Monday, August 5, 2013

Tiny tourist town re-elects 4-year-old as mayor

DORSET, Minn. - The tiny tourist town of Dorset has re-elected its mayor -- a short guy -- known for his fondness of ice cream and fishing.

Mayor Robert "Bobby" Tufts is 4-years-old. He was re-elected in what was not an ordinary election.

Dorset, an unincorporated town, is holding its annual Taste of Dorset Festival. A drawing is held and the winner gets to be mayor. Anyone can vote as many times as they like -- for $1 a vote -- at any of the ballot boxes in stores around town.

Bobby was running for a second term. On Sunday, he drew the winning name which just so happened to be his own.

Bobby was only three when he won the election last year as mayor of Dorset. Dorset, which bills itself as the Restaurant Capital of the World, has no formal city government.

Bobby's job as mayor is to greet people as they come to Dorset, located among the pines and lakes of northern Minnesota about 150 miles northwest of Minneapolis.

Resorts and tourism are the main industry,and restaurants ranging from Mexican to Italian to family style line about two blocks on either side of the highway that runs through the middle of town.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/52675091/ns/local_news-minneapolis_st_paul_mn/

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State Board Member Challenges Stotsky and Wurman

On July 20th, we published an article entitled ?What do the CC math authors say about them?? In this article we shared comments the 2 math-field related authors (Zimba and McCallum) of the Common Core standards made.

On July 25th, the Deseret News published an op-ed from Dr. Sandra Stotsky entitled ?This is why I oppose Common Core? and in which she quotes Zimba and McCallum?s remarks. Dr. Stotsky has been quoting them ever since their remarks were first made in 2010 at the time the Common Core standards were released.

On August 2nd, the Deseret News published an op-ed response from state school board member Jennifer Johnson entitled ?Clarifying Criticism of Common Core.? ?In her response, Jennifer takes issue with Dr. Stotsky?s quote on Zimba, and received an email from McCallum stating that Ze?ev Wurman misunderstood comments he made at a meeting in 2010 in San Diego.

Here?s where the story gets interesting.

I received this email from Dr. Stotsky which she sent to the Deseret News after reading Jennifer?s op-ed.

Jennifer Johnson contacted me several times in the past few weeks about the official minutes of the March 2010 meeting of the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.? According to the official minutes of the meeting, Jason Zimba told the Board and others at this large public meeting that ?the concept of college readiness is minimal and focuses on non-selective colleges.?? I was a member of this Board at the time and heard Professor Zimba?s comments on the meaning of college readiness in Common Core?s mathematics standards.

Rhoda Schneider, the chief legal counsel for the Board, usually writes up and/or approves the minutes of every meeting, and the minutes were approved by about a dozen people?Board members and the Commissioner of Education?the next month. http://www.doe.mass.edu/boe/minutes/10/0323reg.pdf.

Most or all of these people were at the meeting at which Professor Zimba spoke. ?I have been referring to these minutes and Professor Zimba?s comments for several years.? The minutes have not changed since they were officially approved in April 2010.

I wrote back to Ms. Johnson and suggested that if there were any concerns about the accuracy of the official minutes, she should feel free to contact Ms. Schneider at rschneider@doe.mass.edu. I am obviously not the person to question the official minutes of the meeting.

Jennifer failed to note in her op-ed that Jason Zimba?s quote by Dr. Stotsky is straight out of the official board minutes of the March 2010 Massachusetts Board of Education?something Dr. Stotsky pointed her to much prior to her op-ed. That omission of an important fact in determining the real story is troubling. For 3 years Jason?s statements have been available and quoted by Dr. Stotsky. Jason has never sought to change the official record, and the MA state superintendent and a dozen board members including Dr. Stotsky who was on the board at that time, authenticated the minutes as correct.

I also received this email from Ze?ev Wurman after he read Jennifer?s op-ed.

Editor,

In her Aug.2, 2013 OpEd, State School Board Member Jennifer Johnson quotes William McCallum:

?In January 2010, six months before the standards were finalized, I gave a presentation about them at the joint meetings of the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America in San Diego. After the presentation, one audience member expressed a worry that the standards would be too high (as in excessively high). I replied that they would not be too high and that they would be equal to the standards of high achieving East Asian countries. In context, it was clear that I meant ?not excessively high,? but the phrase ?not too high,? taken out of context, can be interpreted colloquially as ?not very high.? This is the way Wurman, who was there, chose to misinterpret it, despite the fact that my meaning was crystal clear from the context.?

Prof. McCallum is engaging here in a bit of historical revisionism. The report of his statement at the time is as follows: (http://toped.svefoundation.org/2010/01/17/common-core-standards-under-fire/ )

?While acknowledging the concerns about front-loading demands in early grades, [McCallum] said that the overall standards would not be too high, certainly not in comparison other nations, including East Asia, where?math education excels.?

From the ?certainly? in the ?certainly not in comparison to other nations? and from the reference to East Asia ?where math education excels? it is clear that McCallum meant that the Common Core will be lower, rather than equal to those of other nations, as he currently wants us to believe.

McCallum did not correct the original report at the time nor until recently, when that quote became evidence of an embarrassing admission. To put his modern recollection of the past in a sharper relief, McCallum?s memory is not as perfect as it seems ? that joint meeting in January 2010 took place in San Francisco rather than in San Diego.

Ze?ev Wurman

The fact that Zimba and McCallum have changed their tune from the time of the standards being released, to something different now, indicates to me that they?ve come under some pressure to change their stances, not that they have been misrepresented from that time period as Jennifer would lead us to believe.

Source: http://www.utahnsagainstcommoncore.com/state-board-member-challenges-stotsky-and-wurman/

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Sunday, August 4, 2013

Tech Talk ? The Latest Canadian Oil Spill

Posted on by The Oil Drum in Canada

This post is seeded by a note from Luis de Sousa (h/t Luis) who noted a story in Mother Jones. That story, in turn, fed from one in the Toronto Star and is about surface contamination of oil, coming from the underlying tar sands and emerging as a watery bitumen mixture over at least four areas in the Cold Lake region of Alberta. The story is difficult to report, since the contamination is centered within the Cold Lake Air Missile Range, where the Canadian military fires and tests live weapons. Unfortunately, as written, it seems to have some technical ...

Read more from The Oil Drum

Source: http://fuelfix.com/blog/2013/08/04/tech-talk-the-latest-canadian-oil-spill/

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Md. lawsuit arising from death in Aruba dropped (Providence Journal)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/323612927?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Bronx Personal Injury Lawyer and Car Accident Attorney Shares ...

Did you know that of the top 10 leading causes of death world-wide, car accidents placed 9th overall and first among the top 10 accident-related deaths?

As if car accident statistics like this aren?t alarming enough, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration someone is involved in a car accident every ten seconds with a car accident related death happening approximately once every 12 minutes!

Car accident statistics like these and the fact that over 40,000 Americans have fatal injuries in automobile related accidents every year are the reason why automobile accidents have become a national epidemic.

Bronx Personal Injury Lawyer Explains the Leading Causes of Car Accidents?

As a Bronx Personal Injury Lawyer practicing in the Kingsbridge / Riverdale section of the Bronx, I have seen many different types of car accidents ranging from rear end collisions to head on collisions to jack knife and rollovers. Regardless of the type of collision, car accidents are often the result of one of three things:

1. Driver Recklessness, Distraction or Negligence
2. Defective Vehicles or Vehicle Parts
3. Roadway and Weather Conditions

Let?s look at each of these causes now one by one?

1. Driver Negligence, Distraction or Recklessness:
Many car accidents are commonly credited to motorist neglect or recklessness. Reckless driving behaviors such as driving under the influence are criminal as well. Drunk driving often result in fatalities (car accident statistics show this to be 40% of all traffic related deaths) and other serious car accident related injuries such as paralysis and traumatic brain injury. Other careless and negligent driver behaviors, like talking or ?texting? on a cell phone, changing radio stations or even putting on makeup, may only result in a summons and/or points against the driver?s license, but these low speed collisions result in serious soft tissue personal injuries such as whiplash as well as broken bones and? fractures. Many of the car accident victims and pedestrian injuries I see as a personal injury lawyer practicing here in the Bronx are the result of such negligent behaviors.

Other forms of driver negligence include speeding, disobeying stop signs or yield signs and even? rubbernecking. Aggressive driving behaviors such as cutting in and out of lanes, not giving way to other motorists or pedestrians or challenging other drivers to a street race add to the rising number of car accidents per year.

2. Automobiles Defects and Negligence:
Did you know that the design of an SUV makes it less stable on the road and 4 times more likely to rollover in an accident as compared to passenger cars? Flaws in car design, faulty automobile components, and improper auto upkeep on the part of the car owner are significant reasons for car accidents. Malfunctioning air bags, safety belts, car seats, door latches, ignition and fuel systems are just some of the contributing factors in the injuries and damages that happen as a result of car accidents due to car manufacturer defects. So be sure to adhere to factory recalls. If you have an older car, check online from time to time for updates on your make and model to see if there is a recall on your vehicle.

3. Roadway and Weather Conditions:
While we have no control over nature?s elements we do have control of the decision to drive in bad weather. Conditions such as snow, sleet and rain (with or without the proper tires) increase your risk of being involved in an accident. For this reason, driving without first considering the weather and resulting road conditions may be considered negligence on the part of the driver. Different weather and road conditions require that a drive change the speed and way that he or she operates the vehicle compared with normal conditions.

You don?t have to be a Personal Injury Lawyer or Car Accident Attorney to know that a motor vehicle? accident can occur at any moment and cause serious personal injuries, including death. By being aware of the important car accident statistics as well as the common causes of car accidents many accidents can be avoided.

Trust a Bronx Personal Injury Lawyer and Car Accident Attorney Who Has Been Fighting For the Rights of Bronx Residents Over 20 Years!

Stuart Kerner Esq.If you are injured as a driver or passenger in a car accident and are in need of a Bronx Car Accident Attorney or Bronx Personal Injury Lawyer, at the Law Offices of Stuart M. Kerner, located in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, we have great experience in assessing personal injuries and their causes including car accident cases. If you would like a legal opinion on the potential value of your personal injury matter or have a question about your rights, contact our office toll-free at 888-475-7544 or click here to schedule a FREE Consultation online so we can evaluate your case. Insurance companies have lawyers protecting their interest, so why not have a Bronx Personal Injury Lawyer and Bronx Car Accident Lawyer protect yours!

Source: http://yourbronxlawyers.com/blog/bronx-personal-injury-lawyer-and-car-accident-attorney-shares-with-drivers-important-car-accident-statistics/

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Jury recommends life sentences for Somali pirates

(AP) ? A jury recommended Friday that three Somali pirates be sentenced to life in prison in the slayings of four Americans aboard a yacht off the coast of Africa.

Prosecutors had sought the death penalty, and 22 of the 26 crimes they were convicted of were death-eligible offenses. But a federal jury in Norfolk, Va., recommended the only other possible sentence for 20-year-old Ahmed Muse Salad, 25-year-old Abukar Osman Beyle and 29-year-old Shani Nurani Shiekh Abrar.

During the sentencing phase of the trial, defense attorneys attempted to raise doubts about the certainty of the crimes the jury had convicted them of. Salad attorney Claire Cardwell noted that nobody was able to definitively say which person shot which victim, and that much of the evidence presented relied on testimony of other convicted pirates. If the jury and the government wanted to dole out justice by taking an eye for an eye, "Which eye, for which eye?" she asked.

Formal sentencing for the men will take place in October and November, and they will face numerous life sentences and additional time.

The three men were among 19 who boarded the Quest in February 2011 several hundred miles off the coast of Somalia in hopes of taking the Americans back to Somalia and ransoming them for millions of dollars. The plan fell apart when the U.S. Navy began shadowing the sailing vessel.

The yacht's owners, Jean and Scott Adam of Marina del Rey, Calif., and their friends, Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay of Seattle, were shot to death a few days after negotiations with the Navy broke down.

"Scott Adam, Jean Adam, Phyllis Macay, and Robert Riggle lost their lives and their families lost their loved ones. Nothing can make this right; nothing can make their families whole again - but we hope today's verdict and sentences will bring some closure to their nightmare that began two years ago on the Indian Ocean," U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride said in a statement.

The Navy had told the pirates that they could keep the yacht and a small Navy boat in exchange for the hostages, but they refused to take the deal because they didn't believe they would get enough money. The only person authorized to negotiate the Americans' release was also based in Somalia.

With the yacht nearing the Somali coastline, the destroyer USS Sterett began maneuvering between the Quest and the Somali shore when a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at it. Soon after, gunshots were fired on board the Quest. Prosecutors said the murders were planned, as evidenced by threats from the pirates to the Navy, but Cardwell said that made no sense for them to kill their hostages. By the time Navy SEALs scrambled aboard, all four Americans had been mortally wounded. Prosecutors said the Americans had been shot 41 times.

"Let's call it what it is. It was a massacre," Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph DePadilla told jurors while arguing for the death penalty during closing arguments earlier this week.

The victims were the first U.S. citizens killed in a wave of pirate attacks that have plagued the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean in recent years. In their justification for seeking the death penalty, prosecutors wrote that the men killed or attempted to kill more than one person during a single episode. They also said their actions endangered the U.S. military and that the Americans were killed "in an especially wanton and gratuitous manner."

In the case of Salad, prosecutors said he has demonstrated a lack of remorse in the Americans' deaths and made boastful statements about them.

Defense attorneys for Salad had argued he should not be eligible for the death penalty because they claimed he is mentally handicapped. Defense documents say Salad has a low IQ, a poor memory and had difficulty functioning as a child in Somalia. Defense attorneys also noted in court filings that his co-defendants describe Salad as "slow" and inept at fishing.

The U.S. Supreme Court has banned executing those with certain mental disabilities.

Prosecutors argued Salad is competent, and Chief U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith issued an order that concurred with that assessment.

The decision to seek the death penalty was made by Attorney General Eric Holder. Executions under federal law are extremely rare. Only a handful out of more than 1,300 executions since 1976 having been carried out by the federal government, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, which tracks statistics.

Eleven other defendants who were aboard the Quest have already pleaded guilty to piracy and have been sentenced to life in prison.

Four other suspected pirates were killed aboard the yacht. A fifth suspected pirate was released because he was a juvenile. Another man who prosecutors say was a land-based negotiator and the highest-ranking pirate they've ever captured has also been convicted of piracy and sentenced to a dozen life sentences in prison.

Michael Scharf is a Case Western Reserve University international law professor who has provided training for prosecutors in other piracy cases around the world. He noted that this case was different because most pirates convicted in other countries receive relatively light sentences.

"To the Somalians, who live in miserable conditions, a short sentence in a foreign jail, where they receive three meals a day, exercise, and educational training, isn't much of a deterrent," Scharf said in an email. "So the U.S. sought the ultimate punishment, not just because U.S citizens happened to be the victims, but to send the strongest possible signal. That the jury returned a life sentence instead may blunt that somewhat."

___

Brock Vergakis can be reached at www.twitter.com/BrockVergakis

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-08-02-Prosecuting%20Pirates/id-2f648a1e4e14472c81f7125dbf166a90

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Reexamining the Definition of Cancer

A viewpoint published in The Journal of the American Medical Association recommended refining the definition of cancer and reexamining how the disease is detected and treated. Laura Esserman, one of the authors, and Larry Norton, from Memorial Sloan-Kettering, discuss what a new definition would mean.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/08/02/208270038/reexamining-the-definition-of-cancer?ft=1&f=1007

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Canada draws up directive on beacons in 787 fire investigation


Sat Aug 3, 2013 3:27pm EDT

(Reuters) - Canada's air transport regulator is drawing up a safety directive concerning the emergency beacons at the center of an investigation into a fire on a parked Boeing 787 Dreamliner last month, it said on Saturday.

The directive - which would list action that airlines or manufacturers must take - will take into account inspections done by manufacturer Honeywell International and its Canadian sub-contractor Instrumar Ltd, Transport Canada said in a statement.

"Transport Canada is developing an airworthiness directive in consultation with the FAA (U.S. Federal Aviation Administration) and EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency)," the statement said.

"The airworthiness directive would be based on the information collected from the equipment inspections mandated by the FAA, information already provided by Honeywell, and the results of (Transport Canada's) inspections of Honeywell and Instrumar."

Emergency Locator Transmitters - designed to help locate an aircraft in the event of a crash - marketed by Honeywell have emerged as a key focus of the investigation into a blaze which caused serious damage to a parked 787 jet owned by Ethiopian Airlines at London's Heathrow airport on July 12.

The FAA has ordered inspections on the beacons in 787s, and Boeing last week expanded the inspections to cover more than 1,000 aircraft of all types that are fitted with the devices.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the Canadian directive would expand inspections to cover all types of planes that use the suspect emergency transmitters, including jets from Boeing, Europe's Airbus and Dassault Aviation.

Although the 787 is designed and manufactured in the United States, Transport Canada is the lead safety agency on the beacons, which are manufactured in Newfoundland.

An earlier model of Honeywell beacon faced scrutiny from Canada's regulator in a previous airworthiness directive in 2009.

It called for suspect parts to be modified or replaced after tests found that two units were unable to broadcast the emergency homing signal on the right frequency.

(Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee, Tim Hepher; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/03/us-boeing-dreamliner-canada-idUSBRE9720AK20130803?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews

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Saturday, August 3, 2013

China endures the worst heat wave in a century. It's so hot that folks are grill...

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Source: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153103338870245&set=a.179704525244.261007.18802820244&type=1

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Apple iPad Mini 2 Aluminium Body Cover Image Leaked

Apple's iPad Mini 2 decided to make a round of the news channels today with a couple of leaked images that show off the aluminium body cover of the sequel to the hit iPad Mini 7.9" tablet. The iPad Mini will reportedly pack the same design as the original tablet. Looking at these new leaked images, we can confirm one thing. The next-generation iPad Mini won't change anything superficially. All the changes that you'll be experiencing will be under the hood. Of course, a retina display would technically still be above the hood, but you get what we mean. Apart from a high-resolution display, the iPad Mini 2 will allegedly get blessed with much more powerful specifications this time round, after Apple put an old chipset in the original.

There's no word concrete word on the release date, but the expected timeframe of launch is towards the end of 2013, or early in 2014.

Source: http://www.nextpowerup.com/news/2269/apple-ipad-mini-2-aluminium-body-cover-image-leaked.html

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Military paints dire picture from budget cuts

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel pauses during a news conference at the Pentagon, Wednesday, July 31, 2013. Hagel is warned that the Pentagon may have to mothball up to three Navy aircraft carriers and order more sharp reductions in the size of the Army and Marine Corps if Congress does not act to avoid massive budget cuts beginning in 2014. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel pauses during a news conference at the Pentagon, Wednesday, July 31, 2013. Hagel is warned that the Pentagon may have to mothball up to three Navy aircraft carriers and order more sharp reductions in the size of the Army and Marine Corps if Congress does not act to avoid massive budget cuts beginning in 2014. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, accompanied by Joint Chiefs Vice Chairman Adm. James Winnefeld, speaks during a news conference at the Pentagon, Wednesday, July 31, 2013. Hagel warned that the Pentagon may have to mothball up to three Navy aircraft carriers and order more sharp reductions in the size of the Army and Marine Corps if Congress does not act to avoid massive budget cuts beginning in 2014. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel speaks during a news conference at the Pentagon, Wednesday, July 31, 2013. Hagel warned that the Pentagon may have to mothball up to three Navy aircraft carriers and order more sharp reductions in the size of the Army and Marine Corps if Congress does not act to avoid massive budget cuts beginning in 2014. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

(AP) ? Pentagon officials insist they are not crying wolf when they say proposed budget cuts could severely harm the military.

In a detailed and stark warning, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said about $500 billion in automatic budget cuts scheduled to take effect over the next decade could leave the nation with an ill-prepared, underequipped military doomed to face more technologically advanced enemies.

If Congress doesn't act to avoid the cuts, he said, the Pentagon may be forced to mothball up to three Navy aircraft carriers and order additional sharp reductions in the size of the Army and Marine Corps ? shortfalls the military hasn't seen since World War II.

"I know there's politics in all this," Hagel said Wednesday. "But what we're trying to project here is not crying wolf or not trying to overstate or overhype."

Speaking to Pentagon reporters, and indirectly to Congress, Hagel laid out a worst-case scenario for the U.S. military if the Pentagon is forced to slash more than $50 billion from the 2014 budget and half a trillion over 10 years as a result of congressionally mandated cuts.

His remarks were the latest in a persistent Pentagon drumbeat about the dire effects of the budget cuts on national defense as Congress continues to wrangle over spending bills on Capitol Hill.

Facing lawmakers on Thursday, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Navy Adm. James Winnefeld, said the cuts will happen faster than the military can handle them.

"All we can do is grab money wherever we can from modernization and readiness accounts," Winnefeld told the House Armed Services Committee.

Going from 11 to eight or nine carrier strike groups would bring the Navy to its lowest number since World War II. And the troop cuts could shear the Army back to levels not seen since 1940, eroding the military's ability to keep forces deployed and combat-ready overseas.

Detailing options, Hagel said America may have to choose between having a highly capable but significantly smaller military and having a larger force while reducing special operations forces, limiting research, and cutting or curtailing plans to upgrade weapons systems.

That second option, he said, likely would result in the U.S. military using older, less effective equipment against more technologically advanced adversaries. And it would have a greater impact on the nation's private defense companies.

Hagel said the U.S. risks fielding a military force that in the next few years would be unprepared due to a lack of training, maintenance and upgraded equipment.

And even if the Pentagon chooses the most dramatic cuts, Hagel said it still would "fall well short" of meeting the reductions required by the automatic budget cuts, particularly during the first five years.

While noting that no final decisions have been made, Hagel laid out a few specific ideas under consideration.

He said that to achieve the savings by shrinking the force, the Pentagon might have to cut more than 100,000 additional soldiers from the Army, which is already planning to go from a wartime high of about 570,000 to 490,000 soldiers by 2017. The current plan to reduce the size of the Marine Corps to 182,000 from a high of about 205,000 could also be changed, cutting it to as few as 150,000 Marines.

He added that the Air Force could lose as many as five combat air squadrons as well as a number of other bomber and cargo aircraft.

"This strategic choice would result in a force that would be technologically dominant, but would be much smaller and able to go fewer places and do fewer things, especially if crises occurred at the same time in different regions of the world," Hagel said.

Another option, he said, would be to make fewer cuts in the size of the force, and instead cancel or curtail many modernization programs.

In addition he said that the Pentagon was taking a close look at cuts to health care benefits, military housing allowances, cost-of-living adjustments and civilian pay raises.

Hagel repeated his plans ? announced two weeks ago ? to cut top Pentagon and military staff and spending by 20 percent. The savings, which will apply to his office, that of the Joint Chiefs chairman and the Pentagon headquarters offices of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, could total between $1.5 billion and $2 billion over the next five years and will target personnel, including civilians and contractors.

The details Hagel described Wednesday were the result of a review by top Pentagon and military leaders that looked at the impact of budget cuts on the department and developed a series of options to deal with them.

The cuts stem from a law enacted two years ago that ordered the government to come up with $1.2 trillion in savings over a decade. The law included the threat of annual automatic cuts as a way of forcing lawmakers to reach a deficit-reduction deal, but they have been unable to do so.

As a result, come January, the Pentagon faces a cut of $54 billion from current spending, according to calculations by Capitol Hill budget aides. The base budget must be trimmed to $498 billion, with cuts of about 4 percent, hitting already reduced spending on defense, nuclear weapons and military construction.

Congress has shown little inclination to undo the so-called sequester cuts, though talks between the White House and a handful of Senate Republicans have intensified in recent weeks.

___

Associated Press writers Donna Cassata and Robert Burns contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-08-01-US-Budget-Battle-Defense/id-3fa5144972df479992159e78e6d0b0a1

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Friday, August 2, 2013

Boston mob boss 'Whitey' Bulger calls trial a sham, declines to testify

By Daniel Lovering

BOSTON (Reuters) - Former Boston mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger on Friday called his trial on murder and racketeering charges "a sham" and said he will not take the witness stand, as his defense rested its case.

"My thing is, as far as I'm concerned ... this is a sham and do what you want with me," Bulger, 83, told U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper in the Boston court house after his lawyer announced he would not testify.

Bulger, once Boston's most-feared criminal, was charged with participating in the murders of 19 people while heading Boston's Winter Hill crime gang in the 1970s and '80s. He has pleaded not guilty, though his lawyers have admitted he was involved in extortion, drug smuggling and loan sharking.

Casper asked Bulger whether his choice not to testify in his defense was voluntary.

Standing in a dark collarless shirt, and trademark jeans and white sneakers, Bulger responded: "I'm making the choice involuntarily because I feel I've been choked off of the opportunity to give an adequate defense."

Bulger was listed as an FBI informant for years while running the Winter Hill Gang, but Casper has ruled that he cannot argue that he has immunity.

He fled Boston in 1994 on a tip from a corrupt FBI agent that arrest was imminent. He was on the FBI's most wanted list for years, but was not captured until 2011.

Lawyers for both sides are scheduled to present closing arguments in the case on Monday, and the jury is expected to begin deliberations on Tuesday.

Bulger was "at peace" with his decision not to testify, his attorney J.W. Carney told reporters outside the court house.

"I met with him afterwards. He was very calm and very pleased that he made the decision that he did, because he feels it was the right one," he said.

'HANDS ON KILLER'

Government prosecutors presented seven weeks worth of testimony from former FBI agents, hit men, drug smugglers, extortion victims, and family members of the dead to paint Bulger as a "hands-on killer".

Witnesses, including former partners of Bulger's, said he strangled women, gunned down "rats" who talked too much, and threatened drug dealers and businessmen with pistols and machine guns to force them to hand over cash.

Defense lawyers sought to undermine the testimony, saying many prosecution witnesses were ex-criminals who had cut plea deals, and that FBI files came from a Boston office that was tainted by corruption and mismanagement.

Tommy Donahue, whose father was an alleged murder victim of Bulger's, told reporters he had hoped Bulger would take the stand so lawyers could question him about FBI corruption during Winter Hill's reign.

"Whitey was on trial. The prosecution did an unbelievable job of showing what type of animal and savage he was. But also the FBI was on trial here," he told reporters.

Bulger's story has captured Boston's imagination for decades, and recalled a dark period for Boston's FBI when corrupt agents wined and dined gangsters and gave them tips that helped them evade arrest and identify snitches.

His story inspired the character played by Jack Nicholson in Martin Scorsese's 2006 Academy Award-winning film "The Departed."

Bulger was finally captured in 2011 in Santa Monica, California, where he had been living with his girlfriend in an apartment with stacks of cash and weapons.

Bulger's lawyer Carney said before Friday's hearing that Bulger wanted to forfeit the $822,000 found in his Santa Monica apartment as long as it goes to victims' families who lost civil suits against the government. That sum is a fraction of the millions Bulger reportedly reaped in his criminal career.

"He would like to see that money go to the families," Carney told reporters after the hearing.

Earlier in the week, Bulger's lawyers had asked judge Casper to let them show the jury photos of the Boston mobster relaxing with pets or posing with friends, a move to show Bulger's softer side that had been widely interpreted as a precursor to Bulger taking the stand.

(Reporting by Daniel Lovering; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by David Gregorio)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/boston-mob-boss-whitey-bulger-says-not-testify-150901533.html

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Russia will enforce anti-gay law during Olympics

MOSCOW (AP) ? Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko says a new law cracking down on gay rights activism will be enforced during the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.

Mutko's statement on Thursday follows assurances from the International Olympic Committee that neither athletes nor visitors to the games would be subject to discrimination under the law.

In an interview with the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, the minister said: "An athlete of nontraditional sexual orientation isn't banned from coming to Sochi. But if he goes out into the streets and starts to propagandize, then of course he will be held accountable."

The contentious law, which imposes hefty fines on those providing information about the gay community to minors or holding gay pride rallies, was signed by President Vladimir Putin last month.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russia-enforce-anti-gay-law-during-olympics-114212670.html

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Ford to pay $17 million in U.S. settlement over slow recall

By Deepa Seetharaman

DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co agreed to pay nearly $17.4 million in a settlement with U.S. auto safety regulators for failing to act quickly enough last year to recall vehicles with a defect that may cause unintended acceleration.

Ford and regulators reached the settlement "in order to avoid a protracted dispute and possible litigation," according to the settlement document dated June 28. Ford paid the settlement on July 26, according to the website of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The NHTSA had asked Ford, the No. 2 U.S. automaker, to recall nearly 424,000 Ford Escape sport-utility vehicles with a defect that caused a stuck throttle when the accelerator pedal was fully or almost fully depressed. The Escapes were from the 2001 to 2004 model years.

During its investigation, Ford gave NHTSA information that supported "a tentative conclusion" that the recall may not have been timely, according to the settlement document. That could be a violation of U.S. law.

Ford denied that it broke the law. In a statement, Ford stressed that it was committed to responding quickly to potential vehicle issues. The settlement agreement does not release Ford from civil or criminal liabilities.

"While we are confident in our current processes for quickly identifying and addressing potential vehicle issues, Ford agreed to this settlement to avoid a lengthy dispute with the government," the company said in a statement.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the details of the Ford settlement, which is the largest settlement reached so far this year, according to NHTSA records.

In December 2012, Toyota Motor Corp agreed to pay almost $17.4 million in a settlement over NHTSA claims that it did not recall 2010 Lexus RS 350s fast enough over an issue of floor mat pedal entrapment.

Toyota has reached four separate settlements with NHTSA over the timing of its recalls. The payments exceeded $66 million from 2010 to 2013.

(Reporting by Deepa Seetharaman; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ford-pay-17-million-u-settlement-over-slow-153431940.html

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Pinterest introduces email alerts for price reductions on pinned items

DNP Pinterest introduces price alerts for pinned items

Pinterest has been a boon for digital scrapbookers, and today, the company is rolling out a new feature to appeal to its bargain-hunting user base. When the price drops on an item you've pinned, an email will be zapped to your inbox to alert you to the discount. If you're the kind of person who uses the site to sort out your shopping needs, it might be right up your alley, but not all pinners will appreciate the influx of messages. The feature can be switched off from the account settings menu, though even when it's on, Pinterest insists that emails will be bundled to avoid clutter. Discount alerts are set for a gradual roll-out, so if you're not seeing the option under settings yet, sit tight.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/08/01/pinterest-price-alerts/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Thursday, August 1, 2013

Dying toddler to serve as best man at parent?s wedding

Logan Stevenson, a terminally ill 2-year-old will serve as best man.

KDKA

Logan Stevenson, a terminally ill 2-year-old will serve as best man at the wedding of his parents, Sean Stevenson and Christine Swidorsky, on Saturday.?

A Pennsylvania couple plans to have their dying toddler serve as the groom's best man when they wed this weekend.

Two-year-old Logan is the son of Sean Stevenson and Christine Swidorsky, of Jeannette. The couple had planned to wed next year, but decided to move the ceremony up to Saturday so the boy, who has leukemia and other complications, could participate.

The boy has already lost one kidney and has a mass on his remaining kidney. He has Fanconi anemia, a rare disease that often results in cancer. Doctors last week gave the boy two to three weeks to live.

Swidorsky says, "We want Logan in our family pictures, and we want him to see his mother and dad get married."

Source: http://feeds.nydailynews.com/~r/NydnRss/~3/5EXJkG94XJ0/story01.htm

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US: Mideast deal in 9 months target, not deadline

JERUSALEM (AP) ? A U.S. diplomat in Jerusalem says reaching an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal within nine months is a target, not a deadline.

Consul-General Michael Ratney told reporters that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to visit the region "on a regular basis" to check on progress. He says John Allen, a retired U.S. general, will work closely with the two sides on security arrangements.

Talks resumed this week after a five-year freeze. Kerry has said he envisions a deal within nine months.

In two decades of intermittent negotiations, such timelines have been ineffective in prodding negotiators.

Ratney said Wednesday the U.S. believes the sides can "achieve something in nine months" if they work hard. He added, "We never set a deadline, but we have clearly set a target."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-mideast-deal-9-months-target-not-deadline-162007765.html

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California Water Services Group names Kropelnicki CEO

Eric Myer

Martin A. Kropelnicki was named CEO of California Water Service Group.

California Water Service Company, the largest investor-owned water utility west of the Mississippi, named Martin Kropelnicki CEO, replacing Peter Nelson who will retire and serve as board chairman.

The San Jose-based company counts Los Altos, Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Atherton among local communities it serves. Nelson, 65, served as CEO since 1996. Kropelnicki, 47, joined CalWater in 2006 and has served as COO since 2012.

The company's board also appointed Michael Luu vice president, customer service and information and technology, and named Tim Treloar vice president of operations.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bizj_national/~3/Z9_o4emdMKU/california-water-services-group-names.html

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Mothballed NASA telescope may get new life as asteroid hunter


Wed Jul 31, 2013 8:45pm EDT

(Reuters) - NASA is considering re-activating a mothballed space telescope to help find asteroids that could be on a collision course with Earth, according to a senior U.S. space agency official.

Launched in December 2009, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, telescope spent about a year taking pictures for an all-sky map. With its infrared detectors, WISE was able to peer through thick layers of dust and see even relatively dim objects such as cool brown dwarf stars in great detail.

NASA then put WISE to work on another mission looking for asteroids and comets in the solar system. Of particular interest were objects in orbits that pass relatively close to Earth.

WISE found about 150 near-Earth asteroids, including 20 that were potentially hazardous, before funding for the project ran out. The telescope was put into hibernation in February 2011.

NASA is now reviewing options for enhancing its asteroid-hunting efforts including bringing WISE out of hibernation, Lindley Johnson, who oversees the agency's Near-Earth Objects observations program, said this week.

This follows February's explosion of a small asteroid in the skies above Russia and the near-Earth passage of a larger one the same day.

More than 1,500 people were hurt by flying glass and debris after that small asteroid exploded above Chelyabinsk, Russia. The larger asteroid then zipped past Earth closer than the networks of communication satellites that ring the planet.

Together, those events served as a celestial alarm clock, prompting congressional hearings and fresh calls for NASA and other agencies to step up asteroid detection initiatives.

NASA says it already has found about 95 percent of the asteroids that are .62 miles or larger in diameter.

"If an object of that size were to impact the Earth, it would have global consequences," Lindley said during a NASA advisory committee meeting in Washington. "One as much as 100 meters (328 feet) in size would have regional effects and could cause a great many casualties."

The Obama administration has requested funding from Congress to double NASA's $20 million Near-Earth Objects detection programs for the 2014 fiscal year beginning October 1.

Costs for WISE's potential re-activation and operation were not released, but Johnson said it may be possible within the program's current $20 million annual budget and would easily fit within the proposed $40 million spending plan.

NASA's human exploration program also has been developing an initiative to send a robotic spacecraft to a small nearby asteroid and redirect it into a high orbit around the moon, officials said.

Astronauts would then visit the asteroid as part of an initial foray to send humans beyond the International Space Station, which flies about 250 miles above Earth.

Another $85 million in Obama's $17.7 billion 2014 spending plan for NASA would start technology developments and planning for the robotic portion of the asteroid encounter.

NASA is about halfway through a 15-year effort to find 90 percent of all near-Earth objects that are as small as about 459 feet in diameter.

Scientists say one of the quickest ways to speed up the effort is to re-activate WISE. "We think it can be operated for three years and get much more data," Johnson said.

Time is of the essence as WISE is expected to slip from its optimal viewing orbit around Earth by early 2017.

(Editing by Kevin Gray; Editing by Will Dunham)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/scienceNews/~3/pbXq8r5x4B8/story01.htm

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ProfitBricks Drops Prices, Makes Big Claims About AWS And Its High Costs

ProfitBricks-Cloud-Computing-LogoCloud provider ProfitBricks has dropped the price of its CPU cores and RAM by 50 percent, making the claim that essentially it is far cheaper to use its service over Amazon Web Services (AWS). I'm not sure if I should be impressed or not with their analysis, which looks at a variety of factors, ranging from AWS requirements for temporary storage to the different pricing plans they offer. They cite AWS lack of flexibility with its instance sizes. The list goes on.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/m8t1-E1rzCA/

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Three Sikhs convicted in London for stabbing an Indian general


LONDON | Wed Jul 31, 2013 9:10pm IST

LONDON (Reuters) - Three Sikhs charged with the revenge stabbing of Lieutenant General Kuldeep Singh Brar, who led a deadly raid on Sikhism's holiest shrine in Amritsar, were convicted of grievous bodily harm on Wednesday.

Brar, 78, was attacked by a gang of four and slashed in the neck as he was walking with his wife near London's busy Oxford Street shopping area in September last year.

The retired general was treated in a London hospital and discharged the following day.

Brar spearheaded Operation Blue Star, a military raid against Sikh separatists in Amritsar's Golden Temple that killed an estimated 1,000 people in 1984.

Later that year, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her own Sikh bodyguards, triggering a further wave of retaliation that left nearly 3,000 Sikhs dead.

Mandeep Sandhu, Dilbag Singh and Harjit Kaur were convicted at Southwark Crown Court, Britain's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said. Another man, Barjinder Sangha, had previously pleaded guilty to wounding with intent.

"This was a violent and life-threatening attack carried out by Sikh extremists on the streets of London's West End," said Mari Reid of the CPS' Counter Terrorism Division in a statement.

Brar had been targeted in a highly planned and pre-meditated attack, the statement said.

"The couple was set upon in what was a swift, effective and terrifying ambush; Sandhu and Singh held Lieutenant General Brar down as Sangha slashed at his neck with a knife," Reid said.

"The group clearly targeted (him) in revenge for his actions during his military career..."

The men will be sentenced in September at a date to be fixed.

(Reporting by Stephen Addison; editing by Li Mei Hoang)

Source: http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/07/31/britain-india-stabbing-general-brar-idINDEE96U0AE20130731?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

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