Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/288831714?client_source=feed&format=rss
slither slither naacp glen campbell jerusalem artichoke bud shootout aretha franklin
Monday, March 4, 2013
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Dennis Rodman: NKorea leader wants Obama to call
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and former NBA star Dennis Rodman watch North Korean and U.S. players in an exhibition basketball game at an arena in Pyongyang, North Korea, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013. Rodman arrived in Pyongyang on Monday with three members of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team to shoot an episode on North Korea for a new weekly HBO series. (AP Photo/VICE Media, Jason Mojica)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and former NBA star Dennis Rodman watch North Korean and U.S. players in an exhibition basketball game at an arena in Pyongyang, North Korea, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013. Rodman arrived in Pyongyang on Monday with three members of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team to shoot an episode on North Korea for a new weekly HBO series. (AP Photo/VICE Media, Jason Mojica)
In this image released by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) and distributed by the Korea News Service, former NBA star Dennis Rodman, third right, visits the Arch of Triumph in Pyongyang in North Korea Friday, March 1 2013. Ending his unexpected round of basketball diplomacy in North Korea on Friday, ex-NBA star Rodman called leader Kim Jong Un an "awesome guy" and said his father and grandfather were "great leaders." (AP Photo/KCNA via KNS)
In this image released by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) and distributed by the Korea News Service, former NBA star Dennis Rodman, second right in front row, visits a dolphin aquarium in Pyongyang in North Korea Friday, March 1, 2013. Ending his unexpected round of basketball diplomacy in North Korea on Friday, Rodman called leader Kim Jong Un an "awesome guy" and said his father and grandfather were "great leaders." (AP Photo/KCNA via KNS) JAPAN OUT UNTIL 14 DAYS AFTER THE DAY OF TRANSMISSION
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Call me? Maybe?
North Korea's young leader has riled the U.S. with recent nuclear tests, but Kim Jong Un doesn't really want war with the superpower, just a call from President Barack Obama to chat about their shared love of basketball, according to erstwhile diplomat Dennis Rodman, the ex-NBA star just back from an improbable visit to the reclusive communist country.
"He loves basketball. ... I said Obama loves basketball. Let's start there" as a way to warm up relations between U.S. and North Korea, Rodman told ABC's "This Week."
"He asked me to give Obama something to say and do one thing. He wants Obama to do one thing, call him," said Rodman, who called the authoritarian leader an "awesome guy" during his trip. The State Department criticized North Korea last week for "wining and dining' Rodman while its own people go hungry.
Rodman also said Kim told him, "I don't want to do war. I don't want to do war."
Yet in January, after the U.N. Security Council voted to condemn the North's successful rocket launch in December and expand penalties against Kim's government, his National Defense Commission said in a statement that "settling accounts with the U.S. needs to be done with force, not with words." The statement also promised "a new phase of the anti-U.S. struggle that has lasted century after century."
North Korea and the U.S. fought on opposite sides of the three-year Korean War, which ended in a truce in 1953. The foes technically remain at war. They never signed a peace treaty and do not have diplomatic relations.
Rodman was the highest-profile American to meet Kim since Kim inherited power from father Kim Jong Il in 2011. He traveled to the secretive state with the Harlem Globetrotters team for a new HBO series produced by New York-based VICE television.
The visit took place amid rising tensions between the countries.
North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test two weeks ago, making clear the provocative act was a warning to the United States to drop what it considers a "hostile" policy toward the North.
Rodman said he was aware of North Korea's human rights record, which the State Department has characterized as one of the worst in the world, but said he wasn't apologizing for Kim.
"He's a good guy to me," Rodman said, adding, that "as a person to person, he's my friend. I don't condone what he does."
Basketball is popular in North Korea, and Thursday's exhibition game with two Americans playing on each time alongside North Koreans ended in a 110-110 tie. Following the game Kim threw an "epic feast" for the group, plying them with food and drinks and making round after round of toasts.
Rodman's trip was the second attention-grabbing American visit this year to North Korea. Google's executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, made a four-day trip in January, but did not meet Kim.
Rodman said he planned to go back to North Korea to "find out more what's really going on."
Associated Presspaula deen birth control recall nick carter leslie carter aaron carter sister pfizer signing day 2012 football
Governor denies parole to ex-Manson follower
FILE - This file photo provided Jan. 29, 2013, by the California Department of Corrections shows former Charles Manson follower Bruce Davis, who has served over 40 years for two murders unrelated to the notorious Sharon Tate-LaBianca killings. Gov. Jerry Brown reversed a parole board's recommendation on Friday, March 1, 2013, and denied the 70-year-old's release from prison. (AP Photo/California Department of Corrections, File)
FILE - This file photo provided Jan. 29, 2013, by the California Department of Corrections shows former Charles Manson follower Bruce Davis, who has served over 40 years for two murders unrelated to the notorious Sharon Tate-LaBianca killings. Gov. Jerry Brown reversed a parole board's recommendation on Friday, March 1, 2013, and denied the 70-year-old's release from prison. (AP Photo/California Department of Corrections, File)
ADDITION ADDS-Gov. Jerry Brown has reversed a state parole board panel's decision to recommend parole for Davis-File-This file photo provided Jan. 29, 2013, by the California Department of Corrections shows Bruce Davis. California's governor is scheduled to approve or reject a recommendation of parole for former Charles Manson follower Davis. He has served over 40 years for two murders unrelated to the notorious Sharon Tate-LaBianca killings. (AP Photo/California Department Of Corrections,File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? The enduring mystery of why young people joined Charles Manson's murderous family appeared to be at the heart of Gov. Jerry Brown's decision Friday to reverse a parole board's recommendation and keep Bruce Davis in prison.
Brown said he wants Davis, who has been behind bars for 42 years, to come clean about all the details of his involvement with Manson's cult and the two gruesome killings of a stuntman and a musician.
It was the second time in less than three years that a California governor has rejected a parole board ruling in Davis' case. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger refused his release in 2010, citing the heinous nature of Davis' crimes and his efforts to minimize his involvement.
Brown repeated those reasons in a six-page decision but added his belief that Davis still has more to disclose about the killings.
"Until Davis can acknowledge and explain why he actively championed the Family's interests and shed more light on the nature of his involvement, I am not prepared to release him," Brown said.
"After 42 years of incarceration, it is encouraging that Davis is beginning to reveal the actual details of what happened. But it is clear that he continues to withhold information about these events," Brown said.
The state parole board, citing the prisoner's positive progress, approved release of the 70-year-old Davis, but the Democratic governor had the last word.
Brown gave his decision to The Associated Press at the downtown Los Angeles County courthouse after a meeting with District Attorney Jackie Lacey, who had recommended that Davis not be paroled.
Davis' attorney, Michael Beckman, called the governor's decision "horrible" and contrary to the findings of parole commissioners who conducted hearings for Davis and found him eminently suitable for parole. He said Davis has told everything he knows.
"I have represented over 700 life prisoners and of all of them, Bruce Davis is the most rehabilitated and qualified," the attorney said.
He said Brown's "paper review" of the case was insufficient to understand who Davis is today.
Brown said, "I find the evidence ... shows why he currently poses a danger to society if released from prison. Therefore, I reverse the decision to parole Mr. Davis."
But Beckman said that the governor failed to articulate any reason why Davis might pose a danger now.
If the problem is association with the Manson family, Beckman said, "They should pass a law saying if you were involved with these people you can't get out. But there is no such law. "
Brown's decision focused on Davis' role in the murderous Manson Family in the late 1960s.
"The record indicates that Davis fully embraced and championed the family's distorted values and goals, and was willing to protect the family's interests at all costs," the decision said.
Davis would have been only the second Manson-related murder defendant to be granted parole since the killing spree began in 1969.
Davis was not involved in the notorious Sharon Tate-LaBianca killings but was convicted with Manson and others in the murders of musician Gary Hinman and stuntman ranch hand Donald "Shorty" Shea.
Manson was a direct participant in both killings, according to witnesses.
Steve Grogan, another participant in those murders, was released in 1985 after he led police to where the bodies were buried in the San Fernando Valley.
Beckman noted that Grogan, a central figure in the killings, has lived as an upstanding citizen for 27 years with no problems since his release.
Davis was 30 when he was sentenced to life in prison in 1972 in the case, which was a postscript to Manson's notorious reign as leader of the murderous communal cult.
Davis long maintained that he was a bystander in the killing of the two men. But in recent years, he has acknowledged his shared responsibility. He said his presence may have emboldened others to take action because he was an elder of the group.
Brown said Davis' refusal to fully acknowledge his responsibility for the killings was central to his decision.
"I do not believe that Davis was just a reluctant follower who passively went along with the violence," he said. "Davis was older, more experienced, he knew what the Manson Family was capable of, and he knowingly and willingly took part in these crimes."
Davis became a born-again Christian in prison and ministered to other inmates, married a woman he met through the prison ministry, and has a grown daughter. The couple recently divorced.
Davis also earned a master's degree and a doctorate in philosophy of religion.
Brown commended him for his self-help efforts but said the work was outweighed by other factors.
Manson and three of his followers, Leslie Van Houten, Patricia Krenwinkel and Charles "Tex" Watson, remain in prison for life in the Tate killings. Their co-defendant, Susan Atkins, died of cancer behind bars in 2009.
Associated Presskingdom of heaven national enquirer whitney houston arizona republican debate arizona debate enquirer national inquirer knicks vs heat
Assad accuses US, Britain of supporting terrorism
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) ? More than 200 Syrian soldiers and opposition fighters died in the eight-day battle for a police academy near the embattled northern city of Aleppo, activists said Sunday as President Bashar Assad lashed out at the West for sending aid to those trying to oust him.
The Britain-based anti-regime group The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rebels seized control of the police academy in Khan al-Asal, west of Aleppo, after entering the sprawling government complex with tanks they captured from Assad's troops in previous battles.
Rami Abdul-Rahman, the Observatory's director, said at least 120 soldiers from Assad's forces and at least 80 rebels were killed in the fighting outside Aleppo Syria's largest city. He said the rebels now control all buildings inside the complex, which was abandoned by Assad's forces early Sunday.
Also on Sunday, the rebels stormed a central prison in the northern city of Raqqa and captured a border crossing in the east along Syria's border with Iraq.
The territorial gains are a significant blow to Assad, although his forces have regained control of several villages and towns along a key highway near Aleppo International Airport ? an achievement that could signal the start of a decisive battle for Aleppo, Syria's commercial capital, where government troops and the rebels have been locked in a stalemate for months.
Opposition forces already control large swathes of land in northeastern Syria, including whole neighborhoods in Aleppo, and key infrastructure such as dams on the Euphrates River and an oil field in the east. They've also been pushing their way into Damascus, the heavily fortified seat of Assad's power.
Syrian conflict started in March 2011 as a popular uprising against Assad's authoritarian rule and then turned into a full-blown civil war after the opposition took up arms to fight a government crackdown on dissent. The United Nations says than 70,000 people have been killed in the fighting.
Assad maintains his troops are fighting terrorist and Islamic extremists seeking to destroy Syria and accuses the West and its Gulf Arab allies of supporting them in achieving their goal.
In a newspaper interview published on Sunday, Assad criticized the U.S. and Britain for sending financial and other non-lethal aid to the opposition. He set harsh terms for talking to his opponents, dialing back earlier hints of flexibility about talks.
He said he is ready for dialogue with armed rebels and militants, but only if they surrendered their weapons. Recently, the Syrian government offered to participate in talks, but didn't address the question of laying down arms.
"We are ready to negotiate with anyone, including militants who surrender their arms. We are not going to deal with terrorists who are determined to carry weapons to terrorize people, to kill civilians, to attack public places or private enterprise and to destroy the country," Assad told the London's Sunday Times during an interview in Damascus. "We fight terrorism."
Assad's regime refers to rebels as "terrorists."
The opposition, including fighters on the ground and the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition umbrella group, has rejected talks with Damascus until Assad steps down, a demand he has repeatedly rejected.
The interview coincided with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's first foreign tour that includes stops in the Middle East and Persian Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates, which have backed the rebels in Syrian conflict.
Kerry met with Syrian rebel leaders on Thursday in Italy where he announced that the U.S. will for the first time provide medical aid and other non-lethal assistance directly to the fighters in addition to $60 million in assistance to Syria's political opposition.
Assad said the "intelligence, communication and financial assistance being provided is very lethal."
He bitterly criticized Britain, saying Prime Minister David Cameron's push for peace talks is "naive, confused, unrealistic" while his government was trying to end the European Union's arms embargo so that the rebels can be supplied with weapons.
"We do not expect an arsonist to be a firefighter," he said, dismissing any notion that Britain could help end the civil war. "How can we ask Britain to play a role while it is determined to militarize the problem?"
Britain's aim to send aid to moderate opposition groups was misguided, Assad said, saying that such groups do not exist in Syria. Arming the rebels would have grave consequences, he warned.
"We all know that we are now fighting al-Qaida, or Jabhat al-Nusra, an offshoot of al-Qaida, and other groups of people indoctrinated with extreme ideologies," he told the newspaper.
_____
Associated Press writers Barbara Surk in Beirut and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/assad-accuses-us-britain-supporting-terrorism-144320053.html
bachelor pad bachelor pad Green Coffee Bean Extract september 11 9/11 Memorial 911 masterchef
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Distro Issue 80 goes mobile to tackle unlocking, form factors and the best of MWC 2013
Just as we had all recovered from the January trip to Vegas, it was time to ship a pack of editors to Barcelona for another week-long barrage of gadget news. In a freshly e-printed issue of our slate 'zine, we go hands-on with the best of what Mobile World Congress served up in 2013. To round out this Mobile Issue, Brad Molen decodes the new unlocking policy in the US and Sharif Sakr examines the death of the form factor phone. There's a truckload of other tech-centric goodness to peruse, so grab your copy and get to it.
Distro Issue 80 PDF
Distro in the iTunes App Store
Distro in the Google Play Store
Distro in the Windows Store
Distro APK (for sideloading)
Like Distro on Facebook
Follow Distro on Twitter
Filed under: Announcements, HD, Mobile
Source: iTunes, Google Play, Windows Store
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/01/distro-issue-80-the-mobile-issue/
New Girl Avalanna Gigi Chao Jimmy Hoffa Ed Hochuli Opie modern family
Hero takes steering wheel for passed out bus driver
A woman without a driver's license saved the day when a bus driver became ill while behind the wheel.
WBAL-TV Baltimore reports that Janai Stafford boarded the Baltimore County bus outside a Giant supermarket. She noticed the bus had a lot of kids on board so she sat in the front, near the driver.
[Related: Teen's 10-mile walk to interview lands job offer]
Smart move. A short time after Stafford climbed aboard, the bus driver said, "Something's not right. I don't feel good. Something's not right." Then, Stafford said, "He passed out all over the wheel."
Stafford acted quickly, embracing her inner action hero. She placed her foot on top of the driver's foot, slowing down the bus, and pulled it over to the side of the road. "It just happened. I put my foot on his foot, I wrapped my arm around him, and I steered the bus to the right," she said.
[Related: Helicopter's blades blow stranded deer to safety]
A heroic gesture for anybody, but Stafford's quick thinking was even more remarkable considering she doesn't have a driver's license. She told WBAL that she knows how to drive, but doesn't yet have a permit.
"I wasn't even sure what foot," she told WBAL."I'm either gonna press on the gas or press on the brake. Luckily, I pressed on the brake."
After this, her driver's exam is going to be a piece of cake.
beverly hilton roland martin whitney houston dead at 48 whitney houston dead 2012 whitney houston passed away heartbreak hotel don cornelius
State Dept: No major objections to Canada pipeline
FILE - In this Jan. 23, 2013, file photo, Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D, points at a illustration of existing pipeline, while speaking at a news conference about the Keystone XL oil pipeline on Capitol Hill in Washington. The State Department on Friday, March 1, 2013, raised no major objections to the Keystone XL oil pipeline and said other options to get the oil from Canada to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries are worse for climate change. But the latest environmental review stops short of recommending whether the project should be approved. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
FILE - In this Jan. 23, 2013, file photo, Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D, points at a illustration of existing pipeline, while speaking at a news conference about the Keystone XL oil pipeline on Capitol Hill in Washington. The State Department on Friday, March 1, 2013, raised no major objections to the Keystone XL oil pipeline and said other options to get the oil from Canada to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries are worse for climate change. But the latest environmental review stops short of recommending whether the project should be approved. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
FILE - In this Feb. 8, 2013, file photo, Secretary of State John Kerry, right, speaks with reporters during a news conference with Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird at the State Department in Washington. The State Department on Friday, March 1, 2013, raised no major objections to the Keystone XL oil pipeline and said other options to get the oil from Canada to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries are worse for climate change. But the latest environmental review stops short of recommending whether the project should be approved. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Map shows existing and proposed extension of Keystone XL pipeline
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The State Department on Friday raised no major objections to the Keystone XL oil pipeline and said other options to get the oil from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries are worse for climate change.
But the latest environmental review stops short of recommending whether the project should be approved. State Department approval of the 1,700-mile pipeline is needed because it crosses a U.S. border.
The lengthy report says Canadian tar sands are likely to be developed, regardless of whether the U.S. approves Keystone XL, which would carry oil from western Canada to refineries in Texas. The pipeline would also travel through Montana, South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma.
The report acknowledges that development of tar sands in Alberta would create greenhouse gases but makes clear that other methods to transport the oil ? including rail, trucks and barges ? also pose a risk to the environment.
The State Department analysis for the first time evaluated two options using rail: shipping the oil on trains to existing pipelines or to oil tankers. The report shows that those other methods would release more greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming than the pipeline. The Keystone XL pipeline, according to the report, would release annually the same amount of global warming pollution as 626,000 passenger cars.
A scenario that would move the oil on trains to mostly existing pipelines would release 8 percent more greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide than Keystone XL. That scenario would not require State Department approval because any new pipelines would not cross the U.S border.
Another alternative that relies mostly on rail to move the oil to the Canadian west coast, where it would be loaded onto oil tankers to the U.S. Gulf Coast, would result in 17 percent more greenhouse gas emissions, the report said.
In both alternatives, the oil would be shipped in rail cars as bitumen, a thick, tar-like substance, rather than as a liquid.
The State Department was required to conduct a new environmental analysis after the pipeline's operator, Calgary-based TransCanada, changed the project's route though Nebraska. The Obama administration blocked the project last year because of concerns that the original route would have jeopardized environmentally sensitive land in the Sand Hills region.
The administration later approved a southern section of the pipeline, from Cushing, Okla., to the Texas coast, as part of what President Barack Obama has called an "all of the above" energy policy that embraces a wide range of sources, from oil and gas to renewables such as wind and solar.
The pipeline plan has become a flashpoint in the U.S. debate over climate change. Republicans and business and labor groups have urged the Obama administration to approve the pipeline as a source of much-needed jobs and a step toward North American energy independence.
Environmental groups have been pressuring the president to reject the pipeline, saying it would carry "dirty oil" that contributes to global warming. They also worry about a spill.
Industry groups and Republicans hailed the report, saying the Obama administration was moving closer to approving Keystone XL, which has been under consideration since 2008.
"No matter how many times KXL is reviewed, the result is the same: no significant environmental impact," said Marty Durbin, executive vice president of the American Petroleum Institute, the largest lobbying group for the oil and gas industry.
The report "puts this important, job-creating project one step closer to reality," Durbin said.
Environmentalists blasted the report.
"This analysis fails in its review of climate impacts, threats to endangered wildlife like whooping cranes and woodland caribou, and the concerns of tribal communities," said Jim Lyon, vice president of the National Wildlife Federation.
If Keystone XL would not speed tar sands development, "why are oil companies pouring millions into lobbying and political contributions to build it?" Lyon asked. "By rejecting the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, President Obama can keep billions of tons of climate-disrupting carbon pollution locked safely in the ground."
The draft report begins a 45-day comment period, after which the State Department will issue a final environmental report before Secretary of State John Kerry makes a recommendation about whether the pipeline is in the national interest.
Kerry has promised a "fair and transparent" review of the plan and said he hopes to decide on the project in the "near term." Most observers do not expect a decision until summer at the earliest.
Canadian Natural Resource Minister Joe Oliver said Friday that Canada will respect the U.S. review process and noted the importance of the pipeline to the Canadian economy. "Canada's continued prosperity will be determined by our ability to diversify markets for our energy products," Oliver said.
Obama's initial rejection of the pipeline last year went over badly in Canada, which relies on the United States for 97 percent of its energy exports.
Associated Press writer Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.
__
Follow Matthew Daly on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC
Follow Dina Cappiello on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dinacappiello
Associated Press2013 srt viper scott walker recall fisker atlantic social darwinism jamie lynn spears wisconsin recall election april 4
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)