Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/316235971?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Monday, July 1, 2013
Texas pledge Heard answers Elite 11 call
June, 30, 2013
Jun 30
6:15
PM ET
BEAVERTON, Ore. -- Texas quarterback commit Jerrod Heard (Denton, Texas/John H. Guyer) drew some of the highest praise of the weekend from Trent Dilfer after several workouts at the Elite 11 finals.?I was worried,? said Dilfer, head coach of the Elite 11 program. ?I didn?t know how he?d handle this environment.?
But Heard, 138th in the ESPN 300 and the No. 5-rated dual-threat QB, has answered the challenge.
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Source: http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/ncfrecruiting/midlands/post?id=12936
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Obama meets Mandela's family, praises ailing anti-apartheid leader
Jerome Delay / AP
President Barack Obama delivers remarks and takes questions at a town hall meeting with young African leaders at the University of Johannesburg Soweto campus in South Africa, on Saturday, June 29.
By Daniel Arkin, Staff Writer, NBC News
President Barack Obama met privately Saturday with relatives of critically ill anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela in the midst of a three-nation tour through Africa.
Obama praised the former South African president as a towering historical figure who paved the way to social justice and racial reconciliation in a nation turn asunder by generations of white-minority rule.
"I also reaffirmed the profound impact that his legacy has had in building a free South Africa, and in inspiring people around the world -- including me," Obama said in a statement.
Obama also spoke by telephone with Gra?a Machel, Mandela's wife, while she remained at the 94-year-old former statesman's beside.
"I expressed my hope that Madiba draws peace and comfort from the time that he is spending with loved ones, and also expressed my heartfelt support for the entire family as they work through this difficult time," Obama said, referring to Mandela by his honorary clan name.
The White House announced earlier that Obama, "out of deference to Nelson Mandela's peace and comfort and the family's wishes," would not visit the Pretoria hospital where the ailing leader has spent three weeks being treated for a lung infection.
Meanwhile, police officials fired off stun grenades Saturday to break up a group of about 200 protesters who had congregated outside the Soweto campus of the University of Johannesburg, where Obama spoke at a town hall meeting with students. Some demonstrators carried signs depicting Obama with an Adolf Hitler mustache.
54-year-old Ramasimong Tsokolibane told the Associated Press that a host of trade unions and civil society groups protesting outside the university object to Obama's conduct as commander in chief.
Marco Longari / AFP - Getty Images
Shadows are reflected on a wall where a portrait of visiting US President Barak Obama is displayed outside the Mediclinic Heart Hospital where former South African President Nelson Mandela is hospitalized in Pretoria on June 29, 2013.
"People died in Libya. People are still dying in Syria," Tsokolibane told the AP. "In Egypt, in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, drones are still killing people. So that's why we are calling him a Hitler. He's a killer."
A June Pew poll found that Obama enjoys widespread popularity among the South African people.
Obama earlier Saturday conducted bilateral talks with South African President Jacob Zuma at the historic Union Buildings. The two leaders held a press conference that touched on a wide range of political issues, from global trade to U.S. immigration reform.
But the focal point of the conference was Mandela's failing health and powerful legacy.
Zuma told assembled reporters that Mandela was in critical but stable condition Saturday, according to the Associated Press.
Obama called on African leaders and political actors across the globe to follow in Mandela's footsteps and put patriotism ahead of personal concerns.
?We as leaders occupy these spaces temporarily and we don?t get so deluded that we think the fate of our country doesn?t depend on how long we stay in office,? Obama said.
Obama honored Mandela again at an official dinner, toasting the iconic leader.
"I propose a toast, to a man who has always been a master of his fate, who taught who that we could be the master of ours, to a proud nation and South Africa's unconquerable soul," he said.
Obama is slated Sunday to visit Robben Island, the former penal colony where South Africa's first black president spent 18 of the 27 years he was locked up in apartheid jails, Reuters reported. He is due to head to Tanzania on Monday.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Obama said the thoughts and prayers of the American people are with Nelson Mandela, who remains hospitalized with a lung infection. NBC's Lester Holt reports.
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Friday, June 28, 2013
Business owner: Parking, weather, construction slowing sales ...
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) -- Tourist season usually ushers in a new crowd of out-of-towners looking to spend a few bucks in downtown wilmington. But business owners say profits are down.
"I think it has to do with this weird weather we've been having this year," Hardwire Tattoo owner Justin LaNasa said. "It took a while to warm up, and now it's raining like crazy. And then it rained. Also, I feel that the gas prices has something to do with tourists not wanting to travel real far."
LaNasa and other downtown business owners say parking is also to blame for slugging sales in the central business district.
"The little bit of money (the city makes) off parking is damaging the merchants, and that's what keeps the bars and restaurants and the night activity high and the day activity less, because people don't want to pay that parking fee when they could go somewhere else," LaNasa said.
Earlier this year the city increased rates in its parking decks and changed the way it charges to park in them. Records show that about 2,700 fewer cars parked in city decks in May compared to the same month last year. Revenue is down in comparing those months, too, by nearly $2,700. But one tourist we spoke with says that's not the cause of the slump in business.
"I don't believe it's the parking rates. They're more expensive in other towns," tourist Vern Moody said. "I mean five dollars for a day is, to me, reasonable."
He says the economy is the real culprit.
Jade Edens, who works, at Penders Caf? disagrees. She says it is the parking.
"I think it's the cost, and I think there's not been enough on-street parking," she said.
Business owners we spoke with say that although things are slow right now, with 4th of July just around the corner, and the weather clearing up, they're hopeful that business will pick back up again, too.
Business owners say other factors affecting sales may be downtown construction and the fact they're seeing more in-state visitors and fewer out-of-state tourists.
Source: http://www.wwaytv3.com/2013/06/27/business-owner-parking-weather-construction-slowing-sales-downtown
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Thursday, June 27, 2013
New emir: Qatar will pursue its 'independent behavior'
By Regan Doherty
DOHA (Reuters) - Qatar's new emir said on Wednesday the U.S.-allied Gulf Arab state would not "take direction" from anyone, in an accession speech suggesting the young leader would pursue the assertive, independent-minded foreign policy pioneered by his father.
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani's first address as head of state coincided with a cabinet reshuffle that saw Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, a force behind Qatar's support for Arab Spring revolts, replaced as premier and foreign minister.
Sheikh Hamad is expected to retain his powerful post as vice chairman of the Qatar Investment Authority, (QIA), a globally active sovereign wealth fund that is worth between $100 billion and $200 billion.
Sheikh Tamim, 33, handed power by his father on Tuesday in a rare example of an hereditary Arab ruler stepping down, added in his speech that sectarianism threatened to weaken Arab unity at a time when Syria's war has sharply raised communal tensions.
From the same desk where his father announced his abdication after 18 years in power, Sheikh Tamim struck a businesslike tone in a 15-minute speech that was broad in nature and focused on domestic issues. He vowed to follow his father's "path".
"We don't take direction (from anyone) and this independent behavior is one of the established facts," Sheikh Tamim, said in the speech broadcast on Qatari state television.
"As Arabs we reject splitting countries on a sectarian basis ... and because this split allows for foreign powers to interfere in the internal affairs of Arabs and influence them."
The emir added that his country, long seen as an ally of the Muslim Brotherhood, should not be identified with any particular political trend and respected all religious sects.
"We are a coherent state, not a political party, and therefore we seek to keep relationships with all governments and states," he said.
"We respect all the influential and active political trends in the region, but we are not affiliated with one trend against the other. We are Muslims and Arabs who respect diversity of sects and respect all religions in our countries and outside of them."
NO BIG CHANGE IN POLICY
Analysts said the speech aimed to show there would be no sudden change in Qatari policy.
"The new Emir needed to strike a balance between his domestic audience and the strong regional and international interest in his accession," said Kristian Ulrichsen, a Gulf expert at the Baker Institute for Public Policy.
"He didn't give too much away but generally sought to reassure people that while there may be a change in leadership style there will be continuity in the underlying substance of Qatari policy-making," he said.
The new emir steered clear of any mention of Syria, a conflict in which Qatar has taken the lead in arming Syrian rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad, to the consternation of some allies who fear weapons may be falling into the hands of more extremist Islamist fighters.
He instead focused on the safer topic of the Palestinian issue, saying Qatar was committed to their struggle with Israel.
David Roberts, deputy director of the Royal United Services Institute based in Doha, said the speech had a "down to business tone, indicating that the country has work to and he is eager to get on with it".
"It strongly suggested that Qatar will continue on its path with regard to foreign policy; there was no attempt to backtrack or rein that in. There was certainly no equivocation," he said.
"HBJ" OUT
Qatar has been ruled by the al-Thani family for more than 130 years, but the handing over of power to Sheikh Tamim, marked a rare move in a region where monarchs usually rule for life.
A cabinet list released on the state news agency confirmed the new prime minister as Abdullah bin Naser al-Thani and the new foreign minister Khalid al-Atiyah, posts previously occupied by veteran politician Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim.
The reshuffle included Ali Sherif al-Emadi as finance minister, who held the post of group chief executive officer of Qatar National Bank.
The energy minister of the OPEC state and world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, remained unchanged.
The replacement of Hamad bin Jassim, or HBJ as he is known, marked the end of a two-decade tenure in government in which he drove the Gulf country's rise to global prominence.
In his time as foreign minister, Qatar began hosting the largest U.S. air base in the Middle East but also cozied up to America's foes Iran, Syria and Hamas in pursuit of leverage. The Afghan Taliban opened an office in Doha last week.
Named prime minister in 2007, Sheikh Hamad played a personal role in facilitating Qatar's numerous efforts to resolve violent tensions, brokering talks in conflicts ranging from Lebanon to Yemen and from Darfur to the Palestinian territories.
(This story is refiled to fix typo in paragraph four)
(Additional reporting by Sami Aboudi, Amena Bakr and Mahmoud Habboush; Writing by Yara Bayoumy, Editing by William Maclean)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/qatar-change-premier-foreign-minister-under-emir-125607917.html
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Activists say death toll in Syria now tops 100,000
BEIRUT (AP) ? The civil war in Syria has now killed more than 100,000 people, a grim new estimate Wednesday that comes at a time when the conflict is spreading beyond its borders and hopes are fading for a settlement to end the bloodshed.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has been tracking the death toll through a network of activists in the country, said most of the 100,191 killed in the last 27 months were combatants.
The regime losses were estimated at nearly 43,000, including pro-government militias and 169 fighters from the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah group ? a recent entrant in the conflict.
The Observatory said 36,661 of the dead are civilians. Recorded deaths among the rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad reached more than 18,000, including 2,518 foreign fighters.
Observatory director Rami Abdul-Rahman said he suspected that the toll actually was higher, since neither side has been totally forthcoming about its losses.
The United Nations recently estimated that 93,000 people were killed between March 2011, when the crisis started, and the end of April 2013, concurring with Abdul-Rahman that the actual toll is likely much higher.
The Syrian government has not given a death toll. State media published the names of the government's dead in the first months of the crisis, but then stopped publishing its losses after the opposition became an armed insurgency.
Abdul-Rahman said that the group's tally of military deaths is based on information from medical sources, records obtained by the group from state agencies and activists' own count of funerals in government-held areas of the country. Other sources are the activist videos showing soldiers who were killed in rebel areas and later identified.
The new estimate comes at a time when hopes for peace talks are fading. The U.N.'s special envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, said Tuesday an international conference proposed by Russia and the U.S. will not take place until later in the summer, partly because of opposition disarray.
Regime forces are pushing into rebel-held areas in an attempt to secure the seat of Assad's power in the capital of Damascus and along the Mediterranean coast in the heartland of the Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam to which Assad belongs.
The offensive, along with new reports that Assad has used chemical weapons in 10 different incidents in the conflict, also prompted Washington and its allies to declare they have decided to arm the rebels.
On Wednesday, the Observatory said the regime drove rebels out of the town of Talkalakh, along the border with Lebanon. The town, which had a predominantly Sunni population of about 70,000 before the conflict, is surrounded by 12 Alawite villages located within walking distance of the Lebanon border.
The government takeover will likely affect the rebels' ability to bring supplies, fighters and weapons from Lebanon.
The town also lies on the highway that links the city of Homs to Tartus, in the coastal Alawite enclave that is home to one of Syria's two main seaports.
Syrian state TV showed soldiers patrolling the streets of Talkalakh, inspecting underground tunnels and displaying weapons seized from the opposition.
The governor of Homs, Ahmed Munir, told the private Lebanese broadcaster al-Mayadeen that some rebels in Talkalakh handed their weapons over to authorities. He said the town was a major area for infiltrators from Lebanon.
"Talkalakh is clear of weapons," Munir said.
Southeast of Talkalakh, government forces also took control of the village of Quarayaten on a highway that links the rebels to another supply route from Iraq, according to an activist who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear for his safety.
The regime victories are likely to help it advance on rebel-held areas of the city of Homs, he said. The activist, who is connected to rebels in Homs, spoke by Skype.
The main opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition, urged the U.N. to help civilians in Talkalakh open routes to facilitate the rescue of women, children, the elderly and the wounded.
The fighting has increasingly taken on sectarian overtones. Sunni Muslims dominate the rebel ranks while Assad's regime is dominated by Alawites, and has been backed by Hezbollah fighters, particularly in towns near the Lebanese borders.
The conflict has also polarized the region. Several Gulf states, including Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia, back the rebels. Shiite powerhouse Iran is a major Assad supporter.
Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi lashed out at Saudi Arabia after that country condemned Damascus for enlisting fighters from its Lebanese ally in its struggle with rebels.
The remarks by al-Zoubi were carried late Tuesday by the state agency SANA after Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Jiddah and condemned Assad for bolstering his army with fighters from Hezbollah. Prince Saud charged that Syria faces a "foreign invasion."
Al-Zoubi fired back, saying Saudi diplomats have blood on their hands and are "trembling in fear of the victories of the Syrian army."
___
Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue and Barbara Surk in Beirut contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/activists-death-toll-syria-now-tops-100-000-201432503.html
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Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Study ranks social contacts by job and social group in bid to fight infectious diseases
June 25, 2013 ? In the light of Novel Corona Virus, concerns over H7N9 Influenza in S.E. Asia, and more familiar infections such as measles and seasonal influenza, it is as important as ever to be able to predict and understand how infections transmit through the UK population.
Researchers at the University of Warwick and University of Liverpool have mapped the daily contact networks of thousands of individuals to shed light on which groups may be at highest risk of contracting and spreading respiratory diseases.
These scientists used an anonymous web and postal survey of 5,027 UK residents to collect information on the types of social contact likely to lead to the transmission of respiratory infections.
The study, Social encounter networks: characterising Great Britain, was published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B
The survey is believed to be the largest national study of its kind to date and allowed the scientists, for the first time, to quantify social contact patterns and how these varied with age and job.
Although it is common sense that some jobs may be associated with more social contacts, there is huge value in possessing hard data on the number and duration of social contacts as it allows the complex interactions of the UK population to be analysed mathematically in the event of an outbreak.
According to the study, children were top of the table for social contacts, making them most at-risk for catching and transmitting infection.
A social contact is defined as a face-to-face conversation within two metres or skin-on-skin physical touch with another person.
Among adults, those working in schools, in the health sector and in client-facing service jobs such as shop workers or commercial roles had among the highest number of social contacts.
Students, unemployed people and retired people had among the lowest levels of social contacts.
According to the data collected, during a working day a teacher sees on average 62.1 different people, whereas a retired person only sees around 19.3.
The length of time a person spends with a contact is an important risk factor in transmitting infection, so the results were converted into total contact hours, the sum of the durations of all contacts in one given day.
Most people have an average of around 26 social contact hours a day but a small number have up to 50 contact hours a day since people can spend time with more than one individual simultaneously.
For example, children have an average of more than 47 contact hours, a health sector worker has on average just less than 33 contact hours a day, a teacher has 32 contact hours whereas retired people have slightly more than 19 contact hours.
The researchers also found that sociability tends to decline as people get older, with school-age children having the most social contact hours and people of retirement age having the fewest.
However there is a noticeable rebound in social contact hours in people aged between 35 and 45, which the researchers suggest may be down to ?school-gate? contacts among parents with school-age children.
Dr Leon Danon from the Mathematics Institute at the University of Warwick said: ?People working as teachers or health professionals are no doubt already aware that they have higher risks of picking up bugs like colds and flu.
??But before this study there was very little data mapping out the contact patterns humans have in their daily life.
?By quantifying those social interactions, we can better predict the risks of contracting and spreading infections and ultimately better target epidemic control measures in the case of pandemic flu for example.?
?Professor Jeremy Dale, Professor of Primary Care at Warwick Medical School, commented:
?This study provides light on why some groups may be at greater risk of being exposed to respiratory and other infections that are linked to close social contact.
?It should not however cause people in these groups undue concern.
?There are many sensible measures people can take to cut down on the risk of catching or passing on these kinds of infections. These include regularly washing your hands with soap and water, keeping surfaces clean and using tissues when you cough or sneeze.?
Transport workers, such as taxi and bus drivers, also featured very high on the league tables but researchers were cautious about reading into this because of the small number of respondents in this group.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/IgJn42Rko6w/130625192549.htm
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