Army to tighten rules on permissible tattoos (The Arizona Republic)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/329828855?client_source=feed&format=rss

Yom Kippur 2013 Kliff Kingsbury Johnny Galecki tupac Niall Horan Seaside Heights The Family

Struggling BlackBerry agrees to be sold for $4.7 billion?

smartphones

Staff reports CNBC.com

17 hours ago

Struggling smartphone maker BlackBerry has agreed in principal to be acquired by a consortium led by its biggest shareholder, Fairfax Financial, a Canadian insurance company, for $9 per share, in a deal that would total $4.7 billion.

The announcement came the same day that Apple, to whom BlackBerry was losing out competing for market share, reported selling a record 9 million of its new 5S and 5C model phones on the first weekend they were on sale -- sending Apple stock up 5 percent.

By comparison, shares of BlackBerry were halted prior to the Fairfax announcement, and when trading resumed, the stock rose just 1.1 percent to $8.82 in afternoon deals.

Last week, BlackBerry said it was laying off 40 percent of its work force and expected to post a second-quarter loss of almost $1 billion. It had been looking at "strategic alternatives" for several weeks, including selling itself, or going private.

"This is a company that needs to go private if they have any chance," Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Partners, told Reuters. "They'd be able to restructure outside of the public eye, take a long term view, and run the company at break even."

Fairfax Financial, sometimes called the Berkshire Hathaway of Canada, is a holding company whose primary business is in insurance. It owns 10 percent of BlackBerry's shares and is led by Prem Watsa, a chemical engineer by training who has run the firm since the mid-1980s.

(Read more: BlackBerry bought private jet months before layoffs)

"We can deliver immediate value to shareholders, while we continue the execution of a long-term strategy in a private company with a focus on delivering superior and secure enterprise solutions to BlackBerry customers around the world," Watsa said in a statement.

Shares in BlackBerry, based in Waterloo, Ontario, had plunged since Friday, when the company warned of a sharp drop in revenue and massive job cuts. The group has until Nov. 4 to conduct due diligence.

"If I was a Blackberry shareholder I would jump at it," said James Faucette, an analyst with Pacific Crest. "They're actually entering into a period of relative stability. It's going to be hard to improve things going forward.? They're going to be hard-pressed to find a more willing buyer.

"BlackBerry itself is worth less than he's offering," said Faucette.

Brian Colello of Morningstar said based on the company's disastrous earnings warning last Friday, "I think a deal had to happen and the sooner the better. This is probably the only out for investors and the most likely outcome.

"The benefit to this sort of takeover is the ability for BlackBerry and the consortium to reinvent the company without public scrutiny. So we won't see any of these warnings or earnings releases that do nothing but disappoint investors. The company can go ahead with its strategy, as it pleases, that's a positive."

BlackBerry pioneered the concept of on-your-hip email with its first email pagers, offering secure email away from an office, and for years it was the must-have device for governments, businesses and lawyers.

But in recent years it has lost market share to the iPhone from Apple Inc and to devices using Google Inc's Android operating system. Last Friday it said it will slash 4,500 jobs, or about 40 percent of its work force, and expects to post a nearly $1 billion second-quarter loss.

Ironically, the announcement came the same day Apple's new $199 flagship iPhone 5S went on sale and people were standing in line around the country to buy it. It was trying to compete with new advanced smartphones by Apple, Samsung and other rivals that helped put Canada-based BlackBerry in the current financial bind.

As part of a massive restructuring, the struggling company said it set targets to reduce its operating expenditures by approximately 50 percent by the end of the first quarter in fiscal 2015.

(Read more: Record iPhone debut isn't a 'victory lap' yet: Pro)

(Reuters contributed to this report)

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663301/s/3199aa92/sc/15/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Cbusiness0Cstruggling0Eblackberry0Eagrees0Ebe0Esold0E40E70Ebillion0E4B11234242/story01.htm

John Hurt Candice Glover Warriors Dick Trickle the office Granbury Texas CA Lottery

Russia makes new threats over Ukraine's pro-Europe policy

By Pavel Polityuk

YALTA, Ukraine (Reuters) - Ukraine's prime minister sought on Saturday to calm Russian fears over Kiev's plans to sign a free trade pact with the European Union, but a Kremlin official repeated threats of retaliatory action.

Officials from Ukraine and its old Soviet master Russia clashed at an international gathering in the Black Sea resort of Yalta over Kiev's plans to sign landmark agreements in November with the European Union on political association and free trade.

Moody's Investor Service cut Ukraine's sovereign credit rating on Friday, partly on concern over relations with Russia.

Russia says it fears its market could be flooded by competitive EU goods entering Ukraine free of import duties and being re-exported across the long border with Russia.

But Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, in a speech to the conference, dismissed the threat of illegal transit of EU goods into Russia as a "hypothetical" one that would not happen in practice.

"We are convinced that the signing (of the agreements with the EU) does not hold any risks (for Russia)," he said, adding that he would give personal assurances of this to Russia and its trade allies in the Moscow-led Customs Union.

He also expressed frustration at Russia's refusal to cut the price of the gas it sells to Ukraine and said Kiev may have to reduce further the volume of its gas imports.

Ukraine's pro-Europe drive has already drawn threats of counter-measures from Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as pressure on Kiev to join the Customs Union.

Speaking after Azarov on Saturday, Sergei Glazyev, an aide to Putin, returned to the attack, saying that Russia might be obliged to impose duties on any goods arriving from Ukrainian territory, at a huge financial cost to Ukraine.

Saying 40 percent of Ukrainians had doubts over the agreements with the EU, Glazyev, who has made hawkish comments before about Ukraine's pro-Europe policy, urged the Kiev government to ballot its people.

"Let us ... ask the Ukrainian people what choice they prefer," he said.

TYMOSHENKO RELEASE

Azarov had sharp words for Russia over its refusal to cut the price of its gas, which hangs heavy on Ukraine's cash-strapped economy.

Ukraine pays what it sees as an exorbitant $400 per thousand cubic meters under a 2009 contract, which Russia has refused to redraw.

In a bid to break away from reliance on Russia, Ukraine hopes to find alternative energy sources through shale gas exploration and imports from other sources.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich on Friday reiterated that Kiev was committed to signing the agreements with the EU at a November 28 summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, marking a pivotal shift away from Russia.

But he refused to say whether he would free his jailed political rival, former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who the EU says is a victim of 'selective justice'.

Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in jail in 2011 for abuse of office after a trial that she says was a vendetta by Yanukovich.

Former Polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski, who is involved in mediation missions on behalf of the EU to get Tymoshenko released, urged Yanukovich to free her for medical treatment in Germany.

"She is ill. She needs surgery. She needs therapy and rehabilitation," he said at the conference. Freeing Tymoshenko now would mean "an absolutely open door" for the association agreement, he said.

Moody's cut Ukraine's sovereign debt rating by one notch to Caa1 from B3, citing concerns over foreign currency reserves, new debt issuance and potentially worsening ties with Russia.

Moody's said it welcomed the forthcoming EU trade pact as positive overall for Ukraine in the medium term, but added: "The short-term credit negative impact of a negative reaction by Russia outweighs these benefits."

(Writing By Richard Balmforth)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ukraine-pm-seeks-calm-russian-fears-over-eu-112412916--finance.html

spring lululemon jon hamm southern university biggest loser TJ Lane lindsey vonn

Professor researches the history tea as drink, meal - Daily Titan

Cal State Fullerton professor April A. Bullock, Ph.D, explains the origins of tea time as a meal for the high class on Tuesday morning at the Ruby Gerontology Center.
DEANNA TROMBLEY / Daily Titan

Cal State Fullerton professor of Liberal Studies April A. Bullock, Ph.D., discussed her research on tea as a drink and meal in ?Tea Time: A History,? on Tuesday morning at the Ruby Gerontology Center.

She traces the popular history of tea in England to the late 17th century, when King Charles II took the throne along with his Portuguese wife, Catherine of Braganza.

?People often credit Catherine of Braganza with making it fashionable to drink tea in England,? Bullock said.

Because tea was initially expensive and difficult for English residents to acquire, usually through trade with China, it was initially a luxury item, Bullock said.

As a result, a significant amount of tradition rose around that concept, especially for wealthier individuals who were the first to make a mealtime centered around tea.

English traditions with tea did not completely reach the United States, but many individuals still enjoyed it. Bullock pointed to George and Martha Washington as examples of colonial Americans who enjoyed tea.

Bullock said the idea of tea time as an evening meal, sometimes called ?high tea,? expanded to English working-class households in the 1840s.

Taking a break from work for afternoon tea was popular among the middle and upper class in England. That eventually spread to the United States.

?You can?t drive a mile without running into a tea house in the 1920s in America,? she said.

Afternoon tea declined in the 20th century. ?If you watch even old British sitcoms from the 1970s, 1960s, there?s a tea lady who comes around in the afternoon and brings people tea, and cakes or cookies, in the afternoon as part of their break,? Bullock said.

Shortly afterward, such customs fell out of favor. ?I haven?t entirely worked out why, but I think at least a big part of that has to do with changing workplace patterns,? she said.

However, drinking tea is still popular in England, and referring to an evening meal as ?tea? is still common throughout the United Kingdom.

Bullock explained the connection between history and England?s demand for tea. ?They helped the Chinese to develop opium, and that ends up badly for all involved,? she said.

That need for tea was a contributing factor for Britain to colonize India. ?The British steal a bunch of tea from China and take it to India, and actually they found native tea in India,? Bullock said.

Although children today frequently hold ?tea parties? without any food or drinks as a practice of imagination, Bullock said that people sometimes held tea parties for their children, and even catering services existed to fill that niche.

?Food figures very prominently in children?s tea parties, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries,? Bullock said. ?You stuff them with cake, and you stuff them with bread and butter, and you give them another round of cake before they go home to make sure that they?re happy.?

Attendee Rebecca Stewart was surprised at the concept of having tea parties for very young children; she thought that tea parties for children were mostly a make-believe activity for them to express their imagination.

?It kinda sounds silly, but as a mother, I wouldn?t serve hot beverages to little ones,? Stewart said. ?I?ve never known anybody to have a real hot-water tea party amongst children here; not in all my life.?

Stewart?s husband, Abe Weisbrot, shared her surprise. ?Maybe the affluent could afford to have folks there to make sure the kids didn?t hurt themselves, but it still seems sort of different from what you would expect,? he said.

Bullock hopes to publish the entirety of her findings in a book, also tentatively named Tea Time: A History, in a few years.

Source: http://www.dailytitan.com/2013/09/professor-researches-the-history-tea-as-drink-meal/

teacher appreciation week Jodi Arias trial cinco de mayo Mike Jeffries Abercrombie Charles Ramsey Interview Limo Fire Mayweather vs Guerrero

[FS] Panasonic 25mm f 1.4 lens | Location: USA | Ships: US/Canada

Buy & Sell Listing - Want to Sell

Selling Panasonic 25mm f 1.4 lens
Prices $500 + shipping
Location USA
Ships to Worldwide
Description Lightly used Panasonic 25mm f1.4 lens with hood, 4 filters, soft carrying bag, box, and instructions.

Filters:
1. CPL
2. Skylight
3. UV
4. Star

The lens hood has a couple of tiny scratches but I only saw them when I was carefully looking it over for this sale thread. I had not seen them before.
Payment accepted

• Regular PayPal (buyer adds 3% for this option)
• Personal check
• Personal/Gift PayPal (violates PayPal policy and no buyer protection)
• Cashier's check/money order (no buyer protection)

Shipping method USPS Priority with Insurance
Shipping charge Calculated for buyer
Handling time eBay: mai.atari
References -
Additional commentsAcknowledgement

• I have read and agree to the Buy and Sell rules.

Source: http://www.mu-43.com/showthread.php?t=52833&goto=newpost

Battlefield 4 erin brockovich gametrailers Tony Awards e3 Xbox One new Mac Pro

Chuck Todd: Fact Checking? Not My Job (Little green footballs)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/328183525?client_source=feed&format=rss

Stuart Scott Holly Rowe Chief Keef FRANK ZAMBONI Tiffany Six jodie foster natalie wood

Marion van den Einden: Visit London

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://bucketlist.org/i/fQMw/

Xbox One Release Date lindsay lohan alex rodriguez Disney Infinity Dustin Keller Whodunnit princess diana

Software company Veeva files for IPO of up to $150 million

(Reuters) - Life sciences-focused software company Veeva Systems Inc filed with U.S. regulators to raise up to $150 million in an initial public offering of its common stock.

Veeva, which competes with Oracle Corp, provides web-based software for pharmaceutical representatives that allows them to track drug information and to provide documentation and data to their sales forces.

The company's clients include some of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world such as Novartis AG, Merck & Co Inc, Eli Lilly and Co and Bayer AG.

Reuters reported in April that Pleasanton, California-based Veeva was planning an IPO that could come in the third quarter.

Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank Securities are the lead underwriters for the IPO, Veeva told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in a preliminary prospectus on Wednesday.

The filing did not reveal how many shares the company planned to sell or their expected price. (http://link.reuters.com/rym92v)

Veeva, which intends to list its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "VEEV," said that net proceeds from the offering would be used for working capital purposes.

The company, which received $4 million in funding from venture capital firm Emergence Capital Partners LP in 2008, reported a profit of $599,000 on revenue of $61.2 million in 2012.

Emergence Capital is Veeva's largest shareholder with a more than 30 percent stake.

The amount of money a company says it plans to raise in its first IPO filings is used to calculate registration fees. The final size of the IPO could be different.

(Reporting by Avik Das in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/software-company-veeva-files-ipo-150-million-111846317--sector.html

hugh jackman Aly Raisman Oscar Results Jennifer Lawrence Fall Ang Lee les miserables jennifer lawrence

Robin Quivers -- I've Been Fighting Cancer | TMZ.com

Robin Quivers
I've Been Fighting Cancer

Breaking News

Robin Quivers -- Howard Stern's right hand woman -- just announced she's been battling cancer for the past year ... but says she's now cancer free.

Quivers says ... her cancer developed from endometrial tissue, which is tissue in the uterus.

Robin says she underwent treatment for the past year -- including chemotherapy -- but says the treatment worked ... and doctors now believe she's cancer free.

During the emotional segment on Howard's Sirius XM show, Howard said he still gets chills when listening to her story ... and admitted, "I gotta be honest, I thought she was a goner."

Over the past year, Robin has not appeared in the studio, but she's been doing the show from home while undergoing treatment.

Robin said doctors initially discovered a "mass" in her pelvis last year and decided to perform surgery to investigate the situation.

Howard said Robin told him before the operation that doctors determined she had a cancerous tumor.

Howard said he was "freaking out" when Robin went under the knife ... saying, "It was just a f**king crazy thing that came out of left field."

Robin says her tumor was about the size of a grapefruit. She said it took doctors 8 hours to remove the tumor because it was so big.

"Robin means more to me than anything," Howard said ... adding, "Seeing her go through this just f**king tore me up."

Robin said she didn't feel alone at any part of her treatment ... because Howard was there for her the whole time.

Get TMZ Breaking News alerts to your inbox

Source: http://www.tmz.com/2013/09/09/robin-quivers-howard-stern-cancer/

nba trade thomas robinson nba trades Xbox 720 HTC One NICOLAUS COPERNICUS Las Vegas shooting

Newcomers Create Game-changing Apps for ... - Object Consulting

Visionary start-up, Xpreshon, pioneers integrated action sports app with combined news, video and profiles on Xbox and Windows 8

Jason Webb had a vision: an action sports app that aggregated all news, profiles and videos into a single portal, delivered straight to fellow enthusiasts? TVs.

Webb co-founded a new company, Xpreshon, to create the app, and wanted to launch it on the Microsoft entertainment console, Xbox 360. He had no software development experience, few contacts, but a great concept.

To bring this vision to market, Webb turned to Object Consulting, who charted a rapid but careful development path. First, they designed and built a Windows 8 app, with a media-streaming and customer-management platform hosted on the Microsoft cloud platform, Azure. Using the Windows 8 app, Object were then able to quickly develop an Xbox 360 app.

An Agile software development approach?enabled Webb to be closely involved with the team. Download the case study to read more?

Watch the Xpreshon video?here

?

Source: http://www.objectconsulting.com.au/2013/09/10/newcomers-create-game-changing-apps-for-action-sports-enthusiasts/

rush limbaugh karl rove Election 2012 Results polling place comedy central obamacare Todd Akin

4 More Hurdles the LADEE Moon Mission Must Clear

A rocket launch, like that of the Minotaur V that propelled the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) toward the moon last Friday, is usually considered the riskiest part of a space mission. But there is a series of milestones the spacecraft must clear before the mission can be considered a success.

1) Laser Communication Demo

The 7-foot-long LADEE spacecraft will be making long, increasingly looping orbits around Earth for about a month before it starts its lunar orbit insertion sequence. That's when the craft will move from Earth's orbit to the moon's. The cruise will take a little more than five days. During that time, researchers will be testing equipment such as the Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration, which will exchange data at high speeds with a trio of experimental receivers on the Earth. If it works, this could mean the end of using radios to communicate with spacecraft.

The testing begins before the spacecraft gets to the lunar orbit, say MIT Lincoln Laboratory fellow Don Boroson and NASA's Donald Cornwell, who are leading the demonstration. "We designed the latch (that covers the optical module) with a mirror on the inside," Cornwell says. "That way, we can test to see if the laser is working by bouncing it off the mirror." When the spacecraft is in lunar orbit, Cornwell and Boroson will open the lid to the lasercomm space terminal by radioing a command to the spacecraft to heat up the paraffin wax holding the lid on. When it melts, the lid will pop open and the experiment can begin.

Because the wavelength of LLCD's lasers are 100,000 smaller than the S-band radio signals spacecraft currently use, a lot more information can be transferred using less power and smaller equipment. The equipment on LADEE use half the weight and one-quarter the power of radio communications gear, Cornwall says. Three devices on the Earth, located in New Mexico, Europe, and Massachusetts, will be available for data exchange. First the ground stations track the spacecraft with a laser, and the LLCD then will use that connection to aim its own laser. When the first bits of information reach the ground stations, the researchers will then know they have done the first two-way laser communication with a spacecraft.

2) "Heart-in-Throat" Moment

A month from now, LADEE will perform the most critical maneuver of its journey: firing its main engine for 197 seconds to slow the spacecraft enough that it is caught by the Moon's gravity. The craft must reduce its speed by 597 miles per hour or it is doomed to fly off into deep space. The flaming engine and position of the spacecraft will disrupt communication with the craft, leaving many anxious engineers and scientists, such as NASA Ames Research Center director S. Pete Worden, whose agency designed and operates LADEE. "It will be one of those heart-in-throat moments," he says.?

After two days in its orbit, LADEE will be dedicated to the laser communication demonstration. This "commissioning period" will last between 40 and 60 days, and during the last 10 days LADEE's orbit will ease closer to the lunar surface, from 300 km to 75 km. It will get closer still as it pursues its main science mission: studying lunar dust and the composition of the Moon's thin atmosphere.

3) Collecting Dust?If It's There

LADEE's Lunar Dust Experiment (LDX) has a deceptively simple job: to collect and examine particles from the moon's exosphere (the name for this kind of super-thin atmosphere). The device will sample that atmosphere as LADEE moves through it at 1.6 km per second. Any dust in the detector will become a bloom of plasma that the LDX will record. The size of the dust is not as important as the presence of dust at all?it's not known for sure whether dust is present, which will make the instrument's first dust detection a reason to celebrate.

"The dusty, flimsy mix of atoms and molecules in the lunar atmosphere is sure to have alien properties that our experience on Earth has not prepared us to anticipate," says Rick Elphic, LADEE project scientist at NASA Ames.

4) Lunar Barnstorming

The science mission will last about 100 days. During this time, LADEE will swoop to as close as 20 km from the surface. The spacecraft has two spectrometers that will be analyzing the exosphere. "We'll be looking sideways, through the atmosphere and dust, to understand what's happening just above the surface," says Sarah Noble, LADEE's program scientist at NASA.

The lunar gravity field is notoriously uneven, making "the moon a hard place to stay in orbit around," Worden says. LADEE will have to perform rocket burns every three to five days. The science experiments on board require such lunar barnstorming.

Asteroids and other planets' moons have exospheres, so studying this one could be useful in other probes and even manned missions. The bad news is that LADEE will die for its mission. "We'll burn all our fuel keeping from crashing into the moon," says Sarah Daugherty, NASA test director for the LADEE launch. And then, when the fuel is exhausted, LADEE will smack into the lunar surface.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/moon-mars/4-more-hurdles-the-ladee-moon-mission-must-clear-15905885?src=rss

Aurora Colorado Rajesh Khanna friday the 13th toy story 4 toy story 4 kristin chenoweth Robert Blake

9/07 Links: Israel ? The happiest country on Earth?, Arab Countries Offered to Pay for Syria Invasion

9/07 Links: Israel ? The happiest country on Earth?, Arab Countries Offered to Pay for Syria Invasion

From Ian:

---

Israel ? The happiest country on Earth?

Have you ever googled ?most hated country in the world?? As you can imagine, Israel ranks as one of the highest, right next to North Korea and Iran. Let?s face it, in some circles our Jewish country is just not that popular. Yet, if you research the happiest country in the world, Israel tops the list.
An article published by The Asia Times reads, ?Envy surrounds no country on Earth like the state of Israel, and with good reason: by objective measures, Israel is the happiest nation on Earth.... It is one of the wealthiest, freest and best-educated; and it enjoys a higher life expectancy than Germany or the Netherlands. But most remarkable is that Israelis appear to love life and hate death more than any other nation.?
Take a minute and think about that. Picture that from above. Israel is geographically engulfed by countries that are hell-bent on destroying her, constantly radiating negativity or actively attempting to kill her civilians. With all that hostility aimed at the Jewish state, Israelis are walking the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem the happiest people in the world. It?s absolutely remarkable.

Majority of Israelis support freedom of religion, marriage

According to Hiddush, an Israeli NGO advocating freedom of religion and equality, 83 percent of Jewish respondents to a survey said they support ?freedom of religion,? and 61% advocated for the complete separation of religion and state.
The study, titled ?The Religion and State Index,? was conducted for Hiddush by the Rafi Smith Polling Institute among 800 adult Jewish respondents who are representative of the adult Jewish Israeli population. It was published Tuesday ahead of the Jewish New Year.

15 arrested on Temple Mount after violent clashes

Palestinian youths at the site began an onslaught of stone-throwing at officers on Friday morning, Israel Police said.
No injuries were reported, as police used stun grenades to quell the riot and let worshipers leave the site.
On Wednesday, 15 people were arrested ahead of the Jewish New Year after they threw stones and clashed with police at site. Police also stopped several buses carrying some 100 Muslim worshipers from accessing the site on suspicion that they intended to cause disturbances. There were no reports of injuries.

Alan M. Dershowitz

Assad Is Adopting Hamas "Dead Baby" Strategy

When Hamas employed this dead baby strategy against Israel, it was a resounding success. Despite the fact that Hamas deliberately fired rockets from schoolyards, hospitals and densely populated civilian areas, the international community blamed Israel for trying to prevent rockets from attacking its civilians by targeting the rockets and occasionally killing civilians. It was Israel, rather than Hamas, that was accused of "war crimes," even though it is clearly a war crime to use civilians as human shields. Israel had little choice but to protect its own citizens against rocket attacks, but the world focused not on the moral correctness of Israel's decisions, but rather on the gruesome pictures of dead Palestinians babies, even though some of them were actually caused by errant Palestinian rockets.

Khaled Abu Toameh

Fatah Wants Egypt To Overthrow Hamas

As the Egyptian army continues to demolish houses and smuggling tunnels, Fatah leaders in the West Bank are hoping that they will soon be able to return to the Gaza Strip.
At one time, Fatah leaders had hopes that Israel would overthrow Hamas through military force. Now, they are hoping that the new rulers of Egypt will do the job.
Beleaguered Hamas officials claim that the Palestinian Tamarod group is operated and trained by Egypt's General Intelligence Service and Fatah, with the goal of toppling their regime in the Gaza Strip. Hamas security forces have detained several Palestinian activists and journalists as part of an effort to crush the new group.

Egypt?s anti-Morsi movement meets with Gaza?s anti-Hamas group

?The meeting sought to transfer experiences and mechanisms of Egypt?s Tamarod to the Gaza Strip,? said Mahmoud Badr, the leader of the group.
The meeting took place in Cairo on Wednesday evening.
?Tamarod is a revolutionary movement struggling against injustice and despotism everywhere and in every place. This experience is feasible against all dictatorships,? Badr highlighted.

Gaza fuel shortage may cause power plant shut down

For the second time in a week, the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip warned Thursday that the Palestinian territory?s sole power plant is liable to shut down entirely in the coming days because of a fuel shortage.
Gaza?s energy authority published a statement saying that the fuel shortage has reached such severity that it may precipitate ?a humanitarian disaster,? Israel Radio reported.

Hamas TV to broadcast from Copenhagen

He added that their relationship with Al-Aqsa was ?strictly professional?.
?We have decided to keep working for Al-Aqsa as long as what they report is in line with our viewpoint,? al Maimouni said. ?If they try to move their content into a political direction that we do not agree with, we will decline.?
In 2008, Al-Aqsa aired an episode of the children's programme 'The Pioneers of Tomorrow', in which the show's large pink rabbit Assud promoted the killing of Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard and said he would "bite and eat" Danes if they insulted the prophet Mohammed again.

Obama says US cannot turn ?blind eye? in Syria

The president said that the United States cannot ?turn a blind eye? to the images coming out of Syria following a reported chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime in a Damascus suburb on August 21. The US estimates that 1,429 people were killed in that attack.
?The US has presented a powerful case to the world that the Syrian government is responsible for this horrific attack on its own people,? the president said.
?This was not only a direct attack on human dignity, it?s a serious threat to our national security.?

Israeli policy statement supports Obama on Syria

Shortly after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee concluded a lengthy session debating the approval of a retaliatory strike, Oren released an official statement in which he said that ?Israel agrees with President Obama that the use of chemical weapons is a ?heinous act? for which the Assad regime must be held accountable and for which there must be ?international consequences.? Israel further agrees with the President that the use of chemical weapons promotes the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and encourages ?governments who would choose to build nuclear arms.??
In his statement, Oren quoted Obama?s exact language to emphasize Jerusalem?s support for the American president?s position.

US notes yearlong escalation of chemical weapons use in Syria

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said the administration knew of at least 11 incidents where Assad used chemical weapons even before the August attack, which is more than double the number the US had previously divulged.
But the administration did not go public with the information, saying that it believed Assad used chemical weapons only in April this year, a month after a March sarin attack in Syria went awry and also killed government troops.
?The president didn?t believe it was a compelling enough case to win the support of the American people and the world,? Kerry told lawmakers when he was asked why the US didn?t push for military action in April.

Kerry: Arab Countries Have Offered to Pay for Syria Invasion

Secretary of State John Kerry said Arab countries have offered to pay for a full invasion of Syria to oust President Bashar Assad.
?With respect to Arab countries offering to bear costs and to assess, the answer is profoundly yes,? Kerry told the House Foreign Affairs Committee during a hearing Wednesday, according to The Washington Post. ?They have. That offer is on the table.?

Report: Hezbollah Admitted that Assad Was Behind Chemical Attack

Participants at a confidential meeting of German lawmakers on Monday said the head of the BND foreign intelligence agency told them it had intercepted a phone call believed to be between a high-ranking member of Hezbollah and the Iranian Embassy in Damascus.
"The BND referred to a phone call they had heard between a Hezbollah official and the Iranian embassy in which he spoke about Assad having ordered the attack," one of the participants told Reuters on Wednesday.
In the phone call, the Hezbollah official says Assad's order for the attack was a mistake and that he was losing his nerve, the participants reported the BND briefing as saying.

Assad: Syria has received Russian missiles

Syrian President Bashar Assad said in an interview broadcast Thursday that he is ?confident in victory? in his country?s civil war, and he warned that Damascus would retaliate for any future Israeli airstrike on his territory.
Assad also told the Lebanese TV station Al-Manar that Russia has fulfilled some of its weapons contracts recently, but he was vague on whether this included advanced S-300 air defense systems.

U.N. Ambassador: U.S. Thought Iran Wouldn?t Tolerate Syria Using Chemical Weapons

United Nations ambassador Samantha Power spoke on Friday to the Center for American Progress, continuing the Obama administration?s attempts to win over more liberals for Syrian military strikes. In laying out a more humanitarian argument for intervention, Power spoke of all the non-military tactics the United States attempted beforehand, revealing that they were hoping the U.N. would be able to come up with a report on Syria?s use of chemical weapons that would ?convince Russia or Iran? to cast loose? Syria.

Iran threatens brutal attacks on Americans, Obama family if US hits Syria

And in an unprecedented statement, a former Iranian official has warned of mass abductions and brutal killings of American citizens around the world and the rape and killing of one of Obama?s daughters should the United States attack Syria.
Alireza Forghani, the former governor of southern Iran?s Kish Province, threw down the gauntlet last week. Forghani is an analyst and strategy specialist in the supreme leader?s camp and closely aligned with Mehdi Taeb, who heads the regime?s Ammar Strategic Base, a radical think thank, and thus speaks with the blessing of the Islamic regime.

Egypt interior minister warns of new wave of terror after assassination attempt

A bomb targeted the convoy of Egypt?s interior minister Thursday in Cairo in the first attack on a senior government official since the country?s Islamist president was toppled in a coup two months ago, raising concerns over a possible campaign of violence by his supporters.
The assassination attempt against Mohammed Ibrahim, who is in charge of the police force, signaled the arrival in the capital of the sort of insurgency-style attacks that have been escalating in the Sinai Peninsula.

Egypt moves to dissolve Brotherhood NGO ? reports

Egypt's army-backed government will dissolve the Muslim Brotherhood as a non-governmental organisation within days, a newspaper reported on Friday, a move that would press a crackdown on deposed President Mohamed Mursi's movement.
The move applies to the NGO registered by the Brotherhood in March in response to a lawsuit that argued the group had no legal status. It would mark a mostly symbolic legal blow to Mursi's group as the authorities round up its members in the harshest crackdown in decades.

Video shows two men firing RPGs at ship transiting Suez Canal

The video carries a logo featuring a black Islamist flag and the name of the "al-Firqan Brigade". It shows two men, dressed in civilian clothes, firing RPGs into the side of the ship, where they explode.
The ship carries the name "COSCO" on its side and appears to match pictures of the reported target of the attack, the Panamanian-registered Cosco Asia. (h/t Yoel)

Daphne Anson:

Charlie Is Whose Darling?

On Thursday, the website of Iran's satellite propaganda channel Press TV dwelt upon the apparently sinister fact that Prince Charles attended the installation ceremony of the new Chief Rabbi of Britain's Orthodox Jews, Ephraim Mirvis, and, moreover, wore a kippa, or "a yarmulke," as the report described it.
Press TV is a harbinger of conspiracy theories to do with Jews and Zionists, of course, and the clear inference from the report is that Britain's Royals are in the pocket of Da Joos, even if, as I've lamented previously, the Queen, who succeeded to the throne in 1952 and has visited most major ountries, has, like Charles himself, never set foot in Israel!

Plans unveiled for Munich Olympics memorial

Wednesday?s news conference at the Bavarian Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs announcing plans for the memorial took place a day before a ceremony in Israel marking the 41st anniversary of the attack by the Palestinian terrorist group Black September.
The planned hall of remembrance is slated to be built near the site that housed the games and will cost 1.7 million euros (approximately $2.25 million). It will allow visitors to learn about the events and the victims ? 11 Israeli athletes and coaches along with the police officer ? as well as to view the site of the the failed rescue attempt at the Furstenfeldbruck airfield. Ultimately the airport?s tower will be included in the memorial.
The memorial is scheduled to be completed by 2016.

Israeli drip system pioneer honored with top water prize

Netafim, the Israeli company that invented drip irrigation, has been awarded what is considered the most prestigious honor in the world of water conservation and protection, the Stockholm Industry Water Award.
Netafim won the prize for ?directly contributing to a more water and food secure world,? the award committee said. It?s a commercial enterprise, but one with a heart, the committee said ? a company that has managed to figure out a way to expand and profit while having a truly positive impact on the developing world.

Conservative, pro-Israel candidate wins Aussie election

The Liberal Party?s election victory may signal a strengthening of ties between Canberra and Jerusalem. Abbot told reporters last month that the last two Labor governments had not maintained Australia?s strong relationship with the Jewish state, something he said he aimed to fix, according to the Australian Associated Press.
?There?s been a bit of wobbling under the current government but I would expect our standard rock-solid friendship with Israel to resume should the coalition win the election,? he said. ?I?m a friend of Israel ? always have been, always will be.?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/PDbq/~3/9OYjlyxn9mA/907-links-israel-happiest-country-on.html

Eydie Gorme Rafael Caro Quintero The White Queen usher hell on wheels hell on wheels amc

As India gang-rape trial draws to close, debate begins over what has changed

By Nita Bhalla

Sat Sep 7, 2013 10:10pm BST

NEW DELHI, Sept 8 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The serial rapist stalks her for days. Eventually he breaks into her home when she is alone and tries to rape her at knife-point. But she somehow manages to overpower and trap him.

Now, she has to decide what to do. Kill him and bury him in the garden? Or call the police, who are known to be insensitive and where there is a likelihood he will be let off?

The plot is from "Kill the Rapist?" - a new Bollywood thriller which aims to embolden Indian women to report rapes, but also deter potential rapists by making them "shiver with fear before even thinking of rape", says its Facebook page.

It may be a controversial, but it is all part of a growing conversation in India about violence against women following the fatal gang-rape of a 23-year-old trainee physiotherapist in December which prompted tens of thousands of urban Indians to take to the streets to protest.

Nine months on, the protesters have disappeared, but the case has left a more lasting impact on Indian society. The judge in the trial of the four men charged with raping and killing the woman is due to deliver his verdict in a Delhi court on Tuesday.

A teenager tried separately in the same case was sentenced to three years in juvenile detention last month.

"The December incident shook me to the core," says Siddhartha Jain, the 39-year-old producer of "Kill the Rapist?"

"I didn't want this just to be another story that would be forgotten in a year. My film is an excuse to amplify the discussion of women's security and hopefully bring about some positive changes."

The increased awareness is not just reflected in cinema. Newspapers and television news stations have stepped up their coverage of gender crimes, social media sites are full of debate and even Bollywood stars and cricketers are joining the discussion in campaigns to promote women's safety.

Social commentators say the issue - once only really debated by civil society activists, feminists and academics - is gaining ground and is being widely discussed by the urban middle classes.

"I think the conversation has changed, there appears to be much more sensitivity towards gender issues now from many quarters," says Santosh Desai, a columnist and author of "Mother Pious Lady: Making sense of Everyday India".

"Before it was always a discussion between one small group of people with another small group of people. Now, for the first time, it is coming into the mainstream and the conversation isn't just dying down after a few days. It is being sustained."

"SOCIAL TRIGGER"

This has not translated into women feeling any safer in India, say activists, but it has helped in breaking the silence surrounding crimes against women in a deeply patriarchal country.

Police in New Delhi, for example, believe a rise in rape reports is partly due to an increased willingness by victims to come forward. There were 1,036 cases of rape reported in the capital this year to August 15, against 433 cases over the same period last year, according to police data.

Much of the growing awareness can be attributed to the media, which has voraciously covered the December assault and other such crimes in the last nine months.

"The media played the role of a social trigger on this whole issue. This case created an overflow of emotions and became the tipping point for Indian society when it came to the subject of violence against women," said Prabhakar Kumar, of the Delhi-based Centre for Media Studies.

Last month, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan held true to a pledge following the Delhi gang-rape, placing his leading lady's name before his in the opening credits of his blockbuster film "Chennai Express" - a statement aimed at promoting the idea of respect for women in a male-dominated film industry.

Social commentators emphasise that while the heightened consciousness around women abuse has not really touched the conservative rural masses that make up 70 percent of India's 1.2 billion people, it has had an impact in urban areas.

"Since it happened, there have been continual protests over rape cases in Delhi as well as other parts of the country and people have come out in greater numbers than ever before," says Kavita Krishnan, secretary of the All India Progressive Women's Association. "This shows that there is a more sustained interest in this subject and people want action on such issues."

From New Delhi to Mumbai, Kolkata and Manipal, India has witnessed a wave of sporadic protests erupting over rape cases, forcing authorities to take action.

(Additional reporting by Shyamantha Asokan in NEW DELHI and D. Jose in THIRUVANANTHAPURAM; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/Reuters/UKWorldNews/~3/xQB15FalVJ0/uk-india-gangrape-idUKBRE9860J220130907

Rise of the Guardians Pumpkin Pie Jack Taylor Apple Pie Recipe black friday How long to cook a turkey green bean casserole

Source:

Delbert Belton ben affleck Austin Mahone Cameron Bay indicted Big Brother 15 VMAs