Monday, August 5, 2013

Envoys seek to avert bloodbath in Egypt

By Tom Perry and Matt Robinson

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's army-backed rulers and allies of its deposed Islamist president gave the first signs of a readiness to compromise on Saturday, pressed by Western envoys trying to head off more bloodshed.

Faced with the threat of a crackdown on supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, diplomacy appeared to pick up pace, a month to the day since Egypt's army deposed President Mohamed Mursi and plunged the country into turmoil.

Recognizing for the first time the strength of popular protest against his one-year rule, Mursi's allies said on Saturday they respected the demands of millions who took to the streets before his overthrow.

A spokesman said the Mursi camp, which has refused to abandon weeks of sit-in protests until he is reinstated, wanted a solution that would "respect all popular desires".

They told envoys from the United States and the European Union that they reject any role in a political settlement for army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who led Mursi's ouster, and want the constitution he suspended to be restored.

"I respect and hold in regard the demands of the masses that went out on June 30, but I will not build on the military coup," spokesman Tarek El-Malt told Reuters, relaying what the pro-Mursi delegation had told the envoys.

Asked whether the delegation had insisted on Mursi's reinstatement as part of any political deal, Malt, a member of the Brotherhood-affiliated Wasat party, said it was a detail for future discussion.

But given that Mursi's opponents insist he should not be part of the political solution, Malt said, then "Sisi must also not be in the political equation".

In an interview with the Washington Post, Sisi appeared to rule out running for president himself, despite his growing popularity among some of the 84 million-strong population.

"You just can't believe that there are people who don't aspire for authority," Sisi told the interviewer when asked if he would stand for president. Asked "Is that you?", he replied: "Yes." The Post said the interview was conducted on Thursday.

The Pentagon said Sisi had assured U.S. Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel, in a telephone call, that the Egyptian authorities "were working towards a process of political reconciliation."

"SAFE EXIT"

Egypt's military has installed a transitional government and laid out a "road map" to elections in about six months. It promises a return to civilian rule, having brought down the first freely elected president after 60 years of rule by military men.

The Brotherhood, an Islamist movement that spent decades in the shadows before winning power in elections after the 2011 fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak, had spurned the road map.

But its supporters, camped out at two sites in Cairo, face the threat of being violently dispersed by security forces who shot dead 80 of them a week ago. Almost 300 people have been killed in political violence since Mursi's overthrow, and much of the movement's leadership is in custody.

The deposed president is being held in a secret location, under investigation on a raft of charges including murder.

Diplomats say the West is pressing the Brotherhood to give up on Mursi's return, and for the military to pull back from a bid to drive the Islamists back underground.

Stepping back from an imminent threat to disperse the protesters, the Interior Ministry promised them "safe exit" and urged them to rejoin the political process. The government said on Friday it would blockade the camps, but not storm them.

"Your continued sit-ins have no legal or political use," Interior Ministry spokesman General Hany Abdel Latif said on Egyptian television. "You have a safe exit, you will be politically integrated," he said, wearing a white dress uniform.

"If you think you're upholding the Muslim Brotherhood, your safe exit from the squares will allow the group to return to its role within the democratic political process," Latif said, addressing Mursi's supporters.

"You are brainwashed, subject to psychological manipulation. You are being used as a political bargaining chip."

"CONTACTS" WITH BROTHERHOOD

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and European Union envoy Bernadino Leon were leading the diplomatic push, meeting Mursi's allies and Egypt's interim foreign minister, Nabil Fahmy.

A Foreign Ministry statement said the government was committed to national reconciliation, including all political forces "as long as they refrain from all forms of violence and incitement to it".

Fahmy told reporters after the meeting that there had been some contact with the Brotherhood.

"I wouldn't use the word negotiation. There have been contacts between different figures. There is no desire to use force if there is any other avenue that has any potential for success," he said.

Those avenues had not yet been exhausted, he said, "but I have not seen any real return or any concrete progress, frankly".

The crisis in the Arab world's most populous country has posed a dilemma for the United States and other Western governments, which had advocated democracy following the overthrow of Mubarak in 2011 but grew increasingly uncomfortable with Mursi's Islamist leanings.

Many Egyptians shared that concern and frustration grew over Mursi's failure to solve social and economic problems.

The new interim government gained the United States' approval on Thursday when Secretary of State John Kerry said the army had been "restoring democracy" when it toppled Mursi.

Under Mubarak, Egypt was a bulwark of U.S. policy in the Middle East, not least because of its peace agreement with Israel. Mursi's overthrow had jeopardized the $1.3 billion annual military aid Egypt receives from Washington.

Analysts say civilians in the new government are trying to promote a political solution despite resistance from security services that want to crack down on the Brotherhood.

(Additional reporting by Michael Georgy and Tom Finn in Cairo, Phil Stewart in Washington; Writing by Angus MacSwan and Matt Robinson; Editing by Michael Georgy and Robin Pomeroy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/international-envoys-meet-minister-cairo-ease-egypt-crisis-123128004.html

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Minstrel show: Ariz. Democrat releases photo of himself with darkened, more Hispanic face

A Democratic candidate for Arizona governor released a photograph of himself with his face digitally darkened so that he would look more Hispanic.

The candidate, Phoenix businessman Fred DuVal said he wanted show Republicans he is a ?good sport,? reports the Arizona Daily Independent.

DuVal?s stunt was a response to GOP chair Robert Graham, who had previously branded DuVal as ?the most uninteresting man in the world.? This phraseology reverses the moniker of the pitchman for Dos Equis beer, who is, of course, The Most Interesting Man in the World.

In the Dos Equis commercials, the famous beer spokesman is played by a rough-hewn, bearded character actor named Jonathan Goldsmith. He wears impeccable clothes and speaks in a deep, cultured Latino voice. He ends each ad with the tag line, ?Stay thirsty, my friends.?

In DuVal?s digitally altered photograph, the lily-white candidate does his best to look to like an imaginary Latino. He has a beard and is wearing a smoking jacket. His skin is sort of orange-brown. There?s a half-smoked cigar, an empty glass and a big candle in the foreground.

Along with the photo, DuVal?s response included a case of Dos Equis and a thank-you card that read ?Stay Desperate My Friends,? according to a blog called Arizona Eagletarian. The sender was labeled as ?The Most Electable Man in Arizona.?

DuVal sent the Photoshopped image to Graham and Chad Heyward, the executive director of the Arizona GOP.

Both sides spun the modern-day minstrel show as a huge win for their respective sides.

The Yellow Sheet Report, ?Arizona?s first and best political tip sheet,? basically judged the episode to be a win for the Democrat.

?DuVal had some fun with the Arizona Republican Party and Graham today, responding to the party?s decree that he is the ?most uninteresting man in the world? with some cerveza-based humor of his own,? the subscription-based website explained.

In a press release, DuVal said he was ?flattered? that the Republicans targeted him even before he has even wrapped up his party?s nomination.

A spokeswoman for the DuVal campaign, Leslie Sonnenklar, announced that the face-darkening stunt had netted DuVal $11,000 in donations.

Arizona Republicans disagreed.

?Painful attempts at humor, especially with racial overtones, usually backfire on candidates,? an Arizona GOP representative said.

?This is the kind of thing you might think was funny but would never do?unless you started drinking too many Dos Equis,? quipped a Republican who asked not to be identified.

Local Hispanic conservatives also had much to tell the Daily Independent.

?As a Latino, I was not offended at all by the allusion to the Dos Equis commercial guy,? Jose Borrajero, a member of the Arizona Latino Republican Association, said ?It was a very stupid prank by someone who wants to be taken seriously as a gubernatorial candidate. But one must admit: it was amusing. What is not funny is that the Democrat party has become the party of economic oppression of Latinos and other ?minorities?.

Rudy Pena, a Catholic and a self-described Reagan conservative, said the move ?reeks of a move by an insignificant org, heavily under the influence of both the Left and the consumption of ?Tequila.??

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/minstrel-show-ariz-democrat-releases-photo-himself-darkened-132007404.html

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Sunday, August 4, 2013

Apple's iPad Dominance is Over, Courtesy Smaller Android Tablets

Virgo

If the tension from the past couple of days has started to get to you, try not to use this an excuse for a dramatic scene. Right now you have a tendency to blow problems out of all proportion and to create a song and dance about almost anything. If you need to let off steam, do so in productive ways that help to reduce your nervous energy, such as going for a brisk walk.

Source: http://www.topix.com/tech/ipad/2013/08/apples-ipad-dominance-is-over-courtesy-smaller-android-tablets?fromrss=1

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Saturday, August 3, 2013

[News] Google Drive blurs the line between Windows and the web with new desktop shortcuts

Google's unrelenting march into Microsoft's turf continues.

A mere two weeks after the release of the Chrome App Launcher for Windows--Google's backdoor into the offline world, basically--the company has announced that when Windows users install the desktop version of Google Drive, it will automatically dump shortcuts for Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Drive on your desktop, along with one for your Drive-based online storage.

Double-clicking on one of those icons opens up the associated web app. After signing in to your Google account you're free to powerhouse through your productivity tasks, and all your work will automatically save to the cloud, the Google Drive team explained in a Google+?post. These simple desktop links could prove handy indeed for non-techies or people who chose to live their lives in Google's free, cloud-connected ecosystem, especially if you configure the Drive family of apps to work offline.

Taking the online onto the desktop

While default shortcut dumps are evil incarnate and should be cast back into the depths from which they spawned, Google's move is actually pretty savvy. Not only do the shortcuts reinforce the fact that Drive is a full productivity suite rather than a simple cloud storage box, but like the Chrome app launcher, they also keep Google's service in your face. Plus, the shortcuts further muddle the increasingly blurry line between the desktop and the open web.

"For quite some time, we've had a dichotomy between web apps and native apps, and one of the things that sets them apart is the ability [for native apps] to be launched from the desktop and have a degree of persistence and independence from the browser," Ross Rubin, principal analyst at Reticle Research, told PCWorld when the Chrome App Launcher was released. "...People want to interact with their web apps as easily as they do with their desktop apps."

The Chrome App Launcher helps to break down those walls, and now, so will these Drive-related shortcuts.

And Google? Well, Google makes its money by tossing ads at your eyeballs when you're on the web. Check out PCWorld's Chrome App Launcher analysis for the full scoop on what Google stands to gain by dumping web apps on your desktop, and look for the Google Drive installation tweak to roll out sometime in the next week.

Source: http://www.pcworld.in/news/google-drive-blurs-line-between-windows-and-web-new-desktop-shortcuts-102892013

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Germany nixes surveillance pact with US, Britain

BERLIN (AP) ? Germany canceled a Cold War-era surveillance pact with the United States and Britain on Friday in response to revelations by National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden about those countries' alleged electronic eavesdropping operations.

Chancellor Angela Merkel had raised the issue of alleged National Security Agency spying with President Barack Obama when he visited Berlin in June. But with weeks to go before national elections, opposition parties had demanded clarity about the extent to which her government knew of the intelligence gathering operations directed at Germany and German citizens.

Government officials have insisted that U.S. and British intelligence were never given permission to break Germany's strict privacy laws. But they conceded that an agreement dating back to the late 1960s gave the U.S., Britain and France the right to request German authorities to conduct surveillance operations within Germany to protect their troops stationed there.

"The cancellation of the administrative agreements, which we have pushed for in recent weeks, is a necessary and proper consequence of the recent debate about protecting personal privacy," Germany's Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in a statement.

A German official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the cancellation would have no practical consequences.

He said the move was largely symbolic since the agreement had not been invoked since the end of the Cold War and would have no impact on current intelligence cooperation between Germany and its NATO allies. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to publicly discuss the issue, said Germany was currently in talks with France to cancel its part of the agreement as well.

In March 2011, two U.S. Air Force members were killed and two others wounded when a gunman from Kosovo fired on a military bus at Frankfurt International Airport. The gunman told police he was motivated by anger over the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. embassy in Berlin, Ruth Bennett, confirmed that the agreement had been canceled but declined to comment further on the issue. Officials at the United Kingdom's embassy in Berlin couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/germany-nixes-surveillance-pact-us-britain-113557159.html

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Friday, August 2, 2013

The Ashes 2013: Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd takes to Twitter to slam decision to give out Usman Khawaja

Aussie PM slams decision to give out Khawaja on Twitter
Howzat?? England celebrate the dismissal of Usman Khawaja (Picture: REUTERS)

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has labelled the decision to give out Usman Khawaja on the first morning of the third Test at Old Trafford as ?the worst cricket umpiring decision I have ever seen.? ?

The tourists enjoyed a decent first session in the third Ashes Test but yet again it was a terrible call by the third umpire that was the main talking point.

Khawaja was given out caught behind off the bowling of Graeme Swann but quickly reviewed the decision. However, third umpire Kumar Dharmasena failed to overturn the on-field call despite replays quite clearly showing the ball missed the bat and displaying no edge on HotSpot.

Unsurprisingly the decision was slammed on Twitter by a whole host of the game?s big names.

Rudd

Former Australian international Tom Moody wrote: ?That is an unbelievable decision what a joke by both on & off field umpires, covering each others backsides!! #Ashes?

Ex-England captain Michael Vaughan agreed, he tweeted: ?Feel for a young player who is trying to make his way in the game?. Really poor decision?. #Ashes?

Alec Stewart blasted: ?That is a ridiculous decision by both the on & off field umpires. DRS creating yet more controversy. Any wonder players don?t walk!?

But the sternest criticism of all came from the Australian PM, who wrote: ?I?ve just sat down to watch the Test. That was one of the worst cricket umpiring decisions I have ever seen.?

BLOG: DRS ? The story behind the controversy?

Aussie PM slams decision to give out Khawaja on Twitter
Shocked: Khawaja trudges off after his review failed (Picture: Getty Images)

Source: http://metro.co.uk/2013/08/01/the-ashes-2013-australian-prime-minister-kevin-rudd-takes-to-twitter-to-slam-decision-to-give-out-usman-khawaja-3908034/

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Jonathan Ogden?s football journey takes him from St. Albans to Canton

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Source: www.washingtonpost.com --- Friday, August 02, 2013
Former Baltimore Ravens left tackle Jonathan Ogden forged a Hall of Fame career by tossing aside ill-intentioned defensive ends and linebackers for a dozen seasons, but even as a student at St. Albans School, the District native was dispatching grown men with ease. Read full article >> ? ? ? ? ...

Source: http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/c/34656/f/636679/s/2f7f1a32/sc/13/l/0L0Swashingtonpost0N0Csports0Cjonathan0Eogdens0Efootball0Ejourney0Eends0Ein0Ecanton0C20A130C0A80C0A20C90A677b2c0Efb8a0E11e20E89f70E8599e3f77a670Istory0Bhtml0Dwprss0Frss0Isports/story

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