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মঙ্গলবার, ৩০ এপ্রিল, ২০১৩
Israel evicts Palestinian villagers for army exercise
By Noah Browning
HAMRA CHECKPOINT, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli soldiers evicted several hundred Bedouins from a village in the occupied West Bank on Monday after the army declared the area a live-fire training zone.
The residents of Wadi al-Maleh, a village mostly inhabited by shepherds in the arid area bordering Jordan, had almost all left their homes by an evening curfew and retreated to neighboring villages, Aref Daraghmeh, a local leader, told Reuters.
The displacement coincided with several demolitions of Arab properties in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which come as the United States is trying to revive stalled peace.
In January, villagers received a similar eviction order and left without resisting, only to return after 48 hours. Almost all of their 90 buildings, including shelters for their animals, were demolished in 2010, local rights groups said.
Israeli soldiers prevented outsiders, including journalists, from entering the area, saying it was a "closed military zone".
"It should be emphasized that these structures, located in closed military zones actively used by the IDF, are illegal in nature...the residents of these illegal structures have been requested in advance to vacate the premises voluntarily," an Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson said.
"This drill is a part of the IDF's pre-planned yearly exercise schedule," the spokesperson said.
Wadi al-Maleh is located in "Area C," a swath of land making up two-thirds of the West Bank under full Israeli control and where most Jewish settlements are located.
Half a million settlers live in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, territory captured in the 1967 Middle East War which Palestinians want for a future state.
Israeli army firing zones comprise 18 percent of the West Bank, roughly the same size of "Area A," the land including major cities and towns which is under full Palestinian control.
According to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 5,000 Palestinians in 38 herding communities live on army firing zones, along with several sprawling Jewish settlements and farms.
Besides al-Maleh, 12 Bedouin villages throughout the length of the Jordan Valley have received eviction orders since 1999, according to the Association for Human Rights in Israel.
The International Court of Justice and most governments deem Jewish settlements in the West Bank illegal. Israel disputes this and cites Biblical and historical links to the land.
Israeli authorities razed two family homes in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of al-Tur on Monday morning, displacing 18 Palestinians who failed to acquire elusive building permits, local officials said.
The army also demolished a well near a Palestinian refugee camp south of the city of Hebron and cleared an agricultural area of dozens of olive trees east of Bethlehem, according to Palestinian government media.
Israeli officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment on those incidents.
(Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta; Editing by Michael Roddy)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israel-evicts-palestinian-villagers-army-exercise-175802746.html
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Sanford, Colbert Busch campaign day after debate
Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford leans against a wall as he waits before the 1st Congressional District debate on Monday, April 29, 2013 in Charleston S.C. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt)
Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford leans against a wall as he waits before the 1st Congressional District debate on Monday, April 29, 2013 in Charleston S.C. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt)
Democratic candidate Elizabeth Colbert Busch, left, looks at former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford as she answers a question during the 1st Congressional District debate on Monday, April 29, 2013 in Charleston S.C. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt)
Democratic candidate Elizabeth Colbert Busch answers a question during the 1st Congressional District debate on Monday, April 29, 2013 in Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt)
Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford speaks during the 1st Congressional District debate on Monday, April 29, 2013 in Charleston S.C. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt)
Democratic candidate Elizabeth Colbert Busch smiles after being introduced during the 1st Congressional District debate on Monday, April 29, 2013 in Charleston S.C. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt)
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) ? Republican Mark Sanford and Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch planned to hit the campaign trail a day after a spirited debate in their race for a vacant congressional seat along the South Carolina coast.
"I rocked it," Colbert Busch said following Monday's 75-minute debate before an audience of about 500 at The Citadel, which was telecast on C-SPAN. Sanford, a former two-term governor trying to revive a political career damaged by an extramarital affair, said he would let the pundits decide who won.
With Election Day just a week away, both have separate appearances Tuesday, then appear before a Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce group on the city's waterfront before attending a forum sponsored by the Goose Creek NAACP. During both appearances, the candidates will address attendees but won't debate.
They did debate Monday, before a lively audience where supporters frequently broke into shouts or applause.
Early on, Colbert Busch, the sister of political satirist Stephen Colbert, reminded Sanford that he once used taxpayer funds to "leave the country for a personal purpose" ? referring to the extramarital affair with an Argentine woman he had while governor. In general, Colbert Busch has refused to bring up Sanford's personal past during the campaign.
Later, Sanford, a former three-term congressman and two-term governor, was reminded by a questioner that when he was in Congress during the 1990s he voted to impeach President Bill Clinton because of his involvement with Monica Lewinsky and asked if he would vote that way again.
"I would reverse the question," Sanford responded. "Do you think President Clinton should be condemned for the rest of his life for a mistake he made in his life?"
In 2009, Sanford, after telling his staff he was out hiking the Appalachian Trail, returned to the state to reveal that he was in Argentina with a woman he later became engaged to after divorcing his wife, Jenny. Before leaving office, Sanford avoided impeachment but was censured by the Legislature over state travel expenses he used for the affair. He also paid the largest ethics fine ever in South Carolina, $70,000.
Colbert Busch, who worked for years for a shipping company, criticized Sanford for voting in Congress against money for dredging the Charleston Harbor shipping channel and building a higher bridge so the Port of Charleston can handle a new generation of larger container ships.
Sanford shot back that if it bothered her so much before, she wouldn't have written him a "$500 check as I left the Congress to run for governor." He added "I was against earmarks before being against earmarks was cool."
Colbert Busch also said that, if elected, she would return 10 percent of her congressional salary to the government.
The candidates differed over issues such as immigration reform, the federal health care overhaul and abortion during the debate sponsored by the Patch news service, the South Carolina Radio Network and Charleston television station WCBD.
Sanford repeatedly tried to tie Colbert Busch to House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and labor unions but she said she would be an independent voice and responsible only to the residents of the district. They also had different takes on the state of affairs.
"We're at an incredible tipping point as a civilization and I think if we don't get spending right in Washington, D.C., there will be real consequences," Sanford warned.
"Here's the fundamental difference," Colbert Busch responded. "This is not the end of our time as we know it. The sky is not falling Henny Penny. In fact our best days are ahead of us."
The debate was their first joint appearance in the campaign that began after then-U.S. Rep. Tim Scott was appointed to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by fellow Republican Jim DeMint.
Sanford and Colbert Busch are vying along with Green Party Candidate Eugene Platt in the May 7 special election in the district.
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Exclusive: Boston bomb suspects' parents retreat to village, cancel U.S. trip
By Maria Golovnina
UNDISCLOSED LOCATION IN NORTH CAUCASUS, Russia (Reuters) - The parents of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects have retreated to a village in southern Russia to shelter from the spotlight and abandoned plans for now to travel to the United States, the father of the suspects told Reuters on Sunday.
Speaking in the garden of a large house, Anzor Tsarnaev said he believed he would not be allowed to see his surviving son Dzhokhar?, who was captured and has been charged in connection with the April 15 bomb blasts that killed three people and wounded 264.
"Unfortunately I can't help my child in any way. I am in touch with Dzhokhar's and my own lawyers. They told me they would let me know (what to do)," Tsarnaev said in an interview in the village where he relocated with the suspects' mother.
He agreed to the face-to-face meeting on condition that the village's location in the North Caucasus, a string of mainly Muslim provinces in southern Russia, not be disclosed.
"I am not going back to the United States. For now I am here. I am ill," said Tsarnaev, pacing nervously in the garden at sunset in the quiet village set in rolling hills and surrounded by cow pastures.
His face gaunt and tired, Tsarnaev said he suffered from high blood pressure and a heart condition.
Tsarnaev had said in the North Caucasus province of Dagestan on Thursday that he planned to travel to the United States to see Dzhokhar and bury his elder son, Tamerlan, who was killed during a manhunt four days after the bombings.
In Sunday's interview he said he had decided to move away from the family home in Dagestan to the new location because he wanted to keep a low profile.
Dressed in a black shirt and black trousers, he passionately defended his sons' innocence, saying they had nothing to do with Islamist extremists.
"I feel hopeless. We are simple people. We are trying to understand. We are attacked from all sides," he said, clutching his head in despair.
"I don't know whether I should talk or stay silent. I don't want to harm my child. ... We are used to all sorts of things here but we didn't expect this from the United States."
He and other members of the family believe a man shown on television being led naked into a police car the night of the shootout was Tamerlan, and that the blurry footage, still widely available on YouTube, proves Tamerlan was captured alive. Boston police say Tamerlan was killed in a shootout, and the man seen being led into the car was a bystander who was briefly detained.
Anzor Tsarnaev said he raised the issue with U.S. officials who visited him earlier in the week in his home in Dagestan.
"I asked them: 'I saw my child alive, he was being put into a police vehicle alive and healthy. How come media said he was killed?' They were shocked themselves," the father said.
CAUCASUS ROOTS
The Tsarnaevs are ethnic Chechens who lived in the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan and in Dagestan before emigrating to the United States with their children. The parents returned to Dagestan two years ago, and Tamerlan spent the first half of 2012 there.
The suspects' mother, Zubeidat, was with Anzor Tsarnaev in the village but did not wish to speak.
"She is ill, she is shocked, she is depressed. She lost her children," Tsarnaev said. The couple are divorced but have stayed together.
Although the Tsarnaev brothers have roots in Dagestan and neighboring Chechnya, neither had spent much time there until Tamerlan returned to Dagestan last year for six months.
During his interview, Anzor Tsarnaev denied Tamerlan had any contact with militants during his stay, painting an idyllic picture of his son's visit to his ancestral homeland.
"When he came to stay here, he was a good boy. He read books, (Leo) Tolstoy, (Alexandre) Dumas and thick English language books. He would wake up late and read all day, late into the night," he said.
"Sometimes we went to the mosque. We went to see our relatives, in Dagestan, in Chechnya. We visited a lot of households, it was a nice atmosphere."
Tsarnaev said he had to force his son to return to the United States to complete his U.S. citizenship application after Tamerlan tried to convince his family to allow him to stay in Dagestan for good.
"I told him: 'No, you have to go back to obtain your U.S. citizenship'. I forced him to go back. I thought it was the right thing to do. I shouldn't have done that," he said with a pained expression on his face.
The father said he had no hope that Tamerlan's body would be released by the U.S. authorities to be buried in his homeland.
"They won't give us his body," he said, his voice breaking with emotion. "We wont be able to bury him in our land."
(Writing by Maria Golovnina)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-boston-bomb-suspects-father-abandons-plan-return-160819875.html
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Mother of bomb suspects found deeper spirituality
BOSTON (AP) ? In photos of her as a younger woman, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva wears a low-cut blouse and has her hair teased like a 1980s rock star. After she arrived in the U.S. from Russia in 2002, she went to beauty school and did facials at a suburban day spa.
But in recent years, people noticed a change. She began wearing a hijab and cited conspiracy theories about 9/11 being a plot against Muslims.
Now known as the angry and grieving mother of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, Tsarnaeva is drawing increased attention after federal officials say Russian authorities intercepted her phone calls, including one in which she vaguely discussed jihad with her elder son. In another, she was recorded talking to someone in southern Russia who is under FBI investigation in an unrelated case, U.S. officials said.
Tsarnaeva insists there is no mystery. She's no terrorist, just someone who found a deeper spirituality. She insists her sons ? Tamerlan, who was killed in a gunfight with police, and Dzhokhar, who was wounded and captured ? are innocent.
"It's all lies and hypocrisy," she told The Associated Press in Dagestan. "I'm sick and tired of all this nonsense that they make up about me and my children. People know me as a regular person, and I've never been mixed up in any criminal intentions, especially any linked to terrorism."
Amid the scrutiny, Tsarnaeva and her ex-husband, Anzor Tsarnaev, say they have put off the idea of any trip to the U.S. to reclaim their elder son's body or try to visit Dzhokhar in jail. Tsarnaev told the AP on Sunday he was too ill to travel to the U.S. Tsarnaeva faces a 2012 shoplifting charge in a Boston suburb, though it was unclear whether that was a deterrent.
At a news conference in Dagestan with Anzor last week, Tsarnaeva appeared overwhelmed with grief one moment, defiant the next. "They already are talking about that we are terrorists, I am terrorist," she said. "They already want me, him and all of us to look (like) terrorists."
Tsarnaeva arrived in the U.S. in 2002, settling in a working-class section of Cambridge, Mass. With four children, Anzor and Zubeidat qualified for food stamps and were on and off public assistance benefits for years. The large family squeezed itself into a third-floor apartment.
Zubeidat took classes at the Catherine Hinds Institute of Esthetics, before becoming a state-licensed aesthetician. Anzor, who had studied law, fixed cars.
Anzor Tsarnaev (L) and Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, parents of Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev - the two men suspected of carrying out the Boston bombings, take part in a news conference in Makhachkala April ... more? Anzor Tsarnaev (L) and Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, parents of Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev - the two men suspected of carrying out the Boston bombings, take part in a news conference in Makhachkala April 25, 2013. Anzor Tsarnaev and former wife Zubeidat denied their sons had planted the bombs at the Boston marathon which killed three people and wounded 264, saying they had been framed. REUTERS/Stringer (RUSSIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CRIME LAW TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) less? ?By some accounts, the family was tolerant.
Bethany Smith, a New Yorker who befriended Zubeidat's two daughters, said in an interview with Newsday that when she stayed with the family for a month in 2008 while she looked at colleges, she was welcomed even though she was Christian and had tattoos.
"I had nothing but love over there. They accepted me for who I was," Smith told the newspaper. "Their mother, Zubeidat, she considered me to be a part of the family. She called me her third daughter."
Zubeidat said she and Tamerlan began to turn more deeply into their Muslim faith about five years ago after being influenced by a family friend, named "Misha." The man, whose full name she didn't reveal, impressed her with a religious devotion that was far greater than her own, even though he was an ethnic Armenian who converted to Islam.
"I wasn't praying until he prayed in our house, so I just got really ashamed that I am not praying, being a Muslim, being born Muslim. I am not praying. Misha, who converted, was praying," she said.
By then, she had left her job at the day spa and was giving facials in her apartment. One client, Alyssa Kilzer, noticed the change when Tsarnaeva put on a head scarf before leaving the apartment.
"She had never worn a hijab while working at the spa previously, or inside the house, and I was really surprised," Kilzer wrote in a post on her blog. "She started to refuse to see boys that had gone through puberty, as she had consulted a religious figure and he had told her it was sacrilegious. She was often fasting."
Kilzer wrote that Tsarnaeva was a loving and supportive mother, and she felt sympathy for her plight after the April 15 bombings. But she stopped visiting the family's home for spa treatments in late 2011 or early 2012 when, during one session, she "started quoting a conspiracy theory, telling me that she thought 9/11 was purposefully created by the American government to make America hate Muslims."
"It's real," Tsarnaeva said, according to Kilzer. "My son knows all about it. You can read on the Internet."
In the spring of 2010, Zubeidat's eldest son got married in a ceremony at a Boston mosque that no one in the family had previously attended. Tamerlan and his wife, Katherine Russell, a Rhode Island native and convert from Christianity, now have a child who is about 3 years old.
Zubeidat married into a Chechen family but was an outsider. She is an Avar, from one of the dozens of ethnic groups in Dagestan. Her native village is now a hotbed of an ultraconservative strain of Islam known as Salafism or Wahabbism.
It is unclear whether religious differences fueled tension in their family. Anzor and Zubeidat divorced in 2011.
About the same time, there was a brief FBI investigation into Tamerlan Tsarnaev, prompted by a tip from Russia's security service.
The vague warning from the Russians was that Tamerlan, an amateur boxer in the U.S., was a follower of radical Islam who had changed drastically since 2010. That led the FBI to interview Tamerlan at the family's home in Cambridge. Officials ultimately placed his name, and his mother's name, on various watch lists, but the inquiry was closed in late spring of 2011.
After the bombings, Russian authorities told U.S. investigators they had secretly recorded a phone conversation in which Zubeidat had vaguely discussed jihad with Tamerlan. The Russians also recorded Zubeidat talking to someone in southern Russia who is under FBI investigation in an unrelated case, according to U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation with reporters.
The conversations are significant because, had they been revealed earlier, they might have been enough evidence for the FBI to initiate a more thorough investigation of the Tsarnaev family.
Anzor's brother, Ruslan Tsarni, told the AP from his home in Maryland that he believed his former sister-in-law had a "big-time influence" on her older son's growing embrace of his Muslim faith and decision to quit boxing and school.
While Tamerlan was living in Russia for six months in 2012, Zubeidat, who had remained in the U.S., was arrested at a shopping mall in the suburb of Natick, Mass., and accused of trying to shoplift $1,624 worth of women's clothing from a department store.
She failed to appear in court to answer the charges that fall, and instead left the country.
___
Seddon reported from Makhachkala, Russia. Associated Press writers Eileen Sullivan and Matt Apuzzo contributed to this report from Washington.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mother-bomb-suspects-found-deeper-spirituality-224317582.html
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সোমবার, ২৯ এপ্রিল, ২০১৩
James leads Heat over Bucks and into next round
MILWAUKEE (AP) ? LeBron James can cross another item off his to-do list.
James scored 30 points, Ray Allen had another big game against his old team and the Miami Heat got their first playoff sweep in the Big Three era, advancing to the Eastern Conference semifinals with an 88-77 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday.
"It was our next big step as far as our growth," James said. "It's so hard to win on the road in the playoffs, in someone's building ? especially when someone is playing for their last life. It's a big step for us."
And now the Heat have some much-needed time to rest. Dwyane Wade sat out Sunday's game, only the second postseason game he's missed in his career, because of his aching right knee. But with Miami not playing until next Saturday, at the earliest, he'll have plenty of time to treat the three bone bruises that caused him to miss six games near the end of the regular season.
Miami plays the winner of the Brooklyn-Chicago series. The Bulls lead that series 3-1, with Game 5 on Monday night in New York.
"It's big," Wade said of the time off. "Obviously, we're one of the oldest teams in the league, maybe the oldest team in terms of rotation players. Guys have some bumps and bruises coming out of this series, so it's going to be great to get some rest. But also we have to take this time to continue to stay sharp, to continue to stay in shape as well."
Judging by the clinical way in which the Heat dissected the Bucks in this series, that isn't likely to be a problem.
The defending NBA champions won each game by double digits, getting contributions from their stars and subs alike. Allen finished with 16 points, the third time in the series he scored in double figures, and was 4 of 7 from 3-point range.
Udonis Haslem added 13 points and five rebounds, and Mario Chalmers kicked in eight rebounds and six assists for Miami, which never trailed Sunday.
"They had the whole package," Bucks coach Jim Boylan said. "When you can afford to sit guy like Dwyane Wade and perform at the level they performed at, that's a championship-caliber team."
Monta Ellis led the Bucks with 21 points, and Larry Sanders had 11 rebounds to go with seven points.
But Milwaukee got almost nothing again from Brandon Jennings, who didn't even play in the fourth quarter. Jennings, who had guaranteed the Bucks would win the series in six games, finished with three points on 1-of-7 shooting.
After scoring 26 points in Game 1, Jennings had 27 total in the final three.
"Frustrated, a little down because I came into this season with so much confidence," he said. "I thought we had a chance to steal a game in Game 1, Game 2. We let that slip away from us. Game 3, we came back home. Had a 10-point lead, lost that. I mean it's frustration all around."
The Heat had chances to sweep their first-round series in each of the last two seasons, taking 3-0 leads on Philadelphia (2011) and New York (2012). But they couldn't close it out, losing Game 4 each year.
That wasn't going to happen against the Bucks. Even with Wade reduced to a spectator.
Wade got treatment "around the clock" the last two days in hopes of playing Sunday, and he tested his knee before the game. But he and the Heat decided it wasn't worth risking aggravating the injury further, and he spent the entire game on the bench in his warmups.
"He gave me the nod saying he wasn't going to go, so I knew had to pick it up a little more and try to bring us home, bring this win home for us," James said.
That he did, adding eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals to his 30 points.
"We just space the floor and see if they can stop him. If not, he knows where we are," Allen said. "We just give him that room to operate."
The Heat led by as many as 11 in the first half, only to see the Bucks steadily chip away at the lead. When Mike Dunleavy drained a 3 and Ellis scored on a floater, it cut Miami's lead to 69-67 with 9:34 to play.
Ellis was fouled by Allen on the play, but he missed the free throw and James grabbed the rebound. He fed Allen, who knocked down ? what else, a 3. J.J. Redick missed a long 3 and James found an open Chalmers for another 3 that gave the Heat a 75-67 lead with 8:27 left.
The 3 was Chalmers' 80th in the postseason, tying Tim Hardaway's franchise record.
After Luc Richard Mbah a Moute made the second of two free throws, James scored on a layup. Redick made a jumper, but Shane Battier and Allen closed out the Bucks with a pair of 3s. James then converted a three-point play and added a layup to complete the 19-5 run ? a spurt in which he had a hand in every single Miami score.
"At some point during that stretch right there, he decided he was going to put his imprint on the game and he did. In a big way," Boylan said. "When you're a superstar player like he is, that's what superstar players do."
NOTES: The Heat have won eight straight postseason games dating to last season. That matches the franchise record. ... NBA Commissioner David Stern was in attendance. ... James scored 30 or more for the 54th time in the postseason, second only to Kobe Bryant among active players. ... Milwaukee had seven of its 16 turnovers in the first quarter. ... The Bucks are now 20-26 in elimination games. ... Packers LB Clay Matthews was at the game.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/james-leads-heat-over-bucks-next-round-220510707.html
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Genetically Modified Plants To Produce Natural Lighting
Sounds like you read the Forbes article [forbes.com] and are just repeating what they said.
Especially fun is that the Rats that they fed the fucking roundup pesticide live longer than any of the other rats.
Just because they didn't get cancer from drinking the pesticide doesn't mean the pesticide-resistant GMO crops are safe.
And that's really the problem with GMO, testing sucks. There are very few, if any, meaningful and rigorous tests. Lots of short term test and tons of grandfathering in genes because they came from other organisms where they were not a problem. But when it comes to comprehensive testing that could reassure the general population of the safety of GMO crops, there just isn't any.
Given the history we have with things like thalidomide, DDT, leaded gasoline, fen-phen, etc it is not unreasonable that people be genuinely concerned about GMO crops, especially given how widespread they've become with such little public notice. Dismissing those concerns as the equivalent of creation science is at least as bad as creationism itself because it is just another misplaced faith.
Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/WxwuuJ6JvnM/story01.htm
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Speed of Light May Not Be Constant, Phycisists Say
The speed of light is constant, or so textbooks say. But some scientists are exploring the possibility that this cosmic speed limit changes, a consequence of the nature of the vacuum of space.
The definition of the speed of light has some broader implications for fields such as cosmology and astronomy, which assume a stable velocity for light over time. For instance, the speed of light comes up when measuring the fine structure constant (alpha), which defines the strength of the electromagnetic force. And a varying light speed would change the strengths of molecular bonds and the density of nuclear matter itself.
A non-constant speed of light could mean that estimates of the size of the universe might be off. (Unfortunately, it won't necessarily mean we can travel faster than light, because the effects of physics theories such as relativity are a consequence of light's velocity). [10 Implications of Faster-Than-Light Travel]
Two papers, published in the European Physics Journal D in March, attempt to derive the speed of light from the quantum properties of space itself. Both propose somewhat different mechanisms, but the idea is that the speed of light might change as one alters assumptions about how elementary particles interact with radiation. Both treat space as something that isn't empty, but a great big soup of virtual particles that wink in and out of existence in tiny fractions of a second.
Cosmic vacuum and light speed
The first, by lead author Marcel Urban of the Universit? du Paris-Sud, looks at the cosmic vacuum, which is often assumed to be empty space. The laws of quantum physics, which govern subatomic particles and all things very small, ?say that the vacuum of space is actually full of fundamental particles like quarks, called "virtual" particles. These matter particles, which are always paired up with their appropriate antiparticle counterpart, pop into existence and almost immediately collide. When matter and antimatter particles touch, they annihilate each other.
Photons of light, as they fly through space, are captured and re-emitted by these virtual particles. Urban and his colleagues propose that the energies of these particles ? specifically the amount of charge they carry ? affect the speed of light. Since the amount of energy a particle will have at the time a photon hits it will be essentially random, the effect on how fast photons move should vary too.
As such, the amount of time the light takes to cross a given distance should vary as the square root of that distance, though the effect would be very tiny ? on the order of 0.05 femtoseconds for every square meter of vacuum. A femtosecond is a millionth of a billionth of a second. (The speed of light has been measured over the last century to high precision, on the order of parts per billion, so it is pretty clear that the effect has to be small.)
To find this tiny fluctuation, the researchers say, one could measure how light disperses at long distances. Some astronomical phenomena, such as gamma-ray bursts, produce pulses of radiation from far enough away that the fluctuations could be detected. The authors also propose using lasers bounced between mirrors placed about 100 yards apart, with a light beam bouncing between them multiple times, to seek those small changes.
Particle species and light speed
The second paper proposes a different mechanism but comes to the same conclusion that light speed changes. In that case, Gerd Leuchs and Luis S?nchez-Soto, from the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Light in Erlangen, Germany, say that the number of species of elementary particle that exist in the universe may be what makes the speed of light what it is.
Leuchs and Sanchez-Soto say that there should be, by their calculations, on the order of 100 "species" of particle that have charges. The current law governing particle physics, the Standard Model, identifies nine: the electron, muon, tauon, the six kinds of quark, photons and the W-boson. [Wacky Physics: The Coolest Little Particles in Nature]
The charges of all these particles are important to their model, because all of them have charges. A quantity called impedance depends on the sum of those charges. The impedance in turn depends on the permittivity of the vacuum, or how much it resists electric fields, as well as its permeability, or how well it supports magnetic fields. Light waves are made up of both an electric and magnetic wave, so changing those quantities (permittivity and permeability) will change the measured speed of light.
"We have calculated the permittivity and permeability of the vacuum as caused by those ephemeral virtual unstable elementary particles," Soto-Sanchez wrote in an email to LiveScience. "It turns out, however,?from such a simple model one can discern?that those constants contain essentially equal contributions of the different types of electrically charged particle-antiparticle pairs: both, the ones known and those so far unknown to us."
Both papers say that light interacts with virtual particle-antiparticle pairs. In Leuchs' and Sanchez-Soto's model, the impedance of the vacuum (which would speed up or slow down the speed of light) depends on the density of the particles. The impedance relates to the ratio of electric fields to magnetic fields in light; every light wave is made up of both kinds of field, and its measured value, along with the permittivity of space to magnetic fields, governs the speed of light.
Some scientists are a bit skeptical, though. Jay Wacker, a particle physicist at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, said he wasn't confident about the mathematical techniques used, and that it seemed in both cases the scientists weren't applying the mathematical tools in the way that most would. "The proper way to do this is with the Feynman diagrams," Wacker said. "It's a very interesting question [the speed of light]," he added, but the methods used in these papers are probably not sufficient to investigate it.
The other issue is that if there really are a lot of other particles beyond what's in the Standard Model, then this theory needs some serious revision. But so far its predictions have been borne out, notably with the discovery of the Higgs boson. This doesn't mean there aren't any more particles to be found ? but if they are out there they're above the energies currently achievable with particle accelerators, and therefore pretty heavy, and it's possible that their effects would have shown up elsewhere.
Follow us @livescience, Facebook?& Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.
Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Source: http://news.yahoo.com/speed-light-may-not-constant-phycisists-133539398.html
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Today Might Be Virgin Galactic's First Rocket-Powered Test Flight
Earlier this month, Virgin Chairman Richard Branson announced at the launch of Virgin America's new route through Newark that his other flying endeavor would be hitting a huge milestone this month: Its first rocket-powered test flight.
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Major assassination attempts in Syria's conflict
This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrians inspecting a damaged car at the scene of a car bomb exploded in the capital's western neighborhood of Mazzeh, in Damascus, Syria, Monday, April. 29, 2013. State-run Syrian TV says the country's prime minister has escaped an assassination attempt when a bomb went off near his convoy. The TV says Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi was unhurt in the attack in the capital's western neighborhood of Mazzeh. (AP Photo/SANA)
This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrians inspecting a damaged car at the scene of a car bomb exploded in the capital's western neighborhood of Mazzeh, in Damascus, Syria, Monday, April. 29, 2013. State-run Syrian TV says the country's prime minister has escaped an assassination attempt when a bomb went off near his convoy. The TV says Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi was unhurt in the attack in the capital's western neighborhood of Mazzeh. (AP Photo/SANA)
This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrians inspecting a damaged car at the scene of a car bomb exploded in the capital's western neighborhood of Mazzeh, in Damascus, Syria, Monday, April. 29, 2013. State-run Syrian TV says Prime Minister Wael al-Halqir has escaped unhurt in an assassination attempt when a bomb went off near his convoy. (AP Photo/SANA)
EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT -- This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrians carrying a charred body after a car bomb exploded in the capital's western neighborhood of Mazzeh, in Damascus, Syria, Monday, April. 29, 2013. State-run Syrian TV says Prime Minister Wael al-Halqir has escaped unhurt in an assassination attempt when a bomb went off near his convoy. (AP Photo/SANA)
This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrian fire fighters extinguishing burning cars after a car bomb exploded in the capital's western neighborhood of Mazzeh, in Damascus, Syria, Monday, April. 29, 2013. State-run Syrian TV says the country's prime minister has escaped an assassination attempt when a bomb went off near his convoy. Syrian TV says Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi was unhurt in the attack in the capital's western neighborhood of Mazzeh. (AP Photo/SANA)
This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrian fire fighters extinguishing burning cars after a car bomb exploded in the capital's western neighborhood of Mazzeh, in Damascus, Syria, Monday, April. 29, 2013. State-run Syrian TV says the country's prime minister has escaped an assassination attempt when a bomb went off near his convoy. The TV says Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi was unhurt in the attack in the capital's western neighborhood of Mazzeh. (AP Photo/SANA)
BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian opposition forces have targeted government officials, army and police officers and civil servants in their campaign to topple President Bashar Assad's regime.
Here is a list of some of the major assassination attempts in Syria since the uprising against Assad began in March 2011:
?April 29, 2013: A bomb attached to a parked car detonates as Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi's car drove by. Syrian state media reported the prime minister was not hurt in the bombing in the upscale Damascus neighborhood of Mazzeh, which is home to many embassies and officials in Assad's regime.
?March 21, 2013: A suicide bomber blows himself up in a mosque in central Damascus, killing Sheik Mohammad Said Ramadan al-Buti, a leading Sunni Muslim preacher and outspoken supporter of Assad, and 41 others.
?Dec. 12, 2012: A car bomb targets the Interior Ministry in Damascus, wounding Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar. Initially, Syrian state media said al-Shaar was not hurt in the blast, but "several" were killed. News of his injuries emerged a week later, after he was brought to neighboring Lebanon for treatment.
?July 18, 2012: A blast at the Syrian national security building in Damascus during a high-level government crisis meeting kills four top regime officials, including Assad's brother-in-law and the defense minister.
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রবিবার, ২৮ এপ্রিল, ২০১৩
How much is a Facebook friend worth?
The next time you ?like? something on Facebook, you might imagine a little cash register ringing?ca-ching. That?s because new research suggests that every time you ?like? or ?friend? a brand or business, your actions are worth approximately $174.17 to that brand ? a 28 percent increase since 2010.
The research, conducted by social intelligence company Syncapse, studied more than 2,000 Facebook users who had liked a brand, taking into account such factors as product spending, loyalty, propensity to recommend, media value acquisition cost and brand affinity to determine the value of a Facebook fan.
Facebook fans spend more money not only on the brands they fan ($116 more per year than nonfans), but also within the brand's sector ? 43 percent more, despite not having a higher income than nonfans, the study found.
[7 Unexpected Ways Facebook Is Good For You]
Those fans are also 18 percent more satisfied with their brands than nonfriends, and 11 percent more likely to continue using the brand than nonfriends.
Following the old maxim that 20 percent of customers represent 80 percent of revenues (also known as the Pareto principle), the study suggests that the better you can isolate key customer segments, the more relevant your messaging can be to drive loyalty and grow revenues through targeted offers.
Brand managers should aim to interact with customers on Facebook to understand what they're passionate about, solicit their input and enable a feeling of ownership, the study advises.
There are two reasons brand managers should curry this crowd. Facebook users who like your brand are much more active in social media and are vocal about what they like and what they don't. They like to share good brand experiences, promotions and discounts, but are also likely to share a bad brand experience.
Your brand's Facebook users are your evangelists. The study recommends prioritizing your social media marketing investment to make sure they're happy: Ensure they feel appreciated and nurtured, and find ways to talk about your brand and share their opinion.
"The increase in average fan value is driven by fans' tendencies to be superconsumers," the report said. "Not only do they tend to be brand users first, they spend more, engage more, advocate more and are more loyal. The significant and increasing value of a Facebook brand fan affirms past social marketing investment and mandates deeper commitment and accountability in the future."
Reach BusinessNewsDaily senior writer Ned Smith at nsmith@techmedianetwork.com. Follow him on Twitter @nedbsmith.Follow us?@BNDarticles,?Facebook?or?Google +.
This story was originally published on BusinessNewsDaily.
Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Source: http://news.yahoo.com/much-facebook-friend-worth-174-17-134305887.html
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Refugees claim Hezbollah fighting in Syria | Morocco World News
AlJazeeraEnglish YouTube Channel
Syrian refugees who have fled to neighbouring Lebanon have said that Hezbollah fighters are now joining the conflict.
The accounts claim that Hezbollah is working alongside the government of President Bashar al-Assad to defeat the rebel uprising.
Al Jazeera?s Hoda Abdel-Hamid reports from Arsal, Lebanon.
?
Source: http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2013/04/88617/refugees-claim-hezbollah-fighting-in-syria/
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Stock Downgrades: Anheuser-Busch Set For Friday Night Hangover ...
Yesterday?s?Dow?(^DJI) increase of only 24.50 points may not have been anything on the excitement of exactly six years earlier, but it?ll do for now.
?
Strange bedfellows dominated the day, what with?Jimmy Carter gushing over George Bush?and the Wall Street Journal turning over its editorial page?to a New York Times (NYT) journalist who did jail time. (Such a selfless gesture from right wing to left, and on?Pay It Forward Day?no less, sent shares of the Old Grey Lady surging some 5.00%.)
?
Elsewhere Kentucky Fried Chicken owner?Yum Brands?(YUM), which jumped 7.10% on Wednesday and scored an?analyst upgrade 24 hours later, tumbled 2.11% after it became apparent that?Colonel Sanders? favorite food was actually?White Castle.
?
Today in economics, consensus says April?s University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey will show an improvement at 9:55 a.m. Eastern. Peak earnings week concludes with announcements expected out of?Alcatel-Lucent?(ALU),?Burger King (BKW), Chevron (CVX), DR Horton (DHI),?Goodyear Tire?(GT),?Honda Motor?(HMC),?LyondellBasell (LYB), Total SA?(TOT),?Tyco International (TYC),?VF Corporation (VFC), and?WellPoint?(WLP).
?
Alkermes?(ALKS): The stock is downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch.
?
AmerisourceBergen?(ABC): Shares are now Neutral from Outperform at Robert W. Baird, which trims its target to $57 from $59 after a recent run to record highs.
?
Anheuser-Busch?(NYSE:BUD): The brewing behemoth is slashed to Conviction Sell ? surely the ultimate ignominy ? from merely Sell at Goldman Sachs. Shares are lower in today?s pre-market trading as a result.
?
Baidu Inc.?(BIDU): Shares in the Chinese Internet outfit, imploding 8% before the opening bell, get downgraded to Hold from Buy at Brean Capital.
?
Beneficial Mutual Bancorp?(BNCL): The name is now Neutral from Buy at Sterne Agee.
?
Carpenter Technology?(CRS): CRS gets cut to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan.
?
Duke Realty?(DRE): The stock is moved to Market Perform from Outperform by BMO Capital.
?
Embraer?(ERJ): Shares are slashed to Sell from Neutral at Citigroup.
?
Exxon Mobil?(XOM): The oil giant and key?Dow?(^DJI) component is now Neutral from Buy at ISI Group.
?
F5 Networks?(FFIV): Shares are downgraded to Perform from Outperform at FBR Capital, which notes competitive threats from Intel (INTC) among others.
?
Hancock Holding?(HBHC): The stock is now Hold from Buy with Wunderlich.
?
ITT Educational Services?(ESI): The stock is downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Compass Point.
?
KLA-Tencor?(KLAC): KLAC gets cut to Outperform from Buy at CLSA.
?
Raymond James Financial?(RJF): Citigroup reduces its recommendation on RJF to Neutral from Buy.
?
Windstream?(WIN): The equity is now Neutral from Buy at Bank of America-Merrill.
?
Strange bedfellows dominated the day, what with?Jimmy Carter gushing over George Bush?and the Wall Street Journal turning over its editorial page?to a New York Times (NYT) journalist who did jail time. (Such a selfless gesture from right wing to left, and on?Pay It Forward Day?no less, sent shares of the Old Grey Lady surging some 5.00%.)
?
Elsewhere Kentucky Fried Chicken owner?Yum Brands?(YUM), which jumped 7.10% on Wednesday and scored an?analyst upgrade 24 hours later, tumbled 2.11% after it became apparent that?Colonel Sanders? favorite food was actually?White Castle.
?
Today in economics, consensus says April?s University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey will show an improvement at 9:55 a.m. Eastern. Peak earnings week concludes with announcements expected out of?Alcatel-Lucent?(ALU),?Burger King (BKW), Chevron (CVX), DR Horton (DHI),?Goodyear Tire?(GT),?Honda Motor?(HMC),?LyondellBasell (LYB), Total SA?(TOT),?Tyco International (TYC),?VF Corporation (VFC), and?WellPoint?(WLP).
?
Alkermes?(ALKS): The stock is downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch.
?
AmerisourceBergen?(ABC): Shares are now Neutral from Outperform at Robert W. Baird, which trims its target to $57 from $59 after a recent run to record highs.
?
Anheuser-Busch?(NYSE:BUD): The brewing behemoth is slashed to Conviction Sell ? surely the ultimate ignominy ? from merely Sell at Goldman Sachs. Shares are lower in today?s pre-market trading as a result.
?
Baidu Inc.?(BIDU): Shares in the Chinese Internet outfit, imploding 8% before the opening bell, get downgraded to Hold from Buy at Brean Capital.
?
Beneficial Mutual Bancorp?(BNCL): The name is now Neutral from Buy at Sterne Agee.
?
Carpenter Technology?(CRS): CRS gets cut to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan.
?
Duke Realty?(DRE): The stock is moved to Market Perform from Outperform by BMO Capital.
?
Embraer?(ERJ): Shares are slashed to Sell from Neutral at Citigroup.
?
Exxon Mobil?(XOM): The oil giant and key?Dow?(^DJI) component is now Neutral from Buy at ISI Group.
?
F5 Networks?(FFIV): Shares are downgraded to Perform from Outperform at FBR Capital, which notes competitive threats from Intel (INTC) among others.
?
Hancock Holding?(HBHC): The stock is now Hold from Buy with Wunderlich.
?
ITT Educational Services?(ESI): The stock is downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Compass Point.
?
KLA-Tencor?(KLAC): KLAC gets cut to Outperform from Buy at CLSA.
?
Raymond James Financial?(RJF): Citigroup reduces its recommendation on RJF to Neutral from Buy.
?
Windstream?(WIN): The equity is now Neutral from Buy at Bank of America-Merrill.
(See also: New Stock Coverage: TherapeuticsMD Is Just What the Doctor Ordered and Stock Upgrades: Don?t Throw Bebe Out With the Bath Water.)
No positions in stocks mentioned.
The information on this website solely reflects the analysis of or opinion about the performance of securities and financial markets by the writers whose articles appear on the site. The views expressed by the writers are not necessarily the views of Minyanville Media, Inc. or members of its management. Nothing contained on the website is intended to constitute a recommendation or advice addressed to an individual investor or category of investors to purchase, sell or hold any security, or to take any action with respect to the prospective movement of the securities markets or to solicit the purchase or sale of any security. Any investment decisions must be made by the reader either individually or in consultation with his or her investment professional. Minyanville writers and staff may trade or hold positions in securities that are discussed in articles appearing on the website. Writers of articles are required to disclose whether they have a position in any stock or fund discussed in an article, but are not permitted to disclose the size or direction of the position. Nothing on this website is intended to solicit business of any kind for a writer's business or fund. Minyanville management and staff as well as contributing writers will not respond to emails or other communications requesting investment advice.Copyright 2011 Minyanville Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Damaged Russian ship docks with space station
MOSCOW (AP) ? A Russian cargo spacecraft has docked with the International Space Station, despite the failure of an antenna on its navigation system to deploy.
The unmanned Progress cargo ship was launched Wednesday from Russia's main space facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The antenna didn't deploy when the craft reached orbit and Russian mission control tried repeatedly to prod it into action.
However, the ship carrying more than three tons of food, oxygen, water and equipment was able to dock Friday on automatic pilot, according to video from Russian mission control. There were initial concerns the undeployed antenna might interfere physically with the docking.
The U.S. agency NASA said the space station crew would conduct leak checks and then unload the cargo.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/damaged-russian-ship-docks-space-station-133136549.html
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শনিবার, ২৭ এপ্রিল, ২০১৩
Froman, Pritzker in line for trade and commerce posts: sources
By Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is close to choosing White House deputy national security adviser Mike Froman to be the next trade representative, sources familiar with the situation told Reuters on Friday.
After a long vetting process, Chicago businesswoman and Obama fundraiser Penny Pritzker is still in line to be nominated as commerce secretary, the sources said.
The two trade jobs are among the final positions Obama has to fill in his second-term cabinet. Both require confirmation by the Senate. An announcement of their nominations is likely to be made next week.
The White House declined to comment.
Froman was an early front runner for USTR but sources told Reuters earlier this year he preferred to stay in his current White House job, which includes the trade portfolio along with energy, development, and other international economic issues.
Jeff Zients, the long-time acting White House budget director, then became a top contender for the post, but Obama asked him to stay at the budget office.
Froman played an instrumental role in negotiations that led to congressional approval of the South Korea, Colombia and Panama trade pacts during Obama's third year in office.
He is well known in diplomatic circles for his work as Obama's right-hand man or "sherpa" in the G8, G20, and other international forums.
Froman would replace former U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, who stepped down last month.
Pritzker, the 271st richest American according to Forbes magazine, was Obama's national finance chair in 2008 and his campaign co-chair in 2012. Her personal fortune is worth an estimated $1.85 billion, putting her at the pinnacle of the top 1 percent of American households.
The Stanford University-trained lawyer and business woman is on the board of the Hyatt Hotels Corp, which her uncle Jay Pritzker founded in 1957, two years before she was born.
Pritzker was in the running to be commerce secretary in Obama's first term but bowed out.
She could face questions during a Senate confirmation process over the Pritzker family's reputation for sheltering income to avoid taxes, Hyatt's battle with a labor union and the 2001 failure of Superior Bank, which was half-owned by the Pritzker family.
Current acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank said in March she planned to become chancellor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in July.
Former Commerce Secretary John Bryson resigned for health reasons last year.
(Additional reporting by Doug Palmer; Editing by Vicki Allen, Bill Trott and Lisa Shumaker)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/froman-pritzker-line-u-trade-commerce-posts-sources-132337716.html
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Draining cash, Egypt on $30 billion search for aid
CAIRO (AP) ? During a meeting in a Black Sea resort city, Egypt's president and members of his government turned to Russian President Vladimir Putin and asked for a sizable loan, according to a Putin aide.
Egypt's Mohammed Morsi appealed to Moscow and Cairo's past ties, recalling how the former Soviet Union stepped in to finance the building of the Aswan High Dam in the 1960s after the United States abruptly withdrew from the project, according to Russian media.
Still, the Russians' response seemed rather equivocal: We'll talk later.
Egypt has been knocking on doors around the region seeking billions of dollars in loans, bond purchases and grants, trying to fill rapidly draining coffers so it can keep power stations running and bakeries churning out cheap bread for the country's millions of poor.
The drive appears to have accelerated ahead of the summer, when the country's fragile electricity network often breaks down under increased energy use and when officials have predicted a drop in wheat supplies.
Several states ? including Qatar and Libya ? have responded in recent weeks. But strikingly, a few countries have balked, wary of pouring money into Egypt's worsening economy without some political stability after two years of turmoil since the fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
Moreover, economists worry that Morsi's government is relying on an unsustainable policy, scrambling for foreign cash as a temporary cushion that allows it to put off major ? and highly unpopular ? economic reforms and avoid compromise with its political opponents.
The most crucial piece of aid, a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, has been delayed by months of negotiations over how Egypt will reduce its massive system of subsidies, which the poor rely on for cheap fuel and food but which suck up large portions of the budget. The government has taken some limited steps, but many economists believe it is postponing extensive reforms until after parliament elections to avoid austerity measures that could hurt Morsi's majority Muslim Brotherhood party at the polls.
The problem is: No date has been set for elections, and they won't be held until the fall at the earliest. That could mean months of economic limbo, with foreign lenders and donors reluctant to give unless there is a clear economic plan. Securing the IMF loan is considered key to boosting investors' confidence in Egypt and unlocking further aid.
In the meantime, the government has been seeking injections of cash.
Overall, Egypt has sought or is in talks for more than $30 billion since the fall of Mubarak ? the vast majority since Morsi was inaugurated in June, according to a compilation by The Associated Press of what has been announced. In an email, an official in the president's office could not confirm exact numbers but said the figure is "close to accurate." The official, who was not authorized to talk to reporters and spoke on condition of anonymity, did not give further comment on economic policy.
The search for cash has opened Morsi's government to embarrassing opposition taunts that it is begging.
After Morsi and his team returned from Russia, his minister of industry and trade this week denied they asked Moscow for a loan, despite the Putin aide's public description of the closed-door meeting.
"Egypt does not beg anyone for aid," Hatem Saleh said. "What has been reported in the media is not worth responding to."
Egypt's need for funds is dire. After the 2011 uprising that toppled Mubarak, foreign investment in Egypt shriveled and tourism ? a top revenue source ? took a heavy blow. Neither has recovered since, with investors and tourists still scared away by the country's unrest and political uncertainty.
With revenues down, the government has been burning through its foreign currency reserves, which have fallen to just $13.4 billion, a third of the pre-uprising level. Much of that has gone to propping up the currency and importing fuel and wheat for the subsidy system. Egypt spends some $14.5 billion a year in subsidizing fuel and $4 billion in food subsidies, the bulk of which goes to bread. Nearly half of Egypt's 90 million people live near or below the poverty line of $2 a day.
Egypt seems to be "reaching out to others as a backstop" until the IMF deal is sealed, said economist William Jackson of the London-based consultancy Capital Economics. He said there is "a real lack of clarity" on what it has received from other countries.
This month, oil-rich Qatar ? a longtime ally of the Brotherhood ? promised $3 billion, on top of the $5 billion it has already given Morsi's government. Libya announced this month it has deposited $2 billion in Egypt's Central Bank.
Egypt asked Iraq for $4 billion in March, but Baghdad declined, judging it "too risky," according to an Iraqi official who spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to talk to reporters. Egyptian officials have declined confirmation of the request, saying only that discussions are ongoing with Iraq.
In Russia, Putin aide Yuri Ushakov was quoted in local press saying Egypt asked last week for a loan that "was not small." The two sides agreed to "get in touch about it," he said.
Turkey in September promised $2 billion in loans, half of which has been delivered, and Saudi Arabia gave around $1.5 billion in loans and grants.
"Propping up the budget this way only serves to artificially cushion the Muslim Brotherhood and allows them to delay an economic reform plan," economic expert Farah Halime wrote in her blog Rebel Economy. Without the funds, "the Brotherhood would be forced to be more conciliatory toward opposition groups and find compromises."
Morsi last fall reached a deal with the European Union to provide $6.5 billion over the next two years, mostly in loans that EU officials said would be directed at development projects. But parts of the package depend on Egypt reaching a deal with the IMF.
In recent days, the IMF and Egypt have given more hopeful signals. The presidency said Wednesday it expects a deal soon.
But both Egypt's largest investment bank EFG-Hermes and Capital Economics are skeptical, saying they did not expect it until after elections.
Egypt and the IMF were close to a deal in December, but Morsi quickly rescinded planned tax hikes and other measures in the face of public outcry. A burst of deadly street protests further set back the economy, forcing the IMF and Egypt to revise forecasts.
"We understand how important the IMF deal is," Mohammed Gouda, a member of the Brotherhood's economic committee, told The Associated Press. "We don't want loans or aid ... We want investments."
Economists at EFG-Hermes criticized the reliance on loans and aid to bridge the gap.
Such "last-minute, unstructured support further increases moral hazard risk," they said in a recent report. The aid is "making us less optimistic about the Egyptian authorities' ability and willingness to introduce a series of structural reforms in the short term to avert a balance of payments shock."
Still, Halime argues that loans and aid that go to actual development projects ? as opposed to just filling the budget hole ? should not be held up until the politics are worked out. Otherwise, she told AP, "you are waiting on Egypt's president to solve the problems while there is a society here that needs assistance now."
___
Associated Press writers Max Seddon in Moscow and Don Melvin in Brussels contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/draining-cash-egypt-30-billion-search-aid-113059833--finance.html
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Overseer of U.S. victim funds says work wrenching
BOSTON (AP) ? Massachusetts lawyer Kenneth Feinberg has been near the heart of some of the worst catastrophes, dealing with people who've faced profound loss after 9/1l, the BP oil spill, the Virginia Tech shootings, and the Colorado movie theater ambush.
Now, he's adding the Boston Marathon bombings to his workload, managing a victims' compensation fund as he did after the previous tragedies.
The 67-year-old Feinberg said his work takes an emotional toll but is about wanting to help, in the same spirit as those who donate.
The experiences are wrenching, he said. And recipients invariably resent him, thinking he's trying to put a price on the priceless things they've lost.
"Don't expect thanks or appreciation or gratitude, none of that," Feinberg said. "We have very emotional victims and you're offering them money instead of a limb, instead of the return of a family member. This is a no-win situation."
But he keeps saying yes to the work because he wants to help.
"Look at the amount of money that pours in from private people, private citizens?" he said. "How do you say no if the governor calls, the mayor?"
In 1984, the Brockton native was appointed to distribute money from a $180 million settlement for military veterans exposed to Agent Orange. His work was stellar enough to prompt a call when President George W. Bush was looking for someone to manage the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund. Since then, the calls have come regularly.
Currently, he is advising a panel distributing money after the December school massacre in Newtown, Conn., and mediating settlement discussions between Penn State and alleged sex abuse victims of former football coach Jerry Sandusky.
The One Fund ? now nearing $26 million ? was established to help victims of the April 15 marathon explosions that killed three people and injured more than 260. Feinberg has established an aggressive timeline in Boston. He hopes to meet with families by June 15 and get checks out by June 30.
Most of the work is pro bono, including the Boston Marathon job, though Feinberg was paid for his work with the 9/11 fund and the BP oil spill, the job that earned Feinberg the most abuse.
In his 2012 book, "Who Gets What," he said he became a "human pinata." Residents complained about the speed and distribution of the payouts, and insults flew at public meetings. "You are such a lying piece of (garbage)," one person said.
Meanwhile, lawyers scoffed at his vigorous declarations of independence from BP, a claim Feinberg said now widely believed.
Attorney Anthony Tarricone, now of the Boston firm Kreindler & Kreindler, who represented both BP and 9/11 victims, called Feinberg the perfect person to manage the marathon fund. Tarricone cited Feinberg's legal skills and the respectful, kind manner in which he dealt with 9/11 families.
"He was fair, he listened to the families, the families felt as if they were being listened to, and that he was understanding what they were going through," Tarricone said.
Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, who worked with Feinberg when he was handling the 9/11 fund, said Feinberg balances compassion for the victims with vigilance in protecting the money from abuse.
"I can't say exactly how he handles it emotionally and psychologically, I just know that he does it professionally," Ashcroft said. "I don't think the world would keep going back, knocking on his door, saying 'Ken, we need you again,' if they were displeased because there's nothing that locks him into this responsibility."
The eventual total of the One Fund will determine who can be helped. Payment for deaths takes priority, followed by compensation for physical injuries. Payment for mental health issues comes if money is available, Feinberg said.
His principle is to pay the same amount on all deaths. His top indicator for determining the seriousness of the injuries is the length of the hospital stay.
Feinberg has established an aggressive timeline. He hopes to meet with families by June 15 and get checks out by June 30. Along the way, the classical music aficionado will most likely take refuge in music when he can.
"During the day, I'm working on a project that shows you how uncivilized some people can be and how they willy-nilly, at random, kill and maim people," he said. "And at night you turn on Mozart, and it's the height of civilization." It reminds him "that mankind isn't all bad."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/overseer-us-victim-funds-says-wrenching-070532658.html
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Honeymoon Tour - Enjoy Your Luxury Time With Your Partner
Amazing India Journey offers the best of the beautiful tourist destinations for the most romantic options in the exciting land of India for your honeymoon. Our all inclusive romantic honeymoon packages including splendid mountain ranges of Kashmir, snow valleys of Patnitop & Gulmarg, backwaters of Kerala, glistening beaches of Goa, picturesque locales of Shimla & Manali and mystical grandeur of Rajasthan etc. has made India a premier honeymoon destination. You will love & enjoy your honeymoon at any place of these destinations, which will in turn be a lifetime memory for you.
A Honeymoon is the first holiday, which a newly-wed couple spend together to celebrate their marriage with plenty of surprises, moments of intimacy, privacy & full of romance. Its great opportunity for two sole mates to get away from the stress of the wedding & spend some quality time in an exotic & romantic honeymoon destination. This is something that bridal couples remember these golden memories for lifetime.
In fact, Honeymoon is not limited to newly married couples. Even couples married years back, celebrating marriage anniversary or romantic vacations followed by a honeymoon, as married life needs some added spice every now and then to keep healthy and continuously growing relationship.
The perfect couple deserves the perfect places of image for the days of gold of their life together which is the honeymoon skies. Us with the offer of best India of the beautiful contexts amazing for the most romantic options in the poisoning ground of India for your honeymoon Tour. That it is the romantic royal Honeymoon Tour Package in Rajasthan or the combination of the sun, sand and the sea on the beaches of Goa or probably the ponds of the proper country of God that the beauty of your liked will are added to the happiness of your honeymoon Tour india to the destination of your choice.
To be ready to test the most exotic holidays of your life-your Honeymoon Tour. Amazing India Journey to make known your revues destination other that indicated for we and honeymoon Tour Package will take all arrangements to divinement provide you that placing divinement where the love is in the sky. You are right where your heart wishes being with that whom it beats for after all its your honeymoon us makes sure that each moment that you pass on honeymoon will whisper of the wishes of marriage during long and beautiful life with your honey. To take your selection to appreciate the spirit of your honeymoon Packages Tour.
Our Honeymoon Tour Packages we will take you through some of the unique and spectacular landscape. The place where you stay during your honeymoon means a lot. As a result, in our romantic tour packages, we also offer best accommodation facilities in all over India. We conduct online booking at some of the best hotels, Guest houses and resorts, so you can be assured that your room reservation is done properly in advance. Our best honeymoon tour package to India is sure to make you fall in love with each other and the country as well.
About the Author:
Sajal Agarwal is a traveler who likes to share his experience. All the articles published by him will help you understand India better and answer all your holiday queries regarding, Honeymoon Tour Packages, Honeymoon in Goa, Honeymoon in Kashmir. Find tourist info on travel packages, travel destination, and much more.
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