Kerry's palate gets workout in Mideast peace talks

JERUSALEM (AP) ? Red tuna and sea bream with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A two-hour lunch of shish tawook and rice with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Back again with Netanyahu, it was hummus and mixed nuts. Secretary of State John Kerry's palate is getting a workout during his stepped-up rounds of Mideast diplomacy.

This is Kerry's fifth trip to the region to try his hand at helping craft a two-state solution, and his flurry of meetings between the Israeli and Palestinian camps have increased expectations that his latest chat 'n chews will yield progress in getting the two sides to reopen negotiations to end their decades-long conflict.

Kerry's initial plans to talk to both sides just once before traveling on to Brunei for a Southeast Asia security conference have turned instead into hurried shuttle diplomacy at a pace that is testing his aides ability to book the logistics of moving his delegation in tow.

His talks with Israel and the Palestinians head into a third day on Saturday. So far, they have amounted to talks about talks ? discussions to nail down what exactly each side needs to agree to resume negotiations, which broke down in 2008. There have not been any public statements of progress, yet Kerry's changing schedule has spawned rumors that progress has been made.

On Saturday, Kerry heads back to Amman for a second meeting with Abbas in two days. Then, instead of continuing his two-week swing through the Mideast and Asia, Kerry is returning to Jerusalem for a third time for additional meetings, the State Department said.

He began his shuttle diplomacy on Thursday night when he made the 90-minute drive from Amman to Jerusalem in a convoy of SUVs. Once in Jerusalem, he had four hours of talks with Netanyahu and a dinner, which included tuna sashimi with roots salad and wasabi cream, dried salted beef and salmon ceviche with chili, mint and pineapple.

On Friday, he had a two-hour-plus lunch with Abbas, and then returned to Jerusalem ? this time via helicopter ? to meet Netanyahu again. A table in a hotel suite where they talked was filled with trays of hummus, baba ghanoush, spiced pickles, tabouli salad, dates and nuts.

"So soon," Kerry said with a smile as he shook hands with the Israeli leader for the second time in less than 24 hours.

Kerry spokesmen were tight-lipped about how the talks went, saying only that he had a "detailed and substantive" three-hour conversation with Netanyahu.

Israeli officials also have declined to provide details about the talks. Palestinian officials could not be reached for comment despite numerous attempts.

So far, there have been no public signs that the two sides are narrowing their differences. No progress was publicly reported during Kerry's four earlier visits to the region either.

In the past, Abbas has said he won't negotiate unless Israel stops building settlements on war-won lands or accepts its 1967 lines ? before the capture of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in a Mideast war that year ? as a starting point for border talks. The Palestinians claim all three areas for their future state.

Netanyahu has rejected the Palestinian demands, saying there should be no pre-conditions ? though his predecessor conducted talks on the basis of the pre-1967 lines, and the international community views the settlements as illegal or illegitimate.

People who have watched Mideast peace negotiations come and go are skeptical, but hold out hope that a deal can be crafted.

"There's no question that Kerry could be successful restarting negotiations," said Jon Alterman, a Middle East expert from the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "The real question is whether those negotiations can be successful.

"The problem is twofold: First, the parties don't trust each other, and each fears that the other will start negotiations only to pull out and blame the other for the collapse. Second, there's not much political support in either Israel or the Palestinian Authority for negotiations generally, let alone making any concessions to the other side."

State Department officials say that beyond trying to precisely ascertain their conditions for restarting talks, Kerry wanted to talk with them about the positive outcomes, such as enhanced economic growth, of a two-state solution. At the same time, they said he would remind them of what's at stake if the conflict is left unresolved.

Earlier this month, in a speech to the American Jewish Committee Global Forum in Washington, Kerry warned of serious consequences if no deal is reached with what he termed the current "moderate" Palestinian leadership. "The failure of the moderate Palestinian leadership could very well invite the rise of the very thing that we want to avoid: the same extremism in the West Bank that we have seen in Gaza or from southern Lebanon," he told the Jewish audience.

William Quandt, who was involved in negotiations that led to the Camp David Accords and the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty, said Kerry might succeed in getting the two sides back to the table, "but that does not count for much." He said he doubts the two sides have agreed to an outline of territory for a Palestinian state. "I'm not very optimistic," he said.

Efraim Inbar, director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Israel's Bar-Ilan University, doesn't have high hopes for the two sides getting back into negotiations, but said that as long as Kerry continues to visit the region, his attempt won't be seen as a failure.

"As long as he keeps coming, people will have some hope," Inbar said. "He is very perseverant but the chances of him renewing negotiations are very slim."

Inbar said Abbas faces opposition to talks with Israel from within his own Fatah party as well as from its rival, the Islamic militant group Hamas. The Palestinians have been split since 2007 when Hamas overran Gaza ousting forces from the Fatah party led by Western-backed Abbas. Abbas has since governed only in parts of the West Bank, and Hamas rules Gaza.

"The Palestinians are not interested in negotiations because of domestic politics, Hamas pressure and with the whole region becoming more Islamic it's more difficult for them to make a deal," Inbar said. Within Netanyahu's own party, "there are those who are openly saying that negotiations go nowhere," he added.

After meeting with Netanyahu, Kerry visited Israeli President Shimon Peres, who received the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in a landmark interim peace accord in 1003. Peres, who turns 90 in August, encouraged Kerry to soldier on.

"All of us admire your investment in creating really the right environment to open the peace," Peres said. "I know it's still difficult. There are many problems, but as far I am concerned, I can see there is a clear majority for the peace process and the two-state solution and the great expectation that you will do it and that you can do it."

___

Associated Press writers Ian Deitch in Jerusalem and Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kerrys-palate-gets-workout-mideast-peace-talks-191410648.html

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Pending home sales soar to six-year high

homes

Diana Olick CNBC.com

6 hours ago

Joe Raedle / Getty Images

A Sale Pending sign is seen in front of a home on April 29, 2013 in Miami, Florida.

Signed contracts to buy previously owned homes rose to the highest level in six years, according to figures released on Thursday, and rising interest rates may be causing some buyers on the fence to get in quickly before they are priced out.

The Pending Home Sales Index from the National Association of Realtors rose 6.7 percent in May from April, and is now up 12.1 percent from a year ago. A shortage of homes for sale has weighed on the market this year, even as demand increases. Contracts to buy new homes rose to a five-year high in May, according to the U.S. Census.

"Even with limited choices, it appears some of the rise in contract signings could be from buyers wanting to take advantage of current affordability conditions before mortgage interest rates move higher," said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the Realtors.

"This implies a continuation of double-digit price increases from a year earlier, with a strong push from pent-up demand."

(Read More: Rising Mortgage Rates Cause 'Rush to ARMs')

The average rate on the 30-year fixed conforming mortgage is up about 100 basis points from the beginning of May to around 4.5 percent. The rate spiked the most in the past week, before these May contracts were signed.

Pending sales were highest in the West, where prices jumped the highest.

(Read More:Million-Dollar Homes: Summertime Edition)

The index was unchanged in the Northeast in May month-to-month, but was 14.3 percent higher from a year ago. In the Midwest, sales jumped 10.2 percent monthly and were 22.2 percent higher than in May 2012. The South saw a 2.8 percent monthly gain, and is 12.3 percent above a year ago. The index in the West rose 16 percent monthly but is just 1.1 percent higher than it was a year ago, due to limited inventory.

Earlier this week, the latest data showed that U.S. home prices went through the roof in April, posting their biggest monthly gain in seven years.

"The recovery is definitely broad based," said David Blitzer of S&P Dow Jones, which released the latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, showing that from March to April, home prices gained 2.6 percent in the top ten U.S. housing market and 2.5 percent in the top 20 market.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663286/s/2de14522/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Cbusiness0Cpending0Ehome0Esales0Esoar0Esix0Eyear0Ehigh0E6C10A4680A0A4/story01.htm

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Keeper 5.0

Most password managers start as desktop applications, with mobile versions added as the product evolves. Keeper 5.0 ($9.95 per device per year) turns that model on its head. Keeper for iOS and Android came out last year, while its PC-based version wasn't fully finalized until recently. Keeper's password capture and replay process isn't as fully automated as some of its competitors, but by involving the user in the process it handles login scenarios that baffle the competition.

Keeper runs on a wider variety of platforms than most. You can install its desktop application for Windows, Mac OS, or Linux, or install its browser extension for Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. Sorry, Internet Explorer fans, there's no extension for IE.

Pricing and Syncing Options
You can download and install Keeper on any one device for free, and the free edition will manage as many passwords as you like. Its encrypted password storage will remain totally local, which also means you won't be able to log into your passwords from another device. It's also possible to create a Keeper account and use it strictly through the Web application, also free.

However, paying the $9.95 per year subscription for one device opens up quite a few options. You can back up your encrypted credentials to the cloud, for starters, and you can sync between devices. A paid Keeper subscription lets you share credentials with other users, and also qualifies you for 24/7 live support.

You can, of course, add paid subscriptions for all of your devices. However, my Keeper contacts explain that many users pay for one subscription and then use the Web app on other PCs and tablets. At $9.95 per year, a one-device Keeper subscription costs less than LastPass 2.0 Premium ($12 per year) or Dashlane 2.0 ($19.95 per year).

Security Choices
Those looking for maximum security may choose to use Keeper on a single device, without syncing. It's worth noting, though, that Keeper encrypts your data before syncing it to the cloud. Your password isn't stored anywhere, so if you forget it, you'll have to start over. By the same token, the people at Keeper can't be legally compelled to turn over your passwords.

LastPass always keeps your encrypted data on its secure servers. Dashlane gives you the choice of syncing or not. RoboForm Desktop 7 is strictly local, while RoboForm Everywhere 7 will sync across multiple devices.

Keeper's unusual Wi-Fi Sync option lets you sync multiple devices while keeping your data within the local network. With this sync option enabled, your devices can all sync with each other when connected to your own network. Changes made on a device that's away from the network won't be passed along until that device returns, naturally.

As with all password managers, Keeper requires a strong master password that protects all of your other passwords. Unlike LastPass and Dashlane, it doesn't enforce strong password rules, doesn't rate your master password as you type, and doesn't include an actionable security report on the strength of your saved passwords.

By default Keeper logs off after 30 seconds, requiring re-entry of the master password to continue. If you step away from your desk it will probably lock down before your nosy officemate tries for a peek. You can raise the idle-time cut off as high as 10 minutes, but you can't turn it off. That seems like a fine feature to me.

In addition, Keeper can self-destruct after five wrong password attempts. If someone has stolen your laptop, they're not likely to guess the password in five tries. You made it strong, right? Self-destruct here means that it will wipe out the local encrypted copy of your password data. If you recover the computer you can restore the data from a cloud backup.

It's possible you might switch from Keeper to some other password manager. If you do, you'll probably want to erase all of your data from cloud storage. A click of a button (and a confirmation) will do just that.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/JvuNdmEd6os/0,2817,2420942,00.asp

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Somehow This WWII Mickey Mouse Gas Mask Was Supposed to Be Less Creepy

Sometimes parents have to explain things to their kids in more child-friendly terms. During World War II, that meant outfitting a child with a weird Mickey Mouse gas mask.

It was 1942, just about a month after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Fearing imminent chemical attack on American soil, the government issued thousands of gas mask to civilians. But the smallest citizens couldn't fit into the regulation-sized masks. They were too heavy and too big. Plus, aren't those things scary?

Well, while the Mickey Mouse mask might have soothed children, it was possibly scarier for mom and dad. Designed to fit kids 18 months to four years old, the mask was supposed to be worn as a sort of game, to take away some of the fear out of a chemical attack. Although, the masks probably weren't supposed to be so freaky. Sure, a child might be safer. But a mother might look at her toddler and think the real enemy was not the Axis powers across the ocean, but the tiny human with the head of a cartoon mouse with a perma-grin sitting in her lap.

Anyway, with Disney's approval, Sun Rubber Company produced 1,000 of these strange masks in 1942. In 1944, it actually won the Army-Navy E for Excellence for producing them. Sun was supposed to make other versions of the pint-sized mask featuring other cartoon characters later on, but for whatever reason never did.

There aren't very many surviving Mouseketeer masks?one belongs to the U.S. Army Chemical Museum at Ft. McClellan, Alabama. There's another one at the 45th Infantry Division Museum in Oklahoma City, and there's another prototype at the Disney Archives in Burbank. But otherwise, these eerie pictures are the only evidence of the odd relic of WWII. [GasMaskLexikon, AtlasObscoura]

Image credit: AP, Allison Meier/Atlas Obscura

Source: http://gizmodo.com/somehow-this-wwii-mickey-mouse-gas-mask-was-supposed-to-562233743

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Google vindicated by EU court opinion on search index

By Claire Davenport

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Google is subject to EU privacy law but is not obliged to delete sensitive information from its search index, an adviser to the highest European Union court said, in a case that tests whether people can erase harmful content from the Web.

The adviser's opinion vindicates the internet search giant's position that it cannot erase legal content from the Web even if it is harmful to an individual. But the opinion also rejected the view of many internet firms that they are not bound by EU privacy law.

"Requesting search engine service providers to suppress legitimate and legal information that has entered the public domain would entail an interference with the freedom of expression," the court said in a statement communicating Advocate General Niilo Jaaskinen's opinion.

Jaaskinen said that while internet firms operating in the European Union must adhere to national data protection legislation, that did not oblige them to remove personal content produced by others.

"Search engine service providers are not responsible, on the basis of the Data Protection Directive, for personal data appearing on web pages they process," the statement said.

A final judgment on the case is expected before the end of the year. Judges in the European Court of Justice are not bound by the advocate general's opinion, but follow such recommendations in the majority of cases.

The opinion follows a complaint by a Spanish man that an auction notice of his home after it was repossessed infringes his privacy and should be deleted from Google's search results.

It is just one of 180 similar cases in Spain to have content deleted from Google searches. Those cases are on hold pending the EU court's decision.

The original auction notice was published in a Spanish newspaper, which said it was under a legal obligation to publish the notice.

Google welcomed the advocate general's opinion, saying it supported the company's view that deleting such content amounted to censorship.

"This is a good opinion for free expression," Google's Bill Echikson said in an emailed statement.

But Internet companies may be disappointed at the opinion that they should follow EU privacy law even if the data is handled outside the European Union. Many internet firms maintain that handling data outside the 27-member bloc puts them beyond the reach of EU privacy law.

The advocate general disagreed and said that even the presence of an ads business which is fundamental to the business model of companies such as Google means they should follow EU law. If that view is upheld by the ECJ judges it could put search firms under even more pressure to protect the data of privacy hungry Europeans.

Google faces fines in both Spain and France if it does not change its privacy policy, which allows it to collect and combine personal data across its services such as email and Youtube.

(Reporting By Claire Davenport; editing by Rex Merrifield)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/eu-court-says-google-does-not-delete-content-080105451.html

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Wildlife News Roundup (June 15-21, 2013) | The Wildlife Society ...

The western bumble bee (Bombus occidentalis) is one of several bumble bee species in western North America. Recent unexplained die-offs and colony collapses of bumble and honey bees concern farmers who depend on the insects to pollinate their crops. (Credit: USDA Agricultural Research Service)

Oregon State Investigators Look into Death of 25,000 Bumblebees
(WHAS-TV)
It?s a mystery that has prompted an investigation by the state of Oregon. Thousands of dead bumblebees are blanketing a parking lot in Wilsonville. The plaza has about 65 European Linden trees. Since the weekend, dead bumblebees have been falling from the trees. Experts estimate there have been more than 25,000 dead bees. On Sunday, the bees started falling from the trees until shoppers reported them to the various stores. More

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NEWS FROM NORTH AMERICA

One in Eight Bird Species Threatened with Extinction
(CBC)
One in eight bird species worldwide faces the threat of extinction, according to a report released by Birdlife International. And it isn?t just rare birds that are declining. Familiar species such as the barn swallow and purple martin are disappearing at an astonishing rate. In the case of those two birds, 80 to 90 percent of the population was wiped out in the last 20 years. More

Montana Court: Bison Transfer Legal
(The Associated Press via Billings Gazette)
The Montana Supreme Court ruled that Yellowstone National Park bison can be relocated to tribal lands in Montana, reviving a conservation initiative. Bison once numbered in the tens of millions in North America but were nearly driven to extinction by hunters. Government-sponsored conservation efforts in Montana might eventually return the animals to parts of their historic range. More

Wyoming Moose Study Focuses on Large Herd South of Grand Teton
(Yellowstone Gate)
A study on Wyoming?s largest moose herd could guide management decisions about oil and gas leasing in the Wyoming Range, south of Grand Teton National Park. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department, and the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit recently expanded a moose project in the Northern Wyoming Range between Jackson and Pinedale. Researchers collared 65 moose and fitted the animals with satellite tracking collars. More

Burgeoning Population of Ross? Geese May Lead to Hunt in Canada
(CBC News via Alaska Dispatch)
Hunters in Canada?s eastern Arctic territory of Nunavut could soon be firing on a once-threatened species. In the 1960s the Canadian Wildlife Service estimated the population of Ross? geese at 100 thousand. That population has now reached 3 million. The service is now concerned about the impact foraging geese have on the tundra in the Queen Maud Gulf in the Kitikmeot region of Nunavut. More

Research on Montana Wildlife Crossings Nearly Complete
(The Associated Press via Great Falls Tribune)
Wildlife manager Dale Becker still can?t believe how many motorists miss seeing the wildlife overpass arcing over U.S. Highway 93 in Montana. ?Maybe we camouflaged it a little too well,? Becker joked. And if people don?t notice the big grass-topped ?Animal?s Bridge,? how will they realize another 40 underground animal crossings riddle the roadway between Evaro and Polson? More

WILDLIFE HEALTH AND DISEASE NEWS

Indian River Lagoon Mystery Ailment Killing Dolphins, Manatees, Pelicans
(Tampa Bay Times)
The Indian River Lagoon on Florida?s east coast has long been known as the most diverse ecosystem in North America. Its 156 miles of water boast more than 600 species of fish and more than 300 kinds of birds. The lagoon is not just an ecological treasure. To the towns along its edge, it accounts for hundreds of millions in revenue from angling, boating, bird-watching, tourism and other waterfront activities. More

Ottawa Revises Strategy for Chronic Wasting Disease
(The Globe and Mail)
Experts say it may not be possible to eliminate chronic wasting disease in deer and elk in Canada. The fatal infectious disease is so well-established in Saskatchewan and Alberta that the federal government and some provinces are rethinking how to deal with what is commonly known as CWD. In 2005, Ottawa announced a national strategy to control chronic wasting disease in the hope of finding ways to eradicate it. More

Avian Salmonella Outbreak Killing Montana Birds
(Billings Gazette)
Avian salmonella is responsible for an unusually high number of dead birds, particularly red crossbills, in Billings, Mont.-area yards with bird feeders this spring, according to the Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Wildlife disease specialists at the National Wildlife Health Center in Wisconsin identified the naturally occurring bacterium, possibly originating from contaminated food. More

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

RHS ?Sheep-Eating? Plant About to Bloom in Surrey, England
(BBC)
A South American plant with a 10-foot tall flower spike is about to bloom in a Surrey, England, glasshouse for the first time since it was planted 15 years ago. The Royal Horticultural Society at Wisley said the Puya chilensis, a native of Chile, would bloom in the next few days and last about a week. In the Andes, it uses its sharp spines to snare and trap sheep and other animals, which slowly starve to death. More

China Endeavors to Boost Wildlife Protection
(Xinhua via Global Times)
To better protect the country?s biodiversity, China is pooling efforts to further protect endangered species and crack down on illegal animal trafficking. ?China will intensify and coordinate efforts to strengthen wildlife protection,? said Yin Hong, deputy director of the State Forestry Administration, at a recent briefing. China has rich wildlife resources. More than 6,500 vertebrate species, or about 10 percent of the world?s total, live in China, according to SFA. More

A Threat to Conservation in Costa Rica
(The International)
In the early morning of May 31, the body of Costa Rican Jairo Mora Sandoval was found on Mo?n Beach, along the Caribbean coast. Serving as a wildlife conservationist for the Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network, Mora Sandoval and four other volunteers, three Americans and one Spaniard, were kidnapped by five masked gunmen on the night of May 30 and taken to an abandoned house. More

Source: http://news.wildlife.org/featured/wildlife-news-roundup-june-15-21-2013/

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'Bing for Schools' tailors Microsoft's search engine to K-12, cuts ads and filters adult content

Bing is headed to the classroom in a more targeted form, with Redmond announcing this morning a new version of the engine dubbed "Bing for Schools." The initiative takes the standard Bing search engine and cuts all adverts in search, filters "adult content" (the specifications of that are murky) adds more privacy protection, and adds "specialized learning features to enhance digital literacy." Schools can opt in on a per-case basis, and if they do, that will enable the specialized version of Bing on an entire school's network. The program's kicking off "later this year," and interested parties can put their name in the hat right here. Should you like to see the full note introducing Bing for Schools from Microsoft's Bing Behavioral Scientist Matt Wallaert, we've dropped it just beyond the break.

Filed under: Internet, Software, Microsoft

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Source: Microsoft, Bing for Schools

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/PBq3SOb0DTs/

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Iraq attacks kill more than 30

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a Shi'ite mosque in northern Baghdad killing at least 12 people during evening prayers, police and medics said, in the deadliest of a series of attacks that claimed more than 30 lives across Iraq on Saturday.

Sectarian tensions in Iraq and the wider region have been inflamed by the civil war in Syria, where mainly Sunni Muslim rebels are fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, whose Alawite sect derives from Shi'ite Islam.

Insurgents including al Qaeda's Iraqi affiliate have been regaining ground and recruits from the country's Sunni minority, which feels sidelined since the U.S.-led invasion toppled former dictator Saddam Hussein and empowered majority Shi'ites.

"A suicide bomber blew himself up among the worshippers in the middle of evening prayer. There were bodies drenched in blood and others shouting for help while smoke filled the mosque," said a policeman at the scene.

A further 25 people were wounded in the attack, which took place in the Sab al-Bor district near Taji, 20 km (12 miles) north of Baghdad.

Scattered attacks across the country throughout the day killed at least 22 others, around half of them in or near the northern city of Mosul, where a suicide bomber killed four people at a police checkpoint.

In the western province of Anbar, which shares a border with Syria, militants detonated two car bombs near a checkpoint and attacked it with rocket-propelled grenades, killing five policemen.

Two people were killed when gunmen hurled a hand grenade at a gathering of laborers in Tikrit, 150 km (95 miles) north of Baghdad, and a roadside bomb near some restaurants in the center of the capital killed two more.

More than 1,000 people were killed in Iraq in May alone, making it the deadliest month since the sectarian bloodletting of 2006-07.

(Reporting by Kareem Raheem, Kamal Naama and Ziad al-Sanjary; Writing by Isabel Coles; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/suicide-bomber-kills-12-shiite-mosque-baghdad-police-181517624.html

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Snowden charged with espionage, theft in NSA case

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

___

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

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

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Miley Cyrus talks alcohol vs. marijuana dangers

Celebs

Eric R. Danton Rolling Stone

12 hours ago

Jason Kempin / Getty Images

Miley Cyrus in Los Angeles on June 12.

A few years ago, Miley Cyrus learned firsthand the perils of unguarded moments in the digital age when video surfaced of her using a bong, supposedly to smoke a legal substance called salvia -- an incident she later spoofed on "Saturday Night Live." While the pop singer doesn't exactly cop to smoking pot in a new interview with Rolling Stone's Rob Tannenbaum, she doesn't deny it, either.

Stars Go Punk at Met Gala: Miley Cyrus

"I did a song with Snoop Dogg called 'Ashtrays and Heartbreaks,' so people can put it together for themselves," Cyrus says. "I think alcohol is way more dangerous than marijuana -- people can be mad at me for saying that, but I don't care. I've seen a lot of people spiral down with alcohol, but I've never seen that happen with weed."

Marijuana users tend to be more laid-back, Cyrus observes, noting, "As long as it isn't illegal, there are far more dangerous things. And it's legal in the state of California. So I'm happy to live in California, a place where you can be whoever you want to be."

Snoop Lion and Miley Cyrus' Clip for 'Ashtrays and Heartbreaks'

Pot isn't the only illicit substance Cyrus discusses: there's molly, too. The form of ecstasy has popped up in hip-hop this year, to the chagrin of Rick Ross and the disgust of Kendrick Lamar. The way Cyrus pronounces a word in her new song "We Can't Stop" has prompted speculation that she's singing about molly, though she insists she says "Miley."

"I have an accent! So when I say 'Miley,' it must sound like 'molly,'" she says. "You're not allowed to say 'molly' on the radio, so it obviously says 'Miley.' I knew people were gonna wonder what I'm saying in that song."

Not that "Miley" is free of drug connotations, either. "People refer to [cocaine] as 'Miley Cyrus,'" she says, citing Ross' verse on Meek Mills' song "Believe It." "My name is used in hip-hop songs to mean that. So even if I'm saying 'Miley,' people could still find something wrong with it."

The full Q&A with Cyrus will be available in the July 4 summer double issue of Rolling Stone.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/miley-cyrus-i-think-alcohol-way-more-dangerous-marijuana-6C10378095

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Erdogan quiets Istanbul with softer tone, but calm is likely to be brief

Prime Minister Erdogan temporarily placated Turkish protesters by pausing development of Gezi Park, but their grievances run deeper. It will take more to stop demonstrations for good.

By Jeremy Ravinsky,?Contributor / June 14, 2013

Protesters hold hands to isolate an area for others to attend prayers in Taksim square, Friday. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan softened his tone, telling Taksim Square's protesters that he has received their message and will at least temporarily halt plans for redeveloping Gezi Park.

Vadim Ghirda/AP

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Contributor

Jeremy Ravinsky is an intern at the Christian Science Monitor's international desk. Born and raised in Montreal, Canada, Jeremy has lived in Boston for a number of years, attending Tufts University where he is a political science major. Before coming to the Monitor, Jeremy interned at GlobalPost in Boston and Bturn.com in Belgrade, Serbia.

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Today, only a day after issuing his ?final? warning to Taksim Square?s protesters, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan softened his tone, telling them that he has received their message and will at least temporarily halt plans for redeveloping Gezi Park.

After a night of meetings with protest representatives, Mr. Erdogan announced in a speech that the future of Gezi Park, the issue that sparked two-week long anti-government demonstrations, will be decided by the courts, reports?the Guardian.

Although tensions across the country have eased since reaching a fever pitch earlier this week,?many believe that Erdogan?s bid to defuse the unrest won?t be enough to end the demonstrations. For many, the protests are about something much bigger than the issue of Gezi Park: the direction Turkey will take in the future.

Protests began two weeks ago, when a group of peaceful protesters staged a demonstration to attempt to stop the destruction of Gezi Park, one of Istanbul?s last green spaces, to make way for a mall and housing complex. After police violently broke up the sit-in, thousands more took to the streets to protest what they see has the increasingly authoritarian style of Erdogan?s rule and the gradual erosion of secular values by his Islam-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP), says?the Los Angeles Times.

Protesters accuse Erdogan, who won 50 percent of the vote in his last election, of behaving like an autocrat and only representing those who voted for him. Much of the country feels increasingly alienated by controversial policies, such as limiting the sale of alcohol and birth control.

Though at first defiant, even going so far as to label the protesters as "terrorists," Erdogan came under increasing pressure after several brutal police crackdowns which resulted in injuries to some 5,000 people. Yesterday the European Parliament voted to condemn Turkey for its use of violence against the demonstrators. And according to?Today?s Zaman, Germany is seeking to suspend Turkey?s EU accession talks.?

Should the court rule in favor of the government, a referendum will be held over the fate of Gezi Park. But many protesters told The Christian Science Monitor this is not enough.

Demonstrators and others at odds with the government say they are skeptical of its commitment to conducting a free and fair referendum about the park. Many point out that Erdogan could have held such a vote?long before the situation escalated to clashes?between protesters and police.

?We don?t trust the results of these elections. Maybe they?ll change the results,? says Yasin Arslan, an aeronautical engineer now in Gezi Park.?

What?s more, it is not clear that Erdogan's concessions will end the demonstrations. According to Al-Monitor, the Taksim Platform ? a coalition of 80 NGOs leading the protests ? have stated that they will neither honor a referendum nor vacate the park.

This weekend, as protestors remain at their camps, the AKP will be holding mass rallies in Istanbul and Ankara, reports?Today?s Zaman. Widely believed to be displays of force to counter the anti-government protests, AKP officials claim that the rallies are simply a part of their campaign for 2014 municipal elections.

But as Bloomberg points out, opposition parties have called for their cancellation, fearing that the rallies will only stoke tensions.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/c3miSRhkXPI/Erdogan-quiets-Istanbul-with-softer-tone-but-calm-is-likely-to-be-brief

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Best way to learn html/css? - Computers, Math, Science, and ...

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Best way to learn html/css? ??? ???Wrong Planet Autism Forum Index -> Computers, Math, Science, and Technology ???? FedUpAsp Emu Egg Joined: Jun 17, 2013 Posts: 4 Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 6:54 pm?? ?Post subject: Best way to learn html/css? Hi, I love learning but lately I have no patience. What's the best way to learn html and css? Back to top ? '); //--> TechnicalAmateur Emu Egg Joined: Jun 14, 2013 Posts: 5 Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 10:21 pm?? ?Post subject: Just start working with it. Find elements that you want to learn, and learn them. If it doesn't interest me i have no patience to learn it (less than usual) and I'm guessing its the same for you. So try to learn little pieces - paragraph tags, IDs, etc. bit by bit. Back to top ? '); //--> ??? ???Wrong Planet Autism Forum Index -> Computers, Math, Science, and Technology??? ?

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Source: http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt233399.html

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Russia and Britain can bridge differences on Syria: Cameron

By Oliver Holmes BEIRUT (Reuters) - The United States said on Saturday it would keep F-16 fighters and Patriot missiles in Jordan at Amman's request, and Russia bristled at the possibility they could be used to enforce a no-fly zone inside Syria. Washington, which has long called for President Bashar al-Assad to step down, pledged military support to Syrian rebels this week, citing what it said was the Syrian military's use of chemical weapons - an allegation Damascus has denied. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russia-britain-bridge-differences-syria-cameron-163735320.html

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Teen Fiction - Family Tree - Page 1 - Wattpad

I was always an only child, had both my parents Leah and Jeff all to myself- which was a blessing and a curse so-to-speak. My mom got married to her high school sweetheart (Jeff) when she was eighteen, and he was nineteen. It was by God's grace that they were still together.

This story-my story- isn't like all the others, there was no magic, or sorcery, or coincidences. No odd day, no strange?feelings of not belonging- nothing. I was a regular teen girl... and that's where it all started.

****************************************************************************************************************************

"A? You there?" my best friend Courtney asked into the phone before I could even say 'hello?'

"Yeah C, I'm here what's the big news?" I asked considering that she NEVER called me, only texted, and if she called it was big- or at least to her it was...

"Justin Bieber is here- in Georgia!" she squealed

"That was it?" I asked a little disappointed

"Well don't sound too excited."

"C, you know how I'm not in to those 'hot-teen-super-star-overpaid-self-consumed- crazies'" I said rolling my eyes

"I know, your into books..."

"Yep, hey well I gotta go I'm heading into the library, see you, when?"

"Tomorrow."

"Okay tomorrow. Bye."

"Bye." she said and I hung up and went into the library.

I loved how the library looked, it had cream walls and rows of neat orderly books- well except the kid sections...those were always a wreck. ?It had everything and a beautiful loft, surrounded by large windows that lead to a balcony.

I went over to the fantasy section, because I was just in that sorta mood... I fingered through the spines looking through everything from old to new.

I was pretty used to the posters advertising the latest books but one in particular caught my eye... It said:

"Navigate the uncharted waters of your past . Learn what made you... you. Today!"

I went over to it and the small pile of books on the table in front picking one up I read its light green cover, 'The past may lead to the future'

"Hmm." I said holding the hardcover book in my hands I went up to my favorite spot on the balcony. To get there I went up the large stair case and let my hand trail on the sleek wooded railing. It was a little past three, when I reached my spot, it was more or less a porch swing. However it overlooked a beautiful scenery away from the parking lot.?

I was so caught up in the book I didn't even keep track of the time. I checked out the book and rushed home.

"I'm so sorry I was late I-"? I started but stopped when I saw Leah bent over

"Mom?! Are you okay?!" I asked dropping my backpack.

"Yeah they just called." she said with tears in her eyes

"Who called?"?I asked?sitting next to her

"My mom, they said that my grandma wasn't doing well..."

"What do you mean 'wasn't doing well'?"

"They put her on hospice..."

"What?!" I asked my grandma, to my mom was like a second mother to her- maybe even?a first...

"Yeah, when your father gets home tell him that I'm going out to see my mom and I'll be back in a few days."

"But mom you can't just leave-by yourself" I said shocked that she even thought about doing such a thing

"I can and I will." and with that she left for her room to pack. Giving up I went to my room and pulled out a?old spiral notebook and started writing:

Dear Diary,

Mom's acting weird today, she's leaving me and Dad at home while she goes and visits her mom- well I guess I should say visits, her grandma isn't doing well and they put her on hospice.... I don't think mom's handling it well... on the Brightside I got this new book from the library, it's about how cool ancestry is... it comes with a dvd? that helps you make a family tree and even find lost relatives! Well I'm gonna go try it now, I'll give an update tomorrow for sure, or if anything changes tonight.

Ally

I closed my book and put it back in my drawer, then went to try the DVD. When I popped it it it made all sorts of music and fashing lights until it got to the home screen- where I clicked on 'Start Your Tree' A box popped up it said:

Enter Your First and Last Name

Ally Reed

Date of Birth

Source: http://www.wattpad.com/18799008-family-tree?utm_source=rss

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UN says nearly 93,000 killed in Syrian conflict

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syria's spiraling violence has resulted in the confirmed killings of nearly 93,000 people but the real number is likely to be far higher, the United Nations' human rights office said Thursday.

The new death toll released in Geneva points to the seemingly unstoppable carnage that has engulfed Syria for more than two years.

In Damascus, officials said that at least one mortar shell fell on the edge of Damascus International Airport close to the runway, briefly disrupting flights in and out of the capital.

The country's transportation minister Mahmoud Ibrahim Said told Syrian TV that a shell fired by "terrorists" struck near a warehouse, breaking its windows and injuring a worker there.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says rebel fighters targeted the airport with home-made rockets. The attack came a few weeks after the government announced it had secured the Damascus airport road, which had been targeted by rebels in the past.

The incident also came as President Bashar Assad's forces wage an offensive to drive rebels out of central provinces of Homs and Hama, as well as the northern province of Aleppo, following a major success in regaining control of the strategic town of Qusair near the border with Lebanon.

Boosted by their battleground victory, regime forces appear set on securing control of the central region, a linchpin area linking Damascus with regime strongholds on the Mediterranean coast, and Aleppo to the north.

In a new analysis of the Syrian death toll issued in Geneva, the U.N.'s human rights office documented 92,901 killings between March 2011 and the end of April 2013.

But the U.N.'s top human rights official, Navi Pillay, said it was impossible to provide an exact current figure.

The last such analysis, released in January, documented nearly 60,000 killings through the end of November. Since then, U.N. officials had estimated higher numbers.

"The constant flow of killings continues at shockingly high levels, with more than 5,000 killings documented every month since last July," said Pillay. "This is most likely a minimum casualty figure. The true number of those killed is potentially much higher."

Among the victims were at least 6,561 children, including 1,729 children younger than 10.

The conflict in Syria began in March 2011 as largely peaceful protests against Assad's autocratic regime. After a relentless government crackdown on the protests, many Syrians took up arms against the regime, turning the uprising into an armed rebellion that morphed into civil war.

The U.N. said the average monthly number of documented killings has risen from around 1,000 per month in the summer of 2011 to an average of more than 5,000 per month since last July.

At its height from July to October 2012, the number of killings rose above 6,000 per month.

"Civilians are bearing the brunt of widespread, violent and often indiscriminate attacks which are devastating whole swaths of major towns and cities, as well as outlying villages," Pillay said.

"Government forces are shelling and launching aerial attacks on urban areas day in and day out, and are also using strategic missiles and cluster and thermobaric bombs. Opposition forces have also shelled residential areas, albeit using less fire-power, and there have been multiple bombings resulting in casualties in the heart of cities, especially Damascus."

The most documented killings were in rural Damascus, with 17,800 people dead. Next were Homs, with 16,400; Aleppo, 11,900; and Idlib, 10,300.

___

Heilprin reported from Geneva.

___

Online:

Full report: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/SY/HRDAG-Updated-SY-report.pdf

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/un-says-nearly-93-000-killed-syrian-conflict-091350977.html

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Elevated carbon dioxide making arid regions greener

May 31, 2013 ? Scientists have long suspected that a flourishing of green foliage around the globe, observed since the early 1980s in satellite data, springs at least in part from the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere. Now, a study of arid regions around the globe finds that a carbon dioxide "fertilization effect" has, indeed, caused a gradual greening from 1982 to 2010.

Focusing on the southwestern corner of North America, Australia's outback, the Middle East, and some parts of Africa, Randall Donohue of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) in Canberra, Australia and his colleagues developed and applied a mathematical model to predict the extent of the carbon-dioxide (CO₂) fertilization effect. They then tested this prediction by studying satellite imagery and teasing out the influence of carbon dioxide on greening from other factors such as precipitation, air temperature, the amount of light, and land-use changes.

The team's model predicted that foliage would increase by some 5 to 10 percent given the 14 percent increase in atmospheric CO₂ concentration during the study period. The satellite data agreed, showing an 11 percent increase in foliage after adjusting the data for precipitation, yielding "strong support for our hypothesis," the team reports.

"Lots of papers have shown an average increase in vegetation across the globe, and there is a lot of speculation about what's causing that," said Donohue of CSIRO's Land and Water research division, who is lead author of the new study. "Up until this point, they've linked the greening to fairly obvious climatic variables, such as a rise in temperature where it is normally cold or a rise in rainfall where it is normally dry. Lots of those papers speculated about the CO₂ effect, but it has been very difficult to prove."

He and his colleagues present their findings in an article that has been accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union.

The team looked for signs of CO₂ fertilization in arid areas, Donohue said, because "satellites are very good at detecting changes in total leaf cover, and it is in warm, dry environments that the CO₂ effect is expected to most influence leaf cover." Leaf cover is the clue, he added, because "a leaf can extract more carbon from the air during photosynthesis, or lose less water to the air during photosynthesis, or both, due to elevated CO₂." That is the CO₂ fertilization effect.

But leaf cover in warm, wet places like tropical rainforests is already about as extensive as it can get and is unlikely to increase with higher CO₂ concentrations. In warm, dry places, on the other hand, leaf cover is less complete, so plants there will make more leaves if they have enough water to do so. "If elevated CO₂ causes the water use of individual leaves to drop, plants will respond by increasing their total numbers of leaves, and this should be measurable from satellite," Donohue explained.

To tease out the actual CO₂ fertilization effect from other environmental factors in these regions, the researchers first averaged the greenness of each location across 3-year periods to account for changes in soil wetness and then grouped that greenness data from the different locations according to their amounts of precipitation. The team then identified the maximum amount of foliage each group could attain for a given precipitation, and tracked variations in maximum foliage over the course of 20 years. This allowed the scientists to remove the influence of precipitation and other climatic variations and recognize the long-term greening trend.

In addition to greening dry regions, the CO₂ fertilization effect could switch the types of vegetation that dominate in those regions. "Trees are re-invading grass lands, and this could quite possibly be related to the CO₂ effect," Donohue said. "Long lived woody plants are deep rooted and are likely to benefit more than grasses from an increase in CO₂."

"The effect of higher carbon dioxide levels on plant function is an important process that needs greater consideration," said Donohue. "Even if nothing else in the climate changes as global CO₂ levels rise, we will still see significant environmental changes because of the CO₂ fertilization effect."

This study was funded by CSIRO's Sustainable Agriculture Flagship, Water for a Healthy Country Flagship, the Australian Research Council and Land & Water Australia.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/shLc6-c5xgQ/130531105415.htm

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