Sunday, June 30, 2013

Alex Rodriguez Talks Relationship With Yankees, Says He 'Can't Wait To Get Back'

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Alex Rodriguez says he feels great and his relationship with the New York Yankees is fine.

Rodriguez didn't indicate when he will start a minor league injury rehabilitation assignment or rejoin the big league team, saying Saturday he "can't wait to get back."

"So far, no issues," Rodriguez said. "I'm just working really hard. I'm having fun. It's exciting to be back on the field."

The All-Star third baseman is taking at-bats at the Yankees' minor league complex as he comes back from hip surgery in January. He also is fielding grounders, running the bases and doing sliding drills.

"I feel like my swing is definitely getting back to form," Rodriguez said. "(Defensively) moving better the last few days. Everything is coming along."

His rehabilitation became a point of contention in the past week.

Rodriguez posted Tuesday evening on Twitter that his hip surgeon had cleared him to play in rehab games, an announcement that angered general manager Brian Cashman because Rodriguez has not been given the go-ahead by team doctors.

When asked if everything is OK with the Yankees, Rodriguez said "absolutely."

"Ready to get back on the field," Rodriguez said. "All good."

Yankees captain Derek Jeter took five simulated at-bats, which included a swinging strikeout and line drive single to right off 20-year old Cuban left-hander Omar Luis.

The shortstop ran four times first to third and four times from third to first on the grass just behind the infield dirt.

Eduardo Nunez, who strained a muscle on his left side while filling in for Jeter, is set to play in his third minor league game Sunday with Class A Tampa.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/29/alex-rodriguez-relationship-yankees-cant-wait_n_3523113.html

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Looking to Africa's future, Obama to cite Mandela, civil rights

By Mark Felsenthal

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will challenge Africans to renew efforts to expand economic growth and democratic government in a speech Sunday, invoking the legacies of Nelson Mandela and the U.S. civil rights movement in overcoming obstacles to achieve change.

"There's been progress that nobody could have imagined in terms of a freer, more equal democratic society here in South Africa, and in many parts of the continent," deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters traveling with the president.

But despite those changes, millions still live in extreme poverty, some African governments suppress democratic rights, and there are still children dying of preventable diseases, Rhodes said.

"It's not as if the work was completed here in South Africa or anywhere else in the world simply with the current status quo," he said.

The president is setting the stage for the key address of his eight-day Africa trip by traveling to Robben Island, where Mandela was jailed for 18 of his 27 years in prison, and by delivering the speech at the University of Cape Town, where Robert F. Kennedy gave the anti-apartheid movement heart with his 1966 "Day of Affirmation" speech.

Obama has sought to make his visit, which many Africans felt was long overdue, an extended showcase for U.S-African trade and commercial ties. But those themes have been to some extent overshadowed by concerns over the fast failing health of the 94-year old Mandela.

The U.S. president, who has been greeted by cheering crowds, but also by protesters in some places, has talked about the importance of stable institutions and Africa's economic potential at every stop. Even so, much of the focus on his visit to South Africa has centered on whether he would encounter Mandela, who is in critical condition in hospital due to a lung infection.

Obama observed the wishes of Mandela's family on Saturday, visiting with them but not Mandela himself. He offered the family words of comfort and praised the retired statesman as one of history's greatest figures.

Mandela was elected president of a multiracial South Africa in 1994, four years after being released from prison. Kennedy's 1966 speech called on young people to continue to press for freedom from oppression, whether it came from apartheid or the denial of civil rights to U.S. blacks, and said each person who stood up against injustice sent forth "a tiny ripple of hope."

Obama is to say that despite the huge changes that ensued since Kennedy gave that speech and over Mandela's lifetime, Africa has big challenges ahead. He talk to his young audience of their responsibility as a new generation to improve economic growth, democratic institutions, and social stability, Rhodes said.

The president winds up his Africa journey with a stop in Tanzania on Monday and Tuesday.

(Editing by Eric Walsh)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/looking-africas-future-obama-cite-mandela-civil-rights-201351420.html

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BlackBerry CEO Confirms No BB10 Update For The Aging PlayBook Tablet

playbook2_toronto_1384c09fHere's a Friday morning PSA for you BlackBerry PlayBook owners: if you were feverishly clutching your tablet in hopes that BlackBerry would finally update it with a shiny new OS, you can finally put them down. BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins just confirmed during the company's Q1 earnings call that the BlackBerry 10 won't be coming to your aging doodad. Tough break, folks.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/CL83eqPTJ3I/

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Saturday, June 29, 2013

US Lab to Reduce Biomedical Testing on Chimpanzees (Voice Of America)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/315890982?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Violence flares in Egypt before weekend rallies

CAIRO (AP) ? Tens of thousands of supporters and opponents of President Mohammed Morsi rallied Friday in Cairo, and both sides fought each other in the second-largest city of Alexandria, where two people were killed ? including an American ? and 85 were injured, officials said.

The competing camps were trying to show their strength before even bigger nationwide protests planned by the opposition Sunday ? the first anniversary of Morsi's inauguration ? aimed at forcing his removal.

The opposition says it will bring millions into the streets across Egypt, and more violence is feared.

The Cairo International Airport was flooded with departing passengers, an exodus that officials said was unprecedented. All flights departing Friday to Europe, the U.S. and the Gulf were fully booked, they said.

Many of those leaving were families of Egyptian officials and businessmen and those of foreign and Arab League diplomats ? as well as many Egyptian Christians, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.

Opposition protesters in Alexandria broke into the local headquarters of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and set fires, throwing papers and furniture out the windows.

For several days, Brotherhood members and opponents of Morsi have battled in cities in the Nile Delta. With Friday's deaths, at least six have been killed this week.

"We must be alert lest we slide into a civil war that does not differentiate between supporters and opponents," warned Sheik Hassan al-Shafie, a senior cleric at Al-Azhar, the country's most eminent Muslim religious institution.

Morsi opponents massed in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the protests in 2011 that ousted longtime leader Hosni Mubarak. The crowd shouted, "Leave, leave" ? this time addressing Morsi. Tents were put up on the grass in the middle of the historic square.

Dozens of protesters also gathered at the gates of the presidential palace in the Heliopolis neighborhood of Cairo, urging him to resign, Egypt's state news agency reported.

At the same time, tens of thousands of Morsi supporters, mainly Islamists, filled a public square outside the Rabia el-Adawiya Mosque, not far from the palace.

"They say the revolution is in Tahrir," said young activist Abdel Rahman Ezz, a Morsi supporter who addressed the crowd. "It is true the revolution started in Tahrir. But shamefully, today the remnants of the old regime are in Tahrir. The revolutionary youth are here."

The palace is one of the sites where the opposition plans to gather Sunday and has been surrounded by concrete walls. Islamist parties have decided to hold a sit-in at nearby Rabia el-Adawiya.

In Alexandria, on the Mediterranean coast, fighting began when thousands of anti-Morsi demonstrators marched toward the Brotherhood's headquarters, where up to 1,000 supporters of the president were deployed, protecting the building.

Someone on the Islamist side opened fire with birdshot on the marchers, and the melee erupted, according to an Associated Press cameraman. Security forces fired tear gas at the Brotherhood supporters, but when the two sides continued battling, they withdrew. Protesters later broke into the building and began to trash it.

Alexandria security chief Gen. Amin Ezz Eddin told Al-Jazeera TV that an American was killed in Sidi Gabr Square while photographing the battle. The U.S. Embassy told The Associated Press it was trying to confirm the report.

A medical official said the American died of gunshot wounds at a hospital. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

The Alexandria health department reported an Egyptian also died from a gunshot wound to the head. It was not immediately known if that victim was a Morsi opponent or supporter.

The country witnessed a wave of attacks against Muslim Brotherhood offices across the country. The Brotherhood's media spokesman, Gehad el-Haddad, said on his Twitter account that eight of his group's headquarters were attacked and looted, and two were burned down.

He accused thugs, remnants of the old regime, including members of Mubarak's disbanded National Democratic Party of being behind the attacks.

Much of the violence was in the provinces of the Nile Delta, north of Cairo.

Protesters stormed an office of the Brotherhood, attacked members inside, injuring 10, and set the office on fire in the city of Shubrakheit, the state news agency said. Others stormed a Brotherhood office in the coastal city of Baltim, destroying electronic equipment, and another of the group's branches was torched in the city of Aga.

Hundreds of protesters in the city of Bassioun threw stones at Freedom and Justice Party offices, tearing down the party sign.

The Brotherhood says at least five of those killed this week were its members. Some people "think they can topple a democratically elected President by killing his support groups," el-Haddad said earlier on his Twitter account.

There were reports of violence from the Islamist side in the Delta as well.

At least six people were injured when an anti-Morsi march was attacked by the president's supporters in the city of Samanod, according to a security official. Attackers fired gunshots and threw acid at the protesters as they passed the house of a local Brotherhood leader, the official said.

In the city of Tanta, four men believed to be Morsi supporters tried to attack a mosque preacher during his sermon, in which he called on worshippers to stand with Al-Azhar's calls to avoid bloodshed.

In Qalioubia, north of Cairo, "popular committees" charged with managing traffic stopped a caravan of more than 90 Islamists heading to Cairo, according to a security official. The group, traveling in a bus and three minibuses, carried Molotov cocktails, clubs and gas cans, the official said.

One small bus escaped, but the others were turned over to police, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to talk with the press.

Each side has insisted it is peaceful and will remain so Sunday, blaming the other for violence.

Tamarod, the activist group whose anti-Morsi petition campaign evolved into Sunday's protest, said in a statement it opposed "to any attack against anybody, whatever the disagreement with this person was," and accused the Brotherhood of sparking violence to scare people from participating Sunday.

Tamarod says it has collected nearly 20 million signatures in the country of 90 million demanding Morsi step down.

"We are against Morsi because he does not govern in the name of the Egyptian people, but in the name of the Brotherhood group," said Ayed Shawqi, a teacher at an anti-Morsi rally in Alexandria.

Outside the Rabia el-Adawiya Mosque, the pro-Morsi crowd waved Egyptian flags while speakers addressed them from a stage. A banner proclaimed, "Support legitimacy," the slogan Morsi's supporters have adopted, arguing that protests must not be allowed to overturn an elected president.

They also waved the Brotherhood's flag ? a green banner with two swords ? and carried Morsi posters and portraits.

"This is a revolution, and there is no other one!" they chanted. Speakers onstage praised the military and the crowd responded with, "The army and the people are one hand," seeking to keep the military on the side of the president.

"Those who burn and those who kill are the traitors of this nation," Brotherhood preacher Safwat Hegazi told the crowd. "Mr. President, use a heavier hand, your kind heart won't be any use. ... We want to complete our revolution and purify our country."

Assem Abdel-Maged, leader of the formerly militant Gamaa Islamiya group, threatened to "sever heads" of opposition supporters if they attacked the military. Rafai Taha, one of the leading figures of Gamaa Islamiya, was also onstage, next to Brotherhood leaders.

In his Friday sermon, the cleric of Rabia el-Adawiya warned that if Morsi is ousted, "there will be no president for the country," and Egypt will descend into "opposition hell."

Pro-Morsi marchers ? many wearing green headbands with the slogans of the Muslim Brotherhood ? chanted religious slogans. "It is for God, not for position or power!" they shouted. "Raise your voice high, Egyptian: Islamic Shariah!"

The anti-Morsi demonstrators in Tahrir Square also waved Egyptian flags. They cheered, clapped, whistled and chanted, "Egypt, Egypt, Egypt. Long live Egypt!" and "The people want the fall of the regime," a phrase heard repeatedly in 2011.

One banner depicted President Barack Obama and said, "Obama supports terrorism."

___

Associated Press writer Steve Negus and Mohammed Khalil of Associated Press Television News contributed to this report from Alexandria.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/violence-flares-egypt-weekend-rallies-210916000.html

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This Building By Luxe Auto Designer Pininfarina Looks Like a Ferrari

This Building By Luxe Auto Designer Pininfarina Looks Like a Ferrari

Pininfarina: you may know it as the high-end Italian firm that designs fast, expensive cars like Ferraris and Lamborghinis. Now, for the first time, its designers are branching out into residential design with a condominium in Singapore. And it looks like the cars they design.

Read more...

    


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/a5NVZhPHWVI/this-building-by-luxe-auto-designer-pininfarina-looks-l-608338157

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Consumer spending rebounds, jobless claims fall

By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Consumer spending rebounded in May and new applications for unemployment benefits fell last week, suggesting the economy remained on a moderate growth path.

The Commerce Department said on Thursday consumer spending increased 0.3 percent last month after a revised 0.3 percent drop in April. Consumer spending in April was previously reported to have declined 0.2 percent.

Last month's spending increase was in line with economists' expectations. When adjusted for inflation, consumer spending rose 0.2 percent last month after dipping 0.1 percent in April.

In a separate report, the Labor Department said initial claims for unemployment benefits fell 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 346,000. The four-week moving average for new claims, which irons out week-to-week volatility, fell 2,750 to 345,750.

U.S. stock index futures slightly added to earlier gains after the data. U.S. Treasuries prices extended price gains and yields fell to session lows, while the dollar pared gains against the yen.

Recent data, including housing, regional factory activity, business spending plans and consumer confidence, have pointed to an economy that is regaining some speed after stumbling early in the second quarter.

That is broadly supportive of the view the Federal Reserve expressed last week that the downside risks to the economy's outlook have waned. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the U.S. central bank could start scaling back on the pace of its monthly bond purchases this year.

Consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of U.S. economic activity. Though the pace of spending has slowed from the 2.6 percent annual rate notched in the first three months of the year, consumers will likely continue to drive growth in the second quarter.

The firming growth theme held as other details of the Commerce Department report showed income grew 0.5 percent last month, the largest gain since February, after nudging up 0.1 percent in April. That reflects a steady pace of job gains.

Households also saved a bit more last month, lifting the saving rate to a five-month high of 3.2 percent.

There was also a bit of inflation in the economy last month, pointing to some pick-up in demand.

A price index for consumer spending inched up 0.1 percent in May after declining two straight months. A core reading that strips out food and energy costs also rose 0.1 percent after being flat in April.

Over the past 12 months, inflation rose 1 percent, still below the Fed's 2 percent target. The index had increased only 0.7 percent in the period through April.

Core prices were up 1.1 percent from a year ago after rising by the same margin in April.

Falling healthcare costs are dampening inflation pressures. Bernanke has said the weak healthcare costs were likely to transitory.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Additional reporting by Doug Palmer; Editing by Neil Stempleman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jobless-claims-fall-346-000-latest-week-123245963.html

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Vows wait, but gay pairs cheer Supreme Court moves

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Backed by rainbow flags and confetti, thousands celebrated in California's streets after U.S. Supreme Court rulings brought major advances for gay marriage proponents in the state and across the country.

Though wedding bells may be weeks away, same-sex couples and their supporters filled city blocks of San Francisco and West Hollywood on Wednesday night to savor the long awaited decisions as thumping music resounded.

"Today the words emblazoned across the Supreme Court ring true: equal justice under law," said Paul Katami, one of the plaintiffs who challenged California's gay marriage ban, as he celebrated in West Hollywood.

In one of two 5-4 rulings, the high court cleared the way for gay marriages to resume in California, holding that the coalition of religious conservative groups that qualified a voter-approved ban for the ballot did not have the authority to defend it after state officials refused. The justices thus let stand a San Francisco trial court's ruling in August 2010 that overturned the ban.

In the other, the court wiped away part of a federal anti-gay marriage law, the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, putting legally married gay couples on equal federal footing with all other married Americans, allowing them to receive the same tax, health and pension benefits.

The court sidestepped the larger question of whether banning gay marriage is unconstitutional, and states other than California and the 12 others where gay couples already have the right to wed were left to hash out the issue within their borders.

As the sun set on San Francisco, a crowd surged from hundreds to several thousand in the city's Castro neighborhood, with rainbow flags and confetti filling the air.

James Reynolds, 45, was among the revelers, saying he had been married to his partner of 23 years several times, including once in California.

"It's been taken away from us," Reynolds said as he stood in a crosswalk near the barrier blocking off the street for the celebration. "But we'll be married again."

In Southern California, an all-day celebration in West Hollywood grew to hundreds by night, including many gay couples dressed in red, white and blue and one sign that read "Today we are American."

Brendan Banfield, 46, stood on the very spot under a tree in West Hollywood Park where in 2008 he married his partner Charles, becoming one of an estimated 18,000 couples that got married during the four-and-a-half months when gay marriage was legal in California.

"I want to cry," Banfield said. "It's been a long journey. I'm grateful I'm alive to see it."

It remained unclear, however, when California's gay marriages might start again. Backers of the ban known as Proposition 8 have 25 days to ask the Supreme Court to reconsider. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also must lift a hold it placed on the lower court order before the state can be free to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Still, state officials moved quickly. Gov. Jerry Brown said he had directed the California Department of Public Health to start issuing licenses as soon as the hold is lifted, and state Attorney General Kamala Harris went even further, publicly urging the appellate court to act ahead of the final word from the Supreme Court.

In the DOMA decision, Justice Anthony Kennedy, joined by the four liberal justices, said the purpose of the federal law was to impose a disadvantage and "a stigma upon all who enter into same-sex marriages."

Justice Antonin Scalia issued a pungent dissent, predicting that the ruling would be used to upend state restrictions on marriage, reading aloud in a packed courtroom that included two couples who sued for the right to marry in California.

"It takes real cheek for today's majority to assure us, as it is going out the door, that a constitutional requirement to give formal recognition to same-sex marriage is not at issue here," Scalia read.

President Barack Obama praised the ruling, labeling DOMA "discrimination enshrined in law."

"It treated loving, committed gay and lesbian couples as a separate and lesser class of people," Obama said in a statement. "The Supreme Court has righted that wrong, and our country is better off for it."

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said he was disappointed in the outcome case and hoped states continue to define marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

Without offering any specifics about their next move, lawyers for Proposition 8 sponsors insisted state officials remained obligated by the California Constitution to enforce the ban, and that the ruling only legalized marriage for the two couples who sued to overturn it.

"What was sought in this lawsuit was a 50-state mandate or to establish there is a fundamental right to same-sex marriage, which the Supreme Court did not rule today," said Austin Nimiocks, senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom.

California's same-sex marriage California has been in overdrive since then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom began issuing marriage licenses to gay couples in 2004. Resulting lawsuits spurred the California Supreme Court to overturn the state's man-woman marriage laws in 2008.

But opponents responded by qualifying Proposition 8 for the ballot, and it passed with 52 percent of the vote.

Katami, the Proposition 8 co-plaintiff, said he and longtime partner Jeff Zarrillo were seeking status only a legal wedding could provide.

"There was something about that word marriage and what it meant," Katami said. "Something about the celebration and the right, the language and the association across the globe that comes with the word marriage."

___

AP writers Mihir Zaveri in San Francisco and Sarah Parvini in West Hollywood contributed to this story.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/vows-wait-gay-pairs-cheer-supreme-court-moves-083428987.html

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Friday, June 28, 2013

Immigration overhaul: Senate passes historic bill

WASHINGTON (AP) ? With a solemnity reserved for momentous occasions, the Senate passed historic legislation Thursday offering the priceless hope of citizenship to millions of immigrants living illegally in America's shadows. The bill also promises a military-style effort to secure the long-porous border with Mexico.

The bipartisan vote was 68-32 on a measure that sits atop President Barack Obama's second-term domestic agenda. But the bill's prospects are highly uncertain in the Republican-controlled House, where party leaders are jockeying for position in advance of expected action next month.

Spectators in galleries that overlook the Senate floor watched expectantly as senators voted one by one from their desks. Some onlookers erupted in chants of "Yes, we can" after Vice President Joe Biden announced the vote result.

After three weeks of debate, there was no doubt about the outcome. Fourteen Republicans joined all 52 Democrats and two independents to support the bill.

In a written statement, Obama coupled praise for the Senate's action with a plea for resolve by supporters as the House works on the issue. "Now is the time when opponents will try their hardest to pull this bipartisan effort apart so they can stop commonsense reform from becoming a reality. We cannot let that happen," said the president, who was traveling in Africa.

In the final hours of debate, members of the so-called Gang of 8, the group that drafted the measure, frequently spoke in personal terms while extolling the bill's virtues, rebutting its critics ? and appealing to the House members who turn comes next.

"Do the right thing for America and for your party," said Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., who said his mother emigrated to the United States from Cuba. "Find common ground. Lean away from the extremes. Opt for reason and govern with us."

Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake said those seeking legal status after living in the United States illegally must "pass a background check, make good on any tax liability and pay a fee and a fine." There are other requirements before citizenship can be obtained, he noted.

He, too, spoke from personal experience, recalling time he spent as a youth working alongside family members and "undocumented migrant labor, largely from Mexico, who worked harder than we did under conditions much more difficult than we endured."

Since then, he said, "I have harbored a feeling of admiration and respect for those who have come to risk life and limb and sacrifice so much to provide a better life for themselves and their families."

The bill's opponents were unrelenting, if outnumbered.

"We will admit dramatically more people than we ever have in our country's history at a time when unemployment is high and the Congressional Budget Office has told us that average wages will go down for 12 years, that gross national product per capita will decline for 25-plus years, that unemployment will go up," said Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.

"The amnesty will occur, but the enforcement is not going to occur, and the policies for future immigration are not serving the national interest."

But with a weeklong July 4 congressional vacation looming, the bill's foes agreed to permit the final vote one day before Senate rules mandated it.

In the Senate, at least, the developments marked an end to years of gridlock on immigration. The shift began taking shape quickly after the 2012 presidential election, when numerous Republican leaders concluded the party must show a more welcoming face to Hispanic voters who had given Obama more than 70 percent of their support.

Even so, division among Republicans was evident as potential 2016 presidential contenders split. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida was one of the Gang of 8, while Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas were opposed to the bill.

The legislation's chief provisions includes numerous steps to prevent future illegal immigration ? some added in a late compromise that swelled Republican support for the bill ? and to check on the legal status of job applicants already living in the United States. At the same time, it offers a 13-year path to citizenship to as many as 11 million immigrants now living in the country unlawfully.

Under the deal brokered last week by Republican Sens. John Hoeven of North Dakota and Bob Corker of Tennessee and the Gang of 8, the measure requires 20,000 new Border Patrol agents, the completion of 700 miles of fencing and deployment of an array of high-tech devices along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Those living in the country illegally could gain legal status while the border security plan was being implemented, but would not be granted permanent resident green cards or citizenship.

A plan requiring businesses to check on the legal status of prospective employees would be phased in over four years.

Other provisions would expand the number of visas available for highly skilled workers relied upon by the technology industry. A separate program would be established for lower-skilled workers, and farm workers would be admitted under a temporary program. In addition, the system of legal immigration that has been in effect for decades would be changed, making family ties less of a factor and elevating the importance of education, job skills and relative youth.

With the details of the Senate bill well-known, House Speaker John Boehner said at a news conference the separate legislation the House considers will have majority support among Republicans. He also said he hopes the bill will be bipartisan, and he encouraged a group of four Democrats and three Republicans trying to forge a compromise to continue their efforts.

He offered no details on how a House bill could be both bipartisan and supported by more than half of his own rank and file, given that most of the bills that have moved through the House Judiciary Committee recently did so on party line votes over the protests of Democrats. None envisions legal status for immigrants now in the country illegally.

Boehner declined to say if there were circumstances under which he could support a pathway to citizenship, but he made clear that securing the border was a priority.

"People have to have confidence that the border is secure before anything else is really going to work. Otherwise, we repeat the mistakes of 1986," he said, referring to the last time Congress overhauled the immigration system.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, also said he favors a bipartisan approach. At the same time, she noted that Democratic principles for immigration include "secure our borders, protect our workers, unite families, a path to legalization and now citizenship for those" without legal status.

___

Associated Press writer Donna Cassata contributed to this story.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/immigration-overhaul-senate-passes-historic-bill-204725955.html

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Obama says shouldn't have to talk to Xi, Putin about Snowden case

DAKAR (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Thursday he had not spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping or Russian President Vladimir Putin about the U.S. request to extradite former American spy agency contractor Edward Snowden because he "shouldn't have to".

Speaking at a press conference in Senegal, where Obama started a three-country tour of Africa, the U.S. president said normal legal channels should be sufficient to handle Washington's request that Snowden, who left Hong Kong for Russia, be returned.

"I have not called President Xi personally or President Putin personally and the reason is...number one, I shouldn't have to," Obama said.

"Number two, we've got a whole lot of business that we do with China and Russia, and I'm not going to have one case of a suspect who we're trying to extradite suddenly being elevated to the point where I've got to start doing wheeling and dealing and trading on a whole host of other issues," Obama said.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Daniel Flynn and David Lewis)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-says-shouldnt-talk-xi-putin-snowden-case-121300425.html

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Thursday, June 27, 2013

China, South Korea push for North Korea talks

By Ju-min Park and Sui-Lee Wee

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's president welcomed his South Korean counterpart on Thursday as an "old friend of China" and agreed to make a push for new talks with North Korea on Thursday as two of Asia's newest leaders met for the first time.

Park Geun-hye, one of Asia's few women leaders, took office in Seoul in February amid war threats by North Korea, while China's Xi Jinping was appointed in November and has sought to rein in the North's nuclear weapons program, backing tougher economic sanctions against Beijing's traditional ally.

"The two leaders shared a common view on denuclearizing North Korea, maintaining peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and resolving issues through dialogue and negotiations," Park's office said in a statement after they met.

China backed North Korea in the 1950-53 Korean War with late leader Mao Zedong's eldest son dying in the conflict with the South. The 60th anniversary of the end of the war is July 27.

Beijing is the main economic and diplomatic lifeline for the impoverished and isolated state, whose three nuclear weapons tests since 2006 have threatened Asia's security.

China has boosted sanctions on its ally, which this year conducted a nuclear test in defiance of international criticism. It has also closed access for North Korean banks in China.

Xi was appointed Communist Party chairman, China's most powerful position, last November and named president in March.

In April, he told an international forum in southern China that no country "should be allowed to throw a region and even the whole world into chaos for selfish gain".

While Xi did not name North Korea, his comment came amid the highest tension on the peninsula in years, with daily threats from Pyongyang to attack South Korea and the United States.

Xinhua, China's state news agency, appeared to criticize Pyongyang ahead of the visit, saying that "hard-earned trust among concerned parties has been evaporating following unfortunate incidents one after another" since 2009.

In 2009, the North walked out of denuclearization talks brokered by China, carried out its second nuclear test and in 2010 was accused of sinking a South Korean naval vessel and shelling a South Korean island.

ASIAN ECONOMIC POWERHOUSES

China, Asia's largest economy, consumes 15 percent of South Korean exports in annual trade worth $215 billion. North Korea's puny economy trades just $6 billion with China.

Park, 61, was accompanied by a hefty economic delegation from South Korea's huge industrial conglomerates, including the world's largest electronics company, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, and Hyundai Motor Co. .

The two countries' central banks extended a currency swap for 64 trillion Korean won ($55.44 billion) or 360 billion yuan, as part of a defense against financial market instability.

Unlike a military delegation sent by North Korea last month that featured aged generals bedecked with medals, Park appeared to get an enthusiastic welcome from her hosts.

"Park Geun-hye visits China" was the most searched financial and economic topic on Weibo, China's version of Twitter.

In response to an interview with Park by state broadcaster CCTV, one microblogger, Christumn, said: "I am already her fan".

By contrast, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is derided on some Chinese social media sites as "Fatty Kim".

Stylish and mild mannered, Park arrived with self-taught Mandarin skills, and received a warm welcome from state media for a trip she described as "a journey to deepen the mind and trust" between the two countries.

"The visit, which comes months after both countries saw leadership change, is expected to open a new chapter in bilateral relations," Xinhua said.

Park is to deliver an address at Tsinghua University, Xi's alma mater, on Saturday and visit the ancient capital of Xi'an, the site of major South Korean investment, including a $7 billion chip complex by Samsung Electronics.

Park, whose mother was killed by a North Korean-backed assassin, got a guarded welcome from ethnic Koreans in China.

"I feel thankful for South Korea. Its economy has grown to become one of Asia's four dragons and expanded in China... But on the other hand we want North Korea to live well," said Li Jung-ae, 49, who has a PhD in finance from Tsinghua University. ($ = 1154.5000 Korean won)

(Additional reporting by Jack Kim in SEOUL, Terril Jones and Fiona Li in BEIJING; Writing by David Chance; Editing by Ron Popeski)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-south-korea-push-north-korea-talks-110451509.html

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Republican battles over Medicaid turn to God and morality

By David Morgan

(Reuters) - Ohio's Republican governor, John Kasich, is no fan of President Barack Obama's health reform law. But he has become an unlikely proponent of one element of Obamacare - expansion of Medicaid healthcare coverage for the poor - and he has a warning for his fellow party members about the moral consequences of blocking it.

"When you die and get to the meeting with St. Peter, he's probably not going to ask you much about what you did about keeping government small, but he's going to ask you what you did for the poor. You'd better have a good answer," Kasich, a Christian conservative, says he told one Ohio lawmaker last week.

"I can't go any harder than that. I've got nothing left."

Most Republicans oppose Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as a costly, ineffective and unnecessary expansion of government. But some Republican governors, like Arizona's Jan Brewer and Michigan's Rick Snyder, have broken ranks to embrace the law's Medicaid expansion as a practical way to help the poor while infusing their state budgets with billions of dollars in federal funding to pay for it.

Kasich has gone further. His message of morality goes straight to the Republican Party's allegiance to traditional American values including charity, and should resonate with religious conservatives within its influential Tea Party faction.

"Those groups are important to the Republican Party these days, and thus religious appeals may well help GOP governors win approval from their colleagues in the legislature," said John Green, political science professor at the University of Akron in Ohio.

The visibly frustrated Ohio governor offers no evidence that his fellow Republicans are responding to his comments. But political analysts say moral arguments by Kasich and others could eventually help them win over Republican lawmakers who otherwise fear an electoral backlash for propping up part of Obama's health reforms.

"They're trying to appeal to the more conservative side of that community of primary voters," said Robert Blendon, who tracks the politics of healthcare for the Harvard School of Public Health.

"These state legislators are going to face primaries in less than a year, and on the Republican side, many of the people who turn out to vote will be very anti-Obamacare but also deeply religious," he said.

In neighboring Michigan, Governor Snyder's voice breaks a little when he talks about the potential human toll of not expanding Medicaid to more residents.

"How are you going to feel if you have to go into an emergency room?" he asked after fellow Republicans who control the state Senate left for the summer last week without a vote. "You'll walk in there, and see chair after chair of working poor people - hard-working people - knowing that's their healthcare system, when we could have given them a better answer."

MILLIONS MAY GET SHUT OUT

Allowing Medicaid to cover nearly everyone with incomes of up to 133 percent of the federal poverty line is central to Obama's goal of providing health insurance to millions of uninsured Americans. On those terms, the effort is failing: Almost a year after the U.S. Supreme Court gave each of the 50 states the choice of opting out of the Medicaid provision, only 23 have committed to expand, according to the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.

As a result, more than 6.3 million people living below the poverty line - $11,490 for an individual and $23,550 for a family of four - are in danger of losing the opportunity to have health coverage next year, according to a Reuters analysis of data from states and the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan research group. That's because they live either in 21 states, which have failed to move forward with the Medicaid expansion on ideological or financial grounds, or in six others that are still debating the issue: Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

The health reform law allows people with incomes at or above the poverty line to purchase federally subsidized private insurance through new online marketplaces in each state. But the Supreme Court left the law with no provision for helping those below the poverty line.

Analysts say Americans tend to believe falsely that most poor people are covered by the current Medicaid program, which was created in the 1960s and is jointly funded by states and the federal governments with oversight from Washington. But Medicaid covers only 29 percent of working-age people living below the poverty line, according to the Urban Institute. In many states, benefits are restricted to narrowly defined groups including pregnant women, children and the severely disabled.

Arizona's Brewer raised hopes for the Medicaid expansion to go forward in "red states" after overcoming opposition from her own party members by calling a special legislative session and threatening to veto other bills until lawmakers approved the expansion.

Some states have sought to overcome impasses by striking political agreements that would impose new costs on would-be beneficiaries. But negotiations have not always borne fruit, and the federal government has yet to approve any innovations. In Michigan, Senate Republicans declined to vote on a compromise measure that would require new Medicaid enrollees to pay 5 percent of their income on medical expenses, rising to 7 percent after four years.

Other states have considered proposals to make the expansion temporary or use federal Medicaid funds to purchase private insurance plans that could require the poor to meet deductibles and co-pays.

The Obama administration is leaving the door open for states to reconsider their Medicaid position on a quarterly basis in hopes that more will sign on.

2014 PROSPECTS SLIPPING

Meanwhile, Kasich and Snyder are struggling to make sure healthcare benefits are available for more than 820,000 people who live below the poverty line in their states - 474,000 in Ohio and 350,000 in Michigan, according to state estimates.

But the prospects for coverage in 2014 are slipping. Ohio lawmakers nixed Kasich's Medicaid expansion proposal from the new state budget. Snyder says a decision for Michigan needs to come within the next few weeks, but the state's Senate Republican leader, Randy Richardville, has said lawmakers will spend the summer reviewing the issue.

Kasich acknowledges that the Medicaid expansion may have to wait but believes his message will get through. "I will not give up this fight until we get this done, period, exclamation point," he recently told reporters in a hallway briefing in Columbus. "This is not a support of Obamacare. This is a support of helping our communities, our healthcare systems - the poor, the disabled, the addicted and the mentally ill."

The real change may come only after midterm elections for Congress next year, as state leaders wait to see whether Republicans retain control of the House of Representatives and gain control of the Senate.

"If Republicans get control of the Senate and the House, they'll dramatically try to limit this bill. If they don't get control, many of the states saying no to Medicaid will actually start saying yes," said Harvard's Blendon.

(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Michele Gershberg, Peter Henderson Douglas Royalty)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/republican-battles-over-medicaid-turn-god-morality-051235647.html

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Officials: 3 dead in Afghanistan palace assault

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? Afghan officials say a brazen Taliban assault on the presidential palace in Kabul has left three guards dead.

The militant group had earlier said that all eight attackers died in the early Tuesday attack on one of the most secure parts of the Afghan capital.

Militants with false papers and military-style uniforms bluffed their way through two checkpoints on their way to the palace before jumping out of their explosives-packed vehicle and opening fire on security personnel. Another carload of Taliban fighters got stuck between two checkpoints and detonated their own car bomb.

The Interior Ministry said a fourth guard was wounded.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/officials-3-dead-afghanistan-palace-assault-110655604.html

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Wednesday, June 26, 2013

{Virtual Book Tour} Pump Up Your Book Presents Self-Help Stress ...

Authors on Tour, Featured ? By Tracee Gleichner on June 24, 2013 at 2:23 pm

Join Darlene Josaphe, author of the self-help stress release series Self-Help Stress Solutions, as she tours the blogosphere July 1 through August 30, 2013 on her second virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book!

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Darlene-Josaphe-Picture-150x150ABOUT DARLENE JOSAPHE

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Darlene Josaphe helps women manage stress successfully with resources that educate, combined with personal support. Her website, Natural Stress Relief Tips For Women, is an exclusive website for women that provides self-improvement articles, stress reduction resources, and transformational tools to women who want to improve their lives and achieve their life goals.

Natural stress relief tips for women is a site about turning your life from OK to extraordinary by reducing the stress, anxieties, and tensions that rob you of the peace of mind and happiness you deserve. If your life feels like a constant pressure cooker, you?re not alone. Women today are under a lot of pressure.

Knowledge is power, and our self-help ebooks for women will empower you to cope with the stresses in your life and achieve your life goals, whether it is happiness, good health, loving relationships, financial freedom, fulfillment ? or all of the above.

To see all that Darlene offers, including a chance to learn more about natural stress relief techniques and tips you can use right now and high-performance strategies that you can use immediately to improve your life, simply take our FREE Stress-busting eCourse and learn how to turn your stress into success!

To find out more, please visit her at http://www.natural-stress-relief-tips-for-women.com

To find out more about the series, go to Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Darlene%20Josaphe&search-alias=digital-text

36559_132330923582175_1267925219_nABOUT SELF HELP STRESS SOLUTIONS

Now there?s a way to get rid of the harmful effects of stress on your body and spirit. Our Self-Help Stress Solution Series tells you how aromatherapy, walking, nutrition, time management, money management, gardening, camping, and many other natural self-help methods, can be the cure you?re looking for.

Imagine! No more anti-depressant pills that trigger weight gains and have you walking around like a zombie.

No more lying awake at night while stressful issues with family, job or relationships roll around in your head.

No more neck and body aches when you wake up in the morning from the stressful state you were in when you went to bed.

No more coping with the side-effects of depression that stress can cause.

How Can Our Self-Help Stress Relief Series Help Get Rid of Stress?

It?s not magic ? nor is it a big secret! The calming effects of aromatherapy, when combined with other stress-relief techniques, can rejuvenate your mind, body and soul and literally lift away the stresses of the day. Eating healthy foods and engaging in a healthy lifestyle can fortify your body to fight off stress successfully. Developing the happy of taking a brisk walk a few times each week, strengthens your body as well as helps you sleep better at night, which are all essential factors in overcoming stress. Spending time outdoors gardening or camping works wonders for body, mind and spirit.

This Self-Help Stress Solutions Series will blow you away with information that you might not have known about relieving stress in your life.

Learn how to develop a life plan for stress relief.

The ?Self Help Stress Solutions? Book Series will teach you how to systematically reduce or rid yourself of stress symptoms that permeate your life. This is imperative for your well-being. Health concerns are nothing new, and many develop a diet and exercise plan to deal with them.

Many don?t realize that developing a life plan for stress relief can also make your mind and body healthy. You may even lose weight when you learn how to manage stress because you?re not eating mindlessly or comforting yourself with food.

One Thing I Know For Sure?

?is that every woman wants to reduce stress in her life, but isn?t sure how.

Most are definitely not aware that there are techniques, including aromatherapy, proper nutrition, walking, gardening,, camping, time and money management, that can help in a purely delightful way.

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The Self-Help Stress Solutions Virtual Book Publicity Tour Schedule

Monday, July 1 ? Book reviewed at Reviewing Shelf

Monday, July 1- Book spotlight at Naturally Kim B

Monday, July 1 ? First chapter reveal at Parenting 2.0?

Tuesday, July 2 ? Guest blogging and First chapter review at Faerotic Prose

Wednesday, July 3 ? Interviewed at My Devotional Thoughts

Thursday, July 4 ? Guest blogging at My Devotional Thoughts

Friday, July 5 ? Interviewed and Guest blogging at Janna Shay

Monday, July 8 ? Book reviewed at Books+ Beach= Escape

Monday, July 9 ? Book featured at My Devotional Thoughts

Wednesday, July 17 ? Book featured at Parenting 2.0

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Pump Up Your Book

Tags: author Darlene Josaphe, author publicity, blog tour, book promotions, Darlene Josaphe, holiday stress management, natural stress relief, natural stress remedies, online book promotion, Pump Up Your Book, relaxation techniques for stress, self-help, self-help books for women, Self-Help Stress Solutions, strategies for stress relief, stress management books, stress management for women, Stress relief, stress relief gifts, stress relief products, virtual book tour, ways to manage stress

Source: http://www.pumpupyourbook.com/2013/06/24/virtual-book-tour-pump-up-your-book-presents-self-help-stress-solutions-virtual-book-publicity-tour/

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Kids' reading success boosted by long-term individualized instruction

Kids' reading success boosted by long-term individualized instruction [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 25-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Anna Mikulak
amikulak@psychologicalscience.org
202-293-9300
Association for Psychological Science

Students who consistently receive individualized reading instruction from first through third grade become better readers than those who don't, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

These findings come after a three-year study that followed several hundred Floridian students, who received varying amounts of individualized instruction, from first to third grade.

"Our results show that children need sustained, effective instruction from first through third grade if they are going to become proficient readers," said psychological scientist Carol McDonald Connor of Arizona State University, who led the research team.

Teachers involved in the longitudinal, randomized study used Assessment-to-instruction (A2i) software to make informed decisions about how to tailor reading instruction to meet their students' needs. Using algorithms, the A2i software recommended specific amounts and types of reading instruction based on the skills of each student.

Data from study showed that students who received individualized student instruction (ISI) in all three grades showed the strongest reading skills by the end of third grade, compared to those who received fewer years of individualized instruction.

"Another way to think about this is that 94 percent of the students in ISI classrooms from first through third grade were reading proficiently, compared to only 78 percent of the children who didn't participate all three years," said Connor.

In fact, students who were in ISI classrooms for all three years often achieved reading skills that were well above grade level expectations by the end of third grade, when measured by nationally-normed reading achievement tests.

The data are particularly promising given that they demonstrate improvement in reading scores for children from an economically and ethnically diverse school district that included urban, suburban, and rural communities.

The findings suggest that, with a little help from software programs such as A2i, teachers may be able to track student reading success and intervene more effectively.

"The individualized instruction was provided by regular classroom teachers," added Connor. "So, I think the findings demonstrate that we can help teachers become more effective through professional development, supported by technology."

###

Co-authors on this research include Frederick Morrison and Barry Fishman of the University of Michigan, Elizabeth Crowe and Christopher Schatschneider of Florida State University, and Stephanie Al Otaiba of the Southern Methodist University

This research was supported by the U.S. Department of Education Institute of Educational Sciences and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

For more information about this study, please contact:

Carol McDonald Connor
carol.connor@asu.edu

The APS journal Psychological Science is the highest ranked empirical journal in psychology. For a copy of the article "A Longitudinal Cluster-Randomized Controlled Study on the Accumulating Effects of Individualized Literacy Instruction on Students' Reading From First Through Third Grade" and access to other Psychological Science research findings, please contact Anna Mikulak at 202-293-9300 or amikulak@psychologicalscience.org.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Kids' reading success boosted by long-term individualized instruction [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 25-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Anna Mikulak
amikulak@psychologicalscience.org
202-293-9300
Association for Psychological Science

Students who consistently receive individualized reading instruction from first through third grade become better readers than those who don't, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

These findings come after a three-year study that followed several hundred Floridian students, who received varying amounts of individualized instruction, from first to third grade.

"Our results show that children need sustained, effective instruction from first through third grade if they are going to become proficient readers," said psychological scientist Carol McDonald Connor of Arizona State University, who led the research team.

Teachers involved in the longitudinal, randomized study used Assessment-to-instruction (A2i) software to make informed decisions about how to tailor reading instruction to meet their students' needs. Using algorithms, the A2i software recommended specific amounts and types of reading instruction based on the skills of each student.

Data from study showed that students who received individualized student instruction (ISI) in all three grades showed the strongest reading skills by the end of third grade, compared to those who received fewer years of individualized instruction.

"Another way to think about this is that 94 percent of the students in ISI classrooms from first through third grade were reading proficiently, compared to only 78 percent of the children who didn't participate all three years," said Connor.

In fact, students who were in ISI classrooms for all three years often achieved reading skills that were well above grade level expectations by the end of third grade, when measured by nationally-normed reading achievement tests.

The data are particularly promising given that they demonstrate improvement in reading scores for children from an economically and ethnically diverse school district that included urban, suburban, and rural communities.

The findings suggest that, with a little help from software programs such as A2i, teachers may be able to track student reading success and intervene more effectively.

"The individualized instruction was provided by regular classroom teachers," added Connor. "So, I think the findings demonstrate that we can help teachers become more effective through professional development, supported by technology."

###

Co-authors on this research include Frederick Morrison and Barry Fishman of the University of Michigan, Elizabeth Crowe and Christopher Schatschneider of Florida State University, and Stephanie Al Otaiba of the Southern Methodist University

This research was supported by the U.S. Department of Education Institute of Educational Sciences and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

For more information about this study, please contact:

Carol McDonald Connor
carol.connor@asu.edu

The APS journal Psychological Science is the highest ranked empirical journal in psychology. For a copy of the article "A Longitudinal Cluster-Randomized Controlled Study on the Accumulating Effects of Individualized Literacy Instruction on Students' Reading From First Through Third Grade" and access to other Psychological Science research findings, please contact Anna Mikulak at 202-293-9300 or amikulak@psychologicalscience.org.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/afps-krs062513.php

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Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Sony Xperia Z Ultra: hands-on with a 6.4-inch Android phone (update: video)

Sony Xperia Z Ultra handson with a 64inch Android phone

Sony's been explaining the design story behind its new Xperia range at a UK briefing, how it's trying to balance both the dematerialization of tech (touchscreens, gesture interfaces) and a design that's both desirable and beautiful -- and Sony's certainly got the latter down on its new smartphone. The Xperia Z Ultra follows the lines of the rest of the Z-series. With the same "OmniBalance" plane surface of screen, this time reaching 6.4 inches but still running at 1080p resolution, it feels bigger than the original Xperia Z. You're looking at a screen width almost identical to a passport and that 6.5mm profile helps fit it into pockets -- we managed to cram it into our trouser pockets. There's also Qualcomm's notable Snapdragon 800 powering the device on a relatively large 3,000mAh battery, while Sony's simplified the design dropping a few of those much-maligned protective flaps, at least on the headphone socket. There's more impressions and a hands-on video after the break!

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/4dQE8wJ3zdY/

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Murder trial begins in earnest in Florida's Trayvon Martin case

By Tom Brown and Barbara Liston

SANFORD, Florida (Reuters) - The murder trial of George Zimmerman, whose fatal shooting of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin triggered nationwide protests last year, begins in earnest on Monday in a Florida courtroom.

Opening statements from lawyers outlining the basic facts in the case, and what they believe the evidence will show, are set to begin at 9 a.m. EDT.

This follows two weeks of jury selection which ended last week with a panel of six female jurors chosen to decide Zimmerman's fate. Due to blanket media coverage the judge ordered the jury sequestered for the duration of the trial.

Zimmerman, who is 29 and part Hispanic, was the neighborhood watch captain in a gated community in Sanford at the time of the killing on February 26, 2012. He has pleaded innocent to the charge of second-degree murder and could face life imprisonment if convicted.

Martin, 17, was a student at a Miami-area high school and a guest of one of the homeowners in the Retreat at Twin Lakes community. He was walking back to the residence after buying snacks at a nearby convenience store when he was shot in the chest during a confrontation with Zimmerman.

Because Sanford police initially failed to arrest Zimmerman, on grounds that he acted in self-defense, many saw the killing as an example of second-class treatment of black victims in the U.S. criminal justice system.

That set off civil rights rallies and cries of injustice across the United States throughout much of last year. It also threw a spotlight on gun use and Florida's controversial self-defense laws.

Much of what happened during Martin's fatal encounter with Zimmerman is still a mystery. Neighbors who witnessed the scuffle and the fatal shot, albeit on a rainy night, are expected to testify.

Zimmerman claims Martin was the aggressor, but Assistant State Attorney Bernie de la Rionda, who is the lead prosecutor, says the younger man would be alive today had he not been profiled by Zimmerman as "a real suspicious guy."

Setting the stage for a possible fiery opening to the trial, presiding Seminole County Judge Debra Nelson overruled objections from the defense last week and said prosecutors could use such inflammatory terms as "vigilante" and "wannabe cop" in referring to Zimmerman.

She also ruled that prosecutors could say Zimmerman "profiled" Martin and "confronted" him, language suggesting that he initiated the altercation that led to Martin's death.

There is a high bar for the prosecution in a case that will center on Florida's aggressive self-defense laws, however. Under Florida's Stand Your Ground law, which was approved in 2005 and has since been copied by about 30 other states, people fearing for their lives can use deadly force without having to retreat from a confrontation, even when it is possible.

In instructions on "justifiable use of deadly force," that Nelson read to potential jurors last week, she noted that anyone in fear of grievous bodily harm or death is entitled to shoot and kill an assailant rather than back down.

"The danger facing the defendant need not have been actual," Nelson said, suggesting that mere perception of "danger" was enough to make it reality.

"If the defendant was not engaged in an unlawful activity, and was attacked in any place where he had a right to be, he had no duty to retreat and a right to stand his ground and meet force with force, including deadly force, if he reasonably believed that it was necessary do so," Nelson said.

(Writing by Tom Brown; editing by David Adams and Jackie Frank)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/murder-trial-begins-earnest-floridas-trayvon-martin-case-050411255.html

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Win 1 of 2 Snapdragon? 800 Mobile Development Platform devices from Qualcomm and Android Central!

Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 MDP

OK, folks. This is gonna be fun. We're teaming up with Qualcomm to give away a pair of Mobile Development Platform devices with Snapdragon 800. That's the latest and greatest Snapdragon that you're going to start seeing in retail devices in the coming months, in Android smartphones as well as tablets. 

And that's what you'll be entering to win here. We've got one smartphone and one tablet to give away.

Keep on reading for the full rules and details on how to enter.

read more

    


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/PnQp3NwgwjA/story01.htm

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