the American people, we've got to be right there ready to meet them," the president told the sometimes raucous crowd.
However, "where they obstruct, where they're unwilling to act, where they're more interested in party than they are in country, more interested in the next election than the next generation, then we've got to call them out on it," the president said. "We've got to push. We can't wait; we can't be held back."
Coming off a three-day tour to promote his State of the Union message, Obama promised a "robust debate about whose vision is more promising" when Republicans choose their nominee.
On a day when reports showed the economy picking up late in 2011 but still considered "fragile" by the White House, Obama told Democrats wondering about their re-election prospects: "It's going to be a tough election because a lot of people are still hurting out there and a lot of people have lost faith generally about the capacity of Washington to get anything done."
House Republicans, who held their retreat in Baltimore last week, have repeatedly said the election will be a referendum on Obama's policies, especially his handling of the economy.
The president acknowledged that Democrats have embraced parts of his agenda when it was politically difficult and in some cases costly. The party took a drubbing in the midterm elections, losing control of the House and seeing their ranks diminished in the Senate.
And despite some past clashes with House Democrats over his willingness to compromise with Republicans, Obama was warmly received and was introduced as "our champion" by Rep. John Larson of Connecticut.
The president returned the warmth with a vote of confidence that Democrats would win back the House in November, making a nod to their leader as "soon-to-be once-again Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi."
"I believe in you guys. You guys have had my back through some very tough times," said the president, who received a small gift ? a DVD of House Democrats singing Rev. Al Green's "Let's Stay Together."
Last week, at a fundraiser at the Apollo Theater in New York, Obama stood on the stage and crooned a line from the Green classic.
Democrats were upbeat at their three-day session, energized by Obama's State of the Union address and its populist themes as well as recent polls showing more Americans say the country is on the right track and approve of Obama's handling of the economy. Divisions in the Republican ranks that were on full display last year in the fight over extending the payroll tax cut and the bitter battle between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich for the GOP presidential nomination also lifted Democratic spirits.
But the relationship with the White House hasn't always been cordial. Vice President Joe Biden, who addressed the Democrats prior to Obama's speech, described some of the rough patches.
He noted that several members in the room were mad at him in December 2010 after Obama negotiated an extension of President George W. Bush's tax cuts over the objections of some House Democrats. Last year, frustrated Democrats complained the Obama gave away too much in negotiating a spending bill and an agreement to raise the government's borrowing authority.
Biden said Pelosi told him at the last conference to "get tough. Enough is enough." He said the "message was heard. The message was heard. And I think we've delivered."
The vice president was more pointed in his political remarks than Obama and called out some Republicans by name. He said the American people will reject GOP unwillingness to compromise and its blatant determination to make Obama a one-term president.
Of the presidential candidates, Biden said Romney's criticism of the auto bailout and a host of positions stated by rival Newt Gingrich on government intervention will create a clear contrast for voters.
"These guys are helping us by saying what they believe," Biden said.
kat von d tiki barber minnesota vikings packers vs vikings packers vs vikings randall cobb google x
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)