Friday, June 28, 2013

Telenor, Ooredoo win Myanmar telecom licenses

(AP) ? Myanmar granted licenses Thursday to Norway's Telenor and Ooredoo of Qatar to set up the country's first foreign-owned mobile phone networks.

Currently less than 6 million of country's 60 million people have mobile phones, one of the lowest connectivity rates in the world. Hoping to spur economic growth, the government is trying to push penetration rates to 80 percent by 2016.

The licenses were awarded despite an eleventh hour push by lawmakers to delay a decision until a new telecommunications law is passed.

Of the more than 90 companies that submitted bids, 11 were short-listed.

Myanmar, located in the heart of one of the fastest growing regions in the world, became one of the most isolated and poorest nations during its half-century of iron-clad military rule.

After taking control of a quasi-civilian government in 2011, former general Thein Sein started implementing promised political and economic reforms.

The communications industry, long-neglected by the country's military rulers, is in need of a complete overhaul. That's in part because the original network was intended for only a tiny number of subscribers, mostly the rich. Up until a few years ago, the cost of SIM cards could reach $2,000.

Ooredoo was formerly known as Qatar Telecom.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-06-27-Myanmar-Telecom%20Race/id-8673dc5738d4456380b39456e7f5c6fb

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Thursday, June 27, 2013

Samsung puts curve in OLED televisions

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? After delays, Samsung Electronics Co. rolled out Thursday a curved TV that uses an advanced display called OLED.

The 55-inch TV will sell for 15 million won ($13,000) in South Korea, more than five times the cost of LCD televisions of the same size.

But Kim Hyunsuk, the executive vice president of Samsung's TV division, said the company is optimistic about demand for the high-end TV.

"OLED is about picture quality," Kim told reporters. "We are sure that we realized the perfect picture quality."

It remains to be seen if consumers will be willing to pay a premium for enhanced imagery. The TV industry has been struggling to excite interest with its latest technologies. In recent years, attempts to boost sales by introducing 3-D TVs and TVs that are connected to the Internet have failed to end the downturn in the TV industry.

Samsung is not the first to introduce a curved TV using OLED. In May, its rival LG Electronics Inc., the second-biggest TV maker, launched a 55-inch curved TV in South Korea.

LG's model, which also sells for 15 million won, is not sold outside South Korea.

LG spokesman Kenneth Hong said the company will ship curved OLED TVs to other countries in the near future.

Samsung will ship its curved OLED TVs to overseas markets starting July, Kim said. The company does not plan to manufacture flat OLED TVs this year, he said.

The concave display gives viewers a sense of being immersed in the images, according to Samsung.

Samsung and LG, which are the only TV makers in the world to begin commercial sales of OLED TVs, had promised to launch them in 2012 but delayed the launch to this year.

The two South Korean TV giants tout OLED, short for organic light-emitting diode, as the next-generation display technology that will eventually replace older displays. But mass producing OLED displays still faces many challenges, leading to high prices.

In addition to curved OLED TVs, Samsung launched two ultra-HD TVs, with about four times the resolution of regular high-definition TVs.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/samsung-puts-curve-oled-televisions-060257066.html

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Miley Cyrus on Strange Music Video: Based on Real Events!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/06/miley-cyrus-on-strange-music-video-based-on-real-events/

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Obama to unveil climate change plan with sweeping emissions cuts

Obama is expected to announce Tuesday a comprehensive new plan to combat climate change that includes cutting greenhouse-gas emissions from existing coal-fired power plants ? a move that could lead to a wave of plant closings.

By Mark Clayton,?Staff writer / June 25, 2013

Smoke rises from the stacks of the La Cygne Generating Station coal-fired power plant in La Cygne, Kan. President Obama says he'll unveil a national plan to combat climate change in a speech Tuesday.

Charlie Riedel/AP/File

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Recognizing that Congress is unlikely to pass significant climate change legislation during his second term, President Obama will take some of the most sweeping measures available to him to unilaterally combat global warming.

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The new plan, which Mr. Obama will unveil Tuesday at Georgetown University, is expected to include a ramping up of energy efficiency and renewable energy in addition to national preparations to deal with the meteorological and financial impacts of climate change. But by far the strongest element of the plan is a set of new regulations intended to slash greenhouse-gas emissions from existing coal-fired power plants ? not just power plants built in the future.

Obama intends to issue a presidential memorandum directing the Environmental Protection Agency to implement new regulations of greenhouse-gas emissions under the authority of the Clean Air Act. The president's plan is an attempt to deliver on his promise to cut carbon emissions 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, White House officials told reporters in a conference call Monday.

The move has the potential to cut annually hundreds of millions of tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) ? a potent greenhouse gas ? and far overshadow any carbon-emissions cuts the Obama administration has achieved so far through improved fuel-efficiency standards. But it could also accelerate the closure of many existing older coal-fired power plants across the country, which are already struggling to meet current standards.

"Nothing on this scale in the Clean Air Act has ever been attempted before," says Kevin Book, an energy analyst with ClearView Partners, an energy economics consulting firm in Washington. "This step will be the catalyst for the next wave of coal-fired power plant retirements. It's almost certainly going to get hung up in the courts for years."

Obama seeks to combat global warming in a variety of ways in the new plan. Among the highlights:

  • Create new energy-efficiency standards for federal buildings and appliances.
  • Ramp up enough clean-energy production on public lands to power 6 million homes by 2020. ?
  • Extend $8 billion in loan-guarantee authority to accelerate investment in advanced fossil-energy and efficiency projects.
  • End public financing of coal-fired plants overseas and push for free trade in clean-energy technologies.

But a concrete plan to reach a 17 percent cut in carbon emissions is seen as the cornerstone of Obama's move. That figure is widely considered a requirement for the US to be taken seriously in ongoing international climate talks. Obama wants to reinvigorate US efforts to lead in those talks, White House officials said.

They said the plan to address existing-power-plant emissions has a firm timeline ? adding credibility to the effort. The goal is to finalize power plant emissions regulations by June 2015, long enough before Mr. Obama leaves office to be solidly in force before the next administration takes over.

"We know that we have to get to work quickly in order to not only propose, but finalize the rule," said a senior White House official. "The president will be directing the EPA to start that work."

Neither the briefing for reporters nor the fact sheet and background materials provided by the White House presented an estimate for the tonnage of carbon emissions expected to be cut overall. Electricity-generating power plants emit about 2.4 billion tons of CO2 each year, roughly 40 percent of the nation?s total emissions. But the plan was still received enthusiastically by environmentalists.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/IMiDoEq5xAY/Obama-to-unveil-climate-change-plan-with-sweeping-emissions-cuts

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Wednesday, June 26, 2013

New York Moves to Require Audits of Preschool Special-Education ...

The New York Legislature is trying to tighten controls over the state?s preschool program for disabled children, the cost of which has soared to $2 billion annually.

The State Senate and Assembly unanimously approved a bill last week that would require audits of every special-education prekindergarten contractor by 2018.

The bill was proposed by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli after a series of audits by his office and articles in The New York Times highlighted soaring costs, poor regulation and other problems in the state?s special-education prekindergarten system, the most expensive in the country. Contractors have charged taxpayers for overseas vacations, spa trips, jewelry, groceries and home renovations; hired relatives for no-show jobs; given themselves exorbitant salaries and perks like luxury cars; billed for services they never provided; or lived in other parts of the country and rarely showed up for work, the audits and reports found.

The Times revealed how some prekindergarten evaluators appeared to be distorting their assessments of children to justify expensive instruction provided by their own companies.

The legislation now goes to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, whose office did not indicate whether he would sign it. Under the bill, school administrators would not be permitted to assign a child?s services to the same prekindergarten contractor that evaluated him or her, unless they stated in writing that ?such placement is an appropriate one for the child? and notified the state education commissioner of the assignment.

That is intended to address conflicts of interest that have occurred when companies evaluated children, exaggerated their disabilities and then provided the services.

Contractors would have to post audit reports on their Web sites, and would be required to ?take measures to ensure? that their executive directors work full-time all year.

?Students and taxpayers deserve much better than they are getting,? Mr. DiNapoli said after passage of the bill, which was sponsored by Assemblywoman Catherine T. Nolan, a Queens Democrat, and State Senator John J. Flanagan, a Long Island Republican.

The legislation calls upon the State Education Department to study alternatives to the existing reimbursement and regulatory system.

Nearly all the department?s budget and personnel for oversight are devoted to calculating some 1,400 reimbursement rates for each of the prekindergarten contractors in the state. Little is left to verify that the money is spent properly or to ensure the quality of the services.

A result, officials say, has been rising costs for the state and local governments, which split the bill roughly 60-40. In New York City, annual costs now total $1.2 billion, about 6 percent of the $19.8 billion education budget. Statewide, costs have doubled in just six years.

Advocacy groups for contractors have said that they are devoted to helping children with disabilities, and that a few offenders are giving the industry a bad name.

Education officials have complained that influential lobbyists for contractors have blocked efforts in Albany to control costs.

The current push for reform has been halting: Mr. Cuomo obtained modest changes in the coming year?s state budget, but more aggressive proposals were rejected by the Legislature after contractors expressed opposition.

The final state budget included $5 million to pay for more audits by the State Education Department and by localities, but an Education Department spokesman called the shift of that responsibility to the comptroller a ?sensible next step.?

The proposal by Mr. DiNapoli, too, was watered down by lawmakers: Its initial draft would have required school administrators to obtain a second evaluation from an independent professional, and the approval of the state education commissioner, before assigning a child evaluated by one company to the same company for services.

?Regular and expected audits is really the single best way to get at the corruption,? said former Assemblyman Steven Sanders, a lobbyist for one group of contractors.

But Mr. Sanders said the state eventually needed to switch to a system with uniform, regional reimbursement rates for all providers. As it stands now, he said: ?The more you spend, the more you claim, the more you get back. I think that that methodology leaves wide open the possibility for overexpenditure.?

Stephen J. Acquario, executive director of the New York Association of Counties, which has lobbied for more stringent spending curbs in the program, said the bill did not go far enough but called it ?a step in the right direction.?

Source: http://www.ezymedia.com/mashup/2013/06/26/new-york-moves-to-require-audits-of-preschool-special-education-contractors/

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Jezebel Is There Such a Thing as a Feminist Pick-Up Artist?

Jezebel Is There Such a Thing as a Feminist Pick-Up Artist? | Jalopnik Ten Cars That Aren't Only For Assholes | Deadspin PHOTOS: Chicago's Stanley Cup Celebrations Got Slightly Out Of Hand | io9 Confirmed: A Star System with Three Potentially Habitable Planets!

Source: http://lauren.kinja.com/jezebel-is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-feminist-pick-up-art-573352182

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Deciding Upon an Inexpensive Small Internet Marketing Business ...

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Source: http://naughtmuch.com/deciding-upon-an-inexpensive-small-internet-marketing-business-internet-site-hosting-prepare/

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Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Angelina Jolie, UNHCR Envoy, Urges World To End Rape In War

UNITED NATIONS ? Angelina Jolie made her debut before the U.N.'s most powerful body as a special envoy for refugees Monday and urged the world's nations to make the fight against rape in war a top priority.

The actress told the Security Council that "hundreds of thousands ? if not millions ? of women, children and men have been raped in conflicts in our lifetimes."

Jolie, a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, said the Security Council has witnessed 67 years of wars and conflict since it was established "but the world has yet to take up warzone rape as a serious priority."

"You set the bar," she told the council. "If the ... council sets rape and sexual violence in conflict as a priority it will become one and progress will be made. If you do not, this horror will continue."

British Foreign Secretary William Hague, who presided over the meeting, stressed that "in conflicts in nearly every corner of the globe, rape is used systematically and ruthlessly, in the almost certain knowledge that there will be no consequences for the perpetrators."

Soon after Jolie spoke, the council adopted a legally-binding resolution demanding the complete and immediate cessation of all acts of sexual violence by all parties to armed conflict. It noted that sexual violence can constitute a crime against humanity and a contributing act to genocide, called for improved monitoring of sexual violence in conflict, and urged the U.N. and donors to assist survivors.

It was the broadest resolution adopted by the council on the sexual violence in conflict. Hague said Britain plans to follow-up by convening a global gathering during the annual General Assembly meeting of world leaders in September to keep up the pressure for action.

Hague said at a discussion later at the Ford Foundation that his prime motivation for pressing for global action against sexual violence was the 1990s war in Bosnia, partly because of an adviser but also because of Jolie's 2011 film, "In the Land of Blood and Honey," about former lovers who end up on the opposite sides of the conflict. He said he arranged the film's British premiere at the Foreign Office and has been campaigning with Jolie since then, including a visit to Congo in March, "to move the stigma and the shame from the victim to the perpetrator."

"The time has come for the world to take a strong and determined stand to make clear that the systematic use of rape as a weapon is not acceptable in the modern world and our objective is to change the entire global attitude to these issues," Hague said.

Getting the whole world talking about sexual violence in conflict and the need to punish perpetrators not victims "will shift attitudes ? maybe over a period of years, but we have begun," he said.

Jolie, who has traveled extensively in her role as goodwill ambassador, recalled several of the survivors she had met ? the mother of a five-year-old girl raped outside a police station in Goma in eastern Congo, and a Syrian woman she spoke to in Jordan last week who asked to hide her name and face "because she knew that if she spoke out about the crimes against her she would be attacked again, and possibly killed."

"Let us be clear what we are speaking of: Young girls raped and impregnated before their bodies are able to carry a child, causing fistula," Jolie said, referring to an injury caused by violent rapes that tear apart the flesh separating the bladder and rectum from the vagina, leaving the girls unable to control their bowels or bladder.

She continued: "Boys held at gunpoint and forced to sexually assault their mothers and sisters. Women raped with bottles, wood branches and knives to cause as much damage as possible. Toddlers and even babies dragged from their homes, and violated."

Zainab Hawa Bangura, the U.N. special envoy on sexual violence in conflict, told the council that two weeks ago she visited Bosnia where an estimated 50,000 women were victims of rape and other forms of sexual violence during the war, but only a handful of perpetrators have been prosecuted.

Later, at the Ford Foundation, she said that on an African trip with Hague, she visited the village of Mambasa in eastern Congo's Ituri district where 11 babies aged 6 to 12 months had been raped, 59 children aged 1 to 3 years old had been raped and 182 girls aged 5 to 15 years old had been raped.

"Who will rape a baby?," Bangura asked. "It means you want to wipe the community away. That's the only explanation you can have."

Jolie pleaded with the Security Council ? and all countries ? to implement the resolution and not let the issue drop.

"Meet your commitments, debate this issue in your parliaments, mobilize people in your countries, and build it into all your foreign policy efforts," she urged. "Together, you can turn the tide of global opinion, shatter impunity and finally put an end to this abhorrence."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon paid tribute to Jolie for being the voice of millions forced to flee their homes "and now for the many survivors of wartime rape whose bodies have been used as battlegrounds."

He called on all leaders to apprehend and prosecute perpetrators "and be part of a global coalition of champions determined to break this evil."

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/24/angelina-jolie-unhcr-envoy_n_3491103.html

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New palm-sized microarray technique grows 1,200 individual cultures of microbes

June 25, 2013 ? A new palm-sized microarray that holds 1,200 individual cultures of fungi or bacteria could enable faster, more efficient drug discovery, according to a study published in mBio?, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

Scientists at the University of Texas at San Antonio and the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research at Fort Sam Houston have developed a microarray platform for culturing fungal biofilms, and validated one potential application of the technology to identify new drugs effective against Candida albicans biofilms. The nano-scale platform technology could one day be used for rapid drug discovery for treatment of any number of fungal or bacterial infections, according to the authors, or even as a rapid clinical test to identify antibiotic drugs that will be effective against a particular infection.

"Even though we have used the antifungal concept for development, it is a universal tool," says co-author Jose Lopez-Ribot of the University of Texas at San Antonio. "It opens a lot of possibilities as a new platform for microbial culture. Any time you need large numbers of cultures, this has a big advantage over other methods."

"The possibility exists to use this same technology for pretty much any other organism," he says.

Microbiology and medicine have become increasingly reliant on micro- and nano-scale technologies because of the increased speed and efficiency they can offer, but until now the cultivation of microorganisms has mostly been conducted on larger scales, in flasks and in trays called micro-titer plates. The microarray technology enables the user to rapidly compare hundreds or thousands of individual cultures of bacteria or fungi, a big benefit in the search for new drugs to treat infections. And like many nano-scale techniques, the nano-culture approach described in the mBio? study is also automated, a feature that saves time, improves reproducibility, and prevents some types of user error.

To test the technique, the authors embedded cells of the opportunistic pathogen C. albicans in each of the 1,200 tiny dots of alginate on the surface of the microarray. Under the microscope, these nano-biofilms of C. albicans, each of which was only 30 nanoliters, exhibited the same growth habits and other outward characteristics as conventional, macroscopic biofilms, and achieved maximum metabolic activity within 12 hours. The tiny cultures were then treated with a wide range of candidate drugs from the National Cancer Institute library, or with different FDA-approved, off-patent antifungal drugs in combination with FK506, an immunosuppressant, for identifying individual or synergistic combinations of compounds effective against biofilm infections. Co-author Anand Ramasubramanian of the University of Texas at San Antonio says that the tests prove the utility of the technology in screening combinations of drugs.

"The antifungal screening results were similar to results in larger macroscale techniques. That gives us confidence that it could be used as a tool to replace existing techniques," says Ramasubramanian.

Going forward, Ramasubramanian says he and his colleagues are testing the microarrays with polymicrobial cultures -- mixtures of fungi and bacteria -- to see whether the technology can be used to explore treatments for mixed infections. They are also exploring clinical applications for the technique, testing patient samples against an array of drugs or combinations of drugs to develop tailored therapies.

Lopez-Ribot says their microarray technique is just the latest development in a decades-long trend toward the tiny in science. "Things are moving toward smaller scale, more powerful techniques. You don't need millions of cells for these assays like we used to -- maybe a few cells will do."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/giFEwbHPi0M/130625074149.htm

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Egypt's top religious authority: It's not anti-Islam to be anti-Morsi

As the Egyptian opposition's demands for the resignation of President Mohamed Morsi and fresh elections gain momentum, the beleaguered president's supporters are slamming the opposition as secular and hostile to Islam.

In the deeply religious country, it is a serious criticism, and it has brought many Egyptians to Mr. Morsi's side. But his opponents point to support from the leading voice of the Sunni establishment in Egypt.

Earlier this month, Ashraf Abdel-Moniem, a conservative preacher and a vocal supporter of Morsi, declared that it was obligatory for Muslims to confront, even kill, anyone protesting against the government. The head of Al Azhar University, Egypt's leading Sunni institution, disagreed saying ?peaceful opposition to the government is acceptable in Islam.?

Since, the political temperature in Egypt has only risen. At least two people were killed and scores injured in clashes over the weekend between supporters and opponents of Morsi.

The ongoing conflict between some Islamists ? who see the attempt to topple Morsi as an affront to his electoral mandate ? and the opposition has plunged Egypt into the ?deepest crisis since the Jan. 25 revolution,? says Ahmed Fahmy, a professor at the American University in Cairo.

A broad coalition of opposition groups ? dubbed Tamarod or ?Rebel? ? is planning to hold protests beginning June 30 and lasting until Morsi is removed from office. They say Mr. Morsi has spent the last year shoring up his party's control of Egypt's institutions instead of stabilizing a shrinking economy and mounting energy shortages.

RECOMMENDED: How much do you know about Egypt? Take this quiz.

With his number of allies shrinking by the day, Morsi has turned to a handful of salafy Islamist groups who see his government as the first step towards an Egypt governed by their interpretation of Islamic law. Morsi's salafy allies have threatened to use violence to preserve his presidency. ?Not necessarily the Brotherhood,? says Fahmy, ?but people to the right of the Brotherhood are taking things into that direction.?

In a bid to show its street strength, the Muslim Brotherhood organized a day-long rally on June 21 in Cairo's Nasr City neighborhood.

?Yes to Islam, no to violence, no to secularism!? shouted supporters at the rally, which drew hundreds of thousands of people from all over Egypt. ?There is no shame in sharia (Islamic law),? read a sign held by a protester.

Sabry Gaad, a teacher who attended the protest, said he is not a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, but opposes Tamarod because ?they are against sharia.? He questioned the group's claim that it had widespread support ? Tamarod says that its campaign to gather 15 million signatures on a petition calling for new elections is close to reaching its goal.

Read more about Tamarod's bid to boot Morsi from office

Former President Hosni Mubarak suppressed religious groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, routinely jailing the Brotherhood's members ? including Morsi ? and charged them with supporting violent Islamist groups.

Since his election Morsi has pushed for the release of many Islamists jailed under Mubarak, including leaders from Al Gamaa al-Islamiya (GI), a former militant group that renounced violence a decade ago after a 1990s insurgency that killed hundreds of civilians and security officials.

At the rally last week, Assem Abdel Maged, a GI leader, warned that the opposition sought to overturn a democratic mandate to implement Islamic law in Egypt. "Some who lost at the ballot box want to take power through anarchy," he said.

Mr. Abdel Maged has previously said the Tamarod campaign is led by ?communists, [Mubarak loyalists], and Coptic extremists,? who are ?hostile to Islam.? Safwat Abdel Ghany, a leading member of the group, said earlier this month that the Tamarod campaign was not a campaign in response to economic problems, but a ?war on Islam.?

Not everyone agrees. ?Egypt is a religious country, we love Islam,? said Ahmed Marghani, a dentist from Alexandria who attended the pro-Morsi rally. ?But we do not need sharia ? people do not need laws to control them.?

Marghani said he simply wanted to make sure Morsi, a democratically elected president, was not toppled by an opposition that did not respect the country's constitution.

Amal Sharaf is one of the founding members of the April 6 Youth Movement, which began as a campaign to support factory workers in 2008. It helped organize the 2011 protests that toppled Mr. Mubarak and backed Morsi in the 2012 elections because his only opponent was Ahmad Shafiq, a former Mubarak regime member.

She rejected the claims that the opposition is predominantly secular, implying the accusation was merely a vote-getting tactic.

?[The Brotherhood] is mixing politics with religion,? Sharaf says. ?To win people's votes, their attention, their sympathy. The 15 million signatures we have are not from atheists..they are using religion in a very cheap way.?

In fact, acknowledgment, if not support, of the opposition's grievances has come from a number of Islamist quarters.

The Al Nour party, the country's largest party of ultra-conservative salafis and the second-largest party in the government after the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party ? has refused to participate in the pro-Brotherhood campaign. While he does not support calls for a fresh election, Al Nour spokesman Nadr Bakr denounced pro-Brotherhood rallies by Islamists as ?only fostering the current crisis, which harms the country and its economy."

?We hoped Morsi would turn Egypt into a new country,? says Ramy El-Swissy, another founder of April 6, ?A sovereign country based on human rights and equality for everyone....but he started to work for his own benefit, for his own Brotherhood.?

?We will never accept this, after two years of fighting the old regime and then the military council.?

RECOMMENDED: How much do you know about Egypt? Take this quiz.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypts-top-religious-authority-not-anti-islam-anti-192408986.html

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Thirdhand Smoke Damages Human Cells

Thirdhand smoke, the residue from cigarette smoke that lingers on surfaces and in dust long after the cigarette is out and the smoke has cleared, may damage human cells, a new study finds.

The researchers used two standard laboratory tests to assess the toxicity of thirdhand smoke. They showed that a compound found in smoke residue, called tobacco-specific nitrosamine, significantly damages DNA in human cells.

"This is the very first study to show that thirdhand smoke is mutagenic and causes DNA damage, which is considered as one of the first steps toward cancer," said study researcher Lara Gundel, of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California.

Though the harmful effects of cigarette smoking are well-known, the question of whether exposure to thirdhand smoke is also a health concern has often been overlooked, the researchers said.

Thirdhand smoke is the smell that remains on the clothes and hair of someone who has just smoked, or the odor left in hotel rooms where smokers stayed. The chemicals are derivatives of nicotine, and remain in indoor environments, absorbed in the fabric of curtains and carpeting, and on the surface of other objects.

However, the extent to which the chemicals could be hazardous to people is still unknown.

"The purpose of the study was to find how toxic and hazardous some compounds in thirdhand smoke are, and by what mechanisms they can cause harm," Gundel said.

In the study, the researchers put paper strips in smoking chambers. Some of the samples were left for only 20 minutes, after which the researchers measured the residue; the researchers called this "acute exposure." Other strips were left for nearly 200 days in a smoking chamber that was ventilated, to create a "chronic exposure" condition.

The researchers then extracted the chemicals from the paper strips, and exposed cells?to the chemicals.

The results showed that the chronic samples had a higher concentration of thirdhand smoke residue than the acute samples. The chronic samples also caused higher levels of DNA damage.

"The cumulative effect of thirdhand smoke is quite significant," Gundel said. "The findings suggest the materials could be getting more toxic with time."

One important characteristic of thirdhand smoke is that its residue can interact with compounds in the air, such as ozone, and produce new toxins, the researchers said.

It is difficult to say when it is safe to enter a place where a smoker has formerly lived, as the emission seems to continue for a long time.

Cleaning a home or a car that has been smoked in doesn't seem to solve the problem. The researchers said they encountered people who complained about buying a used car that didn't smell at first but after a few days started to smell as if somebody had smoked in it.

"Even when you paint the walls, it covers the smell for a short time, but then the compounds work their way through the painting," Gundel said.

"We can take up markers from former smoking months, and sometimes even years after the smoker has left," the researchers said.

Future studies should investigate the effects of nitrosamines and other compounds found in thirdhand smoke on people by looking at blood samples, the researchers said.

The study was published June 13 in the journal Mutagenesis, and was funded by the?Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program, which is managed by the University of California and funded by state cigarette taxes.

Email Bahar Gholipour or follow her @alterwired. Follow?LiveScience?@livescience, Facebook?& Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/thirdhand-smoke-damages-human-cells-123135629.html

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Monday, June 24, 2013

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 series to hit US on July 7th, prices start at $199

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 series to hit US on July 7th, prices start at $199

Not to be forgotten amid other new Samsung products, the company has announced that its complete Galaxy Tab 3 lineup will arrive in the US next month. The tablet family launches in the states on July 7th, with all three screen sizes (7, 8 and 10.1 inches) going on sale at Samsung.com, Amazon, Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Office Depot and other brick-and-mortar retailers. As a refresher, the entry-level Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 is priced at $199 and sports a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 8GB of storage (plus microSD expansion), and a 7-inch 1,024 x 600 TFT display. There's Android Jelly Bean (4.1) from the outset, as well as Samsung's various apps and built-in hubs.

In addition to having a larger screen, the Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 ($299) bumps up other specifications, with a more potent Exynos 1.5GHz dual-core processor and higher-resolution (1,280 x 800) TFT display. It's got the very latest Android build (4.2), as well as a rear-facing 5-megapixel camera capable of 720p video capture. Storage is also doubled to 16GB, with extra space available through microSD, and 1.5GB of RAM to keep apps running smoothly.

Finally, there's the Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 ($399), which packs an Intel Z2560 processor (1.6GHz dual-core) and the same resolution as the Tab 3 8.0, albeit stretched a little further. It also matches the smaller model on storage and camera specs, although RAM has inexplicably dropped to just a single gig. The larger model does include a built-in IR blaster, however, as well as Samsung's WatchON TV recommendation service. All three WiFi-only models will arrive in white and a previously leaked gold brown hue. Pre-orders start tomorrow.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/WeK9kzjin-E/

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Sunday, June 23, 2013

Hillary Clinton says she wants America to have a woman president. Surprised? (+video)

'I really do hope that we have a woman president in my lifetime,'?Hillary Rodham Clinton?said this week.?Was that a hint about her own possible candidacy?

By Mark Trumbull,?Staff writer / June 22, 2013

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton addresses the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) meeting in Chicago last week. Her speech was a broad-brush address heralding the power of women and talking education and opportunity.

Scott Eisen/AP

Enlarge

She didn?t say she?s going to run for the White House in 2016. But, to many listeners, the latest words of Hillary Rodham Clinton certainly hint that it?s a strong possibility.

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?Let me say this, hypothetically speaking,? she said, ?I really do hope that we have a woman president in my lifetime.?

Members of the audience, at a women?s lecture series in Toronto, cheered.

To get beyond the ?hypothetical," a quick follow-up question: Isn?t it possible that, when voters get the opportunity to see a woman on the presidential ballot as a major contender, the initials of that nominee might be H.R.C.?

Answer: Yes, it looks very possible.

Mrs. Clinton currently gets a ?favorable? rating from 6 in 10 Americans, is widely known, and has been making moves you might expect of someone positioning herself for a presidential run.

After being Secretary of State, she?s bowed out of public service for President Obama?s second term. She?s showing her interest in domestic affairs by engaging in an initiative for early childhood education. Having been a strong contender for the Democratic nomination back in 2008, she knows a lot about campaigning.

Some other major democracies have had female chief executives, including people like Margaret Thatcher in Britain and, currently, Angela Merkel in Germany. For more than two centuries, America hasn?t broken that gender barrier.

?I think it would send exactly the right historic signal to girls and women, as well as boys and men,? Clinton told the Thursday crowd in Toronto. Video?footage of the comments, captured by an audience member, was posted on YouTube.com by the Associated Press Friday.

?It really depends on women stepping up and subjecting themselves to the political process,? Clinton added.

Quoting another former First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, Clinton said women need Rhinoceros-thick skins to be in politics.

She also said electing a woman would require a ?leap of faith? for US voters.

Some polls have found Americans saying they have no problem with the idea of a woman as president. A?Gallup poll?in 2006, for example, found 6 in 10 saying Americans are ?ready? for that.

Will Clinton herself ?step up? for the 2016 contest? We?ll see. Her popularity has ebbed and flowed over the years, but since early 2008 a majority of Americans have given her a favorable rating in Gallup polls.

She has lots of fans. But as she departed from her role as Secretary of State, Clinton?s aura of success in that job was tarnished by?controversy?over the State Department?s handling of events in Benghazi, Libya, in which Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed in a terrorist attack.

And she has long been a magnet for conservative criticism. On Thursday, the Republican group America Rising launched a?StopHillary2016.org?website to raise funds in opposition to her potential candidacy.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/Ye-pt3stKlk/Hillary-Clinton-says-she-wants-America-to-have-a-woman-president.-Surprised-video

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Snowden charged with espionage, theft in NSA case

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Edward Snowden, the former government contractor who says he revealed that the National Security Agency collects Americans' phone records and Internet data from U.S. communication companies, now faces charges of espionage and theft of government property.

Snowden is believed to be in Hong Kong, which could complicate efforts to bring him to a U.S. federal court to answer charges that he engaged in unauthorized communication of national defense information and willful communication of classified communications intelligence information.

In addition to those charges, both brought under the Espionage Act, the government charged Snowden with theft of government property. Each crime carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

The one-page criminal complaint against Snowden was unsealed Friday in federal court in Alexandria, Va., part of the Eastern District of Virginia where his former employer, government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, is headquartered, in McLean.

The complaint is dated June 14, five days after Snowden's name first surfaced as the person who had leaked to the news media that the NSA, in two highly classified surveillance programs, gathered telephone and Internet records to ferret out terror plots.

It was unclear Friday whether the U.S. had yet to begin an effort to extradite Snowden from Hong Kong. He could contest extradition on grounds of political persecution. In general, the extradition agreement between the U.S. and Hong Kong excepts political offenses from the obligation to turn over a person.

Hong Kong had no immediate reaction to word of the charges against Snowden.

The Espionage Act arguably is a political offense. The Obama administration has now used the act in seven criminal cases in an unprecedented effort to stem leaks. In one of them, Army Pfc. Bradley Manning acknowledged he sent more than 700,000 battlefield reports, diplomatic cables and other materials to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. His military trial is underway.

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, welcomed the charges against Snowden.

"I've always thought this was a treasonous act," he said in a statement. "I hope Hong Kong's government will take him into custody and extradite him to the U.S."

But the Government Accountability Project, a whistle-blower advocacy group, said Snowden should be shielded from prosecution by whistle-blower protection laws.

"He disclosed information about a secret program that he reasonably believed to be illegal, and his actions alone brought about the long-overdue national debate about the proper balance between privacy and civil liberties, on the one hand, and national security on the other," the group said in a statement.

Michael di Pretoro, a retired 30-year veteran with the FBI who served from 1990 to 1994 as the legal liaison officer at the American consulate in Hong Kong, said "relations between U.S. and Hong Kong law enforcement personnel are historically quite good."

"In my time, I felt the degree of cooperation was outstanding to the extent that I almost felt I was in an FBI field office," di Pretoro said.

The U.S. and Hong Kong have a standing agreement on the surrender of fugitives. However, Snowden's appeal rights could drag out any extradition proceeding.

The success or failure of any extradition proceeding depends on what the suspect is charged with under U.S. law and how it corresponds to Hong Kong law under the treaty. In order for Hong Kong officials to honor the extradition request, they have to have some applicable statute under their law that corresponds with a violation of U.S. law.

Hong Kong lawmakers said Saturday that the Chinese government should make the final decision on whether Snowden should be extradited to the United States.

Outspoken legislator Leung Kwok-hung said Beijing should instruct Hong Kong to protect Snowden from extradition before his case gets dragged through the court system.

Leung urged the people of Hong Kong to "take to the streets to protect Snowden."

In Iceland, a business executive said Friday that a private plane was on standby to transport Snowden from Hong Kong to Iceland, although Iceland's government says it has not received an asylum request from Snowden.

Business executive Olafur Vignir Sigurvinsson said he has been in contact with someone representing Snowden and has not spoken to the American himself. Private donations are being collected to pay for the flight, he said.

"There are a number of people that are interested in freedom of speech and recognize the importance of knowing who is spying on us," Sigurvinsson said. "We are people that care about privacy."

Disclosure of the criminal complaint came as President Barack Obama held his first meeting with a privacy and civil liberties board and as his intelligence chief sought ways to help Americans understand more about sweeping government surveillance efforts exposed by Snowden.

The five members of the little-known Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board met with Obama for an hour in the White House Situation Room, questioning the president on the two NSA programs that have stoked controversy.

One program collects billions of U.S. phone records. The second gathers audio, video, email, photographic and Internet search usage of foreign nationals overseas, and probably some Americans in the process, who use major Internet service providers, such as Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Yahoo.

___

Associated Press writer Jenna Gottlieb in Reykjavik, Iceland, contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/snowden-charged-espionage-theft-nsa-case-072626051.html

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Jordan says 900 US troops boost defense in country

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) ? Some 900 U.S. military personnel, including dozens staying on from joint military drills, are in Jordan to bolster its defense and prevent the Syrian civil war from spreading across its border, Jordan's prime minister said Saturday.

It was the first time a Jordanian official disclosed publicly the numbers of U.S. troops in the Arab kingdom, sent there in recent weeks for military exercises and other deployments.

Abdullah Ensour told reporters Saturday that 200 of the personnel were experts training Jordanians to handle a chemical attack. The remaining 700 are manning a Patriot missile defense system and F-16 fighter jets which Washington deployed this month in case the Syrian war worsens.

"The number of U.S. forces in Jordan is small and not intended to be in preparation for a war on Syria," Ensour said.

Jordan is concerned its larger northern neighbor would use chemical weapons against Syrian refugee camps in Jordan and other neighboring countries, or that the stockpile may fall into the hands of al-Qaida or other militants if Syria's President Bashar Assad loses control.

Jordan hosts the largest number of more than a half million displaced Syrians, with an equal number sheltered in Turkey and Lebanon.

Earlier this month, Washington relocated one or two patriot missile batteries to Jordan from an unspecified country in the Persian Gulf, and also deployed a squadron of 12 to 24 F-16 fighter jets.

The deployment coincided with annual military exercises, dubbed Eager Lion 2013, which wrapped up earlier this week. Supervised by the U.S., the drills brought together more than 8,000 forces from 19 countries.

Ensour said Jordan was caught between a rock and a hard place in the Syrian crisis, which began in March 2011 with peaceful protests and later plunged into civil war.

"If the war continues, it's a problem, and if it ends with the collapse of the regime, we also have a problem," he said, adding that the fall of Assad's regime would leave a "vacuum, whereby attacks and conflicts would persist."

"This is why we have been calling for a political solution to the Syrian crisis," he added.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jordan-says-900-us-troops-boost-defense-country-185935658.html

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Spam: A Shadow History of the Internet [Excerpt, Part 4]

Spammers deploy malware to hijack unwary machines and use them as purveyors of junk messaging. Read this last installment about how the history of the Internet coincides with the history of spam


Image: The MIT Press

  • Showcasing more than fifty of the most provocative, original, and significant online essays from 2011, The Best Science Writing Online 2012 will change the way...

    Read More??

A software worm called Storm?intricately crafted malware?became an engine for distributing spam and hijacking unwary computers to further spread the contagion. It also became a laboratory specimen for both security specialists and hackers who wished to study the workings of this scheme for hijacking and subjugating multitudes of unsuspecting machines to the worm-writer?s purposes. In yet another incarnation, spam floods Estonia?s Internet as digital effluvia becomes an implement of cyber warfare.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Reprinted from Spam: A Shadow History of the Internet, by Finn Brunton. Copyright ? 2013, by Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Used with permission of the publisher, the MIT Press.

Source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=spam-shadow-history-of-internet-excerpt-part-four

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Saturday, June 22, 2013

eCommerce Employment - eCommerce Investments Europe

Smiling colleagues having a business meeting

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e-commerce Investors offering eCommerce Employment?to freelance ecommerce developers with exceptional skills for e-commerce business developments.

We are building a network of ecommerce Agencies worldwide and seek to incorporate new commerce professionals to our teams of ecommerce business developers

we transform e-commerce ideas in e-commerce businesses that sell . ?And we got it because we?managing completely?the ecommerce business processes

Main difference?between us and other e-commerce agencies,?is that we first create the internet business and then the website,?and other agencies first create the website and then try to sell

Developing an e-commerce business requires many skill-sets, not just technical, also marketing, graphics, positioning, social media, ecommerce marketing service.. and all the skills combined and contributed by the right people to mold the successful online venture

Each of us in eCommerce Investments PLC?, have had our share of success and failure, and our experiences on both sides is what makes us ecommerce Experts.

We have created our own ecommerce businesess,?and the e-ommerce business for large Corporations.?so we know what to do?and when to do it,?to set up a business on internet .

We exist to facilitate the ecommerce business development knowledge to the most small or medium sized ecommerce projects that fit with our work philosophy, becoming in the Internet Partner to the Companies and entreperneurs who want to?create your online business?in a solid, sustainable and long-term way

Our Team are led for Luis Souto

Luis Souto ecommerce Specialist. ecommerce Consultant and ecommerce Investor .CEO at?eCommerce Investments PLC

From 2001 I am dedicated to manage and optimize my own Online businesess, and the ecommerce Business for large Corporations.?I created Businesses that sell online?in 14 countries .

I have the experience and knowledge to creating effective ecommerce. My experience comes from my own mistakes and sucess in the development of my ecommerce Businesess and many other ?ecommerce projects that I have participated as ecommerce Specialist Freelance.

After nine years managing my business on Internet, ?From 2010 I decided to start a new stage in my Career as a ecommerce Specialist to offer Consultancy and Small Business Finance on the ecommerce Business?development of Entrepreneurs and small -medium sized Companies Becoming on their Internet Partner and contributing with?all my experience and resources to successfully push through each new project.

From 2012 i decided to create eCommerce Investments PLC, a network of ecommerce Agencies to expand my way of working worldwide,?with a clear business philosophy, invest money and resources to develop the best companies on internet in each market niche.

ecommerce Investments company?provides economic resources, a lot of experience and a team of e-commerce Business?experts developers working as an e-commerce Agency and managing all the internet technical procesess of each project,?while the owner runs his business, Becoming us on the ?internet business partner?

Mainly I am a internet business entrepreneur, and i have as a professional way the creation and development?of sustainable and lasting business on Internet.?Seeking for a long-term relationship with each new partner and in sumary providing many Internet Business Experience?and knowledge?, financial resources and my own team of e-commerce developers. Sumary?I can offer you?three main lines of work for each project:

1- ecommerce investment:?I invest my economic resources in Internet businesses with solid business and expansion process,?also participating in the technical management of the business.?looking for a share of the company and online sales percentage

2- ecommerce Consulting:?We fully develop internet business of entrepreneurs and local businesses,?covering all creation and development costs for?a percentage of the internet sales?by an agreed time.?Looking for a Online Sales percentage

3- ecommerce Consultants:?We?participate in the development of the Internet business for companies that looking to?create online business and adapt your company to this new business. We?providing our expertise to adapt the people and processes of the company to new business?, normally?leading a team that is already part of the company. ?Adapting the Internet operations of the company processes.?looking for a fixed monthly payment + bonus for goals

Currently my network of ecommerce agencies are?developing?projects in 8 countries?and growing

This is Clear my Business Philosophy, Now if you fit and want to work with me and my team over my e-commerce projects, let me know you want to collaborate.

Source: http://ecommerce-investments.com/ecommerce-employment/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ecommerce-employment

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First Apple computer could fetch $500,000 or more

This undated photo provided by Christie?s Auction House shows an ?Apple 1? prototype computer, built in 1976, accompanied by an operation manual and schematic as well as a photo of its inventors, Steve Wozniak, left, and Steve Jobs. One of the very first Apple 1 computers, it goes on sale later this month at Christie's auction house, the latest in a recent run of vintage tech sales that have attracted some eye-popping prices. (AP Photo/Christies Images Ltd. 2013)

This undated photo provided by Christie?s Auction House shows an ?Apple 1? prototype computer, built in 1976, accompanied by an operation manual and schematic as well as a photo of its inventors, Steve Wozniak, left, and Steve Jobs. One of the very first Apple 1 computers, it goes on sale later this month at Christie's auction house, the latest in a recent run of vintage tech sales that have attracted some eye-popping prices. (AP Photo/Christies Images Ltd. 2013)

NEW YORK (AP) ? It's the kind of electronic junk that piles up in basements and garages ? an old computer motherboard with wires sticking out.

But because it was designed and sold by two college dropouts named Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, it could be worth more than half a million dollars.

An Apple 1 from 1976, one of the first Apple computers ever built and forerunner of today's MacBooks, IPads and IPhones, goes on the auction block at Christie's next week. The bidding starts at $300,000, with a pre-sale estimated value of up to $500,000.

"This is a piece of history that made a difference in the world, it's where the computer revolution started," said Ted Perry, a retired school psychologist who owns the old Apple and has kept it stashed away in a cardboard box at his home outside Sacramento, Calif.

The 11-by-14 green piece of plastic covered with a grid of memory chips above a labyrinth of wires was one of the first 25 such computer elements, and sold for $666.66.

About 200 were made but most have disappeared or been discarded. Various estimates put the number known to still exist from about 30 to 50. They came with eight kilobytes of memory ? a million times less than the average computer today.

Vintage Apple products have become an especially hot item since Jobs' death in October 2011, surrounding the mystique attached to this entrepreneur who joined forces with Wozniak to build computer prototypes in a California garage.

Another Apple 1 was sold last month for a record $671,400 by a German auction house, breaking a previous record of $640,000 set in November. Sotheby's sold one last year for $374,500.

"This is the seed from which the entire orchard grew, and without this, there would be no Apple," said Stephen A. Edwards, professor of computer science at Columbia University. "I've been shocked auction prices got into the six digits. The market has just gone crazy."

The latest auction at Christie's, "First Bytes: Iconic Technology from the Twentieth Century," is being conducted online only from June 24 to July 9. The Apple 1 is to be displayed starting Monday at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, west of San Francisco.

Perry, 70, acquired his Apple 1 in either 1979 or 1980, as a secondhand item he saw advertised.

He paid nothing for it; it was a swap with the owner.

"I traded some other computer equipment I had for the Apple 1," he said.

At the time, he was working as a psychologist in a school in Carmichael, a town near Sacramento. While observing special needs children, he noticed that a teletype machine "made a huge difference" in how a deaf boy using it responded and learned.

As the first computers came on the market, Perry learned to program them. Then he approached Wozniak, who agreed to provide what the psychologist calls Apple's "internal code" so he could create interactive lessons for his students using the new technology.

An expert hired by Christie's recently came to Perry's home to examine the old Apple and try to turn it on. Only the Apple motherboard is original. A keyboard, monitor and a storage device ? in this case a portable cassette tape deck ? were added later.

"I was a little afraid to run it, but it still works, with the original chips!" he says.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-06-21-Vintage%20Apple%20Computer/id-081e25078a61416da3da632d2ea21c68

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Watch: 'Families Are Forever': Trailer

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Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/video/families-forever-mormon-family-embraces-gay-son-19421186

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Thursday, June 20, 2013

One million march across Brazil in biggest protests yet

By Paulo Prada and Maria Carolina Marcello

RIO DE JANEIRO/BRASILIA (Reuters) - An estimated 1 million people took to the streets in cities across Brazil on Thursday as the country's biggest protests in two decades intensified despite government concessions meant to quell the demonstrations.

Undeterred by the reversal of transport fare hikes that sparked the protests, and promises of better public services, demonstrators marched around two international soccer matches and in locales as diverse as the Amazon capital of Manaus and the prosperous southern city of Florianopolis.

While the protests remained mostly peaceful, the growing number of participants led to occasional outbursts of violence and vandalism in some cities. In central Rio de Janeiro, where 300,000 people marched, police afterwards chased looters and dispersed people crowding into surrounding areas.

"Twenty cents was just the start," read signs held by many converging along the Avenida Paulista, the broad avenue in central S?o Paulo, referring to the bus fare reductions. Police there said 110,000 people lined the avenue.

In the capital, Brasilia, tens of thousands of protesters marched around the landmark modernist buildings that house Congress and the Supreme Court and briefly set fire to the outside of the Foreign Ministry. Police said about 80 of the protesters, some with homemade explosives, made it into the ministry building before they were repelled.

In Ribeir?o Preto, near S?o Paulo, a 20-year-old demonstrator died after a driver plowed a jeep into a crowd. Brazilian media reported hundreds of minor injuries across the country, including a Rio television reporter who recounted being hit by a rubber bullet fired by police.

The swelling tide of protests prompted President Dilma Rousseff to cancel a trip next week to Japan, her office said. The president, whose administration was caught off-guard by the rapid growth of the demonstrations, also planned an emergency meeting for Friday, a government source said.

The targets of the protests, now in their second week, have broadened to include high taxes, inflation, corruption and poor public services ranging from hospitals and schools to roads and police forces.

With an international soccer tournament as a backdrop, demonstrators are also denouncing the more than $26 billion of public money that will be spent on the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics, two events meant to showcase a modern, developed Brazil.

"This is fair play," read a banner among the hordes in Brasilia, a twist on the slogan used to promote sportsmanship by FIFA, world soccer's governing body.

MULTIPLE GRIEVANCES

After the concession on transport fares on Wednesday, activist groups differed over what their next priority should be. On Facebook, Twitter and other social media, some Brazilians expressed disgust for the scattered violence and vandalism that marred some of the marches.

The competing demands of demonstrators appeared to add to the intensity of Thursday's protests.

"What am I protesting for?" asked Savina Santos, a 29-year-old civil servant in Sao Paulo. "You should ask what I'm not protesting for! We need political reform, tax reform, an end to corruption, better schools, better transportation. We are not in a position to be hosting the World Cup."

Inside Rio's iconic Maracan? stadium, soccer fans sang protest songs and showed support for the throngs of demonstrators gathering in the city. In Salvador, a northeastern city hosting another game of the soccer tournament that serves as a World Cup test run, protesters pelted a FIFA bus with rocks.

Police in Salvador, Rio, Brasilia and other cities used tear gas, pepper spray and other tools to disperse crowds. They donned riot gear and used horses, trucks and barricades to help channel the crowds and protect buildings.

The unrest comes six months before an election year and just as Brazil, after nearly a decade-long economic boom in which the country's profile soared on the global stage, enters a period of uncertainty. Economic growth of less than 1 percent last year, annual inflation of 6.5 percent and a loss of appetite for Brazilian assets among international investors have clouded what had been a feel-good era for Brazil, a country of nearly 200 million people.

Brazil's currency, the real, dropped to a four-year low on Thursday, trading as weak as 2.275 per U.S. dollar. The country's benchmark stock market index, the Bovespa, also hit a four-year low.

CHANGING POLITICAL LANDSCAPE

The protests have shaken the once solid ground under Rousseff and her ruling Workers' Party, a bloc that grew out of convulsive demonstrations by Brazil's labor movement 30 years ago. Until inflation and other economic woes began eroding her poll numbers in recent weeks, Rousseff enjoyed some of the highest approval ratings of any elected leader worldwide.

The demonstrations have been comprised of mostly middle-class, well-educated voters who do not form the bulk of Rousseff's electoral base. The president and her party have sought to get ahead of the complaints and embrace them as their own - a shift that contrasts sharply with a playbook that long relied on telling Brazilians that they had never had it so good.

With little more than a year to go before presidential and gubernatorial elections, the unrest is forcing incumbents and traditional political parties to reconsider their strategies.

(Additional reporting by Eduardo Sim?es, Caroline Stauffer, Pedro Fonseca and Jeferson Ribeiro; Editing by Todd Benson and Stacey Joyce)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hundreds-thousands-protesters-march-brazil-010615638.html

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