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রবিবার, ২৭ নভেম্বর, ২০১১
Protesters reject Yemen president's power transfer
Protestors run during a demonstration demanding the prosecution of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011. President Ali Abdullah Saleh's agreement to step down failed to end Yemen's violence Thursday as security forces killed several protesters demanding that the ousted leader be put on trial for past crimes ranging from corruption to bloodshed during the current uprising. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)
Protestors run during a demonstration demanding the prosecution of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011. President Ali Abdullah Saleh's agreement to step down failed to end Yemen's violence Thursday as security forces killed several protesters demanding that the ousted leader be put on trial for past crimes ranging from corruption to bloodshed during the current uprising. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)
A man carries a wounded protester during clashes with security forces in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011. A medic at a field hospital in Sanaa says several people have been killed by security forces and regime supporters who fired upon crowds demanding that President Ali Abdullah Saleh be put on trial. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)
Defected army soldiers stand guard on a vehicle while protestors, unseen, march during a demonstration demanding the prosecution of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011. President Ali Abdullah Saleh's agreement to step down failed to end Yemen's violence Thursday as security forces killed several protesters demanding that the ousted leader be put on trial for past crimes ranging from corruption to bloodshed during the current uprising. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)
Protestors chant slogans during a demonstration demanding the prosecution of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011. President Ali Abdullah Saleh's agreement to step down failed to end Yemen's violence Thursday as security forces killed several protesters demanding that the ousted leader be put on trial for past crimes ranging from corruption to bloodshed during the current uprising. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)
A Yemeni protestor with Arabic writing on his shirt reading, "martyrs blood," chants slogans during a demonstration demanding the prosecution of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011. President Ali Abdullah Saleh's agreement to step down failed to end Yemen's violence Thursday as security forces killed several protesters demanding that the ousted leader be put on trial for past crimes ranging from corruption to bloodshed during the current uprising. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)
SANAA, Yemen (AP) ? A U.S.-backed deal for Yemen's authoritarian president to step down fell far short of the demands of protesters who fought regime supporters on the streets of Sanaa Thursday in clashes that left five dead.
The agreement ending President Ali Abdullah Saleh's 33-year rule provides for only the shallowest of changes at the top of the regime, something the U.S. administration likely favored to preserve a fragile alliance against one of the world's most active al-Qaida branches based in Yemen.
The plan drawn up by Yemen's oil-rich Gulf neighbors does not directly change the system Saleh put in place over three decades to serve his interests.
"It gives an opportunity for regime survival," said Yemen expert Ibrahim Sharqieh at the Brookings Doha Center. "The only one we've seen changing here is the president, but the state institutions and everything else remain in place. Nothing else has changed."
Saleh signed the agreement Wednesday in the Saudi capital Riyadh, transferring power to his vice president within 30 days. If it holds, he will be the fourth dictator pushed from power this year by the Arab Spring uprisings.
But the deal leaves much more of the old regime intact than the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya ? something that will almost certainly translate into continued unrest. Protesters who have been in the millions for nearly 10 months were out again Thursday, rejecting a provision that gives Saleh immunity from prosecution.
Throughout his rule, Saleh consolidated power through wily tactics that included exploiting tribal and regional rivalries and putting close relatives and confidantes in key security positions. For years, he accepted funds from the West to fight Islamist militants, then turned around and used some of those militants to help fight his enemies.
Ruling party and opposition members say Saleh signed the deal under heavy pressure from the U.S. and Saudi governments and that he feared possible sanctions against him and his family, who are suspected of having huge fortunes stashed in foreign banks. Some doubt that the deal marks the end of political life for the president, who has proved to be a wily politician and suggested in remarks after the signing ceremony that he could play a future political role in the country, along with his ruling party.
Yemen is the poorest country in the Arab world and even before the uprising, the government exerted only weak authority over most of the country. The uprising led to a collapse in security that created a vacuum al-Qaida militants exploited to gain a firmer foothold in the country. The militants even seized some territory in the south.
The U.S. has long considered Saleh a necessary though unreliable partner in fighting terror, training and funding his special forces to fight Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which has been linked to plots against U.S. targets.
Sharqieh, the Yemen expert, said both the U.S. and Saudi Arabia had reasons to ease Saleh's departure while not calling for deeper regime change. Saudi Arabia, a deeply conservative hereditary monarchy, fears the pro-democracy uprisings sweeping the Arab world will spread to its shores and worries that collapsing security in Yemen will also spill trouble over its borders.
With this deal, the U.S. may want to appease the protesters while ensuring it can still count on Yemen to fight al-Qaida.
"Saudi Arabia does not want to see a successful youth revolution on its southern border, and Washington does not want security in Yemen to be in the hands of those protesting in Change Square," said Sharqieh, referring to the Sanaa square that is the center of the protest movement.
Likewise, the U.S. stood by its ally Hosni Mubarak, the longtime authoritarian leader of Egypt, throughout much of the uprising against him in January and February. For the U.S., Mubarak was a valued counterweight to Islamists in the Middle East and a staunch support of Arab-Israeli peace.
Saleh is transferring power to Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. In the coming days, an opposition group that signed the deal will name a prime minister, whom Hadi will swear in. The new prime minister will then form a national unity government, evenly divided between the opposition and Saleh's ruling party. Hadi will also announce a date for presidential elections, to be held within 90 days.
The deal ensures that Saleh's party will play a large role in the country's future. More importantly, it does not mention Saleh's son, Ahmed, who commands the elite Republican Guard, or his other relatives and associates who command security forces. These units are often the enforcers of Saleh's regime and could remain more loyal to him and his associates than to a new coalition government.
Under the plan, the new government will also appoint a committee to "restructure" the security forces, including the army, the police and the intelligence services. But it remains unclear what powers it will have to push through its suggested reforms.
Inside Yemen, many of the protesters who have braved lethal government crackdowns to demonstrate for democratic reforms rejected the deal.
Thousands marched Thursday in the capital Sanaa, the central city of Taiz and elsewhere, protesting the deal and calling for Saleh to be tried for charges of corruption and for the killing of protesters during the uprising.
Security forces and pro-Saleh gunmen opened fire on a protest march in Sanaa, killing five protesters, said Gameela Abdullah, a medic at the local field hospital.
A video posted online by activists showed men in long robes and Arab head scarves firing assault rifles at protesters, who scrambled for cover. Some hurled rocks and carried large pictures of Saleh.
"We'll keep fighting until Saleh is tried for all the crimes he has committed against the people in his capacity as the head of the armed forces," said activist Bushra al-Maqtari in Taiz, which has seen some of the most violent crackdowns on anti-regime protesters. Hundreds of demonstrators have been killed nationwide since January.
Abdullah Obal, a leader in the opposition coalition that signed the deal, said his group would meet with protesters to try to address their demands.
"The agreement does not cancel the youth's demands or go against them," he said. "It is their right to protest."
___
Hubbard reported from Cairo.
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শনিবার, ২৬ নভেম্বর, ২০১১
NH gay marriage push highlights GOP shifts (AP)
CONCORD, N.H. ? Whether they like it or not, Republican presidential candidates are joining New Hampshire's intensifying gay marriage debate.
State lawmakers plan in the coming weeks to take up a measure to repeal the law allowing same-sex couples to wed and a vote is expected at some point in January ? the same month as New Hampshire holds the nation's first Republican presidential primary contest.
Already, candidates have been put on the spot over the divisive hot-button social issue when most, if not all, would rather be talking about the economy, voters' No. 1 concern.
The impending focus on gay marriage carries risk for several of White House contenders ? including former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former businessman Herman Cain ? whose inconsistencies on the topic are well documented. The GOP candidates' increasingly vocal support for "traditional marriage" also threatens to alienate a growing number of younger Republicans and independents here who support legal recognition of same-sex couples. That note of divisiveness could bode poorly for the eventual GOP nominee come the general election.
Even so, the Republican candidates aren't shying away from the topic as they run for the nomination of a GOP dominated by conservatives and pushed further to the right by the tea party over the last few years.
"As conservatives, we believe in the sanctity of life, we believe in the sanctity of traditional marriage, and I applaud those legislators in New Hampshire who are working to defend marriage between one man and one woman realizing that children need to be raised in a loving home by a mother and a father," Perry told a New Hampshire audience recently, becoming the latest contender to address gay marriage directly.
While the issue hasn't yet become a regular talking point on the campaign trail, most Republican candidates declare support for the effort to repeal the law. And groups like the National Organization for Marriage hope to force the presidential contenders to publicly embrace the repeal.
"We will be using all the tools at our disposal to lobby the New Hampshire legislature and the broader population," said Christopher Plante, regional director for the National Organization for Marriage. "One of those tools is the echo chamber of presidential candidates continuing to show their support of marriage as defined by one man and one woman."
Plante concedes that for some candidates, "there has been an evolution on a number of fronts" on this issue.
Romney was the Massachusetts governor when his state legalized gay marriage. The Romney administration, as directed by the courts, granted nearly 200 same-sex marriage requests for gay and lesbian couples in 2005.
Campaign spokesman Ryan Williams said the former governor had little choice but to follow the state Supreme Court ruling at the time. He noted his candidate's consistent opposition to both civil unions and gay marriages, adding that Romney openly supports the New Hampshire repeal effort.
But Romney has reversed himself on whether gay marriage should be addressed at the state or federal level.
This past June, he said during a debate that he favors a federal constitutional amendment banning the practice. That's been his position at least since the beginning of his 2008 presidential bid, when he was the only major Republican candidate to support such an amendment.
But as a Massachusetts Senate candidate back in 1994, Romney told a Boston-area gay newspaper that same-sex marriage is "a state issue as you know ? the authorization of marriage on a same-sex basis falls under state jurisdiction." Aides say it's unfair to scrutinize Romney's position in 1994 ? when there was virtually no discussion of a federal amendment. And they suggest Romney's rivals have far more blatant inconsistencies in recent months.
Both Perry and Cain have drawn conservative criticism for recent comments related to gay marriage.
Asked in mid-October whether he supports a federal marriage amendment, Cain told the Christian Broadcasting Network that federal legislation is necessary to protect traditional marriage. That seemed to be a direct contradiction from his statement of just six days earlier, when he told "Meet the Press" host David Gregory that states should be allowed to make up their own minds.
"I wouldn't seek a constitutional ban for same sex marriage, but I am pro traditional marriage," Cain told Gregory.
In Perry's case, the Texas governor says he supports the New Hampshire repeal. But in July he said that New York's move to legalize gay marriage was "fine by me." A week later, facing social conservative criticism, he walked back the comments.
"It's fine with me that the state is using their sovereign right to decide an issue. Obviously gay marriage is not fine with me," he said then.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has another problem.
Earlier in the fall, he told an Iowa audience that gay marriage is a "temporary aberration" likely to go away because it defies convention. Gingrich, who has been married three times, has a half-sister in a same-sex marriage.
"The truth is that you're living in a world that no longer exists," Candace Gingrich-Jones wrote the former speaker in a letter posted on the Huffington Post in 2008: "In other words, stop being a hater, big bro."
Despite the presidential candidates' support for the New Hampshire repeal, younger Republicans in this state are skeptical, especially as voters are focused on the economy.
"Why is the NH House wasting time trying to repeal gay marriage? Capital ugh," Robert J. Johnson, chairman of the New Hampshire College Republicans, wrote on Twitter.
Polling suggests it may not be a winning issue.
A recent University of New Hampshire poll found that 62 percent of state residents oppose repealing the same-sex marriage law. And nationally, public opinion has gradually shifted toward supporting same-sex marriages, even among Republicans.
An August Associated Press-National Constitution Center poll found that 53 percent of Americans favor legal recognition of same-sex marriages; 32 percent of Republicans say same-sex couples should get some legal recognition from the government, compared with 71 percent among Democrats and 50 percent of independents.
Democrats hope to use the Republican contenders' positions against them in the general election next fall.
"While these radical stances might win them a few votes in their primary, it will lose them the support of the majority Americans, and ultimately put them on the losing side of history," said Ty Matsdorf, spokesman for American Bridge, an independent group aligned with Democrats.
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Report: Iran lawmaker says 12 CIA agents arrested
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? Iran's official news agency has quoted an influential parliamentarian as saying that the country has arrested 12 agents of the American Central Intelligence Agency.
Parliamentarian Parviz Sorouri who sits on the powerful committee of foreign policy and national security was quoted by IRNA as saying that the arrested agents planned to strike at Iranian interests with the aid of Israel.
Sorouri said the spy network aimed at damaging Iran in the security, military and nuclear sectors.
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বৃহস্পতিবার, ২৪ নভেম্বর, ২০১১
Video: Bachmann hits the late night circuit
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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/45408163#45408163
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বুধবার, ১৬ নভেম্বর, ২০১১
Women fight 'back of the bus' battle in Jerusalem
JERUSALEM?? The women turned heads as they got on Jerusalem's number 56 bus.
Startled ultra-Orthodox Jewish men looked away as the group mounted a challenge to growing gender segregation in the holy city by boarding the public vehicle from the front door and sitting in its first rows.
As the male passengers averted their gaze, adhering to a traditional edict to avoid sexual temptation, a religious woman at the back of the bus shouted at the protesters: "Deal with the drugs, the crime and prostitution in your own communities first."
Buses and billboards, where some advertisers avoid posting images of women to avoid vandals, have become the latest battlefields in the fight for the soul of Jerusalem, a city sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians.
The boarding of bus 56, one of several segregated routes crossing ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods in the city, was the latest attempt by the Israel Religious Action Center, to end separate seating.
"The new fad is to distance one's self from women as a way to measure piety. The idea that sex is dirty is not part of Judaism. We have to plug this leak before it spills over," said Anat Hoffman, IRAC's executive director.
But a religious woman on the bus, who gave her name only as Bracha, said there was no humiliation in sitting in the rear.
"It is a response to secular extremism. Look how their women parade along the beach in a degrading way," she said.
Black-garbed ultra-Orthodox Jews, known as "Haredim," make up only about 10 percent of Israel's population of 7.7 million.
But their high birthrates and concentration in Jerusalem, where official figures show 26 percent of adult Jews consider themselves Haredim, have stoked fears among the country's secular majority of religious interference in their lifestyle.
The concerns have also spread beyond the city. A group of Israeli generals wrote to the Defense Ministry on Monday saying the military must not give in to Orthodox demands to prevent the mixing of men and women in the ranks.
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Nissim Hasson, vice president of sales at Zohar Hutzot advertising company, said ads showing women in Jerusalem are routinely vandalized.
When it comes to women on posters and billboards, he said, the holy city demands a different set of rules.
"Jerusalem is a symbol, a capital, built on mutual respect, holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims. If you want to be tolerant in this city you cannot advertise women," Hasson said.
Advertising its winter collection, an Israeli fashion company cropped out a female model's head and cleavage from a posters it put up in Jerusalem. In other Israeli cities, the full image ran.
The self-censorship prompted Uri Ayalon, a rabbi who is not a member of the ultra-Orthodox community, to start a Facebook campaign called "Uncensored" in which six women had their photos taken for 150 posters that were put up on Jerusalem billboards.
"We object to the sexist use of women in ads. But it is also important to me that my two daughters grow up in a place where they are not occluded because they are women," Ayalon said.
Tzaphira Stern-Assal, a secular mother of two who volunteered for the photo shoot, said she once put an ad for a dance class in the window of a dance school she runs, only to see it defaced the next day, along with posters of a dance group, with graffiti that read "Blasphemy."
Whenever the school's curtains are left more than a third open, Stern-Assal said, Haredi men soon show up and start banging on the windows.
"It happens all the time," she said. "Do they want it to be everyone's city or just the Haredis'? We want to live in dignity, not to be ashamed and hide behind curtains."
A sidewalk barrier to segregate the sexes went up last month in the Mea Shearim religious neighborhood of Jerusalem during the celebration of a Jewish holiday, mirroring the separation of men and women in Orthodox synagogues.
Secular activists who came to inspect the partition said they were chased away by residents, some of whom threw stones.
Rachel Azaria, a Jerusalem councilwoman, appealed to the Supreme Court against the barrier, which ordered it dismantled.
She was subsequently fired by Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, in what political commentators called a nod to the ultra-Orthodox community's powerful punch in municipal elections.
"Segregation has been happening for a while. What's new is that the pluralistic public has woken up and is fighting. We won't stand it any longer," Azaria told Reuters.
She said a social change movement that swept through Israel in the summer, when hundreds of thousands took to the streets to demand economic reform, has emboldened those battling segregation.
"The public dares now to say its piece. The penny has dropped," she said.
Reliant on religious parties to help form governing coalitions, Israeli leaders have largely steered clear of cutting welfare subsidies to large ultra-Orthodox families, in which many of the men engage in religious studies full time.
Critics have pointed to the burden they put on the Israeli economy, but moves to cut the payments would spell political trouble for any of the country's major parties.
Addressing the religious-secular divide, the Supreme Court ruled this year that women traveling on public buses cannot be ordered to sit in the back.
Signs in Jerusalem buses now say people have a right to sit wherever they wish and that harassing passengers could be a criminal offense.
Critics say that in practice, dozens of bus lines are still gender segregated and that women who want to sit at the front are often subjected to verbal and sometimes physical assaults.
One Haredi woman, who asked not to be identified, said she tried to buy a public transport pass in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood in Jerusalem only to be turned away and told the ticket stand was for men only.
Her husband said they received threatening phone calls when word got out that they had lodged a complaint about the incident.
"Separation is important but in places where it makes sense, like the beach. Now there are calls for it on the light rail. There are segregated grocery shops and sidewalks. There's no basis for it in Jewish law and it's getting more extreme," he said.
Yakov Halperin, head of ultra-Orthodox Yehadut Ha Torah faction in Jerusalem's municipality, said people should stay out of the Haredi community's business.
"If that's what they want, in their neighborhoods, they have the right to ask for it," he said.
"In Sodom and Gomorrah, which were annihilated because of the corrupt generation, there were those who kept the Torah's laws and put up fences in order to protect themselves," he said.
Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45290450/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/
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In Nigeria's northeast, some sympathy for Islamists (Reuters)
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) ? Wiping grease onto his t-shirt outside his bicycle repair shack, Baba Gana points to a bomb blast site across the street and explains why this northeastern Nigerian town has sympathy for radical Islamists who terrorize its inhabitants.
Nervous soldiers crouch behind sandbag bunkers and man dozens of checkpoints along the streets of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, which sits at the base of the rocky Sahel where Africa's most populous nation borders Chad, Cameroon and Niger.
The remote region has been elevated from obscurity in the last two years by the increasingly deadly Boko Haram, whose name in the local Hausa language translates as "Western education is forbidden."
The sect has carried out dozens of assassinations, shootings and bomb attacks in Borno state this year, often targeting military and religious figures.
A military Joint Task Force (JTF) brought in to stem the violence has suffered dozens of casualties and has dealt out swift and firm retribution. Many local residents have said the JTF does more harm than good and Amnesty International accused soldiers of brutalization, unlawful arrests and rights abuses.
Its commanders deny the allegations but admit some "excesses." Borno residents are caught in the center of the violence and believe the cause of the problem lies not in religious ideology but in resentment at the heavy-handed military and the region's economic isolation.
"I was walking inside the market and there was a huge blast, everyone scattered and ran here and there. Many of my friends are dead," Gana says, describing a deadly blast claimed by Boko Haram in July.
SOCIAL INJUSTICE
"We have nothing. This has come from poverty. We have been forgotten by the government and now we are terrorized. When the soldiers come we all leave. They go berserk."
The sophistication of Boko Haram's operations has grown. In August it carried out Nigeria's first known suicide attack when a car bomb exploded at headquarters of the United Nations in the capital Abuja killing 26 people.
The attack was the first to target the international community and security experts said it confirmed signs of cooperation with other Islamist groups, including the North African wing of al Qaeda. Ties that are difficult to trace.
Global jihadist ambitions are not openly apparent in Maiduguri because Boko Haram does not act as one. While some elements may want to target western interests in the capital, the majority are still focused on local issues.
President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian southerner, said last week Boko Haram strikes were "temporary" and like other "terrorist attacks in the world." His statements annoy Borno residents who feel he is disconnected from the region.
"Boko Haram was a result of social injustice. The economy, the finances in the hands of a few. The parents of the youngsters who are coerced into joining Mohammed Yusuf had little or nothing," said Shettima Khalifa Dikwa, chairman of the Voters Forum at University of Maiduguri.
Yusuf, the sect's charismatic leader, was killed in police custody in 2009
"It is more political than religious and it is a solvable. If it escalates it is the fault of the government and JTF. You can't have JTF searching your house, invading your privacy, mistreating people without you having sympathy for Boko Haram."
Shops are boarded up in many parts of Maiduguri and market stalls only sell a few tired looking vegetable after thousands fled this year to escape the violence. Naked children throw fishing nets hopefully into a dried up river bed which trickles water out toward the arid region around Lake Chad.
ISOLATION
It is a far cry from the bustling metropolis of Lagos and wealthy oil business in the south or the grand diplomatic homes and towering ministries of Abuja, where international investors flock, hoping of get a slice of the potential gains offered by a southern-driven economy bursting with potential.
Springing up from the rubble are signs that money has been, and still is, available in Borno. The sites of some of Boko Haram's bomb blasts are easily recognizable by a few freshly painted and unused buildings in their place.
Rising out of one dusty side-street is a vast palace, the home of former governor Ali Modu Sharif, where golden gates and marble pillars show the opulence that the inhabitants of Maiduguri, many of whom live on less than $2 a day, so resent.
These feelings were the source of the sect's beginnings in the early 2000s. Yusuf preached to youths an alternative future to the western education and traditional rules of local government, which he believed had failed them by stealing state funds and leaving Borno impoverished.
Yusuf's warnings went unchecked and violence erupted in 2009 after hundreds were attracted by his rhetoric and promises. Yusuf was killed in police custody that year, heightening suspicion of authorities and gaining support for his cause.
Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi said last month that for more than a decade Borno has been known to be Nigeria's poorest state but these problems have not been addressed.
Until the underlying local issues are resolved, the small minority of radical jihadists in Nigeria and in neighboring countries will have an increasing number of disillusioned youths to recruit into their campaign against western targets.
"Religion or ethnicity are just identity tools that are appropriated to justify violence and express anger. Once the underlying cause is eradicated those things lose their potency," Sanusi said.
(Editing by Giles Elgood)
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মঙ্গলবার, ১৫ নভেম্বর, ২০১১
Need an Olympic party venue? Try a royal palace
LONDON?? The parties will be at the palace ? at least during next year's Summer Olympics.
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Queen Elizabeth II has approved renting out fancy rooms at St. James's Palace as party venues during the 2012 London Olympics.
Buckingham Palace says holders of royal warrants ? companies with long-standing ties to the royal family ? will be given a chance to rent the rooms, called state apartments, during the games, which begin July 27 and last until Aug. 12.
A palace spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined Monday to say which state apartments would be available, but the palace has the Throne Room, the Tapestry Room and the Queen Anne Room, among others.
The move is unprecedented, but also shows that even the queen has been affected by British austerity measures. "We're not immune to that," the spokesman said of the tough times.
Built between 1531-1536, St. James's Palace was a residence of kings and queens for over 300 years ? although Buckingham Palace has been the home of the monarch since the time of Queen Victoria. Located in central London near Buckingham Palace, it houses the offices of several members of the royal family including Prince William and Prince Harry.
It is often used for official functions and is not open to the public.
Besides offering the ultimate in exclusive party venue addresses, the palace also has another huge selling point for those interested in corporate hospitality. St. James is only a short stroll from Horse Guards Parade, the venue for one of the most popular events of the games: beach volleyball.
But it won't come cheap. Britain's Daily Mail reports that the cost of renting the rooms would be a whopping 30,000 pounds ($47,500) a day.
The Olympics presents a unique opportunity for businesses.
Corporate sponsors of the games are willing to offer millions for the chance to be closely associated with the Olympics. Besides the name recognition, those sponsors get tickets ? and hold lavish parties where they bring their most important clients.
By allowing royal warrant holders the chance to rent rooms for events, the queen will be helping businesses that mostly are too small to pay what that the likes of Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Visa hand over to be tied to the Olympic movement.
But what if you aren't a sponsor, don't have a royal warrant but want to sleep in a palace during the games? Fear not, there is at least one option.
Leeds Castle, about an hour outside of London, might consider an offer to book the place.
Victoria Wallace, the castle's chief executive, declined to offer a cost on renting the turreted castle surrounded by a lake and sloping acres of parkland. The palace normally rents its grounds for events but mindful of the interest in deluxe accommodations during the Summer Olympics, she said the castle might consider a tailored "bespoke" package if there was interest.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45287157/ns/travel-destination_travel/
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Arab-American man arrested by mistake in Michigan (Reuters)
(Reuters) ? The Arab-American head of a Dearborn, Michigan community center was arrested by local police on suspicion of being wanted for funneling money to Lebanon's Hezbollah, but was later found to be the wrong man and released, the FBI said on Saturday.
Ali Hammoud, the head of the Bint Jebail Cultural Center, was taken into custody on Friday at his home on an arrest warrant, said Dearborn police Sergeant Edward Fries.
The FBI said the identifying information, including his name, that Dearborn police relied on when officers arrested him matched that of a man wanted on an outstanding warrant, said FBI spokeswoman Sandra Berchtold. FBI agents later met with Hammoud in custody.
"He was determined to not be the person identified in the warrant," Berchtold said.
Hammoud's arrest on Friday and his release on Saturday galvanized the Arab-American community in greater Detroit, said his attorney Majed Moughni.
"He was released within 12 hours because they realized they had a hot potato and this was something they did not want to deal with," Moughni said. "They had a very angry community who was sick and tired of seeing this witch hunt."
Hammoud, who is in his mid-60s, has previously been misidentified as the man with the same name wanted in a federal indictment that accuses 18 individuals of running a cigarette smuggling ring to funnel money to the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, Moughni said.
Hezbollah, a militant group in Lebanon backed by Iran and Syria, is on the U.S. State Department list of organization's it says support terrorism.
Moughni said his client's community center is well known in greater Detroit and that it largely serves immigrants from a village in southern Lebanon, where Hammoud was born.
The Ali Hammoud identified in the indictment has fled to Lebanon, Moughni said.
The circumstances of Hammoud's arrest were unclear. The FBI and Dearborn police said that he was arrested after a traffic stop, but Moughni said that his client returned home from dinner and found police waiting outside his home.
"This is a very respected community leader, he's well liked, well known," Moughni said.
Moughni said his client, who has three sons who are doctors, is declining to speak to the media.
(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Greg McCune)
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Obama calls waterboarding 'torture' (AP)
KAPOLEI, Hawaii ? President Barack Obama says the interrogation technique known as waterboarding constitutes torturing, disputing Republican presidential candidates who say they would reinstate the practice.
Obama called waterboarding "torture" and said it was "contrary to America's traditions" during a news conference at the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
Republicans Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann said during a Republican debate on Saturday that they would reinstate the technique that former President George W. Bush authorized and Obama banned.
The practice simulates drowning and is viewed as torture by many.
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রবিবার, ১৩ নভেম্বর, ২০১১
Microsoft?s Former Virtualization Director To Launch PaperShare, A ?Social Content Network?
In about two weeks, we will see the formal launch of PaperShare, a social content and information network for technology professionals, although you can access the site now if you wish (word about the venture actually got out a few months ago). PaperShare was started by David Greschler (co-founder of Softricity App-V, and until recently, director of virtualization and cloud strategy at Microsoft) and Doug Brown (founder of popular virtualization site DABCC).Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Bjc-jZygMb8/
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Palmer leads Raiders to 24-17 win over Bolts (AP)
SAN DIEGO ? Carson Palmer is catching on with Oakland just as the Raiders are regaining their swagger.
Palmer threw two touchdown passes and Michael Bush ran 30 times for a season-high 157 yards and one touchdown to lead Oakland to a 24-17 win over San Diego on Thursday night, the Chargers' fourth straight loss.
The Raiders (5-4) broke a two-game losing streak and took a half-game lead over the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC West.
Palmer was 14 of 20 for 299 yards, with one interception. He threw touchdown passes of 33 and 26 yards to Denarius Moore in his second start and third appearance since being acquired in a trade with Cincinnati. Palmer had been semi-retired and living in Del Mar, just north of San Diego, before being traded. His next-door neighbor is Chargers coach Norv Turner.
The Raiders have won three straight against the Chargers. Before that, San Diego had won 13 straight in a rivalry that dates to the AFL.
"We had a real good rhythm going," Palmer said. "There were some great play calls at the right time. We still have some things to get better at, but it's just good to come into this environment and get a win."
The Raiders traded for Palmer after Jason Campbell went down.
"I know the man, I know what he is and what we have," coach Hue Jackson said. "We haven't seen the best of him yet. He's just warming up."
Last December, Palmer helped crush the Chargers' playoff hopes when he threw four touchdown passes as the Bengals stunned San Diego.
Palmer said he's put in "long days, long nights," in getting back to form. "It has been information overload at times just trying to get everything in and whittle it down into a game plan."
Bush helped carry the load for the Raiders with his running and also had three catches for 85 yards.
The Chargers (4-5) looked dismal most of the night and lost left tackle Marcus McNeill, right guard Louis Vasquez and linebacker Takeo Spikes to injuries.
Philip Rivers struggled again as the Chargers hit their longest losing streak since they started 0-5 in 2003.
"We're in a rough stretch right now. We get a few days off to take a deep breath," Rivers said.
With the Chargers threatening to tie it, Rivers was intercepted in the end zone by Matt Giordano with 3:22 left. It was Rivers' NFL- and career-high 15th interception. Rivers was sacked on consecutive plays near midfield to end the game. He fumbled on the final play, giving him an NFL-high 19 turnovers.
Rivers was 23 of 47 for 274 yards. He was sacked six times as the Raiders overwhelmed Brandyn Dombrowski, who replaced McNeill at left tackle.
"Obviously some of the offensive linemen went down and we smelled blood and we just went after him," Raiders defensive tackle Richard Seymour said.
"All week our defensive coordinator said, `Hey, they can score from anywhere on the field and it's going to be up to our defensive front to get pressure on the quarterback,'" Seymour added. "We knew we could get it done but it was going to be a collective effort."
Rivers said Oakland "in a lot of ways is built to be up 14 because they can pound it and obviously Carson played great today. They have a huge defensive front and they can just rush four and play coverage, coverage, coverage, because they know you've got to throw it a lot."
The Raiders had 14-point leads in the second and third quarters, and San Diego could never quite catch up.
San Diego struggled in the first half, going three-and-out four straight times after getting a 20-yard field goal by Nick Novak on the opening drive.
Rivers was only 4 of 11 for 44 yards for a passer rating of 49.1. By comparison, Raiders punter Shane Lechler had a rating of 39.6 by going 0 for 1. Sebastian Janikowski has a sore hamstring, so the Raiders tried a fake punt from the Chargers' 34 on their first drive. Lechler threw a pass to Jacoby Ford, who was mauled by Quentin Jammer because pass interference can't be called in a punt formation.
Bush scored on a 2-yard leap over the pile late in the first quarter and Janikowski kicked a 23-yard field goal on the next drive. Palmer threw a 33-yard scoring pass to Moore for a 17-3 lead that held up at halftime.
The Chargers finally came to life on the first drive of the second half, capped by rookie Vincent Brown's leaping catch of a 30-yard touchdown pass in double coverage, his first NFL score, to pull to 17-10.
Rivers completed five passes on the drive, one more than he had in the first half, and the Chargers gained 80 yards, compared to 65 yards total in the first half.
The Raiders pushed the lead to 24-10 on the next drive after Palmer found Moore for a 26-yard score. Two plays earlier, Bush gained 55 yards on a screen pass.
Brown appeared to come down with another great TD catch in the third quarter, this one for 33 yards. But referee Ed Hochuli overturned it on replay, saying that since the defender landed out of bounds with his hand on the ball, it was considered out of bounds.
"It really is pretty clear cut," Hochuli said.
Three plays later, Rivers found fullback Jacob Hester for a 7-yard TD pass to pull to 24-17.
NOTES: Raiders WR Ford left with a foot injury after a 41-yard reception late in the first quarter. ... The Raiders, playing without injured Darren McFadden, rushed for 191 yards. When they beat the Chargers here in December, they ran for 251 yards.
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Students protest firing of college coach Paterno (Reuters)
STATE COLLEGE, Pennsylvania (Reuters) ? Thousands of Penn State University students took to the streets around campus overnight on Thursday to protest the sacking of their beloved football coach, Joe Paterno, in the fallout from a child abuse scandal and cover-up.
Chanting "Hell no, Joe won't go" and "We want Joe back," students overturned a television van during the protest in the university town of State College.
Scores of police and state troopers, some in riot gear, tried to clear the streets, and some officers used pepper spray to disperse the demonstrators. Authorities were not immediately available to say whether there had been any arrests.
"I feel bad about the victims, obviously, and people are shocked. I have friends on the team and they are really upset about it," said student Kele Powell, 19, on Thursday.
Penn State, its football program and Paterno, 84, -- a legendary name in American sports -- were thrown into turmoil on Saturday when long-time assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, 67, was charged with sexually abusing at least eight young boys over a decade.
Two other university officials, former athletic director Tim Curley and former finance official Gary Schultz, have also been charged with failing to report an incident in 2002 when Sandusky allegedly was seen sexually assaulting a child. All three men have denied the charges.
Paterno was also made aware of the accusations in 2002 and said in a statement on Wednesday: "I wish I had done more."
A ninth possible victim, now in his 20s, has since come forward and Pennsylvania police have set up a telephone hotline to receive information about the sexual abuse allegations.
THE END
The university's board of trustees fired Paterno and Penn State University President Graham Spanier late on Wednesday, thwarting a bid by Paterno to leave on his own terms after a 46-year career as head coach.
Paterno has won two national championships, more games than any other college football coach and the adoration of Penn State's students, alumni and staff. He had said earlier on Wednesday that he would step down at the end of the season, a few weeks from now.
The student newspaper The Daily Collegian published a commemorative 12-page tribute to Paterno under the headline "The End." A full-page editorial described the firing of Paterno as an embarrassment for the university and said protests by students "set our university two steps back."
Tom Bradley, currently the defensive coordinator, will take over as interim head coach of the Nittany Lions, starting with Saturday's final home game of the season against the University of Nebraska.
The scandal has rocked the sprawling campus of about 45,000 students in State College in central Pennsylvania, the flagship of about two dozen Penn State campuses across the state.
College football is hugely popular in the United States, drawing massive television audiences every Saturday in the late summer and fall and filling huge stadiums. Penn State University's Beaver Stadium, which seats about 106,000, is one of the largest.
Teams generate millions of dollars in revenue and successful ones raise the profile of their universities. That, in turn, helps fundraising -- such as the $2 billion capital campaign now under way at Penn State.
(Additional reporting by Edith Honan in State College, Mark Shade in Harrisburg and Dave Warner in Philadelphia; Writing by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Jackie Frank)
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Solar truck to sail from soccer fields
Solar Ship
This marketing image shows how an envisioned solar powered cargo ship could transport goods and services to regions of the world without roads, landing strips, and refueling infrastructure.
By John Roach
A new breed of solar-powered flying truck is envisioned that can take off from and land on soccer fields, allowing the delivery of goods and services to regions of the world where no roads lead and few planes can land.
Fields big enough for a game of soccer are just about everywhere, reckons the team behind Toronto-based Solar Ship. The game is, after all, the world's most popular sport. It's played anywhere there's room to kick around a makeshift ball.
The company is building a fleet of delta-shaped ships that are a hybrid between airships and airplanes. They're filled with helium gas, but not enough to lift them off the ground. Solar panels on their body generate electricity from the sun and provide the power to drive them forward and into the air.
According to specifications, the ships can fly up to 1000 kilometers in a day under the power of the sun,?haul up to 12 tons of cargo and reach a top speed of 85 kilometers per hour. The company recently announced the successful flight of its first prototype ship.?
A selection of clips from Solar Ship's test flights of its early prototype hybrid aircraft.
The video shows a helium-filled flying wing aircraft successfully taking off and landing. R&D continues to improve performance, attach solar panels and lightweight batteries. Further details on the status of the project are under wraps due to contractual obligations, a company representative told me.
Solar powered airplanes are nothing new. For example, in 2010 an aircraft called the Solar Impulse completed the first 24 hour flight, a feat that proved aircraft can collect enough energy during the day to stay aloft all night.
But the Solar Ship isn't really designed to compete against solar planes per se, which need a large runway to take off and land. Instead, they are more like delivery trucks designed to access areas with few roads, limited space to take off and land, and scant infrastructure to refuel.
In this sense, the prime competitor is the helicopter, but the range of whirlybirds is limited due to fuel requirements.?
A Solar Ship would have been helpful, for example, when the magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti in 2010, Solar Ship CEO Jay Godsall told the Toronto Star.
It took eight days, he noted, for aid to reach the city of Jacmel. Roads from the capital, Port-au-Prince, were blocked and the airstrip and fueling infrastructure in Jacmel were too damaged to accommodate supply flights from Miami, the closest U.S. city.
"Nobody could land," Godsall told the paper. "If we could make a similar run, and do it here in Ontario, it would an irrefutable demonstration of our aircraft."
We'll have to wait a while longer for that demonstration flight. In the meantime, check out the Solar Ship website and the video below to learn more about the concept.
Solar Ship previews its first three commercial solar-powered aircraft that require no roads, no fuel, no infrastructure.
More on the future of flight:
?
John Roach is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. To learn more about him, check out his website. For more of our Future of Technology series, watch the featured video below.
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As the over-65 population expands, new gadgets and systems will allow seniors to live at home and receive improved healthcare. From sleep-sensing beds to robots piloted by grandchildren, we look at how "health surveillance" can improve quality of life.
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Source: http://futureoftech.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/10/8738069-solar-truck-to-sail-from-soccer-fields
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শনিবার, ১২ নভেম্বর, ২০১১
Penn State tries to pick up pieces in abuse fallout (Reuters)
STATE COLLEGE, Pennsylvania (Reuters) ? Penn State University struggled to stem the damage on Thursday from a sex abuse scandal that ended the 46-year career of football coach Joe Paterno, one of the most revered U.S. sports figures.
Paterno, 84, was fired late on Wednesday after it was revealed he was told in 2002 that his former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky engaged in allegedly sexually inappropriate behavior with a young boy in a campus locker room. While Paterno told his boss, he did not call the police.
NBC News, citing sources, reported on Thursday night that Paterno had hired prominent Washington criminal defense lawyer J. Sedgwick Sollers. Paterno has not been charged with any crimes in the Sandusky case.
A spokesman for Sollers' firm, King and Spalding, could not confirm the report. But Scott Paterno, one of Paterno's sons, tweeted: "No lawyer has been retained."
Separately, the university's athletic department said that Mike McQueary, one of the football team's coaches and a central figure in the sex abuse scandal, would not take part in Saturday's game against the University of Nebraska. It cited "multiple threats" against him.
McQueary was a graduate assistant in 2002 when he saw Sandusky allegedly raping a young boy in the locker room showers. He reported the incident to his supervisors, including Paterno, but not to the police.
Police have plans to boost security at Penn State's final home football game on Saturday, although interim head coach Tom Bradley said he was not concerned about the safety of players.
"We are obviously in a very unprecedented situation," Bradley told a news conference on Thursday of the challenge facing him. "I am going to find a way to restore confidence and start a healing process with everybody."
Sandusky was charged on Saturday with sexually abusing eight young boys over more than a decade and former Penn State athletic director Tim Curley and former finance official Gary Schultz, were charged with failing to report an incident.
Sandusky, Curley and Schultz have all denied the charges.
Along with Paterno, Penn State University President Graham Spanier was also fired on Wednesday after 16 years in the job.
In a statement hours before he was sacked on Wednesday, Paterno announced he would resign and said, "With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more."
He met his legal obligation by reporting the abuse allegation to Curley, legal experts said.
But he stands accused of moral failings for not calling police.
Paterno's fall from grace, weeks after becoming the winningest all-time coach in major U.S. college football, is taking various forms.
On Thursday, Pennsylvania's two U.S. senators, Republican Pat Toomey and Democratic Bob Casey, reversed their nomination for Paterno to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom -- the nation's highest civilian honor.
"We hope the proper authorities will move forward with their investigation without delay," Toomey and Casey said in a joint statement.
Penn State's board of trustees will meet on Friday to appoint a special committee to investigate the events that lead up to the charges against Sandusky outlined by a grand jury. A press briefing is expected in the afternoon.
A ninth possible victim, now in his 20s, has since come forward and Pennsylvania police have set up a telephone hotline to receive information about the sexual abuse allegations.
"I'm still a big Penn State fan, but I wholeheartedly agree with the firing," said Paul Brosky, 40, of Horsham, Pennsylvania, wearing a Penn State shirt. He said Paterno should have reported the incident once he saw nothing was being done.
The interim university president, Rodney Erickson, said on Thursday there would be a full investigation "to determine what failures occurred, who is responsible, and what measures are necessary to insure that this never happens at our University again and that those responsible are held fully accountable."
The scandal has rocked the sprawling campus of about 45,000 students in State College, the flagship of about two dozen Penn State campuses across the state.
MORE PROTESTS?
Severin Laskowski, 19, who works in a local restaurant, worried about Saturday's final home game against Nebraska.
"It will probably be pretty violent. I think there will be another riot," Laskowski said. "I think a lot of people feel really bad and others are pissed off."
State College Police Department Captain John Gardner said he planned to have every available officer working the game and warned students not to take to the streets, describing the crowds who protested on Wednesday evening as a "riotous mob."
"If you truly support Coach Joe or Penn State, this is not the way," Gardner told a news conference. "Stay off the street. The behavior of last night will not be tolerated."
Many intend to show solidarity on Saturday with the victims of the alleged abuse. Fans have been urged to wear blue to the game -- the color associated with a "stop child abuse" campaign -- rather than traditional white.
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett said that Paterno supporters who protested on Wednesday evening were "knuckleheads" and he urged people to remain calm.
Corbett, an ex-officio member of Penn State's board who was state attorney general when authorities started to investigate Sandusky, said he supported the firing of Paterno and Spanier.
"When it comes to the safety of children, there can be no margin of error," Corbett told a news conference. He said he was "disappointed" in the two men for their lack of oversight.
College football is hugely popular in the United States, drawing massive television audiences every Saturday in the late summer and autumn and filling huge stadiums. Penn State's Beaver Stadium, which seats about 106,000, is one of the largest.
Sports experts said Penn State's football program would struggle since potential players now had to decide if they wanted to play for a school clouded by scandal and without their famed coach, who was known for pushing students to be the best they could be on the playing field and in the classroom.
"I think the fallout on recruiting and the team will be extremely long-lived. Joe Paterno is Penn State football," said Josh Helmholdt, Midwest football recruiting analyst at rivals.com. "Other schools are already trying to phone Penn State's recruits."
Teams generate million of dollars in revenue and successful ones raise the profile of their universities. Questions have been raised whether the controversy could harm the university's $2 billion capital campaign.
The university urged donors not to reconsider pledges and assured supporters no funds or philanthropic resources would be used for legal expenses for the university employees charged. (Additional reporting by Edith Honan in State College, Mark Shade in Harrisburg, Ros Krasny in Boston and Dave Warner in Philadelphia; Writing by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Mark Egan, Vicki Allen, Peter Cooney and Paul Simao)
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