Mac Game Store having a Summer Sizzling Sale, huge number of reductions now on

If you're looking for some new Mac games to get you through the summer months, the Mac Game Store's Summer Sizzling Sale might be able to help. The popular source of games for the Mac has literally stacks and stacks of titles reduced in price, including Borderlands 2 which can be had for just $10.

Other notable reductions include Assassins Creed: Brotherhood which will run you for $14.98 for the regular version and $5 more for the deluxe pack. Batman: Arkham City, a bunch of Civilisation titles and add-ons, as well as a host of the Lego games are also included, and much more besides. There's far to much too mention in one post, so if you're on the hunt for some new games to play, drop into the Mac Game Store and take a look.

Source: Mac Game Store

Thanks John for the tip!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/Kjeh2Bj89pI/story01.htm

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New Links Found Between Bacteria and Cancer

It's been a while since "Human Infectious Diseases"; but my understanding is that the inflammatory response is a component of the 'Innate immune system', a very, very, old, comparatively rudimentary; but fast-responding complement to the more recent immune system with pathogen-specific antibodies and killer T cells and things.

The inflammation itself is partially a cause of the changes that tissues undergo to do damage control and partially serves to increase supply of particular chemicals and cell types [wikipedia.org] at the site of the issue(leading to the redness and swelling that are most obvious.

As for it being associated with a laundry list of unpleasant diseases, I'm told that it's a combination of:

1. Inflammation is (when it's working correctly) a stress response/damage control mechanism, that kicks in in response to certain environmental stresses and pathogens, so people who are inflamed a lot are also unpleasantly likely to be people who are being exposed to something that isn't doing them any good.

2. Like scarring, inflammation is one of those 'unpleasant; but it beat dying for most of evolutionary history' arrangements that wreaks a lot of havoc in the process of saving you from infection or tissue damage; which was a much better trade-off before we had access to modern medicine to deal with our acute illnesses and injuries; but also wanted to live to be 90.

3. The immune system, innate and acquired, is sort of your own personal military-industrial complex, and has a nasty tendency to sometimes go off the rails and start killing civilians in an increasingly paranoid response to minimal or nonexistent security threats, giving us autoimmune disorders.

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/J1A1miDoKoc/story01.htm

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Suicide bombings kill 5 people in Syrian capital

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) ? Suicide bombers targeted security compounds in the Syrian capital on Sunday, killing at least five people and wounding several others, the latest in an uptick of violence in Damascus as the regime tries to defend its seat of power.

A car bomb also killed 12 regime soldiers in the northern city of Aleppo, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists in Syria for information. It had no other details, and the government did not immediately confirm the attack.

The state-run news agency SANA said three suicide bombers blew themselves up while trying to break into the Rukneddine police station in northern Damascus, killing five people and wounding several others. It said three would-be suicide bombers also bombers tried to break into the Criminal Security Branch in the southern Bab Mousalla area but were caught by security forces before they could detonate their explosives.

Activists confirmed the death toll.

Nobody immediately claimed responsibility for the Damascus explosions, but they bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida linked groups that have joined forces with rebels fighting to oust President Bashar Assad.

The attacks in Syria's two largest cities came as Assad's forces press an offensive in the outskirts of the capital and a day after an 11-nation group that includes the U.S. met in the Qatari capital of Doha to coordinate military aid and other forms of assistance to the rebels.

SANA carried a statement by the Interior Ministry saying that the Damascus attacks amount to a "new escalation by terrorist groups," a term used by the government to refer to the rebels.

In neighboring Lebanon, meanwhile, three soldiers were killed in street clashes with supporters of hard-line Sunni cleric Sheik Ahmad al-Assir, in the latest spillover of the Syrian conflict over the border.

The fighting broke out in the predominantly Sunni southern port city of Sidon after al-Assier's supporters opened fire on an army checkpoint.

The military issued a statement saying three soldiers, including two officers, were killed in the shooting, which it said was unprovoked.

Heavy fighting with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades caused panic in the heavily populated city, which until recently had been largely spared the fighting in other areas. Many people who had been spending the day on the beach hurried back home, while others living on high floors came down to lower floors and shelters.

The clashes largely centered around the Bilal bin Rabbah Mosque where al-Assir preaches. The cleric, a virulent critic of the Shiite militant Hezbollah group, is believed to have hundreds of armed supporters in Sidon. Dozens of al-Assir's gunmen also partially shut down the main highway linking south Lebanon with the capital.

The cleric and his followers support Sunni rebels in the conflict next door and he has threatened to clear apartments in Sidon occupied by Hezbollah supporters.

Meanwhile, Syria's al-Thawra newspaper, the mouthpiece of the government, assailed the Friends of Syria meeting for providing aid to the rebels.

"It's clear that the enemies of Syria are rushing to arm the terrorists to kill the chances for holding the Geneva conference," the newspaper said, referring to a gathering planned to bring Assad's government to negotiate an end to the crisis with the fighting rebels.

It pledged that the Syrian army would "continue the showdown to eliminate terrorism and restore security and stability."

____

Associated Press writer Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/suicide-bombings-kill-5-people-syrian-capital-151914907.html

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High court sends back Texas race-based plan

People wait outside the Supreme Court in Washington as key decisions are expected to be announced Monday, June 24, 2013. At the end of the court's term, several major cases are still outstanding that could have widespread political impact on same-sex marriage, voting rights, and affirmative action. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

People wait outside the Supreme Court in Washington as key decisions are expected to be announced Monday, June 24, 2013. At the end of the court's term, several major cases are still outstanding that could have widespread political impact on same-sex marriage, voting rights, and affirmative action. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

People wait outside the Supreme Court in Washington as key decisions are expected to be announced Monday, June 24, 2013. At the end of the court's term, several major cases are still outstanding that could have widespread political impact on same-sex marriage, voting rights, and affirmative action. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

People line up in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, Monday, June 24, 2013, before it opened for its last scheduled session. The Supreme Court has 11 cases, including the term's highest profile matters, to resolve before the justices take off for summer vacations, teaching assignments and international travel. The court is meeting Monday for its last scheduled session, but will add days until all the cases are disposed of. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Supreme Court has sent a Texas case on race-based college admissions back to a lower court for another look.

The court's 7-1 decision Monday leaves unsettled many of the basic questions about the continued use of race as a factor in college admissions.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the court, said a federal appeals court needs to subject the University of Texas admission plan to the highest level of judicial scrutiny.

The compromise ruling throws out the decision by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld the Texas admission plan.

Kennedy said the appeals court did not test the Texas plan under the most exacting level of judicial review.

He said such a test is required by the court's 2003 decision upholding affirmative action in higher education.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the lone dissenter.

Justice Clarence Thomas, alone on the court, said he would have overturned the high court's 2003 ruling.

Justice Elena Kagan stayed out of the case, presumably because she had some contact with it at an earlier stage when she worked in the Justice Department.

Abigail Fisher, a white Texan, sued the university after she was denied a spot in 2008. She has since received her undergraduate degree from Louisiana State University.

The challenge to the Texas plan gained traction in part because the makeup of the court has changed since the last time the justices ruled on affirmative action in higher education in 2003. Then, Justice Sandra O'Connor wrote the majority opinion that held that colleges and universities can use race in their quest for diverse student bodies.

O'Connor retired in 2006, and her replacement, Justice Samuel Alito, has shown himself to be more skeptical of considerations of race in education.

Another factor fueling Fisher's lawsuit was that the university has produced significant diversity by automatically offering about three-quarters of its spots to graduates in the top 10 percent of their Texas high schools, under a 1990s state law signed by then-Gov. George W. Bush. The admissions program has been changed so that now only the top 8 percent gain automatic admission.

More than 8 in 10 African-American and Latino students who enrolled at the flagship campus in Austin in 2011 were automatically admitted, according to university statistics. Even among the rest, both sides acknowledge that the use of race is modest.

In all, black and Hispanic students made up more than a quarter of the incoming freshmen class. White students constituted less than half the entering class when students with Asian backgrounds and other minorities were added in.

The university said the extra measure of diversity it gets from the slots outside automatic admission is crucial because too many of its classrooms have only token minority representation, at best. At the same time, Texas argued that race is one of many factors considered and that whether race played the key role in any applicant's case was impossible to tell.

The Obama administration, 57 of the Fortune 100 companies and large numbers of public and private colleges that feared a broad ruling against affirmative action backed the Texas program. Among the benefits of affirmative action, the administration said, is that it creates a pipeline for a diverse officer corps that it called "essential to the military's operational readiness." In 2003, the court cited the importance of a similar message from military leaders.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-06-24-US-Supreme-Court-Affirmative-Action/id-859313ea60ff426f9a8607d5d3bf67ba

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Hillary Clinton would like to see a woman U.S. president

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton has fed speculation that she might run for the White House in 2016 by telling an audience in Canada that she would like to see a woman president in the United States in her lifetime.

"Let me say this, hypothetically speaking, I really do hope that we have a woman president in my lifetime," Clinton told a private audience in Toronto. "And whether it's next time or the next time after that, it really depends on women stepping up and subjecting themselves to the political process, which is very difficult."

Clinton, a Democrat who was secretary of state under President Barack Obama, a former senator from New York and is the wife of former President Bill Clinton, is said to be undecided whether to seek the presidency in 2016.

Many Democrats and Republicans in the United States are expecting her to run, although the 65-year-old Clinton has said she needed to rest after four years as a globe-trotting secretary of state.

Polls have indicated she is far and away the most popular potential Democratic candidate for 2016, and that most Americans would prefer her to several possible Republican contenders.

Clinton picked up an endorsement on Tuesday from Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill, who announced she is supporting a group encouraging Clinton to run for the White House.

McCaskill, who backed Obama over Clinton in the Democratic primaries in 2008, became the first member of Congress to announce her support for Clinton.

She praised the political action committee called Ready for Hillary for using the Internet to build support in the hope that Clinton will run.

Last week Clinton started her official Twitter account, describing herself as, among other things, a "wife, mom, lawyer, women & kids advocate." She alluded to her future as "TBD" - to be determined.

In her speech in Toronto, delivered on Thursday and posted on YouTube on Friday, Clinton said electing a woman president would "would send exactly the right historic signal to girls, women as well as boys and men. And I will certainly vote for the right woman to be president."

(Reporting By Steve Holland; editing by Christopher Wilson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hillary-clinton-see-woman-u-president-205335237.html

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Manage Your Twitter Relationships Using Commun.it | Social Media ...

?

figure1: How are you managing your relationships?

Twitter is a wonderful platform to build communities, relationships and continue conversations but how do you manage your Twitter relationships and generate those so important leads? When you reach a sizeable number of followers and tweets, one of the biggest challenges when using Twitter is ?How do you keep on top of your community and communications??

One of my favorite tools that help you do just that, is Commun.it?You too can manage your Twitter relationships using Commun.it

Commun.it is a relationship management platform that helps you manage those important relationships in your Twitter community and helps you generate potential leads for your business.?Commun.it helps you keep track of your key interactions in the Twitter community so that you can continue to build those valuable relationships that are key to your brand.

Commun.it has a free membership option and it is easy to get started in 3 easy steps. They are as follows:

?

figure 2: Manage your twitter relationships using Commun.it. There are three easy steps to open a Commun.it account. 1. Add you contact information and twitter account; 2 Add you website and associated links and hashtags and 3. Provide key words that you want to track.

1. Complete the sign-up form

? You can get a free account by completing the form and connecting your twitter account, as shown above in figure 1.

2. Complete the monitor engagement form

? Fill out the engagement form by adding your website and any key words associated with you and/or your business. This will be important to track who is talking about you and your business [see monitor engagement below].

3. Complete Discover New Leads form

? After completing the engagement form, Commun.it will request completing the Discover New Leads form as a search criteria. Commun.it will suggest a few depending on the hashtags you currently tweet. By adding these key words, it provides valuable search criteria for Commun.it, that will in turn will provide you with a report on key potential leads.

That?s it! Now you are set up to manage your Twitter relationships using Commun.it! ?When you enter your Commun.it account, you are presented with your own customized, priortized dashboard of your tweets and community. It is like your own Twitter consultant to help you manage your relationships.

The dashboard is based on a prioritized feed that is an outcome of Commun.it analyzing your tweets and sharing that output into the following sections on the dashboard: 1. Relationships, 2. Followers, 3. Groups. 4. Engagements, and 5. Discover New Leads. It highlights members that you should note accordingly.

1. Relationships

The suggested relationship section is quite powerful. The list is a dynamic, real-time list. ?It is a ?suggested? list of members you should pay close attention to in your community. The list is based on how you have interacted and engaged with members on Twitter. It analyzes your feed and depending on your interactions, it prioritizes your members and their tweets into the following categories:

• Influencers: These are your high-valued members as recommended by Commun.it. It is based on their followers/following ratio and your engagement history with the listed members.
• Supporters: These are followers that share and retweet your content.
• Engaged members: These are followers you have regular conversations with.

As shown in the dashboard below [figure 3], this section of your dashboard gives you visibility to your key interactions at a glance. You can click on a category to see the members listed. In figure 3, highlighted by the red arrow, ?I have clicked on ?influencers? to show my listing. ?To drill down further, you can click on a members name and it will show the whole engagement history [this is shown in figure 4]. Commun.it is like your own personalized engagement advisor. With regular review, it provides an opportunity for you to ensure that you engage and reply to important tweets you may have missed!

figure 3. The prioritized Commun.it dashboard segments your community and potential leads into 1. Relationships 2. Followers 3. Groups. 4. Monitor Engagement and 5. Discover New Leads. The above screenshot shows members in the influencer category

figure 4. By clicking on a member in the Commun.it dashboard, a third column is revealed with a ?drill down? on the engagement history with that member. This is shown in this screenshot as indicated by the red arrows and red outline.

Commun.it also prepares pre-formulated tweets or ??tweets-to-go? that thanks your most valued members for each category. This makes it really easy to recognize those valuable members that have connected and engaged with you.

2. Followers

Commun.it analyzes your followers based on your tweet history, interactions and keywords. The Commun.it analysis makes recommendations regarding your twitter connections as follows:

• Consider to reply: These recommendations highlights missed, unreplied tweets from your valuable members.You can tweet directly from the Commun.it platform making the engagement seamless to your community.
• Consider to re-engage: These recommendation highlights high-valued members who you have not engaged with recently. This is a way to encourage you to reach out to key members in your community that you want to keep front of mind.
• Consider to follow: This is a list high-valued members you are not currently following. ?Again, you can follow members on twitter from the Commun.it platform.
• Consider to un-follow: This is a list people that don?t follow you and has ?little influence based ?by your criteria and interactions.
• New followers:?This is a list of new connections to note.
• New unfollowers:?This is a list of those who have decided disengage by unfollowing.

The above suggestions makes it really easy to keep on top of your community and manage those relationships in Twitter. The prioritized lists increases the visibility of ?what is going on? in your Twitter community. For each member suggestion made by Commun.it, Commun.it provides that member?s twitter interaction, so that you can drill down and see their most recent tweets, the number of engagements you have had with them and the number of followers. ?You have the option of following through with the Commun.it recommendations or manually over-riding the recommendations and prioritizing your members using your own business intelligence.

3. Groups

Commun.it lists your Twitter lists in this section. However, you can add additional private Commun.it lists or groups in this section. Lists and groups is a powerful tool to both segment your community and to facilitate easy communication with the different connections in your community. It is a great way to keep the conversations going with your different groups.

In this section, Communit also highlights the top tweets for each group. Another method of ensuring you are on top of those important conversations and encouraging you to engage where it makes sense.

4. Monitor Engagement

This section lists members who mentions your websites and your hashtags making it easier for you to engage with members who are supporting and sharing your content and targeted tweets.?

5. Discover New Leads

This section lists members who used the key words that you want to track in your community. In my example below [figure 5], I added the key words ? poor service?. As you can see in figure 5, Commun.it lists all members who recently mentioned ?poor service? in their tweets. Now that is value, right? With this list, you can drill down for additional context and make a decision on whether to engage or not. This is a good first step in generating leads for your brand or community.

figure 5. The Discover New Leads sections lists members in the twitter community who mentions the key words listed as a criteria to track. In this example the key words are ?poor service?.

In summary, Communit is a really good tool to help you slice and dice your twitter community to make it more manageable and staying on top of your relationships. The only thing Commun.it does not provide is the discipline to execute. That has to come from you! The best way to take advantage of the tool, is to schedule time in the day to review and try to make it a daily habit. I hope this gives an overview on how to manage your Twitter relationships using Commun.it.?Now it is your turn. Do you use a relationship management tool? What are your tips?

?

Cheers!

Shirley

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Why Immigration Reform Is The Panama Canal Treaty Redux (Powerlineblog)

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Hong Kong says Snowden has left for third country

A TV screen shows a news report of Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee who leaked top-secret documents about sweeping U.S. surveillance programs, at a shopping mall in Hong Kong Sunday, June 23, 2013. The former National Security Agency contractor wanted by the United States for revealing two highly classified surveillance programs has been allowed to leave for a "third country" because a U.S. extradition request did not fully comply with Hong Kong law, the territory's government said Sunday. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

A TV screen shows a news report of Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee who leaked top-secret documents about sweeping U.S. surveillance programs, at a shopping mall in Hong Kong Sunday, June 23, 2013. The former National Security Agency contractor wanted by the United States for revealing two highly classified surveillance programs has been allowed to leave for a "third country" because a U.S. extradition request did not fully comply with Hong Kong law, the territory's government said Sunday. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

FILE - In this June 21, 2013 file photo, a banner supporting Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee who leaked top-secret documents about sweeping U.S. surveillance programs, is displayed at Central, Hong Kong's business district. The Hong Kong government says Snowden wanted by the U.S. for revealing two highly classified surveillance programs has left for a "third country." The South China Morning Post reported Sunday, June 23, 2013 that Snowden was on a plane for Moscow, but that Russia was not his final destination. Snowden has talked of seeking asylum in Iceland. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

A TV screen shows a news report of Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee who leaked top-secret documents about sweeping U.S. surveillance programs, at a shopping mall in Hong Kong Sunday, June 23, 2013. The former National Security Agency contractor wanted by the United States for revealing two highly classified surveillance programs has been allowed to leave for a "third country" because a U.S. extradition request did not fully comply with Hong Kong law, the territory's government said Sunday. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

A TV screen shows a news report of Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee who leaked top-secret documents about sweeping U.S. surveillance programs, at a shopping mall in Hong Kong Sunday, June 23, 2013. The former National Security Agency contractor wanted by the United States for revealing two highly classified surveillance programs has been allowed to leave for a "third country" because a U.S. extradition request did not fully comply with Hong Kong law, the territory's government said Sunday. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

A TV screen shows a news report of Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee who leaked top-secret documents about sweeping U.S. surveillance programs, at a shopping mall in Hong Kong Sunday, June 23, 2013. The former National Security Agency contractor wanted by the United States for revealing two highly classified surveillance programs has been allowed to leave for a "third country" because a U.S. extradition request did not fully comply with Hong Kong law, the territory's government said Sunday. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

HONG KONG (AP) ? A former National Security Agency contractor wanted by the United States for revealing highly classified surveillance programs has been allowed to leave for a "third country" because a U.S. extradition request did not fully comply with Hong Kong law, the territory's government said Sunday.

Hong Kong's government did not identify the country. Snowden, who has been in hiding in Hong Kong for several weeks since he revealed information on the highly classified spy programs, has talked of seeking asylum in Iceland.

However, Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency cited an unidentified Aeroflot official as saying Snowden would fly from Moscow to Cuba on Monday and then on to Caracas, Venezuela. The WikiLeaks anti-secrecy group tweeted that Snowden was "over Russian air space" and later said in a statement he was bound for an unnamed "democratic nation via a safe route for the purpose of asylum."

The White House had no immediate comment about the departure, which came a day after the United States made a formal request for his extradition and gave a pointed warning to Hong Kong against delaying the process of returning him to face trial in the U.S.

The Department of Justice said only that it would "continue to discuss this matter with Hong Kong and pursue relevant law enforcement cooperation with other countries where Mr. Snowden may be attempting to travel."

The Hong Kong government said in a statement that Snowden left "on his own accord for a third country through a lawful and normal channel."

It acknowledged the U.S. extradition request, but said U.S. documentation did not "fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law." It said additional information was requested from Washington, but since the Hong Kong government "has yet to have sufficient information to process the request for provisional warrant of arrest, there is no legal basis to restrict Mr. Snowden from leaving Hong Kong."

The statement said Hong Kong had informed the U.S. of Snowden's departure. It added that it wanted more information about alleged hacking of computer systems in Hong Kong by U.S. government agencies which Snowden had revealed.

WikiLeaks said it was providing legal help to Snowden at his request and that he was being escorted by diplomats and legal advisors from the group. Its founder, Julian Assange, who has spent a year inside the Ecuadorean Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden to face questioning about sex crime allegations, told the Sydney Morning Herald that his organization is in a position to help because it has expertise in international asylum and extradition law.

Snowden's departure eliminates a possible fight between Washington and Beijing at a time when China is trying to deflect U.S. accusations that it carries out extensive surveillance of American government and commercial operations. Hong Kong, a former British colony, has a high degree of autonomy and is granted rights and freedoms not seen on mainland China, but under the city's mini constitution Beijing is allowed to intervene in matters involving defense and diplomatic affairs.

Hong Kong has an extradition treaty with the U.S., but the document has some exceptions, including for crimes deemed political.

The Obama administration on Saturday warned Hong Kong against delaying Snowden's extradition, with White House national security adviser Tom Donilon saying in an interview with CBS News, "Hong Kong has been a historically good partner of the United States in law enforcement matters, and we expect them to comply with the treaty in this case."

Snowden's departure came as the South China Morning Post released new allegations from Snowden that U.S. hacking targets in China included the nation's cellphone companies and two universities hosting extensive Internet traffic hubs.

He told the newspaper that "the NSA does all kinds of things like hack Chinese cellphone companies to steal all of your SMS data." It added that Snowden said he had documents to support the hacking allegations, but the report did not identify the documents. It said he spoke to the newspaper in a June 12 interview.

With a population of more than 1.3 billion, China has massive cellphone companies. China Mobile is the world's largest mobile network carrier with 735 million subscribers, followed by China Unicom with 258 million users and China Telecom with 172 million users.

Snowden said Tsinghua University in Beijing and Chinese University in Hong Kong, home of some of the country's major Internet traffic hubs, were targets of extensive hacking by U.S. spies this year. He said the NSA was focusing on so-called "network backbones" in China, through which enormous amounts of Internet data passes.

The Chinese government has not commented on the extradition request and Snowden's departure, but its state-run media have used Snowden's allegations to poke back at Washington after the U.S. had spent the past several months pressuring China on its international spying operations.

A commentary published Sunday by the official Xinhua News Agency said Snowden's disclosures of U.S. spying activities in China have "put Washington in a really awkward situation."

"Washington should come clean about its record first. It owes ... an explanation to China and other countries it has allegedly spied on," it said. "It has to share with the world the range, extent and intent of its clandestine hacking programs."

____

Sylvia Hui in London and Lynn Berry in Moscow contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-06-23-NSA-Surveillance%20Hong%20Kong/id-34b1e81a28b34c45b2160287a644bf9a

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China TV shows men catching girl from 5-story fall

BEIJING (AP) ? Chinese state television has shown men catching a 2-and-a-half-year-old girl who apparently fell from a fifth-story window.

The girl, Qiqi, escaped with small scrapes on her face.

The security camera footage aired by CCTV showed a group of men in an alley pointing and looking up the side of a building. They dash into a huddle just as the youngster falls into their arms.

CCTV said workers at a delivery company nearby heard the girl crying as her legs dangled out the window. The report quoted her parents as saying they left Qiqi home alone while she was sleeping but she climbed onto the windowsill after she woke.

It happened Thursday in Ninghai, in eastern Zhejiang province.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-tv-shows-men-catching-girl-5-story-175928688.html

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PFT: Should NFL suspend Hernandez until he talks?

AP

Coaches always will be tempted to take risks when the reward is winning.? Successful coaches find themselves having far greater license to do it.

For Patriots coach Bill Belichick, three Super Bowl wins in four years and the ongoing presence of one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history have empowered him to take chances.? After all, Belichick isn?t and for the foreseeable future won?t be on the hot seat.

And if he?d ever get fired by the Patriots, someone else would be willing to hire him immediately.

Hints of a greater willingness to embrace risk came in 2007, with the drafting of safety Brandon Meriweather in round one, and the trade that brought receiver Randy Moss to New England from Oakland.? Meriweather kicked an opponent in the head during an on-field fight at the University of Miami, and Moss?s tombstone will (or at least should) read, ?I played when I wanted to play.?

The habit accelerated in 2010, with the two-tight-end dice-roll on Rob Gronkowski (round two; back problems) and Aaron Hernandez (round four; failed drug tests).? Both looked great through their first two seasons.

In 2011, Belichick took risk-taking to a higher level, using a third-round pick on much-maligned quarterback Ryan Mallett and then, after the lockout, sending mid-round picks to the Redskins and Bengals, respectively, for defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth and receiver Chad Ochocinco.? That same year, the Pats spent a fifth-round pick on Marcus Cannon, an offensive lineman who was diagnosed with cancer in the weeks preceding the draft.

In 2012, a seventh-round flier was taken on cornerback Alfonzo Dennard, who was charged with assaulting a police officer only days before the draft.? During the 2012 season, Belichick traded for cornerback Aqib Talib, a former first-rounder who had more than a few off-field predicaments in Tampa.

Then came the unexpected (but in hindsight brilliant) waiver claim on tight end Jake Ballard (ACL) and, most recently, a trade for running back LeGarrette Blount and the decision to bring Tebowmania to town.

It?s not that Belichick is harboring reputed bad guys.? Instead, he?s generally buying low ? whether due to injures, health problems, off-field issues, or perceived distractions from a nationwide army of fanatics and the overly zealous media horde trying to serve them.

In some cases, Belichick?s willingness to take risks has worked.? In other cases, it hasn?t.? For some players, it worked initially but then went the other way.

Regardless, Belichick has opted to take risks because he?s far more focused on cementing a legacy than keeping his job.? While it has yet to deliver a fourth Super Bowl win, there?s no reason to change, because he won?t be on the hot seat any time soon, if ever.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/06/21/odin-lloyds-family-wants-justice-nfl-can-dispense-a-specific-type-of-it/related/

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10 minutes with: a space scientist

Link Information - Click to View

10 minutes with: a space scientist
Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock explains how the Clangers inspired her love for space science and why she ignored the career adviser who told her to train as a nurse instead

Source: TheGuardian
Posted on: Friday, Jun 21, 2013, 8:58am
Views: 23

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/128752/___minutes_with__a_space_scientist

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US sees sanctions impact on Iranian politics

WASHINGTON (AP) -- American officials are hailing the election of an Iranian president who vows to seek relief from international sanctions as the first tangible evidence that the U.S. strategy is influencing Tehran's nuclear policy.

The draconian sanctions have wreaked havoc on the Iranian economy and weighed heavily in the June 14 vote for Hasan Rowhani, a candidate who openly criticized how his country's leadership has handled the nuclear file.

His election has opened a debate in the U.S. on whether it's time to ease sanctions and see whether Tehran shifts away from what the U.S. believes is the pursuit of a nuclear weapon. It also has set off intense discussions among government agencies on how to proceed with Iran, according to U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.

"I think that the administration should ease off on sanctions and pressure Congress to slow the train because President-elect Rowhani has painted a picture of a more forthcoming, more flexible Iranian nuclear policy," said analyst Cliff Kupchan, director for Middle East at Eurasia Group, a U.S.-based consulting group.

Rowhani's election will have no bearing on the next round of new U.S. nuclear sanctions, set to take effect on July 1.

The U.S. officials said there will be no lifting or easing of sanctions at this time unless Iran offers something concrete in return. Washington is well-aware that hard-line Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Iran's ruling clerics ? not the president ? call all the shots in policymaking and make every major decision on the nuclear program and dealings with the West.

However, the Americans could offer other concessions to the Iranians at the so-called P5+1 nuclear talks with Iran, which include the five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany.

"The question is whether the administration offers a preliminary olive branch, or they say: 'You put down the first piece of silver on the table,'" said Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. "I would think the administration would be wise to take the signs at face value and offer an olive branch. Olive branches are cheap, and we've got a lot of them in the quiver."

Iran has long insisted its nuclear ambitions are purely peaceful ? for generating power and medical research.

The U.S. and its international partners are deeply skeptical, however, and some in Congress have begun to push new legislation that would impose the harshest sanctions yet. If passed, the law would move the U.S. closer to a full oil and trade embargo than it has ever been. It is by far the biggest sanctions threat hanging over Iran now.

Kupchan said he believes Rowhani's election has dimmed the prospects for that legislation passing anytime this year. And trying to cut back more on Iran's oil exports would be complicated by the fact that the U.S. would have to persuade China and India to reduce their imports further ? a tough sell.

The sanctions starting next month target the local currency, the rial. But the rial has lost about two-thirds of its value over the past two years and analysts say there is little room left on the downside.

This round also aims to stop all transfers of gold to the government or ordinary citizens ? something that sanctions opponents cite as an example of penalties that punish the population more than its leaders. Another measure hits at Iran's auto industry, while the U.S. will also tighten existing sanctions on shipping and energy.

Round after round of sanctions by the U.S. and its international allies have wrought serious damage on Iran's economy. On top of the rial's devaluation, inflation has spiked to about 30 percent, food prices have shot up, and critical oil exports have been cut in half. International banking transactions have been virtually paralyzed.

The rial and Iran's stock market rebounded a bit after the presidential election on optimism that tensions with West may ease and Rowhani might take other measures to stabilize the economy. Managing the domestic economy is one of the main roles of Iran's president.

Despite the economic pain of sanctions, Iran has continued to defy Western demands to halt uranium enrichment, a process to produce nuclear fuel that can be used either for electricity generation or weapons production. Iran has even ratcheted it up over the past few years, as sanctions have mounted.

At a hearing early this month on sanctions, before Rowhani's election, senators grilled administration officials on why the intense economic pressure Iran is feeling has not translated into a change in Iran's nuclear calculus policy.

The policymakers pointed to an Iranian request at the last P5+1 talks for sanctions relief, but seemed hard-pressed to come up with evidence of any other policy effects.

Now, Rowhani's election is being touted by U.S. officials as the "smoking gun."

"The accumulated weight of the sanctions has woken them up from their sleep," said Iran analyst Mehrzad Boroujerdi, director of the Middle East Studies program at Syracuse University.

Conservative lawmakers in Congress, who take a harder line on sanctions than the Obama administration, have made clear they see no cause to let up.

"We need to take our sanctions to maximum levels to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons breakout capability," Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill. told The Associated Press in an email. Kirk and other conservative politicians have dismissed the notion that Rowhani is a moderate reformer, saying he was hand-picked by Khamenei.

The administration has spoken in somewhat softer language about the election's outcome.

"I see it as a potentially hopeful sign," White House chief of staff Denis McDonough told CBS.

Ultimately, the stakes of Iranian inaction are about as high as they can be.

"What Rowhani has given us is a new trajectory for diplomacy but not necessarily a lot more time," said Kupchan. "This time next year, we will be talking about strikes on Iran."

____

Associated Press reporter Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-sees-sanctions-impact-iranian-214119560.html

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Drinking Buddies Trailer: Beer + Attraction = Trouble

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/06/drinking-buddies-trailer-beer-plus-attraction-equals-trouble/

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AOL Reader launches into private beta, thanks Google for the opportunity

Google: "Eh, we're kind of over this Reader thing. Let's go launch some balloons."

AOL: "Why, thanks guys -- don't mind if we do!"

The above mentioned quotes are still unofficial, mind you, but it appears that AOL (disclaimer: that's Engadget's parent company) is joining Feedly and Digg in an effort to capture the audiences who will soon be forced to flee from Google's Reader product. AOL Reader launched today in beta form, promising to collect "all your favorite websites, in one place." It appears that the design language follows that introduced in the entity's Alto mail product, and if you've forgotten your AOL password, fret not -- those who request (and receive) an invite will be able to sign in via Facebook, Google or Twitter. Oh, and judging by the shot above, it's designed to work universally across screen sizes and devices, including your tablets, phones, desktops, laptops and space-age computational creations. Of note, it appears that the sign-up forms aren't entirely active just yet, as we're hearing that the bona fide launch won't occur until next week.

Update: We've confirmed that invites will be accepted starting on Monday, June 24th.

Filed under: Internet, Software

Comments

Source: AOL Reader (1), (2)

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/ZokacF-axek/

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Are pro-immigration reform Republicans hurting their 2016 chances? (cbsnews)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/314272127?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Guardian: GCHQ taps fibre-optic cables for secret access to world's ...

Exclusive:? British spy agency collects and stores vast quantities of global email messages, Facebook posts, internet histories and calls, and shares them with NSA, latest documents from Edward Snowden reveal

(Sorry for the rush, but I thought you?d like to know, and I didn?t see available post to drop the link.)

and the are consequently able to access and process vast quantities of communications between entirely innocent people, as well as targeted suspects.? This includes recordings of phone calls, the content of email messages, entries on Facebook and the history of any internet user?s access to websites ? all of which is deemed legal, even though the warrant system was supposed to limit interception to a specified range of targets.

The existence of the programme has been disclosed in documents shown to the Guardian by the whistleblower Edward Snowden as part of his attempt to expose what he has called ?the largest programme of suspicionless surveillance in human history?.

?It?s not just a US problem. The UK has a huge dog in this fight,? Snowden told the Guardian. ?They [] are worse than the US.? [snip]

Britain?s technical capacity to tap into the cables that carry the world?s communications ? referred to in the documents as special source exploitation ? has made an intelligence superpower.? By 2010, two years after the project was first trialled, it was able to boast it had the ?biggest internet access? of any member of the Five Eyes electronic eavesdropping alliance, comprising the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

UK officials could also claim ?produces larger amounts of than ?.? [snip]

The Guardian understands that a total of 850,000 employees and US private contractors with top secret clearance had access to databases.

In addition,? apparently Americans were given guidelines for its use, but were told in legal briefings by lawyers: ?We have a light oversight regime compared with the US?, and that? when it came to judging the necessity and proportionality of what they were allowed to look for, would-be American users were told it was ?your call?.? I?ll bet they made the call.

From NDTV via Agence-France? Presse?

WikiLeaks plane ?ready? to bring Edward Snowden to Iceland

Reykjavik, Iceland:?A chartered private jet is ready to bring US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden to Iceland from Hong Kong, a businessman connected to whistleblowing website WikiLeaks said late Thursday.

?Everything is ready on our side and the plane could take off tomorrow,? Icelandic businessman Olafur Sigurvinsson, head of WikiLeaks partner firm DataCell, told Channel2 television.

?We have really done all we can do. We have a plane and all the logistics in place. Now we are only awaiting a response from the (Icelandic) government,? added the boss of Datacell, which handles donations to WikiLeaks.

Why advertise it?? Several ideas might occur.

I was looking at Julian Sanchez?s twitter account for a link I?d seen the other day, and found him recommending this piece by James Risen and Nick Winfield at the NYT: ?Web?s Reach Binds N.S.A. and Silicon Valley Leaders?:

The sums the N.S.A. spends in Silicon Valley are classified, as is the agency?s total budget, which independent analysts say is $8 billion to $10 billion a year.

Despite the companies? assertions that they cooperate with the agency only when legally compelled, current and former industry officials say the companies sometimes secretly put together teams of in-house experts to find ways to cooperate more completely with the N.S.A. and to make their customers? information more accessible to the agency. The companies do so, the officials say, because they want to control the process themselves. They are also under subtle but powerful pressure from the N.S.A. to make access easier.?

Skype, the Internet-based calling service, began its own secret program, Project Chess, to explore the legal and technical issues in making Skype calls readily available to intelligence agencies and law enforcement officials, according to people briefed on the program who asked not to be named to avoid trouble with the intelligence agencies.

Also, this piece by Robert Pollack:? ?Militarizing Capitalism? is excellent.? More links later; so much is breaking so quickly now, and?I?m sorry to be in such a rush?again.? Garden?s been calling, but that?s a good thing.

?(cross-posted at Cafe-Babylon.net)

Source: http://my.firedoglake.com/wendydavis/2013/06/21/guardian-gchq-taps-fibre-optic-cables-for-secret-access-to-worlds-communications/

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Robert Downey, Jr. Re-Ups for Avengers 2 and 3

Just weeks before Comic-Con 2013, and just weeks after?Iron Man 3 solidified its position among the top five grossing films of all-time, Disney and Marvel Studios are planning even further ahead than ever before. Last week Disney claimed two more release date slots for unannounced Marvel films coming in 2016 and 2017 and today they?ve officially announced that Robert Downey Jr. will continue to have a key role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Marvel is happy to announce that ? after reports of tough negotiations ? Robert Downey Jr. has officially signed to return as Tony Stark aka Iron Man in both (still untitled)?The Avengers 2 and?The Avengers 3.

Iron Man 4 ? at least at this point in time ? is not part of the plan for RDJ as he aims to clear up his schedule to pursue other projects. Although Shane Black teased the idea of Iron Man 4 & 5 with Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow?s mixed responses about more installments held true and Marvel aims to focus on expanding the MCU and introducing more characters from the Marvel Comics library, beginning next year with?Guardians of the Galaxy.

Despite Marvel holding the (for negotiation purposes) position that they?d be willing to recast Tony Stark, the ?I Am Iron Man? quote from the film series couldn?t be truer. Robert Downey Jr. is the poster boy for Marvel Studios? success and replacing him would be as challenging as it would be disappointing so it was inevitable he?d return in?some capacity. Joss Whedon?s praise of the actor and his admittance of having every intention of working with him again for?The Avengers 2 ? which begins shooting early next year ? played out just as we expected and the world can breathe a sigh of relief that he?ll suit up once again when Earth?s Mightiest are forced to join forces in summer 2015.

As for the idea of cameos or guest appearances in other Phase Two and Phase Three films, don?t count on it. From the get-go, Marvel President of Production Kevin Feige made it clear that the next set of films are more standalone, and unlike in Phase One where it was important to emphasize the shared continuity and build towards the main event in?The Avengers, it?s no longer necessary with the brand earning its place in pop culture.

Iron Man 3 stood entirely as its own, and while?Thor: The Dark World takes place partly on Earth it may follow a similar isolated story pattern while rumor has it?Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the story that will bridge?The Avengers 1 & 2. After that, Marvel ventures into unexplored territory with its ?twisted? space-faring adventure in?Guardians of the Galaxy which is not only a standalone story as well, but features an entirely new roster of heroes and villains, leading up to?The Avengers 2 and then another new character?s origin story in?Ant-Man.

With the?Iron Man?solo series on break for the forseeable future, the timing makes sense that with Phase Three of the MCU,?Ant-Man steps into take over the first chapter duties.

Now to get Don Cheadle back as Rhodey. Should he (War Machine) get a part in?The Avengers sequels?

More on this story (and Ant-Man)?as it develops.

_____

Iron Man 3?is currently in theaters,?Thor: The Dark World?on November 8, 2013,?Captain America: The Winter Soldier?on April 4, 2014,?Guardians of the Galaxy?on?August 1, 2014,?The Avengers 2?on May 1, 2015,?Ant-Man?on November 6, 2015, and unannounced films for?May 6 2016 and?May 5 2017.

Let me know on Twitter @rob_keyes?if you?re happy to see RDJ back!

Source: Marvel

"Follow us if you want to live."

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1927708/news/1927708/

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Obama revisits the promises of 2008 in legacy-minded Berlin speech

German Chancellor Angela Merkel watches as U.S. President Barack Obama waves after giving a speech in front of??BERLIN -- In 2008, some 200,000 people packed the streets near this city?s Victory Column and listened raptly to candidate Barack Obama promise to lead a different America on the chaotic global stage ? one that would embrace action to fight climate change, shutter the Guantanamo Bay prison for suspected extremists, seek to eliminate the world?s nuclear weapons stockpiles and battle poverty.

On Wednesday, some 6,000 invited guests filled part of the square on the East side of the city?s Brandenburg Gate to hear President Barack Obama?well, promise action to fight climate change, shutter Guantanamo Bay, work towards eliminating the world?s nuclear stockpiles, and battle poverty.

I still have time to fulfill my promises, he seemed to be saying. The ones I haven't kept, they aren?t broken, just deferred.

Speaking from behind a forbidding wall of bulletproof glass, Obama quoted President John F. Kennedy?s June 1963 ?Ich bin ein Berliner? address and recalled Ronald Reagan?s June 1987 ?tear down this wall? speech. He could hardly do otherwise. But the politician he truly channeled was that promise-maker of 2008. And the one who seemed most on his mind was the Obama who will shoulder history?s judgment.

?As I?ve said, Angela and I don?t exactly look like previous German and American leaders,? he said of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a near word-for-word reprise of 2008, when he underlined ?I know that I don't look like the Americans who've previously spoken in this great city.?

Click image to see more photos. (AP)

But the power of Obama?s biography has dimmed in the shadow of controversy: The prospective first black American president from 2008 is now the first American president to openly acknowledge that he has ordered the assassination of U.S. citizens overseas. (The poster pictured half-way down in this Yahoo News story provides a brutal summary). And the NSA spying scandal weighed down Obama's speech with an unapologetic defense of government surveillance.

"Our current programs are bound by the rule of law, and they're focused on threats to our security -- not the communications of ordinary persons. They help confront real dangers, and they keep people safe here in the United States and here in Europe," he insisted. "But we must accept the challenge that all of us in democratic governments face: to listen to the voices who disagree with us; to have an open debate about how we use our powers and how we must constrain them; and to always remember that government exists to serve the power of the individual, and not the other way around."

Ahead of the speech, the White House worked to focus reporters on its core proposal: Deep new cuts to America?s nuclear arsenal.

Obama delivered, calling for reducing America?s deployed nuclear weapons by up to one third, seeking new talks with Russia for more cuts, and drawing down the short-range nukes Washington and Moscow still have deployed in Europe.

?Peace with justice means pursuing the security of a world without nuclear weapons -- no matter how distant that dream may be,? the president declared. (The message in 2008? ?This is the moment when we must renew the goal of a world without nuclear weapons.? On this, at least, Obama has scored some important victories, notably Senate ratification of the New START arms control treaty). But Republicans quickly warned they would oppose new cuts, alleging that Russia has been violating its current commitments.

As he did last month, Obama vowed to shutter the notorious Guantanamo Bay facility that holds about 170 prisoners -- including some cleared for release but without a clear path home.

"Even as we remain vigilant about the threat of terrorism, we must move beyond a mindset of perpetual war. And in America, that means redoubling our efforts to close the prison at Guantanamo," he said.

But it was Congress that served notice in early 2009 that it would not go along with that campaign promise. And it's not at all clear that lawmakers will go along with it before he leaves office in 2017. And it was Congress -- the Senate, specifically -- that blocked Obama's push for an ambitious cap-and-trade mechanism to battle global warming.

Obama warned Wednesday that climate change "is the global threat of our time" and implored the world to "get to work" on slowing or reversing it "before it is too late." He praised Germany and Europe, which he said have led on the issue, and defended the more modest steps his administration has taken.

"We know we have to do more -- and we will do more," he said.

(The 2008 promise? "This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet. Let us resolve that we will not leave our children a world where the oceans rise and famine spreads and terrible storms devastate our lands. Let us resolve that all nations - including my own - will act with the same seriousness of purpose as has your nation, and reduce the carbon we send into our atmosphere.")

Five years ago, Obama argued that "this is the moment when we must give hope to those left behind in a globalized world," saying it was time to "extend our hand to the people in the forgotten corners of this world who yearn for lives marked by dignity and opportunity; by security and justice" and work to "banish the scourge of AIDS in our time."

He re-emphasized those themes Wednesday. "We have a moral obligation and a profound interest in helping lift the impoverished corners of the world," he said, pleading with world leaders to "do everything we can to realize the promise -- an achievable promise -- of the first AIDS-free generation. That is something that is possible if we feel a sufficient sense of urgency."

Obama?s star may have dimmed a bit, but civil engineer Bernd Schneider, 63, still took the day off to come to Berlin from Leipzig, an hour south by train. Tight security means he never got close to the president.

?I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about," Schneider told Yahoo News.

?Obama is OK. I?m not really bothered by the [National Security Agency] snooping. I grew up in East Germany, and you just can?t compare it with the Stasi [or the Ministry for State Security, the former secret police of East Germany]. I guess if I send pictures of my vacation and say, ?The weather was the bomb,? I?m going to be scanned. But I don?t mind if it helps stop terrorism,? he said. ?However, I?m pretty un-German about stuff like that.?

Editor's note: Olivier Knox reported from Washington.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-revisits-promises-2008-legacy-minded-berlin-speech-170520444.html

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