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Showing posts with label daily news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label daily news. Show all posts

Friday, October 28, 2011

Google upgrades its Google TV

google tv
Google tv
AFP - Google Internet group said Friday the new generation of its television system connected to the Internet, Google TV, which led to various problems postpone the originally scheduled launch in Europe this year. The second generation of software for Google TV offers simplified controls, better integration with the YouTube video site and an option to add external applications. "This is another step on a road that will be long," said an official from Google TV, Chris Dale. "We are committed to the product and we improve."

Google is one of the companies that have bet the future, we watch movies and videos mainly via Internet connections. A year ago, the group launched its Google TV, loaded on Sony TVs and accessories Logitech: This is a system that works with Android's browser Chrome, with easy access to the Internet on their television, for example, to download movies, free or paid. However, Sony and Logitech had to cut prices in the face of disappointing sales, and delay the launch outside the United States. The system was considered too complex to appeal to the general public, which led Google to provide an update of the system supposed to make it more intuitive.

The devices will be equipped with Sony next week, those of Logitech "shortly after," said Google. Google told AFP that other electronics manufacturers were interested in integrating their system. Click here to find out more!

Thursday, October 27, 2011

United States: putting his hand on Ben Laden, Panetta won the 1870 wine

leon panetta
Leon Panetta
AFP - U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta will celebrate the new year by enjoying a bottle of 1870 after winning a bet with a friend who put the challenge to hand over Osama bin Laden, officials said the pentagon.

Ted Balestreri, a restaurateur, had this bet with Mr. Panetta, while he was still director of the CIA, at the last New Year's Eve, they spent together in California. The challenge: a bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1870. Four months later, the wife of Mr. Panetta, Sylvia, called the long-time friend and said, "Ted, you can fetch the corkscrew," she told Ted Balestreri in a local newspaper in California, the Monterey County Herald. The story was confirmed by unnamed sources at the Pentagon.

The leader of al-Qaeda was killed by an American commando in a house in Abbottabad May 2, north of Islamabad.

Romney leads in first four nominating states: poll

romney
Romney
(Reuters) - Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney leads his campaign rivals in the four states that kick off the 2012 Republican presidential race, according to CNN/Time/ORC polls released on Wednesday.

Barely more than two months before the first nominating contest, Romney has narrow leads in Iowa and South Carolina and double-digit advantages in New Hampshire and Florida.

Conservative businessman Herman Cain, who surged into the lead in some recent national polls but has faced heightened scrutiny in the past week, is in second place in each state.

A Romney sweep of the first four states to cast votes in the nominating race would put an early end to the battle to find a challenger to President Barack Obama in 2012.

But the polls also found there was plenty of room for more changes in the frequently shifting Republican race. Majorities in Iowa and South Carolina said they might change their minds about their votes, and about half in Florida and New Hampshire said the same.

The polls found Romney with a slight edge in Iowa of 3 percentage points, 24 percent to 21 percent, over Cain. His lead was even smaller, 25 percent to 23 percent, in South Carolina. Both leads were within the polls' margin of error of 5 percentage points.

Iowa and South Carolina have big blocs of conservative voters distrustful of Romney, who as governor of liberal Massachusetts supported abortion rights and a healthcare overhaul that was a precursor of Obama's federal law.

Romney has a big 27-point lead over Cain in New Hampshire, which borders Massachusetts and where Romney has a vacation home. He also has a comfortable 12-point lead, 30 percent to 18 percent, over Cain in Florida.

The polls were taken Thursday through Tuesday, following the most recent Republican debate last week.

Libertarian U.S. Representative Ron Paul was in third place in Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire. In Florida, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich and Texas Governor Rick Perry were tied for third place.

Iowa kicks off the nominating race on January 3, followed by New Hampshire, which is expected to hold its primary on January 10, South Carolina on January 21 and Florida on January 31.

Romney's support was relatively broad across various political and demographic groups. He led easily among self-styled moderate or liberal Republicans, but also led among Tea Party fiscal conservatives in New Hampshire. He tied Cain among that group in Florida and was second behind Cain with Tea Party voters in Iowa and South Carolina.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

YouTube close to announcing agreements to broadcast original programming.

YouTube
AFP - The online video site YouTube (Google Group) could announce next week agreements with various media and celebrities on the production of original programs broadcast it on "strings" theme, according to the Wall Street Journal. The daily quoted Wednesday among the partners expected the company Electus, a subsidiary of IAC internet, ShineReveille, owned by News Corporation of Rupert Murdoch and Fremantle (RTL) and the "skate legend" Tony Hawk and the creator of the series "CSI" ("CSI") Anthony Zuiker and others that broadcast their programs already on the site.

Google, which has not commented on this information, would build more than $ 100 million to turn YouTube into a new supplier of a variety of "channels" free broadcast-quality programs, financed by advertising. These channels are divided into twenty thematic categories, the kitchen, comedy or information, for example, and offer programs specifically tailored to the Web, rather than copied the model of television.

This comprehensive offering diversity of supply of YouTube, originally an exchange site amateur videos purchased by Google in 2006 to $ 1.65 billion, became owner of the spring-demand video. This activity is already the result of a collaboration between YouTube and many of the major Hollywood studios like Sony Pictures, Warner Bros. (Time Warner), Universal (GE and Comcast), Lionsgate and several independent studios.

Amy Winehouse is dead following an alcohol abuse after a period of abstinence.

Amy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse
AFP - The inquest into the death last July of British singer Amy Winehouse has entered into an "accidental death", confirming the hypothesis of a "stop and go", a massive absorption of alcohol after a period of abstinence. "She had used this dose of alcohol, up to 416 mg per deciliter of blood, the consequence (....) his death was sudden and accidental", found Suzanne Greenway, head of the investigation.

Such BAC is five times the limit determining a driving while intoxicated. Witnesses said the diva at the meteoric career and has set to music his addiction problems, had not drunk a drop of alcohol in the three weeks before his death at his home in North London on July 22. She "could drink for two or three weeks, then stop for two or three weeks, and that what is worse," explained her father, Mitch Winehouse, in various interviews on death row. A former taxi driver became a jazz singer, the star-eyed skinny Grodzinski mascara and gravelly voice is eternal thought. So she ignored the warning from her doctor about the risk posed by the deadly mix of alcohol intake and abstinence.

Amy Winehouse's body was discovered by a bodyguard who left her alone in her room for five hours. Andrew Morris said he believed at first that the rock-star 27-year old was asleep. In making a subsequent audit, it found that she had not moved and gave the alarm. The initial toxicology tests released one month after the death had noted the presence of a high BAC, without establishing whether he had so far been fatal. No trace of illegal substances had been found, confirming the words of the family that she had overcome his addiction to drugs.

A force of will. The applicant had even mentioned it in 2006 to refuse any rehab medicalized in his hit "Rehab" which contributed to its worldwide reputation. "They tried to send me to rehab ', I said no, no, no," sings the chorus of his greatest success. Mitch Winehouse, however, recently expressed its intention to create a foundation on behalf of his daughter, to help people with drug addicts or alcoholics fight their addiction. The blues singer accents won five awards at the prestigious U.S. Grammy Awards. Since his disappearance, "Back to Black", his second and final album, broke all sales records for the 21st century.

DSK's lawyers asked a lot of documents at the Sofitel New York.

Lawyers for Dominique Strauss-Kahn
Lawyers for Dominique Strauss-Kahn
AFP - Lawyers for Dominique Strauss-Kahn called for a wealth of information at the Sofitel in the context of civil proceedings commenced in New York against the DSK maid Nafissatou Diallo. According to court documents released Wednesday, they assigned the Sofitel particular, for any account of any statements made could have done Nafissatou Diallo, written or oral, on the alleged assault. They claim all available information on inputs and outputs of the suite occupied by May 14 the former head of the IMF, the details of the schedule and assignments Diallo between January 1 and March 31, 2011, and "all documents which may refer to the alleged sexual assault."

They require any account made of all statements that could have been made by employees, customers or others in connection with Dominique Strauss-Kahn or the alleged sexual assault. The Sofitel must also provide details of telephone calls from room 2820, Mrs. Diallo had cleaned 14 May in which she would be returned after the alleged assault. The Sofitel has objected to some of these claims, arguing they were too vague, ambiguous, they were looking for information not relevant to civil proceedings, or inverse document already sent some back for more.

DSK's lawyers have given 20 days to run at the Sofitel, a delay also considered too short by the lawyers of the Sofitel. On September 26, Dominique Strauss-Kahn called for the classification of civil procedure initiated by Ms Diallo for damages. His lawyers argued that it enjoyed full immunity as head of the IMF at the time. This request has "no value", countered arguments Monday in a long Nafissatou Diallo's lawyers, saying that Mr. Strauss-Kahn could not invoke immunity.


Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Ex-Goldman director to face criminal charges: source.

goldman
Goldman

(Reuters) - Rajat Gupta, former Goldman Sachs director and former head of McKinsey & Co, will surrender to the FBI on Wednesday to face criminal insider trading-related charges, a person familiar with the investigation said.

Gupta was named by prosecutors as an unindicted co-conspirator in the criminal case against hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam earlier this year.

Rajaratnam was convicted in May by a New York federal jury after a two-month-long trial. On October 13, a judge sentenced him to 11 years in prison, the longest recorded for insider trading.

Gupta's attorney, Gary Naftalis, would not comment late Tuesday on possible criminal charges but issued a statement echoing his previous comments that Gupta committed no wrongdoing.

"Any allegation that Rajat Gupta engaged in any unlawful conduct is totally baseless. The facts demonstrate that Mr Gupta is an innocent man and that he has always acted with honesty and integrity. He did not trade in any securities, did not tip Mr Rajaratnam so he could trade, and did not share in any profits as part of any quid pro quo."

Ellen Davis, a spokeswoman for Manhattan U.S. attorney Preet Bharara, declined to comment on Gupta's surrendering to authorities or any possible charges.

The expected charges were first reported by the New York Times on its website.

Obama acts to ease burden of student loans.

Barack Obama
(Reuters) - President Barack Obama is taking steps to ease the burden of student loans, the White House said on Tuesday, potentially helping millions of cash-strapped college graduates in a tough economy.

Obama plans to accelerate a plan to cap student loan payments at 10 percent of income, bringing it forward to start in 2012 instead of 2014.

"Steps like these won't take the place of the bold action we need from Congress to boost our economy and create jobs, but they will make a difference," he said in a statement.

The loans initiative will be the third such move by Obama in as many days, following action to aid homeowners and boost hiring of military veterans. The White House wants to show he is an activist president battling a "do-nothing" Congress.

The loan changes do not require approval by Congress.

Republican lawmakers blocked a $447 billion jobs plan put forward by Obama last month because it raises some taxes.

Students helped push Obama into the White House in 2008. As he campaigns for reelection in 2012, Obama's public approval ratings have fallen near 40 percent, the low of his presidency, because of discontent with his economic stewardship.

Americans owe more on student loans than on outstanding credit card debt, and total loans outstanding are slated to exceed $1 trillion this year, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The rise in private student lending and growing debt defaults have also been highlighted by the Occupy Wall Street protesters.

Obama will announce the student loan measure in Denver on Wednesday as he wraps up a swing through western states that will be vital to his re-election campaign in 2012.

The White House estimates the loan changes could cut monthly payments for 1.6 million graduates.

Student debt will also be forgiven after 20 years, compared with 25 years under current law.

More than 36 million Americans have federal student loan debt, but only 450,000 have so far taken advantage of the existing income-based repayment program.

Obama will also make changes to allow 6 million students to bundle together certain federal loans to allow a single monthly payment, reducing the risk of default caused by juggling multiple debt obligations.

The option will be open from January and those that take it up will also get a 0.5 percentage point cut in the interest rate on some of their loans, lowering monthly payments and potentially saving them hundreds of dollars in interest.

"College graduates are entering one of the toughest job markets in recent memory, and we have a way to help them save money by consolidating their debt and capping their loan payments," said Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

Masters Women's Tennis: Wozniacki beats Radwanska.

woman tennis
Womens Tennis
AFP - Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki, World No.1, beat Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska, N.8 world in straight sets, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, in the second game of the group's red female Masters Tuesday in Istanbul. In the same group, the Czech Petra Kvitova, N.3 world, beat Russian Vera Zvonareva (N.6) in straight sets 6-2, 6-4, in the first game of the same group. The first day of Masters Women must end with the meeting between Maria Sharapova (RUS/N.2) and Samantha Stosur (AUS/N.7), on behalf of the white group.

Michael Jackson knew, but downplayed the risks of the sedative propofol.

michael jackson
Michael Jackson
AFP - Michael Jackson knew the risks of use as a sleeping pill the anesthetic propofol, which caused his death, but minimized, ensuring that it was sufficient that a doctor is watching her sleep, said a witness Tuesday to trial of his doctor in Los Angeles. Cherilyn Lee, a nurse specializing in nutrition and alternative medicine, which had begun to treat the singer in February 2009, said that Michael Jackson had told him in April 2009 of his insomnia and his desire to be administration of Diprivan - the brand under which is marketed propofol.

"He told me: + I have problems sleeping. I have to sleep in the moment. And the only thing that can help me is the Diprivan '," she said. Michael Jackson died June 25, 2009 to a "serious poisoning" propofol, a powerful sedative that he used at home as a sleeping aid. His doctor, Conrad Murray, charged with manslaughter, admitted him to administer the morning of his death and the previous weeks. Cherilyn Lee, who appeared moved several times during his testimony - it had to leave shortly after his arrival in the courtroom due to a mild discomfort - said she did not know what the propofol when the singer told him about it.

She called a doctor, who explained that it was a sedative used in hospitals and informed Michael Jackson, during a visit at his home April 19, its use was dangerous to home. "He told me that the doctors had assured him that it was safe and that there would be no problem as long as he was being watched," she said. "He said he had known the propofol several years ago, during surgery. He told me: + I woke up and I did not even know I had slept so long. It was so easy ... I want to experience it again, '"said Ms. Lee. The nurse, who refuses to provide the sedative, then inform the singer of its many side effects.

"One of the symptoms was memory loss. I asked him: + What happens if you forget the words of your songs on stage? +. He told me he would never forget the lyrics of his songs, "she said. On the night of April 19, the nurse gives the singer a treatment alternative medicine, hoping to make him sleep. She stays with him and finds he wakes up to 3:00 in the morning. "It was not very happy," she said. Cherilyn Lee is leaving the mansion of the singer and never come back. In early May, a few days later, Dr. Murray became the official doctor of the star and, according to his statements to police, was about to administer propofol intravenously almost daily.
Defense witness, Cherilyn Lee has partly contributed to support the thesis of Dr. Murray's lawyers, who want to prove that Michael Jackson was addicted to propofol, and tried to get them in every way. 

According to them, the singer himself would have given an extra dose - and deadly - the anesthetic on the morning of his death. But the testimony of Ms. Lee also served as the floor, which accuses Dr. Murray of having "abandoned his patient" as he left the chamber of the star during injection of propofol on the morning of his death. Attorney David Walgren has asked Ms. Lee: "Did he say: + I just need someone to watch me with the material (adequate) + while I sleep?".

"That's exactly what he said," Ms. Lee said, in tears, before the serious face of Jackson, came in numbers Tuesday - the matriarch Katherine and siblings Janet, La Toya, Rebbie and Randy. If convicted, Dr. Murray faces up to four years in prison.


Muammar Gaddafi 'buried in desert grave at dawn'

graveyard of gaddafi
Muammar Gaddafi
The bodies of ex-Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, his son Mutassim and a top aide have been buried in secret in the desert, Libyan officials say.

A National Transitional Council (NTC) official told the BBC the bodies were buried at dawn in an unknown location.

This follows days of apparent uncertainty among the new leadership about what to do with the bodies.

Gaddafi's family wanted them buried outside the former leader's hometown of Sirte.

NTC leaders had expressed a preference for a secret burial.
Bound by Fatwa

Officials have given few details of the ceremony.

They say it took place early on Tuesday. A few relatives and officials were in attendance and Islamic prayers were read.
Libya's Minister for Information Mahmoud Shammam said the NTC was following a fatwa, or religious ruling.

"It says that his body should not be buried in Muslim cemeteries and should not be buried in a known place to avoid any sedition," Mr Shammam said.

An NTC official had earlier told Reuters news agency that Col Gaddafi would be buried in a "simple" ceremony with "sheikhs attending" on Tuesday.

"It will be an unknown location in the open desert," he said, adding that a burial was needed because decomposition of the body had reached the point where the "corpse cannot last any longer".

Gaddafi, Mutassim and former Defence Minister Abu Bakr Younis Jabr were killed on Thursday following the fall of Sirte, the last major pro-Gaddafi bastion.

Witnesses said the bodies had been removed late on Monday from the meat storage warehouse in Misrata where they had been on display.

The BBC was told prayers were said over the bodies before they were driven away.

"Our job is finished," a security guard at the warehouse, Salem al Mohandes, told the Arabic television station al-Jazeera. "[Gaddafi] was transferred and the military council of Misrata took him away to an unknown location."
Shrine fears

The BBC's Katya Adler in Tripoli says the question of how to dispose of Gaddafi's body has been a political minefield for the new Libyan leadership, and is the reason why it has taken four days for a decision to be taken.

Islamic tradition dictates a burial should happen within a day of the death.

But the NTC leadership was concerned that any public grave could become a shrine for Gaddafi loyalists or a target of hatred for those who opposed his regime, our correspondent says.

In the end, she adds, the decomposition of the body meant the NTC had to act.

Questions have been raised over the former leader's death after video footage showed him alive at the time of capture. Officials said he had been killed subsequently in a crossfire.

A post-mortem examination carried out on the 69-year-old's body on Sunday showed he had received a bullet wound to the head, medical sources said.

Acting Libyan leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil said the NTC had formed a committee to investigate the circumstances surrounding his death.

Meanwhile another of Gaddafi's sons, Saif al-Islam, remains at large. He is believed to have fled towards the desert border with Niger.

A Niger official said Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was travelling with ethnic Tuaregs - who were among Gaddafi's supporters.

News by BBC

Americans love to read information about tablet, but free!

Digital Tablet
AFP - Americans love to see the information on their digital tablet, provided you do not have to pay out of pocket, according to a study released Tuesday. The results of this survey may shower the hopes of the press who were part of this new medium to compensate for losses in traditional formats. The study conducted by Pew and the think-tank The Economist Group, 11% of American adults have a digital tablet.

With regard to their use, the consultation of information comes in 3rd place (53%), after surfing the internet (67%) and email (54%) but ahead of social networks (39%) and games video (30%). But users are only 14% to purchase directly from the info on shelf, even though 23% have a print subscription that includes a digital version. One in five users (21%) have not yet paid for access to information on said shelf, however, willing to pay up to five dollars a month if that's the only way to view a site or a particular application .

"When they were launched, many observers thought that the tablets would help to change consumer behavior information," says the study. "This belief was based on the feeling that people consult information largely via dedicated applications, the media would have to pay." However, users are primarily's web browser to view their tablet news sites, most often free, and only 21% first pass by the applications. The findings of the investigation is bleak for the press. "If the media manage to make money shelves more efficiently than they did on the internet in general," the outlook is "promising." But this scenario is "highly uncertain at best."

Monday, October 24, 2011

Cristina Kirchner re-elected during a tsunami tidal wave election in Argentina.

Cristina Kirchner
Cristina Kirchner
AFP - Argentine President Cristina Kirchner, 58, was re-elected for four years Sunday in the first round of the presidential election during a real tsunami tidal wave election and said she was "impressed" and "grateful" after the result. "These figures impress me and I am infinitely grateful," said the President addressing the Argentines. "If I talked about those numbers there are only two years, we have treated crazy!" She said. Mrs. Kirchner won 53.96% of the vote against 16.87% for his main rival, the Socialist Hermes Binner, and 11.15% in the radical Ricardo Alfonsin, according to official results on 98.25% of polling stations.

The remaining percentage of votes on the subject of claims, and the final result and complete to be published before December 10, the start of the new mandate. After this election, at which the Argentines renewed at the same time half the seats in the Chamber of Deputies and one third of the Senate, the Front for Victory Mrs. Kirchner found in 2009 lost the majority in both houses. After the announcement of Ms. Kirchner spoke to young people and danced for a long time alongside his running mate, the Economy Minister Amado Boudou. "I want to thank the crowd of young Argentines who again appropriate the Plaza de Mayo," said the President.

For his part, Mr. Binner has conceded defeat by congratulating "Mrs. President". However, he argued that his training was a "novelty" in the political landscape. "This force is the second in the country", launched Mr. Binner, recalling that a socialist had just passed a radical, unheard of in Argentina. The President pointed out that several Latin American counterparts had called to congratulate her, including the President of Brazil Dilma Rousseff which was "very loving words." Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for his part, welcomed "the full support call" that Argentines have made to Mrs. Kirchner. To be elected in the first round, Mrs. Kirchner would get more than 45% of the vote, more than 40% with a lead of more than 10 points over his main rival.

"The difference (between Mrs. Kirchner and his main rival) is historic," said Rosendo Fraga analyst, institute Nueva Mayoría. For its part, Mariel Fornoni, Fit & Management, said that with the exception of the Province of San Luis (center), Mrs. Kirchner "won the victory over the country." The classes, traditional electorate of Peronism, he had gained, but much of the middle classes and even executives who were counting on economic stability. Consumption is booming, with 4% increase per year and the unemployment rate is just over 7%. Growth was 8% on average since 2003 except 2009.

Argentina also benefits from soaring commodity prices, particularly soybeans, which is the third largest exporter. Mrs. Kirchner has also peace with the middle classes, that her husband was frightened during the conflict with farmers, in 2008, refusing any negotiations until the end. The death of her husband last year allowed him also to give her a different picture, less authoritarian and more consensual.

The Islamist party Ennahda claims victory.

vote in tunisia
Ennahda claims victory
REUTERS - The Islamist Ennahda Monday night claimed victory in elections is the day before in Tunisia, the first democratic elections held since the beginning of the "Arab spring". No official results had been announced early Monday evening, but the Islamist group, which is prohibited under Zine Ben Ali said on the basis of the results posted at local polling stations it had won more than 30 % of the vote, coming in first place nationally and in most areas. "We will save the effort to forge a stable political alliance in the constituent assembly," said Abdelhamid Jlazzi, campaign director of Ennahda (Renaissance).

Without waiting for the announcement of results by the higher independent body elections (ISIE), the Democratic Progressive Party (PDP), secular training, conceded defeat. "The PDP respects the democratic game. The people have placed their trust in those he considered worthy of that trust. We congratulate the winner and we will sit in the opposition ranks," said Najib Chebbi's party in a statement sent to Reuters. Just over nine months after the fall of the regime of Ben Ali, January 14, Tunisians, pioneers of the "Arab Spring" turned out en masse Sunday to democratically elect a constituent assembly. Participation exceeded 90% of registered voters.

In all likelihood, Ennahda however, should not win an absolute majority in the assembly and could face a front of secular formations. Ennahda has worked throughout the campaign to present himself as the representative of moderate Islam modeled on the AKP, in power in Turkey. But part of the population concerned with the preservation of secularism historically attached to independent Tunisia, is concerned about the resurgence of the Islamists. Monday night, about fifty lay activists gathered outside the headquarters of the ISIE, calling for investigations into irregularities which they accuse the Islamists.

The 217 assembly members elected Sunday will write the new constitution of the country and form a new provisional government before the parliamentary and presidential elections due next year. Sunday, Rachid Ghannouchi, leader of Ennahda returned to Tunisia after 22 years of exile in Britain, spoke of "historic day". After leaving office, he was booed by dozens of people shouting "Get out!" and "You are a terrorist and a murderer! returned to London." Ennahda denies wanting to impose a strict application of religious principles in a Tunisian accustomed since decolonization a liberal lifestyle. To observers, the party is torn between a moderate leadership and a base may be more radical.

"Ennahda succeeded where we failed, we need to restructure, we must unite again," said Riadh Ben Fadhal, the Democratic Pole modernist (PDM, a coalition of center-left). The international community also closely these elections, which could provide an indication of the developments expected in the current upheaval in the Arab world. Barack Obama said the Tunisian revolution, which began on December 17 by the immolation of the young Mohamed Bouazizi gesture of despair in the face of unemployment and repression, had "changed the course of history." "Like so many Tunisians demonstrated peacefully in the streets and squares for their rights, they lined up today to vote and decide their own future," responded the president.

The Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the peaceful conduct of its elections and called "stakeholders to remain committed to the principles of transparency during the next phases of the transition." If confirmed, the victory of Ennahda would be the first success achieved by an Islamist group in the Arab world since Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections of 2006. In December 1991, the Islamic Front of Hi (FIS) won the first round of Algerian elections but the elections were finally quashed by the army.

U.S. pulls its envoy from Syria because of threats.

two-man-talking
U.S. pulls its envoy from Syria
(Reuters) - The United States said on Monday it had pulled its ambassador out of Damascus because of threats to his safety in Syria, where protesters are trying to end 41 years of authoritarian rule by the Assad family.

Ambassador Robert Ford had angered the Syrian government by cultivating contacts with the 7-month-old grass-roots movement against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, leading to attacks on his embassy and residence, diplomats said.

The Western diplomats told Reuters Ford left Syria over the weekend following a series of incidents that caused physical damage to U.S. property but no casualties.

"Ambassador Robert Ford was brought back to Washington as a result of credible threats against his personal safety in Syria," said U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner.

"At this point, we can't say when he will return to Syria. It will depend on our assessment of Syrian regime-led incitement and the security situation on the ground."

U.S. officials said they want Ford to return to Damascus and made clear they had no current intention of expelling the Syrian ambassador to the United States, Imad Moustapha, a step that would almost certainly preclude the U.S. envoy's return.

One U.S. official said that the Assad government appeared to be trying to deflect attention from its effort to crush anti-government attention by incitement against Ford, who has been unusually forward in challenging the authorities.

"They are trying to get their street to turn against him rather than focusing on the fact that their street has turned against them," said one U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

This official stressed that Ford had not been "withdrawn" from Syria -- an act that would have implied that the United States had no intention of sending him back to Damascus.

The United Nations says the government crackdown has killed 3,000 people, including 187 children, in Syria. Syrian authorities blame the unrest on "armed terrorist groups," which they say have killed 1,100 army and police.

SYRIAN INCITEMENT AGAINST FORD?

"Articles, more inciting against Ford than usual, have appeared in state media recently. He left Saturday," said one diplomats, who like others asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue.

Ford, a veteran diplomat, infuriated Syria's rulers by getting in touch with protesters demanding an end to 41 years of Assad family rule.

They cheered Ford when he went in July to the anti-Assad hotbed city of Hama, which was later stormed by tanks. Ford also visited a town that had witnessed regular protests in the southern province of Deraa, ignoring a new ban on Western diplomats traveling outside the Damascus area.

Along with a group of mostly Western ambassadors, Ford also paid condolences to the family of Ghayath Matar, a 25-year-old protest leader who had distributed flowers to give to soldiers but was arrested and died of apparent torture, activists say.

Washington, seeking to convince Assad to scale back an alliance with U.S. nemesis Iran and backing for militant groups, sought to improve relations with Damascus after U.S. President Barack Obama took office in 2009.

Obama sent Ford to Damascus in January to fill a diplomatic vacuum prevailing since Washington withdrew its ambassador in 2005 after the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

But relations deteriorated anew after the uprising broke out and Assad ignored international calls to address protester demands that he dismantle the Syrian police state and allow political pluralism.

In an interview with Reuters last month, Ford said Assad was losing support among key constituents and risked plunging Syria into sectarian strife by intensifying a military crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators.

Time was running against Assad, he said at the time.

Turkey quake kills more than 260, hundreds missing.

Earthquake-in-Turkey
Earthquake in Turkey
(Reuters) - Rescuers pulled survivors from beneath mounds of collapsed buildings and searched for the missing on Monday after a major earthquake killed at least 264 people and wounded more than 1,000 in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey.

Hundreds more were feared dead after Sunday's 7.2 magnitude quake, Turkey's most powerful in a decade, toppled remote villages of mud brick houses.

As desperate survivors cried for help beneath mounds of smashed concrete and twisted metal, some using mobile phones, earth-moving machines and troops joined rescue efforts in the city of Van and the town of Ercis, some 100 km (60 miles) to the north.

"Be patient, be patient," rescuers in Ercis told a whimpering boy pinned under a concrete slab with the lifeless hand of an adult, a wedding ring on one finger, visible just in front of his face.

A Reuters photographer saw a woman and her daughter being freed from beneath a concrete slab in the wreckage of a six-storey building.

"I'm here, I'm here," the woman, named Fidan, called out in a hoarse voice. Talking to her regularly while working for more than two hours to find a way through, rescuers cut through the slab, first sighting the daughter's foot, before freeing them.

In Van, an ancient city of one million on a lake ringed by snow-capped mountains, cranes shifted rubble from a collapsed six-storey apartment block where 70 people were feared trapped.

One woman, standing beside a wrecked four-storey building, told a rescue worker she had spoken to her friend, Hatice Hasimoglu, on her mobile phone six hours after the quake trapped her inside it.

"She's my friend and she called me to say that she's alive and she's stuck in the rubble near the stairs of the building," said her friend, a fellow teacher. "She told me she was wearing red pajamas," she said, standing with distraught relatives begging the rescue workers to hurry.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan flew swiftly to Van to assess the scale of the disaster, in a quake-prone area that is a hotbed of activity for Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants.

Erdogan said he feared for the fate of villages with houses made of mud brick, saying: "Almost all buildings in such villages are destroyed."

The broadcaster NTV quoted Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin as saying the death toll had reached 264. Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay, speaking in Van, said more than 1,300 were injured. The interior minister said hundreds more were unaccounted for, many believed buried under rubble.

TORMENTED SOUTHEAST

The quake brought fresh torment to impoverished southeast Turkey, where PKK militants fighting a decades-long insurgency against the state killed 24 Turkish soldiers in Hakkari, south of Van, last week.

The area it struck, near the border with Iran, is remote and mountainous, with long distances between villages and hamlets and people living off stock-raising, arable farming and trading.

The hardest-hit town was Ercis, a town of 100,000, where 55 buildings crumpled, including a student dormitory.

At one collapsed four-storey building, firemen from the major southeastern city of Diyarbakir were trying to reach four missing children. Aid workers carried two large black bags, one apparently containing a child's body, to an ambulance. An old woman wrapped in a headscarf walked alongside sobbing.

A distressed man paced back and forth before running toward the rescue workers on top of the rubble. "That's my nephew's house," he sobbed as workers tried to hold him back.

ARMY BATTALIONS

Thousands of people made homeless by the quake were forced to spend Sunday night on the streets, wrapped in blankets and huddled round open fires. The government has sent four army battalions to Ercis and two to Van to help in the rescue work, but some residents complained of a lack of assistance.

The Red Crescent has said some 5,000 tents and 11,000 blankets have been sent and a tent city has been set up at Ercis stadium. But residents said tents were being given only to relatives of police and soldiers, a possible source of tension.

"The villages have not received any help yet. Instead of making a show, politicians should be visiting them. The Turkish military says they sent soldiers, where are they?" said a municipality official in Van who did not want to be named.

Ibrahim Baydar, a 40-year-old tradesman from Van, accused the government in Ankara of holding back aid. "All the nylon tents are in the black market now. We cannot find any. People are queuing for them. No tents were given to us whatsoever," Baydar said.

"All the police were at the airport waiting for the prime minister yesterday. On a normal day, there are more police on the streets when two kids throw stones at them."

Rescue efforts were hampered by power outages after the quake toppled electricity cables to towns and villages. It also damaged the main Van-Ercis road, CNN Turk reported.

More than 200 aftershocks have jolted the region since the quake struck for around 25 seconds at 1041 GMT on Sunday.

"I just felt the whole earth moving and I was petrified. It went on for ages. And the noise, you could hear this loud, loud noise," said Hakan Demirtas, 32, a builder who was working on a construction site in Van at the time.

"My house is ruined," he said, sitting on a low wall after spending the night in the open. "I am still afraid, I'm in shock. I have no future, there is nothing I can do."

The Red Crescent said about 100 experts had reached the earthquake zone to coordinate rescue and relief operations. Mobile kitchens were set up to feed the homeless. Sniffer dogs had joined the quest for survivors.

At Van airport, a Turkish Airlines cargo plane unloaded aid materials onto waiting military vehicles for distribution.

Dogan news agency reported that 24 people were pulled from the rubble alive in the two hours after midnight.

Erdogan later returned to Ankara for a cabinet meeting to discuss the response to the disaster. He said Turkey could cope by itself, but thanked nations offering help, including Armenia and Israel, which both have strained relations with Ankara.

Major geological fault lines cross Turkey, where small tremors occur almost daily. Two large quakes in 1999 killed more than 20,000 people in the northwest.

The quake had no impact on Turkish financial markets when they opened on Monday. Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said Van benefit from tax exemptions.

In Van, construction worker Sulhattin Secen, 27, said he had first mistaken the rumble of the quake for a car crash.

"Then the ground beneath me started moving up and down as if I was standing in water. May God help us. It's like life has stopped. What are people going to do?"

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Tunisia votes in historic free election.

Vote-in-Tunisia
Vote in Tunisia
Tunisians vote to elect a constituent assembly, nine months after being ousted President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali. More than seven million voters to the polls.

The turnout should be high, if we judge by the queues at polling stations. According to BBC Africa correspondent in Tunis, voters turned out en masse and were enthusiastic. According to the president of the electoral commission, Kamel Jendoubi, the crowd "exceeds all expectations." After decades of authoritarian rule, Tunisians feel for the first time, that their vote counts.

This consultation is the first free and democratic election. However, Kamel Jendoubi said authorities were investigating allegations of irregularities. Would be sent text messages to mobile phones of voters to influence their vote.

The stakes are very high: the winning parties will develop the new constitution. The assembly also control the future government. More than a hundred political parties are represented. All of the Islamist party Ennahda to lay the PDP, promised to govern together for SAVING the gains of the revolution. But some voters, including among young people behind the uprising against former President Ben Ali, boycotting the vote. They believe that the Tunisian youth is not represented by political parties. 

The favorite is the Islamist party. Ennhada said he take to the streets in case of fraud. Members of the security services are deployed around polling stations, but voters interviewed by the BBC did not seem bothered by their presence. The 6000 election is monitored by local observers and more than 500 of their counterparts from abroad.

News by BBC


Saturday, October 22, 2011

Falling German satellite enters atmosphere.

german-sattelite
scientific satellite
BERLIN (AP) — A defunct satellite entered the atmosphere early Sunday and pieces of it were expected to crash into the earth, the German Aerospace Center said.

There was no immediate solid evidence to determine above which continent or country the ROSAT scientific research satellite entered the atmosphere, agency spokesman Andreas Schuetz said.

Most parts of the minivan-sized satellite were expected to burn up during re-entry, but up to 30 fragments weighing 1.87 tons (1.7 metric tons) could crash into Earth at speeds up to 280 mph (450 kph).

Scientists were no longer able to communicate with the dead satellite and it must have traveled about 12,500 miles (20,000 kilometers) in the last 30 minutes before entering the atmosphere, Schuetz said.

Experts were waiting for "observations from around the world," he added.

Scientists said hours before the re-entry into the atmosphere that the satellite was not expected to hit over Europe, Africa or Australia. According to a precalculated path it could have been above Asia, possibly China, at the time of its re-entry, but Schuetz said he could not confirm whether the satellite actually entered above that area.

The 2.69-ton (2.4 metric ton) scientific ROSAT satellite was launched in 1990 and retired in 1999 after being used for research on black holes and neutron stars and performing the first all-sky survey of X-ray sources with an imaging telescope.

The largest single fragment of ROSAT that could hit into the earth is the telescope's heat-resistant mirror.

During its mission, the satellite orbited about 370 miles (600 kilometers) above the Earth's surface, but since its decommissioning it has lost altitude, circling at a distance of only 205 miles (330 kilometers) above ground in June for example, the agency said.

Even in the last days, the satellite still circled the planet every 90 minutes, making it hard to predict where on Earth it would eventually come down.

A dead NASA satellite fell into the southern Pacific Ocean last month, causing no damage, despite fears it would hit a populated area and cause damage or kill people.

Experts believe about two dozen metal pieces from the bus-sized satellite fell over a 500-mile (800 kilometer) span of uninhabited portion of the world.

The NASA climate research satellite entered Earth's atmosphere generally above American Samoa. But falling debris as it broke apart did not start hitting the water for another 300 miles (480 kilometers) to the northeast, southwest of Christmas Island.

Earlier, scientists had said it was possible some pieces could have reached northwestern Canada.

The German space agency puts the odds of somebody somewhere on Earth being hurt by its satellite at 1-in-2,000 — a slightly higher level of risk than was calculated for the NASA satellite. But any one individual's odds of being struck are 1-in-14 trillion, given there are 7 billion people on the planet.
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Online:
The German space agency on ROSAT: http://bit.ly/papMAA

Great Britain: the "outraged" install a second camp in London.

london
London, UK
AFP - The "outrage" of London began Saturday to install a second camp in the capital, following the decision of the religious authorities to close the Cathedral of St. Paul because of the presence of protesters on the square for a week. These activists, who protest against the crisis and the excesses of capitalism, settled on October 15 on the steps of the cathedral located in the financial district of the City, inspired by the movement "Occupy Wall Street" in New York and of "outrage" of Madrid. The camp rose to 70 in a week to more than 200 tents, and religious authorities cited security reasons and safety Friday to close the doors of the cathedral to the public.

Saturday, hundreds of activists and supporters gathered on the steps of the church, and some of them began a walk to Finsbury Square, not far from where they set up a score of tents, a told AFP a spokesman of the movement, Robert Gant. The activists were to see whether the occupants of the camp of St. Paul were all going to rally the second site or if they stayed there. If the cathedral was closed to the public Saturday, weddings are still held. Natasha Ighodaro and Nick Cunningham, who had planned the ceremony for months, however, had to give up the majestic main entrance of St. Paul and resolve to take a side door, as their guests.

The bride, smiling, said after the ceremony that there was "no disturbance". "It was wonderful, fantastic," she assured. The tourists, they have found the door closed. Juul van der Au, a Dutch woman of 21, was unable to visit the cathedral as it planned, and took pictures of the camp, without any bitterness. "I'm not too disappointed, there are plenty of other things to see in London, we'll probably go to Westminster Abbey," said the young woman came for a family weekend in London. "It's for a noble cause," Judge says. The decision to close the cathedral for the first time since World War II, causes a significant loss to the tourist mecca. A spokesman for the cathedral said the loss of tourism revenue to 16,000 pounds (18,300 euros) per day of closing.

Laura Martin, an activist of 29 years, considers the crucial public support. For her, the decision to close the cathedral is a way to "pressure" on the protesters. But an eviction by force of activists, the protest is peaceful, would return an image disaster for the authorities and not "would not in their interest," she considers.

Sarkozy and Merkel meet before the EU summit.

France-Europe
France, Europe
 AFP - The Europeans are working on a comprehensive overhaul of the second aid package to Greece through a substantially increased effort creditor banks to avoid bankruptcy at Athens in the marathon negotiations underway to rescue the euro area. The day Saturday is loaded. In addition to a meeting of finance ministers of 27 EU countries, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will try to overcome their differences in the evening on the response to the debt crisis in a mini-summit in Brussels with several other key players.

A countdown is committed to exit the euro zone crisis that has lasted two years and worried about the world. It should be completed Wednesday with a summit of 26 leaders of EMU, the second in a week. It should be "a complete solution to the crisis. We have had enough of short-term measures that were used plaster to take a few weeks," Saturday criticized the British Minister of Finance, George Osborne. His Belgian counterpart Didier Reynders said the discussions would turn "on a new Greek plan." "In this new plan, there is a substantial effort to Greece again, there is an effort by European countries and will also require an effort of the private sector (ie banks)," he said on the sidelines of the ministerial meeting.

The central bankers of the euro area have already agreed on Friday to request further efforts "substantial" the banks said their leader, the Luxembourg Jean-Claude Juncker. Given the scale of the task, they should meet again Saturday afternoon to continue their work. Their condition: that banks are willing to delete "at least" half of the value of Greek debt they hold, against 21% initially planned for July. "Negotiations with the IIF (the banking lobby) continue, there is no agreement yet," said a source close to the Saturday issue. But "the working hypothesis the most central in discussions with the banks" is that of a haircut (loss by financial jargon) of 50%, she said.

The euro area came to this conclusion based on the findings of an expert report submitted by the troika that brings together donors of funds to Greece. The paper estimates that banks have to accept losses from 50 to 60% for Greece hope to stabilize without excessively increasing the amount of international loans that have already been promised. The challenge is for Europeans to get the green light for banks, or risk creating a "credit event", or the outbreak of insurance against default risk in Greece. Such a scenario would favor those who have speculated about the fate of Greece and especially likely to cause a domino effect throughout the euro area with possible contagion to Italy and Spain.

In return for the effort required on the part of banks, finance ministers from the 27 floor Saturday on a broad plan to recapitalize the banking sector to enable it to cushion the blow. Europe is assessing the needs of 80 to 100 billion euros, two times less than the estimates of the International Monetary Fund, who first sounded the alarm on the need to strengthen the reserves of financial institutions of the Old Continent. Modalities remain to be defined: what is the timetable? Recapitalizations of private or public funds?

For their part, German Chancellor and French President will try in the evening with their respective finance ministers to resolve their differences on how to stem the debt crisis, at a meeting involving both the main European leaders: the EU president, Herman Van Rompuy, the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, the ECB, Jean-Claude Trichet and Juncker. This will be a lap before the EU summit on Sunday. Blocking is primarily how to strengthen the relief fund troubled countries in the euro area, the EFSF. This instrument is essential to prevent contagion of hope to the debt crisis in countries like Spain and Italy, in the viewfinder of the rating agencies.

Paris has proposed to transform the EFSF bank so that the counter is supplied by the ECB. One option that will not block the Berlin Mint, as it would violate their view the legal prohibition against the central bank to bail out government budgets. France, supported by Spain and Italy in particular, suggested Friday that it could eventually yield. But the subject is not yet evacuated. "We will discuss the European Facility (the EFSF) and its collaboration with the European Central Bank (ECB)," Mr. Reynders said Saturday.