Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/166812326?client_source=feed&format=rss
thomas kinkade the shining stanford stanford when does daylight savings time end world series mvp rocky horror picture show
Monday, November 28, 2011
Miley Cyrus Proclaims Herself a Stoner In New Video (omg!)
Miley Cyrus, who was seen smoking what she claimed to be the legal herb salvia out of a bong in a video last year, proclaims herself a stoner in a newly released video.
The video, obtained by The Daily, was allegedly shot at the former Hannah Montana star's private 19th birthday party in Los Angeles. In the video, Cyrus is presented a cake featuring Bob Marley by Kelly Osbourne. "You know you're a stoner when friends make you a Bob Marley cake," Cyrus is seen saying. "You know you smoke way too much f------ weed."
Osbourne, 27, then jokes, "I thought salvia was your problem, Miley?"
Billy Ray Cyrus "so sad" over video of Miley hitting a bong
"Let me make something very clear. After Miley's salvia incident we started calling her Bob Miley as a joke! The cake was also a joke! It makes me sick that ?Miley's so-called 'friends' would sell her out and lead people to believe she is someone that she is not," Osbourne tweeted early Sunday shortly after the video appeared online. "You guys, if Miley is not recording/filming/touring she works everyday. How could she possibly do all that if she was a stoner! #think"
TMZ obtained a video of Cyrus smoking out of a bong last December, just a month before the end of her popular Disney Channel series.
"Sorry, guys. I had no idea. Just saw this stuff for the first time myself," her father, Billy Ray Cyrus, wrote at the time. "I'm so sad. There is much beyond my control right now." At the time, Cyrus' parents were in the middle of a divorce, which was subsequently called off last March.
Related Articles on TVGuide.com
alaska weather alaska weather election results gop debate live gop debate live nome alaska nome alaska
NASA launches super-size rover to Mars: 'Go, Go!' (AP)
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. ? A rover of "monster truck" proportions zoomed toward Mars on an 8 1/2-month, 354 million-mile journey Saturday, the biggest, best equipped robot ever sent to explore another planet.
NASA's six-wheeled, one-armed wonder, Curiosity, will reach Mars next summer and use its jackhammer drill, rock-zapping laser machine and other devices to search for evidence that Earth's next-door neighbor might once have been home to the teeniest forms of life.
More than 13,000 invited guests jammed the Kennedy Space Center on Saturday morning to witness NASA's first launch to Mars in four years, and the first flight of a Martian rover in eight years.
Mars fever gripped the crowd.
NASA astrobiologist Pan Conrad, whose carbon compound-seeking instrument is on the rover, wore a bright blue, short-sleeve blouse emblazoned with rockets, planets and the words, "Next stop Mars!" She jumped, cheered and snapped pictures as the Atlas V rocket blasted off. So did Los Alamos National Laboratory's Roger Wiens, a planetary scientist in charge of Curiosity's laser blaster, called ChemCam.
Surrounded by 50 U.S. and French members of his team, Wiens shouted "Go, Go, Go!" as the rocket soared into a cloudy sky. "It was beautiful," he later observed, just as NASA declared the launch a full success.
A few miles away at the space center's visitor complex, Lego teamed up with NASA for a toy spacecraft-building event for children this Thanksgiving holiday weekend. The irresistible lure: 800,000 Lego bricks.
The 1-ton Curiosity ? 10 feet tall, 9 feet wide and 7 feet tall at its mast ? is a mobile, nuclear-powered laboratory holding 10 science instruments that will sample Martian soil and rocks, and with unprecedented skill, analyze them right on the spot.
It's as big as a car. But NASA's Mars exploration program director calls it "the monster truck of Mars."
"It's an enormous mission. It's equivalent of three missions, frankly, and quite an undertaking," said the ecstatic program director, Doug McCuistion. "Science fiction is now science fact. We're flying to Mars. We'll get it on the ground and see what we find."
The primary goal of the $2.5 billion mission is to see whether cold, dry, barren Mars might have been hospitable for microbial life once upon a time ? or might even still be conducive to life now. No actual life detectors are on board; rather, the instruments will hunt for organic compounds.
Curiosity's 7-foot arm has a jackhammer on the end to drill into the Martian red rock, and the 7-foot mast on the rover is topped with high-definition and laser cameras.
With Mars the ultimate goal for astronauts, NASA will use Curiosity to measure radiation at the red planet. The rover also has a weather station on board that will provide temperature, wind and humidity readings; a computer software app with daily weather updates is planned.
No previous Martian rover has been so sophisticated.
The world has launched more than three dozen missions to the ever-alluring Mars, which is more like Earth than the other solar-system planets. Yet fewer than half those quests have succeeded.
Just two weeks ago, a Russian spacecraft ended up stuck in orbit around Earth, rather than en route to the Martian moon Phobos.
"Mars really is the Bermuda Triangle of the solar system," said NASA's Colleen Hartman, assistant associate administrator for science. "It's the death planet, and the United States of America is the only nation in the world that has ever landed and driven robotic explorers on the surface of Mars, and now we're set to do it again."
Curiosity's arrival next August will be particularly hair-raising.
In a spacecraft first, the rover will be lowered onto the Martian surface via a jet pack and tether system similar to the sky cranes used to lower heavy equipment into remote areas on Earth.
Curiosity is too heavy to use air bags like its much smaller predecessors, Spirit and Opportunity, did in 2004. Besides, this new way should provide for a more accurate landing.
Astronauts will need to make similarly precise landings on Mars one day.
Curiosity will spend a minimum of two years roaming around Gale Crater, chosen from among more than 50 potential landing sites because it's so rich in minerals. Scientists said if there is any place on Mars that might have been ripe for life, it may well be there.
The rover should go farther and work harder than any previous Mars explorer because of its power source: 10.6 pounds of radioactive plutonium. The nuclear generator was encased in several protective layers in case of a launch accident.
NASA expects to put at least 12 miles on the odometer, once the rover sets down on the Martian surface.
McCuistion anticipates being blown away by the never-before-seen vistas. "Those first images are going to just be stunning, I believe. It will be like sitting in the bottom of the Grand Canyon," he said at a post-launch news conference.
This is the third astronomical mission to be launched from Cape Canaveral by NASA since the retirement of the venerable space shuttle fleet this summer. The Juno probe is en route to Jupiter, and twin spacecraft named Grail will arrive at Earth's moon on New Year's Eve and Day.
Unlike Juno and Grail, Curiosity suffered development programs and came in two years late and nearly $1 billion over budget. Scientists involved in the project noted Saturday that the money is being spent on Earth, not Mars, and the mission is costing every American about the price of a movie.
"I'll leave you to judge for yourself whether or not that's a movie you'd like to see," said California Institute of Technology's John Grotzinger, the project scientist. "I know that's one I would."
___
Online:
NASA: http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/
Lego: http://legospace.com/
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Vuzix Wrap 1200 hands-on: A 75-inch screen you can throw in a bag (Digital Trends)
Mobile gadgets are the future of consumer technology. Unfortunately, most of us are limited to viewing on-the-go content on the relatively tiny screens of smartphones, tablets and laptops. So, what if you could carry around the equivalent of a 75-inch television anywhere you go? Would you do it? Because that?s exactly what near-eye display (NED) maker Vuzix promises with the Vuxiz Wrap 1200 display glasses. Does the Wrap 1200 really deliver a big-screen experience? We went hands-on to find out.
Getting started
Setting up the Wrap 1200 is surprisingly easy ? basically, you just turn them on, plug them in, sit back and watch your video.A small box containing two AA batteries?powers the glasses, and also has all the controls. Vuzix smartly packs the Wrap 1200 with a pair of rechargeable batteries, and a battery charger that plugs into any USB port. Vuzix claims the glasses deliver five hours of video playback on a single charge. Right out of the box, we found that estimate just about on point ? we watch just about four hours of video before we had to recharge.
The glasses plug into the control box, as does one of the variety of input connectors that also come with the Wrap 1200. They include standard A/V (for DVD players, etc.), component (for gaming systems or Blu-ray), mini HDMI, and even a 30-pin connector for plugging into any of Apple?s variety of iDevices that offer video playback, including the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad devices.
Also included with the Wrap 1200 is a pair of noise-canceling headphones, which plug directly into the glasses. If you?re using an iPhone or other iDevice, you can also simply plug your headphones into the headphone jack and skip the Vuzix headphones altogether.
Look and feel
There?s no way around this one: The Wrap 1200 glasses look ridiculous. Yes, there?s a bit of a sci-fi charm to them, with the shiny, impenetrable black ?lenses? (which simply cove up the screens and other components ? you cannot see through them). Still, you?re not going to win any fashion points wearing a pair of these things. Fortunately, looking cool is not the purpose of the Wrap 1200.Overall, the Wrap 1200 has sturdy construction ? even if it feels somewhat flimsy. We didn?t try chucking the glasses at a brick wall or anything, but we did drop them a couple of times on non-carpeted floors, and nothing happened. That said, we?d be careful when carting the Wrap 1200 around, just as you would with any other expensive piece of gadgetry. (We?ll get to the expensive part here shortly.)
When we first opened the box, and saw the controller box, the headphones, the cord from the glasses to the controller, and the other cord from the controller to whatever it is you decided to plug the Wrap 1200 into, it seemed like far too much to deal with. In reality, however, we were pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to manage all the different bits and pieces. Vuzix also gives you a little black bag you can pack all the various components into, to keep from losing them instantaneously.
Watching video
Of course, the real question is: Does it really look like you?re watching a 75-inch TV? And the answer is? yes, actually, it does. In fact, it?s almost more like watching a movie in a theater, from a seat in the back half of the room.The Wrap 1200 has two screens, one for each eye. Each screen has a resolution of 852 x 480, which gives the image quality a fairly high resolution. Does it look as crisp and clear as watching a movie or TV show off a high-end projector or on a high-definition plasma television? No, not even close. But it does look as though you?re watching a fully-immersive screen that measures at least 75-inches.
We were pleasantly surprised by how enjoyable it was to watch movies on the Vuzix. During the first test, which was only supposed to last about 20 minutes, we ended up watching an entire movie from Netflix via our iPhone 4. After the first 15 minutes or so, we completely forgot we were wearing a pair of silly-looking video glasses.
There are, of course, a number of downsides to the Wrap 1200. First, it is a bit difficult to get the glasses to fit properly. While the screens can rotate up or down to adjust for an optimal viewing angle, the entire contraption still fits rather awkwardly on the face. It???s possible that some of you out there have a mug perfectly suited for the design of the Wrap 1200, but we apparently don???t.
Second, the world around you is fully visible in the lower part of your visual spectrum. That is to say, if there is a lot of movement happening around you, or you?re trying to watch in a very bright room, you?re probably going get annoyed with this device. Vuzix does make a ?Lightshield,? which is made of rubber and fits over the Wrap 1200, but it?s not particularly well designed. Or, at least, we were too dumb to figure out how to attach them properly.
One feature we didn?t get to check out was the Wrap 1200?s 3D playback capabilities. Unfortunately, we didn?t have anything that played 3D video to conduct this test. Since the image quality of the Wrap 1200 is solid, we imagine that 3D looks pretty good. Since we didn?t test that feature, however, that?s simply a guess.
Conclusion
Before we can say anything definitive about the Wrap 1200, it?s important to point out the price: $499. That?s right, these things cost as much as a low-end iPad 2. Because of this high price-point, we can?t fully recommend the Wrap 1200 to everyone. Yes, they are good for watching video content while on an airplane, bus or riding in a car. But for most people, we?d recommend just going with that iPad 2, which has a smaller-than-75-inch screen (9.7-inches, to be exact), but also does a whole lot more than just play videos, and is actually easier to cart around on trips.If Vuzix wants to break into the mainstream, it?s going to have to significantly reduce the cost of its display glasses. (Not to mention making them look less absurd.) Fortunately, the company recently signed a partnership deal with Nokia to develop the next generation of NEDs, which should help move the company toward that goal.
?[Our] current products are bulky, expensive, and lower resolution,? Vuzix CEO Paul Travers told us via email. ?This relationship changes all of that.?
The first NEDs to pack the advanced Nokia technology will ship early next year ? to the U.S. military. Travers says the company is still working out when the next-gen NEDs will be available for the consumer market. But unless you have $500 burning a hole in your pocket, we?d recommend waiting until then to pick up a pair.
This article was originally posted on Digital Trends
More from Digital Trends
Microsoft exec thinks tablets may be a fad, talks of new laser retina display
Like it, love it, stamp it: Stamped social network and app makes recommendations a breeze
Is the world ready for Romo, the smartphone robot?
Best iPhone Apps
nlcs nlcs josh beckett 999 plan the village detroit weather detroit weather
Model Maggie Rizer Gives Birth To Baby Boy ?Zander?
Model Maggie Rizer Gives Birth To Baby Boy “Zander”
Maggie Rizer gave birth to a son, Alexander Rafahi Mehran III, at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Baby Alexander weighed in at 7 lbs., 13 oz. [...]
Model Maggie Rizer Gives Birth To Baby Boy “Zander” Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stupidcelebrities/~3/nhU6N8zuroI/
amy schumer amy schumer ascii art ascii art andrew mason once in a blue moon gwar guitarist
Keith Urban recovering from throat surgery (Reuters)
NASHVILLE (Reuters) ? Country singer Keith Urban underwent successful throat surgery to remove a polyp from his vocal cord earlier this week and is doing fine, the singer's spokesman said on Friday.
Urban had the procedure on Tuesday, and he will not be able to speak for three weeks, spokesman Paul Freundlich told Reuters. The singer is recovering at an undisclosed location.
One day ahead of the procedure, Urban posted a video on his website thanking fans for their support.
"I want to thank you for sending such good wishes for my upcoming surgery," Urban said. "I can't express enough my gratitude to you guys; it feels like family."
He said he had received cards, gifts, emails, flowers and a large basket of items he would need as he recuperates including hand-written notes to hold up when he needs something.
Urban, whose hits include "Long Hot Summer" and "You Look Good in my Shirt," announced earlier in November that he was postponing several shows while he sought medical care.
The polyp developed during his recent "Get Closer World Tour 2011," and in Monday's video Urban took note of the fans who had turned out to see him perform during what he called his "crazy great phenomenal year.
"The tour was incredible for me, and seeing you guys sing along with my new songs was heartening for me. Personally I had an incredibly great time and I was sad to see it end," he said.
Urban is not the only singer to have problems with his vocal cords. In the past month, British pop singer Adele had similar surgery as did Kiss frontman Paul Stanley.
(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
portia de rossi portia de rossi herman cain for president herman cain for president pumpkin bread pumpkin bread linus pauling
Saturday, November 26, 2011
No. 4 Connecticut loses to Central Florida
PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas (AP) ? Marcus Jordan was headed to the foul line for two big shots Friday when a teammate passed along an encouraging message.
"He told me this shot is in my blood," Jordan said.
Yup, like father, like son.
Jordan, the son of Hall of Famer Michael Jordan, made two big free throws to give Central Florida the lead with 3:11 left and the Knights upset No. 4 Connecticut 68-63 in the semifinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis, snapping the Huskies' 16-game winning streak.
Jordan and Keith Clanton each scored 20 points for the Knights (4-1), who trailed by 17 early in the second half. Jordan also had seven rebounds and seven assists.
Jeremy Lamb had 15 points for the defending national champion Huskies (5-1), who lost for the first time since March 5 against Notre Dame. Alex Oriakhi added 14 points and 10 rebounds.
"I can't be more disappointed in how we played," Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said. "We just stopped playing. We couldn't even get the ball inbounded near the end. Nobody stepped up and it was a complete disaster for us."
Calhoun was particularly disappointed in the last four minutes.
"That wasn't a run, it was an avalanche," he said.
Connecticut put together a 10-0 run to take a 50-33 lead with 16 minutes left. Lamb sparked the run with a 3-pointer and also hit two free throws during the surge.
Central Florida then scored 17 of the next 19 points to pull within two. Clanton kicked off the rally with a 3-pointer and Jordan finished the spurt with a 3.
Lamb made another 3 to stretch the Huskies' lead to five, but they couldn't hold off the pesky Knights. Jordan converted a layup, then made the two free throws to give Central Florida a 58-57 advantage. Jordan added four more foul shots down the stretch to preserve the big win.
Jordan was whistled for a technical with 16 minutes left in the game, fueling his big final surge.
"I still don't know why I got the technical," he said. "But I do know I wanted to come out and be more aggressive."
Isaiah Sykes added 10 points, including consecutive layups that stretched Central Florida's lead to 62-57 late in the game. The Knights will face Harvard in the championship game on Saturday.
Andre Drummond finished with 13 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots for the Huskies, who led 38-29 at halftime.
"I feel like I let the team down," Lamb said. "I turned the ball over in key moments. We've lost games before but this hurts. We just need to come out with energy tomorrow and be ready to play."
Connecticut will play No. 22 Florida State in the consolation game on Saturday.
Starting point guard Shabazz Napier had seven of the Huskies' 13 turnovers, compared to eight for the Knights. Lamb had three turnovers.
Napier went 1 for 7 from the field and finished with four points and five assists.
Associated Presskurt busch kurt busch storage auctions storage auctions les miles les miles beyonce dance for you video
Mexico Recaptures Escapees: 6 Inmates Plucked From Sea After Fleeing Island Penal Colony
MEXICO CITY ? Six inmates from the last island penal colony in the Americas were recaptured at sea Thursday after they used buoyant containers and wood planks to try to swim to freedom in an escape reminiscent of the 1973 movie "Papillon."
The Mexican Navy said the inmates used empty plastic gas or water tanks to help stay afloat as they swam about 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of the Islas Marias, a Mexican penal colony where inmates live in small houses and are normally not locked up. Prisoners can tend small gardens and raise food.
The six men were only about 93 kilometers (58 miles) from the Pacific coast resort of Puerto Vallarta when they were spotted by a passing boat early Thursday.
The boat called in a tip to a local naval base, and patrol boats were quickly dispatched to take the men into custody. Photos provided by the Navy showed them men sunburned but alert ? and unhappy ? on the deck of the patrol vessel.
The men were taken back to Puerto Vallarta for a medical check and to be turned back over to prison authorities.
The Islas Marias penal colony lies about 112 kms (70 kms) from the mainland, but the prisoners did not swim to the closest shore, which is due east. Instead they swam about 100 kms (60 miles) south, either because prevailing currents carried them that way, they didn't know where they were going or because they were aiming for Vallarta.
The Pacific ocean forms the main security barrier at the island; while dozens of prisoners are believed to have tried to escape since the penal colony was founded in 1905, local media reports indicate few if any are believed to have made it to the mainland.
The escape bid drew comparisons to the movie "Papillon," in which the main character, played by Dustin Hoffman, uses a buoyancy device to swim away from a penal colony in French Guyana.
Islas Marias is the last island penal colony in the region.
Panama closed Coiba Island, the only other remaining island penal colony in the Americas, in 2004. That same year, Mexico announced it would spend US$2 million to revive the crumbling prison at Islas Marias and increase the inmate population. Normally, about 1,000 to 1,200 inmates are held at the facility.
'; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/25/mexico-catches-escapees-islas-marias_n_1112463.html
pandaria artie lange baby lisa irwin baby lisa irwin pearl jam 20 martha marcy may marlene lacuna
Larry Page-Run Google Shutters 7 More Projects (NewsFactor)
Google is continuing its streamlining efforts, shuttering projects that haven't panned out the way the search-engine giant hoped and folding others into other products as special features. Google's goal is to drive a simpler user experience.
In the latest round of closures, Google is getting rid of seven projects, some better known than others. Urs H?lzle, senior vice president of operations and Google Fellow, laid out the plans for each property, including Google Bookmarks Lists; Google Friend Connect; Google Gears; Google Search Timeline; Google Wave; Knol; and Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal.
"It's good for Google to shutter projects and products that have very limited or no adoption. It helps with focus," said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. "My question, however, is what will happen to Google's vaunted 20 percent time initiative out of which many of these projects came."
Will 20 Percent Live?
A "20 percent project" is a Google philosophy that allows employees to spend one day a week working on something not in the regular job description. News reports have suggested that Google's 20 percent project will continue.
Google's jobs page for engineers notes, "We offer our engineers "20-percent time" so that they're free to work on what they're really passionate about. Google Suggest, AdSense for Content, and Orkut are among the many products of this perk."
But there have been a lot of changes at Google since co-founder Larry Page took over the CEO reins from Eric Schmidt. By his own words, Page has focused much of his energy on increasing Google's velocity and execution since he took over in April. That has meant investing in acquisitions, including $12.5 billion for Motorola, as well as dropping more than 25 projects.
Page killed Google Buzz, for example, but then again it was the project that got the search-engine giant in hot water with the Federal Trade Commission, and Google+ quickly took its place and became more popular than Buzz ever was.
Wave Goodbye
In the latest round of cuts, Google loses Bookmarks Lists, an experimental feature for sharing bookmarks and collaborating with friends. Google will also shed Friend Connect, which allows webmasters to add social features to their sites by embedding a few snippets of code.
Google Gears is going away in March. Gears is a browser extension for creating offline Web applications and stopped supporting new browsers. And Google is moving the Search Timeline graph of historical results for a query.
As of Jan. 31, Wave will become read-only; users will not be able to create new ones. On April 30 Google will turn it off completely. Knol, a project Google launched in 2007 to help improve Web content by enabling experts to collaborate on in-depth articles, is moving.
"In order to continue this work, we've been working with Solvitor and Crowd Favorite to create Annotum, an open-source scholarly authoring and publishing platform based on WordPress," H?lzle said. "Knol will work as usual until April 30, 2012, and you can download your Knols to a file and/or migrate them to WordPress.com."
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/search/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20111123/bs_nf/81100
california earthquake california earthquake jenna lyons jenna lyons stephen sondheim san francisco earthquake san francisco earthquake
Rebecca Tinsley: The Man Who Died of Complications
I've been sent a photo of a man missing two-thirds of his head. He lies on rocky ground in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan. The picture was taken by a fellow Nuban on his cell phone, moments after a Sudanese armed forces bombing raid killed his friend.
Although the wound was caused by a piece of shrapnel, it is more accurate to say the man died from complications. The more complicated the cause of a conflict, the less likely it is that the media will cover it or the international community will apply the diplomatic pressure necessary to stop the killing.
If the Sudanese man's village had been struck by an earthquake or a mudslide, he and his family would have been much better off. Television cameras would be there, recording the triumph of the human spirit over adversity and humanitarian aid would rush to the site of the natural disaster.
Sadly the same does not apply when it comes to complicated situations like Sudan, where unarmed civilians are being wiped out by a vengeful regime, bent on extinguishing all internal opposition. The architects of this suffering know we have other priorities, and when they face no consequences, they carry on with impunity, secure in the knowledge our words amount to nothing.
Our diplomats and politicians base their response by calculating how far our national security or business interests coincide with our lofty speeches about human rights and democracy. The more complicated the roots of the conflict, the easier it is for our leaders to appease the belligerents. They fall back on statements amounting to, "They're all as bad as each other in this fight." Such moral equivalence conveniently ignores situations such as Sudan, where a regime is killing unarmed civilians on a distinctly un-level playing field.
This also happened during the Bosnian war when our brave humanitarian agencies kept the Muslims alive so the Serbs could kill them at their leisure. Yet, it took us years to address the political causes of the conflict, by which time 100,000 innocent bystanders had been slaughtered (1). Once the international community showed the Serbs it was united and serious, the Serbs ran away. Sadly, it seems our diplomats and leaders learned few lessons from this inglorious episode.
So it is in Sudan. President Bashir, who seized power in 1989, has been cleansing his country of those who disagree with his plan to create a pure Arab and Muslim nation (2). His definition of Islam ("to cut, to stone, to kill") (3) is not one many co-religionists would rally around, given the choice. However, he has been successful in using poor but biddable proxy groups to do his dirty work.
When the international community chastises Bashir, he says the conflict is complicated, involving ancient ethnic hatreds. To the Arab world, he explains that imperialist Westerners are once again interfering because they hate Muslims and Arabs: and he points to our recent track record to make his case. (4)
Of course it isn't just the racism of Bashir's regime that explains why sundry regional conflicts have dragged on for decades. Like all efficient architects of genocide, Bashir has manipulated people who previously lived in peace to start seeing each other as different because of their ethnicity or faith. Milosevic did it in the former Yugoslavia, and politicians in the West use the same 'reframing' to demonize illegal immigrants. It's an age-old strategy: when you're making a hash of your economy, find a scapegoat.
Sudan's problems also involve the fight for resources, the centralization of power in Khartoum, and the displacement of nomads by the southward spread of the Sahara. But for those who reject Bashir's miserable, mono-cultural vision, and the accompanying massive human rights abuses, the task is to demystify and thereby to engage people everywhere to defend the ideal of pluralism and tolerant coexistence.
This purpose is not helped by some regional experts who seem to take pleasure in telling the world that the causes of Sudan's war are too complicated for mere mortals to understand. Their explanations provoke a massive glazing over of eyes. Like self-important handymen or lawyers, they make their work sound more sophisticated than it actually is.
There is a simple bottom line in Sudan: unarmed civilians continue to be killed by a ruthless regime. Instead of speaking with one voice, the international community holds back from enforcing a stack of UN resolutions that might give President Bashir pause for thought. We prevaricate, fearful of using soft power like targeted economic sanctions, all the while lecturing the world about human rights and democracy. It's not that complicated after all: we are hypocrites, and Bashir has blood on his hands.
?
?
?
Follow Rebecca Tinsley on Twitter: www.twitter.com/beckytinsley
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rebecca-tinsley/the-man-who-died-of-compl_b_1109504.html
peru earthquake big 12 last minute halloween costumes rum diary klipsch image s4 chris bosh world series
Friday, November 25, 2011
Libya vows to work with ICC in case of Gadhafi son (AP)
TRIPOLI, Libya ? A prosecutor of the International Criminal Court says that Libya's transitional leaders have vowed to work with his institution and with the United Nations in investigating alleged crimes committed by Moammar Gadhafi's recently captured son and one-time heir apparent.
ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told The Associated Press on Thursday that he received the pledge in a letter from National Transitional Council chairman Mustafa Abdul-Jalil.
Moreno-Ocampo said he was satisfied with that move, despite Libya's continued refusal of the court's request to surrender Seif al-Islam Gadhafi.
In the letter, Abdul-Jalil writes that the Libyan judiciary has "primary responsibility" to try Seif al-Islam, the only Gadhafi family member in Libyan custody.
curmudgeon daylight savings time 2011 selena daylight savings bobolink bobolink breeders cup
Analysis: Crisis casts doubt on China rebalancing plans (Reuters)
BEIJING (Reuters) ? China has been forced into self-help mode after a series of international crises have hollowed out its export markets and left it feeling like the only man standing.
But Beijing may not have time to administer its ideal medicine -- a project to spur domestic demand.
Instead, policymakers may be spurred to action by a sharp weakening in the domestic picture -- and the measures they choose are likely to err on the side of growth at any cost, rather than much-needed restructuring.
"My concern is that when we look at the numbers they are very reminiscent of early 2008 and that was not a good scene," said Arthur Kroeber of economics consultancy Dragonomics. He asserts that weaknesses in steel demand and construction are signs that all is not well in China.
"They see things slowing down so they will do what they can, which means all rebalancing will be kicked down the road," Kroeber said. "They are more interested in retaining growth through the channels they have."
Or, as China's vice premier Wang Qishan put it this week: "An unbalanced recovery would be better than a balanced recession."
Already, bank lending is reviving, after months of a credit crunch that starved China's private sector -- the most productive in terms of jobs and taxes -- forcing more and more companies to turn to underground banking and loan sharks for funds.
This week, China confirmed it is pressing ahead with a vast spending plan for so-called "strategic sectors."
Other measures by which China might stimulate growth include a pilot VAT tax reform and some reduction of fees to smaller firms -- both of which should help the private sector which had been left out in the cold during the past three years of emphasis on big, state-owned firms.
There are voices calling for serious structural reform -- sometimes from surprising quarters. Prominent newspapers carried an editorial from an Agricultural Bank of China economist saying that a stronger yuan would help China transform its economic model, and another editorial from a vice minister of industry saying that the overseas crises would force Chinese industry to raise its competitiveness.
Long Yongtu, the man who negotiated China's entry to the World Trade Organization, told Reuters that provincial leaders support a greater opening of the economy.
LOOK TO YOUR OWN HOUSE FIRST
Internationally, the financial crises roiling the West are expected to hit China's export sector, which still accounts for about 15 percent of GDP and employs millions in the coastal regions.
But worryingly, the latest HSBC purchasing managers' index showed that while new orders for exports held their ground, overall orders had their biggest drop in a year and a half -- implying that domestic demand is as much a concern as exports.
China's factory sector shrank the most in nearly three years in November, data released on Wednesday showed [ID:nL4E7MN0EA].
China has long said it wants to reorient the economy toward more sustainable, consumer-led growth. But the huge stimulus it launched to stave off a slowdown during the global financial crisis of 2008 -- a program totaling about $650 billion -- had the opposite effect. It transferred more of the nation's assets to the less productive state sector.
Return on investment in China is falling fast, in yet another sign that deferring restructuring can only eke out a few more years of rapid growth.
"I think it will take another 3-5 years before we see a real rebalancing. At the moment, growth is very much driven by investment," said Kevin Lai, senior economist at Daiwa Capital Markets in Hong Kong.
"If you talk about investment ratio close to 50 percent, that's too high."
But driving demand is a long-term project. Among other things, it would require structural changes to give more space to the private sector, and would include better welfare and health programs so that China's savers are willing to spend more of their cash.
"The bottleneck for GDP growth is not supply. The Chinese economy is oversupplied with goods. The shortage is demand," Li Daokui, an advisor to China's central bank, said at a conference last week.
This time around, China has confirmed it wants to see a staggering 10 trillion yuan ($1.57 trillion) put into strategic industries over the next five years, most of that through corporate spending and bank lending rather than direct government stimulus.
TARGETED SECTORS
The targeted sectors include alternative energy, biotechnology, new-generation information technology, high-end equipment manufacturing, advanced materials, alternative-fuel cars and energy-saving and environmentally friendly technologies -- all buzzwords for the new, more sustainable Chinese economy.
But the details of where exactly the money would be spent remain foggy. Some of the likely big ticket items include nuclear power and rail investment, but the latter has been scaled back due to the Railway Ministry's high debt levels and a fatal crash. Even China's most ambitious nuclear investment scenario would not require that much spending.
Arguably, what China's high-tech sector needs is more competition and protection for intellectual property advances, not companies with connections being force-fed cash.
Past experiences provide a sober lesson. A few years ago, China eagerly promoted its solar power sector as a sign of its commitment to new energy and jobs at home. But what actually happened is that most of the panels produced headed overseas due to lack of domestic incentives for solar power.
Now that overseas markets have weakened, the solar power sector is reeling from overcapacity and plummeting prices.
($1 = 6.3608 Chinese yuan)
(Additional reporting by Nick Edwards and Kevin Yao in BEIJING; Editing by Don Durfee and Richard Borsuk)
sean hannity jose reyes albert haynesworth kroy biermann nene leakes duggars danny woodhead
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Ravi Wine Chiller Review
There are various wines out there, red, white, Chablis, Riesling, etc. but no matter what kind of wine you desire there are those out there that like their wine served at room temperature? and some who prefer it chilled. ?? However, keeping wine in one’s refrigerator can make the wine too cold and not properly [...]
Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2011/11/24/ravi-wine-chiller-review/
lizard lick towing jenny mccarthy megatron richard simmons war of 1812 war of 1812 jeffrey eugenides
HBT: Labor peace nice, but at what cost?
The MLBPA had held out for so long in not selling out those entering the league. That all changed in recent weeks.
Tuesday?s newly announced CBA doesn?t technically cap draft spending, but it will severely punish any team that exceeds MLB?s proposed slot caps. Teams that go 10 percent over slot will be taxed by 100 percent that amount and lose future first- and second-round picks. Teams that go 15 percent over slot will face the same tax and lose two future first-round picks.
The CBA also eliminated major league deals for draft picks, which might well have allowed teams a workaround for giving prospects extra bonuses.
MLB owners now have pretty much the draft they?ve already wanted. Reportedly, there are even provisions to go to a worldwide draft by 2014, cutting further into the already reduced bonuses Latin American prospects are now facing.
For baseball as a whole, this is a gloomy day. Yes, labor peace is nice. So is having the best talent possible playing in MLB. Part of what made baseball so tempting for two-sport athletes all this time is that they can cash in right after high school. Now that the bonuses are going to be smaller, the next Carl Crawford or Matt Holliday may well opt for football. Also, it?d be no surprise if we start seeing the occasional high-profile Latin American prospect and major league draftee choose to begin his pro career in Japan.
And where will that extra money go? To Juan Rivera, of course. It?s players like Mark Ellis, Rod Barajas and Javier Lopez that will take advantage. That middle class of free agents, whose portion of the pie had gotten smaller as the last decade went along, is starting to see a big rebound now. Those teams that blanch at the idea of spending $20 million per year on a superstar never see the problem with spending $4 million-$5 million per year on a player who might be 10 percent better than a guy making the minimum.
Which is great for the MLBPA, as it?s presently constituted. The players looked out for No. 1 and will definitely benefit in the short term. The game itself, though, is a little less healthier than it was a month ago.
bob knight lavar arrington yu darvish hope solo dancing with the stars hope solo dancing with the stars jack wagner matt jones
3 police officers found dead in Mexico border city
PIEDRAS NEGRAS, Mexico?? Assailants kidnapped and killed three police officers in the Mexican border city of Acuna, authorities said Monday.
-
Only on msnbc.com
- Updated 114 minutes ago 11/22/2011 11:59:48 AM +00:00 Chat live with Chinese activist Ai Weiwei at 9 a.m. ET
- US retirement out of reach, couple heads to Panama
- Updated 69 minutes ago 11/22/2011 12:44:45 PM +00:00 Former Sandusky mentee: He was ?clingy?
- Updated 88 minutes ago 11/22/2011 12:25:40 PM +00:00 Office holiday parties 2011: Tamer, less booze
- Charla Nash reveals ?beautiful? new face
- How Huguette Clark's millions were spent
- GIs reward their best friends, the dogs of war
Acuna Public Safety Department said in a statement that the three were on patrol in the same unit when gunmen kidnapped them early Monday.
The officer's bodies were found an hour later in a residential area of Acuna, which is across the border from Del Rio, Texas. They had been shot and their hands were handcuffed, the police department said.
Authorities say the Zetas and the Sinaloa drug cartels are fighting each other to control smuggling routes in the state of Coahuila, where Acuna is located.
Last week, gunmen killed a federal prosecutor for the state of Coahuila when he was about to leave his home in the city of Torreon.
A day earlier, gunmen set a fire at the office of the Torreon newspaper El Siglo and fired shots at it. No injuries were reported.
Authorities in the neighboring state of Durango said soldiers dug up the remains of seven people from a pit.
Durango state prosecutors said troops found the remains in the town of San Juan del Rio, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of the state capital, the city of Durango. They gave no other details.
More than 400 bodies have been found in a series of clandestine graves in Tamaulipas and Durango states since April. They are believed to be a result of turf battles between drug cartels.
In Hidalgo, the home state of Zetas leader Heriberto Lazcano, state police chief Damian Canales said authorities detained eight local police officers for allegedly working for the Zetas.
Canales said six of those detained were officers for the town of Actopan and two for the state capital of Pachuca. He said they were detained after the arrest of the former police chief in the town of Arenal, who authorities allege was in charge of recruiting police officers to work for the Zetas.
Canales said the Pachuca city police officers told investigators the Zetas paid them about $360 a month.
Also on Monday, military authorities said soldiers in the border state of Chihuahua detained two police chiefs while they were meeting with an alleged drug trafficker.
Soldiers detained the police chief and a police officer for the town of Gran Morelos and the police chief for the town of Belisario Dominguez while they met with a boss for La Linea, a gang of hit men for the Juarez Cartel, the Defense Department said in a statement.
It said an anonymous phone call led the troops to the meeting in the town of Belisario Dominguez. Soldiers arrested two other men and seized three handguns and four automatic rifles, the statement added.
President Felipe Calderon has been pushing to clean up local and state police forces, whose officers are often corrupt or are coerced by threats into helping drug gangs.
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/45389100/ns/world_news-americas/
pacquiao marquez penn state game radiohead tour cbsnews ufc on fox fight card florida marlins ncaa basketball
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Disgraced ex-Boston archbishop leaves Rome job (AP)
VATICAN CITY ? Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned in disgrace as Boston's archbishop in 2002 after the priest sex abuse scandal erupted in the United States, has retired from his subsequent job as head of a major Roman basilica.
The Vatican said Monday that Pope Benedict XVI had accepted the 80-year-old Law's resignation as archpriest of St. Mary Major basilica and had named Spanish Monsignor Santos Abril y Castello to replace him.
Law's 2004 appointment as the archpriest of one of Rome's most important basilicas had been harshly criticized by victims of priestly sex abuse, who charged that bishops who covered up for pedophile priests should be punished, not rewarded.
Law turned 80 earlier this month. While the pope could have kept him on longer ? the dean of the College of Cardinals will be 84 this week, for example ? Benedict decided to replace him.
The Vatican announcement made no mention of Law's resignation, though, merely noting in a perfunctory, two-line statement that Benedict had named a new archpriest for the basilica.
Law became the first and so far only U.S. bishop to resign for mishandling cases of priests who sexually abused children.
The abuse crisis erupted in Law's Boston in 2002 after church records were made public showing that church officials had reports of priests molesting children, but kept the complaints secret and shuffled some priests from parish to parish rather than remove them or report them to police.
The crisis spread as similar sexual abuse complaints were uncovered in dioceses across the country. To date, U.S. dioceses have paid nearly $3 billion in settlements to victims and other costs.
Law himself was named in hundreds of lawsuits accusing him of failing to protect children from known child molesters. After 18 years leading the nation's fourth-largest archdiocese, Law resigned in 2002, having asked Pope John Paul II twice before receiving permission to step down.
Ten months after he left office, Law's successor, now-Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley, helped broker an $85 million settlement with more than 550 victims of pedophile priests.
While in Rome, Law has been a frequent presence at major Vatican ceremonial and diplomatic events, a lifestyle that galled many abuse victims who have long insisted that the Vatican crack down on bishops who would transfer abusive priests rather than report them to police.
Terrence McKiernan of BishopAccountability.org, an online database of records on clergy abuse cases, said the "unceremonious" way in which Law retired indicated that for the Vatican, an era had come to an end.
"Cardinal Law continued to wield his influence, long after his removal from Boston, to reward men who had worked for him on sexual abuse cases," McKiernan said in an email. "Thankfully, Cardinal Law's sun has finally set in Rome."
Raymond Flynn, the former mayor of Boston and onetime U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, said Law also did plenty of good for the city. He recalled that when Law was appointed in 1984, Boston was still a city divided racially over court-ordered busing. "Religious leaders, Protestant, Jewish and Catholic, led by Cardinal Law, came together at city hall and pledged their unqualified support for racial, social and economic justice," Flynn said.
Law's successor at St. Mary Major ? one of the four basilicas under the direct jurisdiction of the Vatican ? retired earlier this year as the Vatican's ambassador to Slovenia and Macedonia.
Abril y Castello, 76, is also the No. 2 prelate who helps take care of matters dealing with a papal death and runs the Vatican until a new pontiff is elected in a conclave.
Now that he is 80, Law can no longer vote in a conclave, but he remains a cardinal.
ufc 139 fight card cloudy with a chance of meatballs houston nutt houston nutt peter marshall peter marshall zombie boy
ICC prosecutor concedes Libya may try Gaddafi's son (Reuters)
TRIPOLI (Reuters) ? The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor conceded Tuesday that the captured son of Muammar Gaddafi may be tried in Libya rather than in The Hague, meaning he faces the death penalty if convicted.
While ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo met officials in Tripoli, the National Transitional Council (NTC) prepared to unveil a new government line-up that would have to reconcile regional and ideological interests whose rivalry threatens to upset the country's fragile stability.
Three months after Muammar Gaddafi's control over Libya was ended and a month after the former leader was killed on a roadside near his hometown, Libya is struggling to build new institutions out of the wreckage of his 42-year rule.
The Hague-based ICC has indicted Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam, for crimes against humanity. But Moreno-Ocampo said Saif al-Islam, who was captured Saturday, could be tried inside Libya as long as the trial complies with ICC standards.
"Saif is captured so we are here to ensure cooperation. Now in May, we requested an arrest warrant because Libyans could not do justice in Libya. Now as Libyans are decided to do justice, they could do justice and we'll help them to do it, so that is the system," he told reporters on his arrival in Tripoli.
"Our International Criminal Court acts when the national system cannot act. They have decided to do it and that is why we are here to learn and to understand what they are doing and to cooperate."
Libyan officials have promised a fair trial but the country still has the death penalty on its books, whereas the severest punishment the ICC can impose is life imprisonment.
"The law says the primacy is for the national system. If they prosecute the case here, we will discuss with them how to inform the judges and they can do it. But our judges have to be involved," said Moreno-Ocampo.
Saif al-Islam was captured in an ambush deep in the Sahara desert and is now being held in the town of Zintan, in the Western Mountains region where his captors are based.
An NTC spokesman in Tripoli had described the arrest of Saif al-Islam, the last of Muammar Gaddafi's offspring whose whereabouts had been unaccounted for, as "the last chapter in the Libyan drama."
An official in Zintan told Reuters steps were already underway for Saif al-Islam's prosecution. "A Libyan prosecutor met with Saif (on Monday) to conduct a preliminary investigation," said Ahmed Ammar.
REGIONAL RIVALRIES
His arrest, while celebrated by people shooting their weapons into the air around the country, has exposed the tensions between regional clans.
The fighters from Zintan who seized him Saif al-Islam flew him in a cargo plane to their hometown instead of taking him to Tripoli. They are holding him in Zintan until the central government is formed.
The NTC said prime minister designate Abdurrahim El-Keib would be announcing the cabinet line-up at about 5 pm (1500 GMT) Tuesday.
Forming the government -- which will run the country until elections are held -- is tricky because it could inflame regional rivalries if any of the competing groups feel their candidates have been excluded.
Earlier Tuesday, an NTC source told Reuters the council had decided to appoint as the new defense minister the commander from Zintan whose forces captured Saif al-Islam.
Osama Al-Juwali, head of the military council in Zintan, was given the defense job as part of a cabinet line-up in which secularist liberals were dominant and which had no key roles for the Islamists who have been making a bid for power since Gaddafi's fall.
In other appointments, Libya's deputy envoy to the United Nations was named as foreign minister, an oil company executive was made oil minister and the finance minister in the outgoing government was re-appointed, the source said.
However, in an indication of the tensions around the cabinet composition, the source later said some NTC members, after agreeing the appointments, had re-opened the discussions.
"There are some people who do not accept some of the names," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. It was not clear which posts were the subject of debate.
MOUNTAIN POWERBASE
Juwali is a former officer in the Libyan military whose forces from Zintan played a crucial role in the offensive on Tripoli which ended Gaddafi's rule in August. He had not previously been seen as a contender for the defense job.
But he appeared to have staked a claim to the post after forces under his command captured Saif al-Islam, who had been on the run for months.
The defense minister's role had been coveted by Islamists, who assumed powerful roles in the chaos following Gaddafi's fall after being persecuted for years.
The source said the NTC had agreed to appoint Ibrahim Dabbashi, the deputy U.N. envoy, as foreign minister. He came to prominence soon after Libya's revolt erupted in February, when he broke with Gaddafi and sided with the rebellion.
Ali Tarhouni, an academic in the United States who returned from exile to run the oil and finance portfolio in the anti-Gaddafi rebellion, was made finance minister, the source said, while Hassan Ziglam, an executive in a Libyan oil company, was given the oil minister's portfolio.
Many of the most powerful players in post-Gaddafi Libya have opted to stay out of the government, preferring instead to focus on winning office when elections are held. These should take place within eight months, according to a timetable the NTC has set itself.
(Additional reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian, Hisham El Dani in Tripoli, Oliver Holmes and Taha Zargoun in Zintan; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by David Stamp)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111122/wl_nm/us_libya
crimson tide wake forest wake forest day light savings time curmudgeon daylight savings time 2011 selena
Spain's new government faces first test (Reuters)
MADRID (Reuters) ? Prime Minister-elect Mariano Rajoy faces the first test on Tuesday of whether markets have been reassured by his conservative party's sweeping election victory when Spain tries to sell up to 3 billion euros ($4 billion) of short-term government debt.
Investors had hoped for a clear victory for Rajoy's People's Party, which has promised tough measures to tackle the worst economic crisis in decades, but there has been little relief on the markets since his landslide victory.
Spain's borrowing costs are still close to levels that forced Greece and Portugal into an international bailout and Madrid remains at the center of the euro zone debt maelstrom.
Investors are frustrated by a lack of detail on Rajoy's plans and he showed no sign of hurrying after his victory on Sunday, saying he will keep impatient markets and edgy Spaniards guessing until he is sworn in just before Christmas.
Signs before the auction around 0940 GMT were not encouraging with yields on the 3-month bill on the secondary market more than double those recorded at the previous primary auction last month, making short-term financing costs the highest in 14-years.
The People's Party (PP), voted in by a sweeping majority on Sunday as angry voters dumped the ruling Socialists, is not expected to take power formally until around December 20, under an agonizingly long transition required by Spanish law.
Rajoy says he will hold his first cabinet meeting on December 23, and has resisted pressure to at least give some crumbs to nervous investors on precisely what he intends to do to cut the deficit and restore market confidence.
The PP's manifesto was short on policy detail, as Rajoy sat back and relied on anger over a grinding crisis that has put one in five Spaniards out of work--the highest rate in the European Union -- to rocket him to the biggest election win in 30 years.
"The need for immediate action from the new government is pressing, with Spain's bond yields at punishingly high levels," said IHS Global Insight economist Raj Badiani.
REFORMS
The new government plans to introduce three reforms in its first cabinet meeting to tackle these key areas, Expansion newspaper reported on Tuesday citing PP sources.
The measures will tighten budgetary limits on Spain's over-spending regional governments, force banks to acknowledge losses on toxic real estate assets on their balance sheets and speed up reform of the country's rigid labor market, the paper said.
Rajoy, offered close co-operation by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a phone call after his victory, says he will also wait until just before Christmas to name the new economy minister.
Before the elections, he pleaded with markets to give him 'preferably more than half an hour' to get his cabinet and program in place.
Spain is paying investors close to 7 percent interest to hold its 10-year bonds, a rate considered unsustainable over any length of time.
After Greece, Ireland and Portugal had to ask for bailouts, the escalating euro zone crisis has spread right to its center with Italy and France's also now under pressure.
Once he does take power, unlike many of his predecessors, Rajoy will have a free hand with an absolute majority that enables him to govern without making deals with parties in Spain's autonomous regions to pass unpopular measures.
But the austerity measures he will take could make things worse before they get better as Spain slides toward the second recession in two years and the dole queues of 5 million unemployed are likely to get longer.
Many Spaniards expect renewed protests on the streets as his measures begin to bite. ($1 = 0.7425 euros)
(Additional reporting by Paul Day, writing by Barry Moody)
zachary quinto ashley judd brewers harbaugh the walking dead season 2 milwaukee brewers will power
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Allen, Farrow's son named Rhodes scholar
Ronan Farrow, the son of Woody Allen and Mia Farrow who works as a State Department special adviser on global youth issues, has been named a Rhodes Scholar.
Farrow, 23, a Yale Law School graduate and Washington resident, is one of 32 Rhodes Scholars representing the United States announced by the Rhodes Trust at the weekend.
The former child prodigy entered Bard College at age 11, and was accepted by Yale Law at 16. He works as Special Advisor for Global Youth Issues for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He is also a political commentator on U.S. television and has written about human rights issues for newspapers.
Farrow was named Satchel Ronan O'Sullivan Farrow at birth, and became the subject of a high-profile custody suit between his parents after Allen's relationship with Mia Farrow's adopted daughter, Soon-Yi, was revealed.
Allen and Farrow separated in 1992 and Farrow won custody.
Rhodes Scholarships, created in 1902, provide all expenses for two or three years of study at the University of Oxford in England. The latest scholars will enter in October 2012.
Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45388368/ns/today-entertainment/
mcrib pumpkin seeds mark herzlich malawi malawi angela davis angela davis
Exclusive: The capture of Gaddafi's son (Reuters)
OBARI, Libya (Reuters) ? The chic black sweater and jeans were gone. So too the combat khaki T-shirt of his televised last stand in Tripoli. Designer stubble had become bushy black beard after months on the run.
But the rimless glasses, framing those piercing eyes above that straight fine nose, gave him away despite the flowing nomad robes held close across his face.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, doctor of the London School of Economics, one-time reformer turned scourge of the rebels against his dictator father, was now a prisoner, bundled aboard an old Libyan air force transport plane near the oil-drilling outpost of Obari, deep in the Sahara desert.
The interim government's spokesman billed it as the "final act of the Libyan drama." But there would be no closing soliloquy from the lead player, scion of the dynasty that Muammar Gaddafi, self-styled "king of kings," had once hoped might rule Africa.
A Reuters reporter aboard the flight approached the 39-year-old prisoner as he huddled on a bench at the rear of the growling, Soviet-era Antonov. The man who held court to the world's media in the early months of the Arab Spring was now on a 90-minute flight bound for the town of Zintan near Tripoli.
He sat frowning, silent and seemingly lost in thought for part of the way, nursing his right hand, bandaged around the thumb and two fingers. At other times he chatted calmly with his captors and even posed for a picture.
IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT
Gaddafi's run had come to an end just a few hours earlier, at dead of night on a desert track, as he and a handful of trusted companions tried to thread their way through patrols of former rebel fighters intent on blocking their escape over the border.
"At the beginning he was very scared. He thought we would kill him," said Ahmed Ammar, one of the 15 fighters who captured Gaddafi. The fighters, from Zintan's Khaled bin al-Waleed Brigade, intercepted the fugitives' two 4x4 vehicles 40 miles out in the desert.
"But we talked to him in a friendly way and made him more relaxed and we said, 'We won't hurt you'."
The capture of Saif al-Islam is the latest dramatic chapter in the series of revolts that have swept the Arab world. The first uprising toppled the Ben Ali government in Tunisia early this year.
The upheaval spread to Egypt, forcing out long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak in February; swept Libya, where the capital Tripoli fell to rebels this summer and Muammar Gaddafi died after being beaten and abused by captors last month; and is now threatening the Assad family's four-decade grip on Syria.
Saif al-Islam was the smiling face of the Muammar Gaddafi's power structure. He won personal credibility at the highest echelons of international society, especially in London, where he helped tidy up the reputation of Libya via a personal charitable foundation. He threw that reputation away in the uprising, emerging as one of the hardest of hard-liners against the rebels.
This account of his capture and his final month on the run is based on interviews with the younger Gaddafi's captors and the prisoner himself. The scenes of his flight into captivity were witnessed by the Reuters reporter and a Reuters cameraman and photographer who were also aboard the plane.
FACING DEATH PENALTY
Caught exactly a month after his father met a violent end, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi is wanted by the International Criminal Court at The Hague on charges of crimes against humanity - specifically for allegedly ordering the killing of unarmed protesters last spring. Libya's interim leaders want him to stand trial at home and say they won't extradite him; the justice minister said he faces the death penalty.
His attempt to flee began on October 19, under NATO fire from the tribal bastion of Bani Walid, 100 miles from the capital. Ammar and his fellow fighters said they believed he had been hiding since then in the desolate tracts of the mountainous Brak al-Shati region.
Aides who were captured at Bani Walid said Saif al-Islam's convoy had been hit by a NATO air strike in a place nearby called Wadi Zamzam - "Holy Water River." Since then, there had been speculation that nomadic tribesmen once lionized by his father might have been working to spirit him across Libya's southern borders - perhaps, like his surviving brothers, sister and mother, into Niger or Algeria.
He did not get that far. Obari is a good 200 miles from either. But his captors believe he was headed for Niger, once a beneficiary of Muammar Gaddafi's oil-fueled largesse, which has granted asylum to Saif al-Islam's brother Saadi.
"WHO ARE YOU?"
Ammar said his unit, scouring the desert for weeks, received a tip-off that a small group of Gaddafi loyalists - they did not know who - would be heading on a certain route toward Obari. Lying in wait, they spotted two all-terrain vehicles grinding through the darkness.
"We fired in the air and into the ground in front of them," Ammar said. The small convoy pulled up, perhaps hoping to brazen it out.
"Who are you?" Adeljwani Ali Ahmed, the leader of the squad, demanded to know of the man he took to be the main passenger in the group.
"Abdelsalam," came the reply.
It's a common enough name, though it means "servant of peace" in Arabic; Saif al-Islam's real name means "Sword of Islam."
Ahmed, sizing the man up, took Ammar aside and whispered: "I think that's Saif."
Turning back to the car, a Toyota Land cruiser of a type favored on these rugged desert tracks, Ammar said: "I know who you are. I know you."
CASH AND KALASHNIKOVS
The game was up. The militiamen retrieved several Kalashnikov rifles, a hand grenade and, one of the Zintani fighters said, some $4,000 in cash from the vehicles.
It was a tiny haul from a man whose father commanded one of the best-equipped armies in Africa and who is suspected by many of holding the keys - in his head - to billions stolen from the Libyan state and stashed in secret bank accounts abroad.
"He didn't say anything," Ammar said. "He was very scared and then eventually he asked where we are from, and we said we are Libyans. He asked from which city and we said Zintan."
Zintan sits far from the spot of Gaddafi's capture in the Western, or Nafusa, Mountains, just a couple of hours drive south of the capital. The people of Zintan put together an effective militia in the uprising, and they are seeking to parlay their military prowess into political clout as new leaders in Tripoli try to form a government.
At Obari, a fly-speck of a place dominated by the oil operations of a Spanish company, Zintan fighters have extended their writ since the war deep into traditionally pro-Gaddafi country peopled by Tuaregs, nomadic tribes who recognize no borders.
The Zintanis are also a force in the capital. Saturday morning, the Antonov flew to Obari from Tripoli, bearing the new tricolor flag of "Free Libya" - and piloted by a former air force colonel turned Zintan rebel. Just a few minutes after it landed, the purpose of the flight became clear.
FLIGHT TO CAPTIVITY
Five prisoners, escorted by about 10 fighters in an array of desert camouflage, piled aboard, ranging themselves on benches along the sides of the spartan hold of the Antonov An-32, which is designed to carry four dozen paratroopers.
Two of the men were handcuffed together. A third had his arms cuffed in front of him. A dozen or so bulky black bags were carried in, and some thin mattresses - the scant belongings of the prisoners, their captors said.
All wore casual, modern dress - with the exception of Saif al-Islam.
His brown robe, turban and face scarf, open sandals on his feet, were typical of the Tuaregs of the region. The choice of costume offered concealment for a man more commonly seen in sharp suits and smart casual wear, and a visual echo of his late father's penchant for dressing up.
As they shuffled on the benches, rifle butts scraping on the metal floor, one of the guards said: "He is afraid now."
The pilot, though, said that he had had a paternal word with the 39-year-old captive and put him at ease before he was brought on board.
"LIKE A SMALL CHILD"
"I spoke to him like he was a small child," said Abdullah al-Mehdi, a diminutive, heavily mustachioed ball of energy in a green jumpsuit. His ambition - typical of Zintanis in these anarchic days in Libya - is to start up a whole new air force.
"I told him he would not be beaten and he wouldn't be hurt and I gave my word," said Mehdi.
He and the other two crew in the cockpit chain-smoked their way through the flight, navigating over the barren wastes the old-fashioned way, on analog instruments, with just occasional help from a new GPS device clamped awkwardly to the windshield.
The howl of the propellers was numbing, and there was little conversation during the flight.
Saif al-Islam by turns stared ahead or turned back to crane his neck out at the land he once was in line to rule. Every so often, holding his scarf across his mouth Tuareg-fashion, he would say a few words to a guard.
The calm was in stark contrast to the frenzy that greeted the capture of Muammar Gaddafi on October 20 as he tried to flee the siege of his hometown of Sirte, on the Mediterranean coast.
Fighters from the long embattled city of Misrata filmed themselves on cellphones hammering the fallen leader, howling for revenge and inflicting a series of indignities on him before his body was displayed to crowds of sightseers for several days.
SURROUNDED
The reporter caught Saif al-Islam's eye a few times, but on each occasion he looked away. At one point he asked for water, and a bottle from the journalist's pack was passed up to him. The other prisoners, too, did not want to speak.
After the plane bumped down on the tarmac in the mountains at Zintan, it was surrounded within minutes by hundreds of people - some cheering, some clearly angry, many shouting the rebels' Islamic battle cry, "Allahu Akbar!" (God is Greatest).
Some held up cellphones to the few windows in the cargo hold, hoping to catch a snap of the most wanted man in Libya. At one point others were rattling the catches of the doors, intent it seemed on storming inside.
While his companions, clearly nervous, huddled together, Saif al-Islam seemed calm. He sat back and waited. The plane rocked gently as crowds clambered over the wings. The prisoners talked a little to each other and the guards.
Asked about The Hague court's statement that he was in touch through intermediaries about turning himself in to the international judges - who cannot impose the death penalty - he seemed to take offence: "It's all lies. I've never been in touch with them."
After more than an hour, the fighters decided they could get the other four captives off. They were helped out of the front door. Gaddafi remained where he was, on his own at the back, silent and aloof.
INJURED HAND
A further hour went by, the crowds still idling on the runway. The guards suggested it was time for the journalists to leave.
Moving back to speak to the solitary Gaddafi, the reporter asked, in English: "Are you OK?"
"Yes," he replied, looking up.
The reporter pointed to his injured hand. He said simply: "Air force, air force."
"NATO?"
"Yes. One month ago."
The reporter moved past him to the aircraft steps. Gaddafi looked up and, without a word, briefly took her hand.
Later, television footage showed him being helped off the plane as people among the crowd on the tarmac tried to slap him. His captors shoved him into a car and sped off for a hiding place somewhere in town.
(Additional reporting by Mahmoud al-Farjani in Obari and Oliver Holmes in Zintan; Writing by Alastair Macdonald in Tripoli; Editing by Michael Williams)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111121/wl_nm/us_libya_son
kristin davis phillies phillies philadelphia phillies sand dollar sand dollar just dance 3
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)