Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/192949419?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
Fire kills 26 patients at rehab center in Peru (Reuters)
LIMA (Reuters) ? Fire swept through a rehabilitation clinic for drug addicts and alcoholics in Peru on Saturday, killing 26 patients who were locked in to stop them from fleeing during treatment, local media and witnesses said.
Several survivors said the blaze was started by two patients who wanted to break out of the private "Christ is Love" center in the capital Lima.
"Some inmates wanted to escape and they set fire to some cloths and started throwing them at the manager's office, and then it caught fire inside," said patient Wilmer Garcia.
Most of the victims were thought to have died from smoke inhalation.
Lima Mayor Susana Villaran said the center lacked a municipal licence and that "drastic action" was needed to prevent similar incidents in the Andean country.
"This is a great tragedy," she told local radio. "Families hand over relatives who are suffering drug and alcohol addiction so they can be rehabilitated and often they're desperate. These places must be supervised by the Health Ministry and municipal authorities."
Firefighters and prosecutors have opened investigations into the cause of the fire.
(Reporting by Patricia Velez and Helen Popper; Editing by Xavier Briand)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120128/wl_nm/us_peru_fire
Sunday, January 29, 2012
3 killed in Sacramento SUV-light rail train crash
SACRAMENTO, Calif.?? The driver of an SUV veered around a crossing arm and ignored flashing warning lights before the vehicle was struck by a light-rail train in Sacramento on Saturday, killing an 18-month-old boy and two adults, authorities said.
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The other person inside the Nissan Pathfinder, a woman in her 30s, was taken to a local hospital with serious injuries, said Niko King, assistant chief with the Sacramento Fire Department. Six of the roughly 50 passengers on the light rail train suffered minor injuries and were taken to a hospital, he said.
King and a spokeswoman for the transit line said video from a camera at the crossing clearly shows the SUV driving around the crossing arm. The light rail followed two Union Pacific freight trains, which use separate tracks, and the arms had remained down during the interval, said Alane Masui, spokeswoman for the Sacramento Regional Transit District.
"They were down after the UP trains and before the (light rail) train approached, so the crossing arms were properly working," she said.
She said the length of time between the freight trains clearing the intersection and the light rail train crossing it had not yet been determined and would be part of the investigation. Investigators also were reviewing video from a camera mounted on the light rail train.
The collision, in a working class neighborhood south of downtown, occurred shortly after 4 p.m. and pushed the Pathfinder about 30 yards from the point of impact.
"All I heard was a big bang, and I saw a light-rail train heading south with a big truck smashed on it," said Ravin Pratab, 42, of Davis, whose car was among those waiting for the train at the rail crossing, on the opposite side of the tracks from the Pathfinder.
The train was going about 55 mph at the time, a typical speed for that location.
Authorities did not release the identities of those in the Pathfinder or their relationship. A man and woman in the vehicle, both in their 40s, died at the scene while the baby boy was pronounced dead at a hospital. Firefighters said one had been ejected.
The University of California, Davis Medical Center in Sacramento would say only that the woman remained in serious condition late Saturday.
The light rail system carries an average of 50,000 passengers a day, with lines stretching from the state capital to its suburbs in the north, south and east.
Masui said there are four sets of tracks at the crossing ? two for freight and two for light rail so trains from both systems can run in either direction.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
TEEN FICTION: 'The Violinist'
This is a regular column featuring original fiction by and for high school students, provided by Figment.com, an online community writing site for young people.
I melt into a crowd heading for the auditorium, disguising myself among a hundred or so other people. Thankfully, I don?t recognize a single one of them. I don?t want to talk to anyone right now. I don?t want to see anyone except?
I find my seat among the rest of the audience and wait. Slowly, the lights dim. I can?t help noticing the butterflies in my stomach, the knot in my throat. I tear away pieces of the program, a green booklet, until a little hill of paper is in my lap. I want to run away. I want to melt into the chair. I want to dissappear.
What I want is?
The performers come out, tall and sleek in black and carrying their instruments with the regality of an old English court. They sit and ready themselves, all the while giving us the impression that we aren?t even there. We are insignificant, quiet little specks of nothing compared to them, at this very moment.
To you, I?m probably?
I?d be lying if I said I wasn?t looking for him. And I know it?s about the music and the performance and all the effort they?ve put into their work? But I can?t help it. I search for him. And I feel paranoid for a moment and I wonder if anyone has noticed me, but of course they haven?t. They talk to each other, idle chatter, and are completely unaware of my meaningless anxiety and the mess of scrap paper in my lap and the way I can?t even hear myself think and-?I?ve found him.
He?s dressed in all black, like the others, but he might as well be wearing a neon sign on his forehead for all the attention he?s robbed me of. Like a fool, I am hypnotized. Like a child, I stare straight at him. Like an idiot, I pull my hair around my face, push my glasses up, and hide.
I?m nothing more than...
The violin is at his chin, his arm is in position, and before I realize it, they?ve begun. He slowly, carefully, rocks through the notes. He sinks into a low note, rises with the high ones. He plays that instrument with his whole body; he plays it like his life depends on it. I don?t think I?ve ever known anyone so in love with music.
And somewhere in the middle of it all, I feel strange, creepy, intrusive? like I?m witnessing something that I really shouldn?t be. I try focusing on the others, on the conductor, on anything but him. I focus on the song. Beethoven?s Moonlight Sonata, a version specifically arranged for the string ensemble. It?s beautiful and slow with a painful undertone.
He?s completely focused. I think to myself, it must have been this moment. This is the moment that I first felt myself drawn to him. I say ?drawn? because I don?t know how else to describe all these emotions. Admiration? Respect? Love? I feel like they?re so closely related?How do I differentiate them all?
Is there even such as thing as?
Suddenly it?s over. He breathes. He?s pleased, raises his eyebrows and smiles a little to his friends. The conductor bows, the performers rise and bow. He glances out into the audience, looks in my direction.
But I know he isn?t looking me. He?s looking at someone next to me, someone behind me. Hell, he?s probably just looking at the clock on the opposite side of the auditorium. Never at me. I hold my breath and resist the urge to look away. He couldn?t have seen me watching him, it?s way too dark over here?
The performers exit, the lights go on, and I?m outside and into the hallway as soon as they open the doors. My head is full of too many things and the boy and his violin are still playing loudly in my mind. I try and remember how to breathe? The reality is really unavoidable.
He saw me.
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/29/teen-fiction-the-violinis_n_1239744.html
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Saturday, January 28, 2012
Google tells Android devs to kick the menu button to the curb, seriously you guys
Google tells Android devs to kick the menu button to the curb, seriously you guys originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 06:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Samsung SyncMaster S23A550H
Samsung monitors have long been known for their style and solid image quality, and the SyncMaster S23A550H ($259.99 list) continues the trend. This 23-inch beauty delivers outstanding color quality and great dark grayscale performance, and does so without using much power. However, it only has one digital input and is short on features.
Design and Features
Fans of Samsung's Touch of Color design will appreciate the S23A550H's Rose Black finish, which happens to be the same finish used on the Samsung SyncMaster T220D. The 23-inch 1,920-by-1,080 TN+ panel is framed by reddish black bezels that are covered with clear trim and are slightly curved, giving the monitor a sense of style and preventing it from appearing too box-like. The Samsung logo appears on the lower bezel as well as on the back of the monitor. The 7 pound glossy black cabinet measures 1.5 inches at its thickest point and is supported by a clear round base with piano black trim. The mounting arm provides tilt adjustment, but lacks height and swivel movement. It also has a cover that unsnaps, so you can tuck cables away and keep them out of sight.
Input connections are sparse; you get an HDMI port and a VGA port, and that's it. A secondary HDMI port, like the one on the ViewSonic VX2753mh ($349.99 list, 4 stars), would make it much easier to connect to a gaming box or external Blu-ray player. In keeping with the clutter-free motif, a rounded cover snaps onto the back of the cabinet to hide the cable connectors.
There are six touch sensitive buttons on the right side of the lower bezel. In addition to the power switch, there's a Menu button that launches the on-screen display (OSD) menu, an ECO button that doubles as a navigation button, a brightness button that is also used for menu navigation, an input source/navigation button, and an Auto Adjust button for use with an analog signal. Pressing any button activates on-screen labeling above each button with icons that show you what the button does, making it easy to work your way through the menu system.
Picture settings include Samsung's Magic presets; MagicAngle lets you select one of six viewing angle modes optimized for your viewing position. For example, if you lean way back on your chair to the point where you look up to see the screen you can choose one of the Lean Back modes. There are also modes for standing and viewing from the side, but side angle viewing is already quite good on this monitor. You will get a better picture if you happen to be standing or sitting at an off angle, but the best all-around picture comes with this feature disabled and the monitor positioned for optimal viewing.
MagicBright consists of five presets offering brightness and contrast level settings that are optimized for specific applications. Standard mode gives you the best picture for everyday use and Cinema mode is useful for watching movies in a dimly lit room. Colors in the Game mode are way too oversaturated, and the Dynamic Contrast mode offers automatic brightness and contrast control depending on the content and is a bit sharper than Standard mode. Users can create their own preset using the Custom mode.
When enabled, MagicColor enhances skin tones and punches up colors in Full mode, while Intelligent mode enhances everything except skin tones. Both MagicColor settings produce slightly oversaturated colors and cannot be used when the MagicAngle feature is enabled. You can also tweak Red, Green, and Blue color levels, color temperature, and gamma settings.
The ECO button takes you to a screen with several neat power saving options; there's an ECO Motion Sensor setting that when enabled will put the monitor into power saving mode if no motion is detected. You can choose one of five time intervals (5, 10, 20, 30, or 60 minutes) for the sensor and have the screen turn off or go dim if no motion is detected during the selected time frame. You can also select one of three ECO Saving modes (Off, 75 percent, 50 percent). When set to Off the panel uses only 19 watts of power, which is great for a 23-inch panel, but not quite as good as the 24-inch Lenovo LS2421P Wide ($219.99 direct, 4 stars) (16-watts). Changing the setting to 75 percent knocks power usage down to 18 watts with only a slight decrease in luminance, while the 50 percent setting brings it down to 14 watts with a more noticeable loss of luminance. All things considered, I'd suggest leaving the ECO Saving mode off as this mode offers the best picture and doesn't use much power anyway. Either way, the S23A550H's low power characteristics and useful power-saving options earn it our GreenTech stamp of approval.
Performance
The S23A550H produces inky blacks, which in part helps it to deliver bold, well defined colors. The panel had no trouble displaying every shade of dark gray on the DisplayMate 64-Step Grayscale test, although light grays were a bit washed out at the bright end of the scale. Colors scaled evenly from dark to light on the Color Scales test and there was no noticeable tinting or oversaturation. Small text was sharp and easy to read at 5.3 points (the smallest font on the DisplayMate Scaled Fonts test), and as mentioned above, viewing angle performance was quite good from the sides. There is, however, some color shifting when viewed from the top and bottom angles.
Although the S23A550H lacks the necessary ports to be considered a gaming monitor it does have a speedy 2-millisecond (g-g) pixel response and does a fine job of displaying fast motion sequences. I hooked the monitor up to my PS3 via the HDMI port and fired up the fast action racing game Need for Speed Carbon and did not detect any blurring or ghosting while zipping through the city streets at a high rate of speed. The Cohen Brothers True Grit in HD, streamed via Netflix, looked great on the 23-inch screen, which delivered natural-looking skin tones and crisp colors.
If you're looking for a 23-inch monitor that delivers bold colors and deep blacks, the Samsung SyncMaster S23A550H is right up your alley. You don't get many ports with this model, and its light grayscale performance could be better, but it'll save you a few bucks on your utility bill and bring a touch of style to your desktop. That said, the Editors' Choice Lenovo LS2421p Wide offers equally impressive performance and energy efficiency, comes with a four port USB hub, and gives you a slightly bigger screen. It's around $30 cheaper, too.
COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the AOC e1649Fwu with several other monitors side by side.
More monitor reviews:
??? Samsung SyncMaster S23A550H
??? Samsung Central Station (SyncMaster C23A750X)
??? AOC e1649Fwu
??? Lenovo ThinkVision LT1421
??? Asus VG278H
?? more
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/JdN8hfcPT0o/0,2817,2399198,00.asp
Friday, January 27, 2012
Summary Box: Dow slips; first losing week in 2012 (AP)
STOCK SLUMP: Stocks mostly fell after the government said the U.S. economy grew more slowly than expected in the last three months of 2011. The Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 each fell less than 1 percent. The biggest losers were utility stocks, down 1.3 percent.
BAD WEEK: The fall in the Dow capped a down week for the blue-chip index, the first weekly loss in 2012.
THE GOOD NEWS: Nearly two stocks rose for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange, suggesting investors may still be bullish. And despite the drop for the day, the Dow is still up nearly 4 percent this year. The Russell 2000 index of riskier small stocks is up nearly 8 percent.
Apple: Poor working conditions inside the Chinese factories making iPads
- 'Working excessive overtime without a single day off during the week'
- 'Living together in crowded dorms and exposure to dangerous chemicals'
- Two explosions in 2011 in China 'due to aluminum dust' killed four workers
- Almost 140 injured after using toxin in factory, reports New York Times
By Mark Duell
Last updated at 8:10 AM on 27th January 2012
Working excessive overtime without a single day off during the week, living together in crowded dormitories and standing so long that their legs swell and they can hardly walk after a 24-hour shift.
These are the lives some employees claim they live at Apple?s manufacturing centres in China, where the firm?s suppliers allegedly wrongly dispose of hazardous waste and produce improper records.
Almost 140 workers at a supplier in China were injured two years ago using a poisonous chemical to clean iPhone screens - and two explosions last year killed four people while injuring more than 75.
Hard grafters: Workers inside a factory of Foxconn, an Apple manufacturing partner, in the township of Longhua in the southern Guangdong province. A New York Times investigation looked at the working conditions
Assembly: Employees of Hon Hai Precision Industry, an Apple producer, work along a production line in the Longhua Science and Technology Park, also known as Foxconn City, in Shenzhen, China
The California tech giant had allegedly been alerted to hazardous conditions inside the Chengdu plant in southwest China before the explosions at those plants, reported the New York Times.
?If Apple was warned and didn?t act, that?s reprehensible,? Massachusetts Institute of Technology work safety expert Nicholas Ashford told the New York Times.
?
?But what?s morally repugnant in one country is accepted business practices in another, and companies take advantage of that,? the former U.S. Labor Department advisor added.
Banners in the Chengdu plant gave a warning to the 120,000 staff: ?Work hard on the job today or work hard to find a job tomorrow?. Workers who arrived late often had to write confession letters.
The newspaper?s report comes hot on the heels of Apple announcing whopping $13billion profits on $46billion sales in its last quarter - but the firm still wants its overseas factories to produce more.
At work: Apple executives claim the firm has improved its factories in recent years and issues a supplier code of conduct on labour and safety - but problems still exist, according to labour advocacy groups
Unpleasant sight: Nets to prevent workers from jumping to their deaths are pictured outside one of the Foxconn factory buildings in the township of Longhua, in southern Guangdong province
Apple executives claim it has improved factories in recent years and issues a supplier code of conduct on labour and safety - but problems still exist, according to employment advocacy groups.
'Work hard on the job today or work hard to find a job tomorrow'
Banner in Chengdu plant
More than half of the suppliers audited by Apple have broken at least one part of its conduct code each year since 2007 and have even broken the law in some cases, according to company reports.
A Foxconn employee jumped or fell from a block of flats after losing an iPhone prototype in 2009 - and 18 other workers apparently tried to commit suicide in two years, reported the New York Times.
Suicide nets were installed to prevent workers from jumping to their deaths and Foxconn began providing better mental health treatment for its staff.
Li Mingqi worked for Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn Technology until last spring and helped manage the Chengdu plant which had the explosion. He is now suing Foxconn over his dismissal.
Impressive: Customers visit the Apple Store in New York City's Grand Central Station. Skyrocketing iPhone and iPad sales have helped Apple smash Wall Street expectations this week
iPad use: The report comes hot on the heels of Apple announcing whopping $13billion profits on $46billion sales in its last quarter - but the firm still wants its overseas factories to produce more
?Apple never cared about anything other than increasing product quality and decreasing production cost,? Mr Li told the New York Times. ?Workers? welfare has nothing to do with their interests.?
'What?s morally repugnant in one country is accepted business practices in another, and companies take advantage of that'
Nicholas Ashford, work safety expert
The fatal Chengdu explosion came from an aluminium dust build up three weeks after the iPad came out. Despite Apple?s probe, seven months on there was a further, non-fatal, explosion in Shanghai.
A former Apple executive claimed that the company has had knowledge of labour abuses in some factories for four years - ?and they?re still going on because the system works for us?.
Suppliers are only allowed the smallest margins on what they produce for Apple, and executives at the Cupertino company always ask them for details on part costs, worker numbers and salary sizes.
But workers at a factory of Apple partner Wintek went on strike after rumours that employees were exposed to toxins because they evaporated three times faster than alcohol when rubbing screens.
Treatment: A victim injured by an explosion at a Foxconn factory in May arrives at a hospital in Chengdu
Panic: Smoke rises as police and onlookers stand near at a Foxconn factory in Chengdu, China, last May
Apple?s late co-founder Steve Jobs, who died last October, said two years ago that Apple is a worldwide leader in ?understanding the working conditions in our supply chain?.
'We?re trying really hard to make things better. But most people would still be really disturbed if they saw where their iPhone comes from'
Former Apple executive
He said many of the factories have restaurants, cinemas, hospitals and swimming pools. While staff say they appreciate these facilities, the working conditions are still seen as relentless.
Foxconn said conditions are ?anything but harsh?, just one in 20 workers assembly line workers must stand to do their jobs and the firm has a ?very good safety record?, reported the New York Times.
But the Mail on Sunday visited a Foxconn factory making iPods in Shenzhen, China, in 2006, and our reports on long hours, crowded accommodation and punishments shocked Apple executives.
?We?re trying really hard to make things better,? one former Apple executive told the New York Times. ?But most people would still be really disturbed if they saw where their iPhone comes from.?
?
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Star Snapshots: Couples Cam
John Krasinski & Emily Blunt visit the Sundance Film Festival! Check out more pics of Hollywood's tightest twosomes
British skier sets record for solo Antarctic trek
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) ? British adventurer Felicity Aston completed her crossing of Antarctica on Monday, becoming the first woman to ski across the icy continent alone.
She did it in 59 days, pulling two sledges for 1,084 miles (1,744 kilometers) from her starting point on the Leverett Glacier on Nov. 25.
Now she's tweeting that she has made it to Hercules Inlet on the Ronne Ice Shelf, completing her journey. She's still alone in a tent, waiting in bad weather for a small plane to pick her up and take her to a base camp.
"!!!Congratulations to the 1st female to traverse Antarctica SOLO.V proud," her Twitter message said.
Aston was still alone Monday. A support team was waiting for weather to clear in order to greet her.
"Just in case I was in danger of feeling sentimental, a violent wind has appeared from nowhere and is beating the tent like the bad old days," she tweeted.
Aston also set another record: the first human to ski solo across Antarctica using only her own muscle power. A male-female team already combined to ski across Antarctica without kites or machines to pull them across, but Aston is the first to do this alone.
The veteran adventurer, 34, worked as a meteorologist in Antarctica and has led team expeditions in the Antarctic, the Arctic and Greenland.
Her journey took her from the Ross Ice Shelf, up the Leverett Glacier and across the Transantarctic Mountains to the continent's vast central plateau, where she had to fight headwinds most of the way to the South Pole. Then she turned toward Hercules Inlet and a base camp where the company Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions provides logistical support to each summer's Antarctic expeditions.
Aston tweeted that she's been promised red wine and a hot shower after she gets picked up. "No plane tonight but I have my last Beef and Ale Stew to enjoy for my final evening alone ? yum!" she wrote.
___
Online:
Aston's expedition site: www.kasperskyonetransantarcticexpedition.com
Aston on Twitter: www.twitter.com/felicity(underscore)aston
Associated PressTuesday, January 24, 2012
What Gadgets Can an iPad Replace? (ContributorNetwork)
Apple's iPad is starting to replace desktop and laptop computers, for a lot of people. Its success tracks closely with declining PC sales at vendors like HP and Dell, and if you count it as a computer it makes Apple the world's top PC vendor, according to Todd Wasserman of Mashable.
How can the iPad replace laptops and desktop PCs? As Matthew Guay of Techinch put it, the iPad is like the microwave oven of computers. It can't do everything a full PC or Mac can, but it can do most things, and it does them with a lot less time and hassle. Besides that, iPad games and apps cost much less than their PC counterparts. The iPad version of iWork, for instance, costs half as much as the Mac version.
Here's a look at some other things people are using their iPads instead of now:
Game consoles
Nintendo considers itself to have won against Sony, but considers Apple the "enemy of the future," as Chris Rawson of TUAW explains. And while Nintendo made record sales on Black Friday, part of the reason was that it'd already dropped the price of its portable 3DS game console by $80 beforehand.
There are still a ton of games you can only play on Nintendo consoles, like the official games for the Mario, Zelda, and Metroid franchises. (Don't forget about Pokemon, either. The latest installments in the series, Pokemon Black and Pokemon White, sold more than 1 million copies in the U.S. within just 24 hours of launch day.)
The iPad has literally thousands of games available, though, including iOS exclusives from top-tier publishers like Square-Enix. So while it can't replace a DS for a Pokemon addict, there are probably a lot of game consoles collecting dust because of it.
E-readers
The Kindle Fire and Nook Color (and Tablet) are all selling extremely well, at least compared to generic-brand "Android tablets". And David Heinemeier Hansson, the creator of Ruby on Rails, has noted that a black-and-white e-reader "rekindled" his interest in reading books.
The iPad doesn't exactly compete with the Kindle Fire or the Nook, because they're at different price points. But the iPad does everything they do, and has thousands more apps.
Textbooks
They aren't gadgets, but with the prices on some of them they might as well be; a new college textbook can cost as much as a Kindle Fire or Nook. And now Apple's new iBooks Author program may drop the price of electronic textbooks to $14.99, if you buy them on an iPad.
Not all textbooks are available on an iPad yet, but with publishers like McGraw-Hill signing on already that may change soon.
Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.
Heidi Klum and Seal Confirm Split: ?We?ve Grown Apart?
Heidi Klum and Seal Confirm Split: “We’ve Grown Apart”
Heidi Klum and Seal have confirmed the recent reports going around that they have called it quits. Seal and Heidi said they still love one [...]
Heidi Klum and Seal Confirm Split: “We’ve Grown Apart” Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stupidcelebrities/~3/6qvhtGzjXB0/
Monday, January 23, 2012
Int'l court: 4 of 6 Kenyan suspects to face trial (AP)
THE HAGUE, Netherlands ? International Criminal Court judges on Monday ordered four prominent Kenyans, including two potential presidential candidates, to stand trial for allegedly orchestrating a deadly wave of violence after their country's disputed 2007 presidential election.
Among the four suspects sent for trial were Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, and former Education Minister William Ruto ? both of whom are planning to run for the presidency this year.
Kenyatta, 50, is the son of Kenya's founding president, Jomo Kenyatta, and the country's richest citizen with a personal fortune of half a billion dollars. Ruto is a former ally of Prime Minister Raila Odinga, but the two had a falling-out ? partly over Ruto's insistence on making his own presidential bid this year.
More than 1,000 people were killed in postelection violence in Kenya after police ejected observers from the center where votes were being tallied and the electoral body declared President Mwai Kibaki the winner.
Two of those ordered to stand trial Monday were supporters of Kibaki, while the other two backed his rival in the presidential race, Odinga. Odinga was later appointed prime minister in a power-sharing government.
In a majority decision by the three-judge panel, Ruto was ordered to stand trial with radio broadcaster Joshua Arap Sang for crimes against humanity allegedly targeting Kibaki supporters.
Another suspect, former Minister of Industrialization Henry Kiprono Kosgey, was cleared of charges.
Ruto, one of Kenya's most divisive political leaders, told somber supporters he still plans to run for president.
He said Kenya should focus on ending hunger and increasing educational opportunities ? and not the ICC case.
"I am, I have been and forever will be a stranger to the accusations against me," Ruto said.
In a separate case, Kenyatta will stand trial alongside Cabinet Secretary Francis Muthaura for alleged crimes against humanity directed at Odinga supporters. A third suspect in the case, former police commissioner Maj. Gen. Mohammed Hussein Ali, was cleared of the charges.
Kenyatta took to Facebook to proclaim his innocence.
"My conscience is clear, has been clear and will always remain clear that I am innocent of all the accusations that have been leveled against me," he said in a post. He added that he would continue to cooperate with the ICC, "because I believe in the rule of law."
No date has been set for the trials.
None of the suspects was in court for the half-hour hearing at which Presiding Judge Ekaterina Trendafilova read out a summary of the decision to commit four suspects for trial on charges including murder, persecution and deportation.
The suspects will remain free in Kenya until the trials start, but Trendafilova warned that they could face arrest if they attempt to whip up fresh violence.
Prosecutors have said the decision to launch an ICC investigation should help ease tensions, and there was no immediate violent reaction in Kenya, where President Kibaki appealed for calm.
In the capital Nairobi's largest slum, Kibera, a dozen men gathered around a TV to watch the decision. When it was read out, no one watching showed any reaction.
Trendafilova said it was the judges' "utmost desire that the decisions issued by this chamber today bring peace to the people of the Republic of Kenya and prevent any sort of hostilities."
It's unclear whether the case could block Ruto and Kenyatta's presidential ambitions, since government officials have issued conflicting statements on whether they will remain eligible to run.
Kibaki said he had directed the country's attorney general to examine the court's decision "and devise a way forward," though he did not explicitly say he would ask for a ruling on whether Kenyatta and Ruto can run for president.
He said he wanted government ministries to fast-track the relocation of people forced from their homes who still have not returned five years after the violence.
Trendafilova stressed that the decisions do not mean guilty verdicts against the suspects, only that there is sufficient evidence to send them to trial.
"We are not passing judgment on the guilt or innocence of the individuals," she said.
Rights groups welcomed the ruling.
"Today's decisions move forward the search for justice for those who lost their lives and their homes in Kenya's 2007-2008 election violence," Human Rights Watch said in a statement. "The ICC trials will break with decades of impunity in Kenya for political violence, but Kenya should act to widen accountability by carrying out prosecutions at home."
U.S. State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland urged Kenyans "to continue to cooperate fully with the ICC proceedings and to remain focused on Kenya's future ? especially through implementation of the reform agenda."
Nuland said the U.S. "believes accountability for the 2007-2008 post-election violence is critical to ensuring Kenya's democracy, peace, and long-term stability."
Most Kenyans support the ICC process and have little faith in their own judiciary, widely perceived as corrupt and choking on a backlog of cases.
The ICC prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, launched his investigation in 2010 only after Kenya's parliament failed to agree to set up a national tribunal to prosecute perpetrators of postelection violence.
Both Kenyatta and Ruto come from powerful ethnic groups. Kenyatta is a Kikuyu, the ethnic group with the highest numbers and the one that has produced two of the country's three presidents. Ruto is a Kalenjin, the ethnic group that produced Kenya's longest-serving president, Daniel arap Moi, who recruited many fellow Kalenjin into the security services.
The International Criminal Court was set up in 2002 to prosecute the most serious offenses committed around the world when local courts cannot or will not step in. It has so far launched investigations in seven countries, all of them in Africa.
Among high-profile suspects indicted are Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir for allegedly masterminding genocide in Darfur, ex-Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo, also indicted for his alleged role in postelection violence, and Libya's late dictator Moammar Gadhafi for his brutal crackdown on protesters last year.
The case against Gadhafi was dropped after he was killed in October, but his son and one-time heir apparent Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, is still wanted by the court.
____
Associated Press writer Jason Straziuso in Nairobi, Kenya, contributed.
Is some poor little planet getting blasted?
The Jan. 19 Weekly Space Hangout touches upon boiling planets, reloaded Pillars of Creation and more.
By Alan Boyle
Did you hear the one about the planet that's boiling away? Astronomers working with data from NASA's Kepler planet-hunting telescope say they're seeing evidence that a star system 1,500 light-years from Earth has a "super-Mercury" orbiting less than a million miles from its sun. At that distance, they surmise that the blasted world (known as KIC 12557548) is slowly being vaporized by temperatures in excess of 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit (2,000 degrees Celsius).
The report about the boiling planet appears on ArXiv.org, and was the focus of a posting by Bad Astronomy blogger Phil Plait. It's also the top story on the Weekly Space Hangout, a Google+ live video show that brings together a gaggle of space writers, including yours truly. Check out the hourlong video above for more about KIC 12557548 as well as the other stories listed below:
This week's Hangout panel also included Discovery News' Nicole Gugliucci (the Noisy Astronomer) and Universe Today's Jon Voisey (the Angry Astronomer), with Universe Today's Fraser Cain as host, organizer and moderator. Tune in at 1 p.m. ET Thursday for the next installment of the Weekly Space Hangout, and check out these archived vidcasts:
Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Source: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/20/10192531-is-some-poor-planet-getting-blasted
Sunday, January 22, 2012
With fuel transfer to Nome complete, ships prepare for 300 mile return trip home
While the goal of transferring 1.3 million gallons to Nome was successful, there is still a long journey ahead for the ships and crew before their mission is really over.
AP reports:
"I don't really feel like it is over yet until everybody is safely through the ice," said Jason Evans, board chairman of Sitnasuak Native Corp., the corporation that arranged for the tanker delivery.
Evans called the transfer of the fuel "a huge milestone" but said the mission was not over. The tanker and icebreaker still need to get out of the frozen ice and back home, he said.
The plan is for the icebreaker to help get the tanker back through the ice and to open water where the tanker will head for Russia. The icebreaker will go to Dutch Harbor, Alaska to drop off supplies and then to its home port in Seattle.
Read the full story.
See more images of the icebreaker's journey to Nome in PhotoBlog.
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Saturday, January 21, 2012
NZ police raid file-sharing site founder's mansion
Megaupload.com employees Bram van der Kolk, also known as Bramos, left, Finn Batato,second from left, Mathias Ortmann and founder, former CEO and current chief innovation officer of Megaupload.com Kim Dotcom (also known as Kim Schmitz and Kim Tim Jim Vestor), right, appear in North Shore District Court in Auckland, New Zealand, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. The four appeared in court in relation to arrests made to Megaupload.com, which is linked to a U.S. investigation into international copyright infringement and money laundering. (AP Photo/Greg Bowker, New Zealand Herald) NEW ZEALAND OUT, AUSTRALIA OUT
Megaupload.com employees Bram van der Kolk, also known as Bramos, left, Finn Batato,second from left, Mathias Ortmann and founder, former CEO and current chief innovation officer of Megaupload.com Kim Dotcom (also known as Kim Schmitz and Kim Tim Jim Vestor), right, appear in North Shore District Court in Auckland, New Zealand, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. The four appeared in court in relation to arrests made to Megaupload.com, which is linked to a U.S. investigation into international copyright infringement and money laundering. (AP Photo/Greg Bowker, New Zealand Herald) NEW ZEALAND OUT, AUSTRALIA OUT
This undated image obtained by The Associated Press shows the homepage of the website Megaupload.com. Federal prosecutors in Virginia have shut down one of the world's largest file-sharing sites, Megaupload.com, and charged its founder and others with violating piracy laws. (AP Photo)
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) ? New Zealand police raided several homes and businesses linked to the founder of Megaupload.com, a giant Internet file-sharing site shut down by U.S. authorities, on Friday and seized guns, millions of dollars, and nearly $5 million in luxury cars, officials said.
Police arrested founder Kim Dotcom and three Megaupload employees on U.S. accusations that they facilitated millions of illegal downloads of films, music and other content costing copyright holders at least $500 million in lost revenue. Extradition proceedings against them could last a year or more.
With 150 million registered users, about 50 million hits daily and endorsements from music superstars, Megaupload.com was among the world's biggest file-sharing sites. According to a U.S. indictment, the site, which was shut down Thursday, earned Dotcom $42 million in 2010 alone.
Although the company is based in Hong Kong and Dotcom lives in New Zealand, some of the alleged pirated content was hosted on leased servers in Virginia, and that was enough for U.S. prosecutors to act.
New Zealand police served 10 search warrants at several businesses and homes around the city of Auckland.
Police spokesman Grant Ogilvie said the seized cars include a Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe worth more than $400,000 as well as several Mercedes. Two short-barreled shotguns and a number of valuable artworks were also confiscated, he added.
He said police seized more than $8 million, money that was invested in various New Zealand financial institutions and which has now been placed in a trust pending the outcome of the cases.
New Zealand's Fairfax Media reported that the four defendants stood together in an Auckland courtroom in the first step of the extradition proceedings.
Dotcom's lawyer raised objections to a media request to take photographs and video, but then Dotcom spoke out from the dock, saying he didn't mind photos or video "because we have nothing to hide." The judge granted the media access, and ruled that the four would remain in custody until a second hearing Monday.
Dotcom, Megaupload's former CEO and current chief innovation officer, is a resident of Hong Kong and New Zealand and a dual citizen of Finland and Germany who had his name legally changed. The 37-year-old was previously known as Kim Schmitz and Kim Tim Jim Vestor.
Two other German citizens and one Dutch citizen also were arrested and three other defendants ? another German, a Slovakian and an Estonian ? remain at large.
Megaupload has retained Washington power attorney Bob Bennett to defend it, according to a person inside the company. Bennett is best known for representing former President Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. The person within Megaupload spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the company's plans.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which defends free speech and digital rights online, said in a statement that the arrests set "a terrifying precedent. If the United States can seize a Dutch citizen in New Zealand over a copyright claim, what is next?"
The indictment was unsealed one day after websites including Wikipedia and Craigslist shut down in protest of two congressional proposals intended to make it easier for authorities to go after sites with pirated material, especially those with overseas headquarters and servers.
Before Megaupload was taken down, the company posted a statement saying allegations that it facilitated massive breaches of copyright laws were "grotesquely overblown."
"The fact is that the vast majority of Mega's Internet traffic is legitimate, and we are here to stay. If the content industry would like to take advantage of our popularity, we are happy to enter into a dialogue. We have some good ideas. Please get in touch," the statement said.
Several sister sites were also shut down, including one dedicated to sharing pornography files.
News of the shutdown seemed to bring retaliation from hackers who claimed credit for attacking the Justice Department's website. Federal officials confirmed it was down for hours Thursday evening and that the disruption was being "treated as a malicious act."
A loose affiliation of hackers known as "Anonymous" claimed credit for the attack. Also hacked was the site for the Motion Picture Association of America, which has campaigned for a crackdown on piracy.
According to the indictment, Megaupload was estimated at one point to be the 13th most frequently visited website on the Internet. Current estimates by companies that monitor Web traffic place it in the top 100.
Megaupload is considered a "cyberlocker," in which users can upload and transfer files that are too large to send by email. Such sites can have perfectly legitimate uses. But the Motion Picture Association of America estimated that the vast majority of content being shared on Megaupload was in violation of copyright laws.
The website allowed users to download some content for free, but made money by charging subscriptions to people who wanted access to faster download speeds or extra content. The website also sold advertising.
Megaupload was unique not only because of its massive size and the volume of downloaded content, but also because it had high-profile support from celebrities, musicians and other content producers who are most often the victims of copyright infringement and piracy. Before the website was taken down, it contained endorsements from Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys and Kanye West, among others.
The company listed Swizz Beatz, a musician who married Keys in 2010, as its CEO. He was not named in the indictment and declined to comment through a representative.
The five-count indictment, which alleges copyright infringement as well as conspiracy to commit money laundering and racketeering, described a site designed specifically to reward users who uploaded pirated content for sharing, and turned a blind eye to requests from copyright holders to remove copyright-protected files.
For instance, users received cash bonuses if they uploaded content popular enough to generate massive numbers of downloads, according to the indictment. Such content was almost always copyright protected, the indictment said.
The Justice Department said it was illegal for anyone to download pirated content, but their investigation focused on the leaders of the company, not end users who may have downloaded a few movies for personal viewing.
A lawyer who represented the company in a lawsuit last year declined to comment Thursday. Efforts to reach an attorney representing Dotcom were unsuccessful.
Although Megaupload is based in Hong Kong, the size of its operation in the southern Chinese city was unclear. The administrative contact listed in its domain registration, Bonnie Lam, did not respond immediately for a request for comment sent to a fax number and email address listed.
The indictment was returned in the Eastern District of Virginia, which claimed jurisdiction in part because some of the alleged pirated materials were hosted on leased servers in Ashburn, Virginia. Prosecutors there have pursued multiple piracy investigations.
The Justice Department also was investigating the "significant increase in activity" that disrupted its website. It said in a statement that it was working to "investigate the origins of this activity, which is being treated as a malicious act until we can fully identify the root cause."
The site appeared to be working again late Thursday. A spokesman for the Motion Picture Association of America said in an emailed statement that the group's site also had been hacked, but it too appeared to be working later in the evening.
"The motion picture and television industry has always been a strong supporter of free speech," the spokesman said. "We strongly condemn any attempts to silence any groups or individuals."
____
Matthew Barakat reported from McLean, Virginia. AP Business Writer Daniel Wagner in Washington contributed to this report.
Associated PressVideo: PNC Financial CEO Talks Earnings
Despite reporting loan growth this quarter, PNC Financial Services recorded a $240 million expense related to foreclosures, missing analysts' expectations. James Rohr, PNC Financial Services Chairman & CEO, says "our customer growth was beyond anything...
Religion news in brief (AP)
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Friday, January 20, 2012
iTunes 10.5.3 released, includes support for syncing iBooks textbooks
Following their education event held in New York where iBooks 2 and textbooks were announced, Apple has gone ahead and released iTunes 10.5.3 to the masses.
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/FfKDJ8Shwvs/story01.htm
'Super Mario Bros Crossover 2.0' announced
Exploding Rabbit
Mega Man vs. the Hammer Bros in "Super Mario Crossover 2.0."
By Matthew Hawkins
Despite their original exploits being decades old, many classic 8bit characters enjoy new adventures to this very day, thanks to homebrew developers. A perfect example is "Super Mario Bros Crossover," which deposits the leads from various NES classics into the Mushroom Kingdom.
The current version allows one to explore "Super Mario Bros" environments as Link (from "Legend of Zelda"), Samus ("Metroid"), Simon Belmont ("Castlevania"), Ryu Hayabusa ("Ninja Gaiden"), Bill Rizer ("Contra"), the SOPHIA III ("Blaster Master"), or Mega Man (from the series that bears his name). The key hook: everyone's characteristics, which were designed specifically for completely different circumstances, must now be put to use in foreign territory.?One can also play as the title's original hero, Mario.
As the video above illustrates, a massive update is on the way. It includes two new characters: Luigi, who exhibits traits from his "Super Mario Bros 2" appearance, and Bass, one of Mega Man's frenemies. Furthermore, several characters are getting alternate personas. It's easy to guess which games Dark Link, Dark Samus, and Proto Man come from, plus who they're associated with. But not so much with Haggle Man, an alternate outfit for Ryu, or the Demon, Mario's second skin. Both are from the relatively obscure "Game Center CX/Retro Game Challenge" as Tiny Cartridge points out.
In addition to the original 8bit look, Crossover 2.0 will also provide SNES or Game Boy visuals (borrowed from the "Super Mario All-Stars" version of "SMB" and "Super Mario Land 2," respectively). For the latter, everything can either be in original monochrome or Game Boy Color-ized. There's even an option to replace the assets from SMB1 with SMB3's. "Super Mario Crossover" has a loyal audience among modders, which is being utilized with this new release, or so it would seem.
No release date has been given, other than "coming first quarter of 2012." So perhaps any day now, or a few weeks down the road.
More Super Mario related stories:
Be sure to check out the Technolog on Facebook, and follow Matthew Hawkins on Twitter, who is hopeful that "Super Mario Crossover 2.0" will support gamepads natively.
Source: http://ingame.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/17/10175768-super-mario-bros-crossover-20-announced
Screen Grabs: Serena's magically got herself an HP Envy 14 on Gossip Girl
Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today's movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dot com.
[Thanks, Ross]
Screen Grabs: Serena's magically got herself an HP Envy 14 on Gossip Girl originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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NetLED WiFi-enabled, app-controllable, LED light tubes come to Japan
Continue reading NetLED WiFi-enabled, app-controllable, LED light tubes come to Japan
NetLED WiFi-enabled, app-controllable, LED light tubes come to Japan originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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