Sunday, June 30, 2013

2013 NBA Summer League: Complete Games schedule starts July 12

The 2013 NBA Summer League games schedule are all set on July 12-22 on two venues in Thomas & Mack Center and the Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas. For the first time ever the NBA Summer League will feature a tournament format.

The Summer includes preliminary games that starts on July 12, Friday 1:00pm at Cox Pavillion opening, followed by a single-elimination tournament leading to an eventual NBA Summer League championship game on July 22 at 6:00 pm PT in the Thomas & Mack Center.

There will be 22 NBA teams will participate including squads featuring 8 of top 10 selections in the NBA Draft are participating in this year's NBA Summer League, according to NBA.

New Orleans Pelicans will face the New York Knicks as opening game on Friday, July 12 at 1 p.m. PT. The Cleveland Cavaliers will also tip off against the Los Angeles Lakers at COX Pavilion at 5:00 p.m. PT. while Charlotte vs. San Antonio at 7:00 pm.

Participating Teams: Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Bobcats, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, LA Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves, NBA D-League Select, New Orleans Pelicans, New York Knicks, Phoenix Suns, Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs, Toronto Raptors and Washington Wizards.

Check the 2013 NBA Summer League schedules at Thomas & Mack Center and the Cox Pavilion below

Cox Pavillion Games Schedules

Friday, July 12

1 PM - New York vs. New Orleans (Game 1)

3 PM - Atlanta vs. LA Clippers (Game 2)

5 PM - Cleveland vs. LA Lakers (Game 3)

7 PM - Charlotte vs. San Antonio (Game 4)

Saturday, July 13

1 PM - Golden State vs. Washington (Game 5)

3 PM - Sacramento vs. Dallas (Game 6)

5 PM - Chicago vs. Memphis (Game 8)

7 PM - Denver vs. Milwaukee (Game 10)

Sunday, July 14

1 PM - New York vs. Washington (Game 12)

3 PM - Charlotte vs. Dallas (Game 14)

5 PM - Cleveland vs. Memphis (Game 16)

7 PM - Atlanta vs. Miami (Game 18)

Monday, July 15

1 PM - New York vs. Charlotte (Game 20)

3 PM - Cleveland vs. New Orleans (Game 21)

5 PM - LA Clippers vs. LA Lakers (Game 23)

7 PM - San Antonio vs. Atlanta (Game 25)

Tuesday, July 16

1 PM - Minnesota vs. Miami (Game 27)

3 PM - Sacramento vs. Toronto (Game 28)

5 PM - Chicago vs. Portland (Game 30)

7 PM - Denver vs. Washington (Game 32)

Thomas & Mack Center schedules

Saturday, July 13

3:30 PM - Minnesota vs. NBA D-League (Game 7)

5:30 PM - Phoenix vs. Portland (Game 9)

7:30 PM - Miami vs. Toronto (Game 11)

Sunday, July 14

1:30 PM - LA Clippers vs. NBA D-League (Game 13)

3:30 PM - LA Lakers vs. Portland (Game 15)

5:30 PM - New Orleans vs. Milwaukee (Game 17)

7:30 PM - San Antonio vs. Toronto (Game 19)

Monday, July 15

3:30 PM - Minnesota vs. Phoenix (Game 22)

5:30 PM - Sacramento vs. Golden State (Game 24)

7:30 PM - Chicago vs. Denver (Game 26)

Tuesday, July 16

3:30 PM - Golden State vs. Milwaukee (Game 29)

5:30 PM - Phoenix vs. Memphis (Game 31)

7:30 PM - Dallas vs. NBA D-League (Game 33)

Source: http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/14897879-2013-nba-summer-league-live-games-schedule-starts-july-12

matilda cab calloway melissa gilbert deadliest catch dwts sean hannity bobby petrino fired

Kerry pushing Israel, Palestinians to resume talks

Tzipi Livni, Israel's chief negotiator with the Palestinians, left, sits next to Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with Yaakov Amidror, National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister, and Military Secretary Major General Eyal Zamir, as Netanyahu meets with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, unseen, in Jerusalem on Saturday, June 29, 2013. Kerry kept up his frenetic Mideast diplomacy Saturday, shuttling again between Palestinian and Israeli leaders in hopes of restarting peace talks. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

Tzipi Livni, Israel's chief negotiator with the Palestinians, left, sits next to Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with Yaakov Amidror, National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister, and Military Secretary Major General Eyal Zamir, as Netanyahu meets with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, unseen, in Jerusalem on Saturday, June 29, 2013. Kerry kept up his frenetic Mideast diplomacy Saturday, shuttling again between Palestinian and Israeli leaders in hopes of restarting peace talks. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, says goodbye to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after their second meeting in Amman, Jordan on Saturday, June 29, 2013. On his fifth trip to the Middle East, Kerry held talks with Abbas on Saturday for the second time in two days, continuing his rushed round of shuttle diplomacy to restart talks between Israel and the Palestinians. At center is Saeb Erekat, Palestinian chief negotiator. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, meets with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for the second time in Amman, Jordan, on Saturday, June 29, 2013, after shuttling to Jordan from Jerusalem in the morning. On his fifth trip to the Middle East, Kerry met with Abbas for the second time in two days as he continues a rushed round of shuttle diplomacy to restart talks between Israel and the Palestinians. He plans to fly back to Jerusalem later in the day for more talks with Israeli officials. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

Palestinian Ambassador to Jordan Attallah Khairy, left, Saeb Erekat, Palestinian chief negotiator, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas say goodbye to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, unseen, after Abbas' second meeting with Kerry in Amman, Jordan on Saturday, June 29, 2013. Kerry kept up his frenetic Mideast diplomacy Saturday, shuttling again between Palestinian and Israeli leaders in hopes of restarting peace talks. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

(AP) ? U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, engaged in breakneck shuttle diplomacy to coax Israel and the Palestinians back into peace talks, is flying to the West Bank on Sunday to have a third meeting in as many days with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

U.S., Israeli and Palestinian officials have declined to disclose details of the past three days of closed-door meetings, but Kerry's decision to fly from Jerusalem to Ramallah, West Bank, to see Abbas again before he leaves the region was an indication that the secretary believes there is a chance of bringing the two sides together.

"Working hard" is all Kerry would say when a reporter asked him at a photo-op whether progress was being made.

Despite the lack of readouts, there are several clues that the meetings have been more than routine chats.

Most of Kerry's meetings have lasted at least two hours and several of them were much longer. His initial dinner meeting Thursday night with Netanyahu was clocked at four and the one Saturday night with the Israelis that started around 9 p.m. in a hotel suite was still going on at 2:30 a.m. Sunday.

Legal, military and other officials accompanied Netanyahu at the meeting, perhaps an indication that discussions had reached a more detailed level.

Kerry canceled a visit to Abu Dhabi on his two-week swing through Asia and the Mideast because of his extended discussions on the Mideast peace process in Jerusalem and Amman, Jordan.

And just the sheer number of meetings since Thursday ? three with Netanyahu and soon-to-be three with Abbas ? could indicate that the two sides are at least interested in trying to find a way back to the negotiating table.

A senior U.S. State Department official said Kerry would travel to Ramallah on Sunday to meet Abbas. The U.S. official was not authorized to discuss the negotiations by name and requested anonymity.

The meeting, however, will further squeeze Kerry's itinerary. He's scheduled to be at a Southeast Asia security conference on Monday and Tuesday in Brunei ? some 5,400 miles from Israel. On the sidelines of the conference, Kerry is to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in an exchange that likely will focus on National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden. Kerry also is to have a trilateral discussion with Japanese and South Korean officials that likely will include the topic of North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

For now, however, Kerry has his head in the Middle East. Except for quick flights to meetings in Amman, Kerry mostly has been holed up on the upper floors of a hotel near Jerusalem's Old City engaged in deep, serious conversations about the decades-old conflict. On other floors, the hotel has been hosting large family gatherings, and noisy children in party clothes have been running up and down the hallways, oblivious to Kerry's presence.

There is deep skepticism that Kerry can get the two sides to agree on a two-state solution. It's something that has eluded presidents and diplomats for years. But the flurry of meetings has heightened expectations that the two sides can be persuaded to restart talks, which broke down in 2008, at the least.

So far, there have been no public signs that the two sides are narrowing their differences.

In the past, Abbas has said he won't negotiate unless Israel stops building settlements on war-won lands or accepts its 1967 lines ? before the capture of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in a Mideast war that year ? as a starting point for border talks. The Palestinians claim all three areas for their future state.

Netanyahu has rejected the Palestinian demands, saying there should be no pre-conditions for talks.

Abbas made significant progress with Netanyahu's predecessor, Ehud Olmert, in talks in 2007 and 2008, but believes there is little point in negotiating with the current Israeli leader.

Netanyahu has adopted much tougher starting positions than Olmert, refusing to recognize Israel's pre-1967 frontier as a baseline for border talks and saying east Jerusalem, the Palestinians' hoped-for capital, is off the table. Abbas and his aides suspect Netanyahu wants to resume talks for the sake of negotiating and creating a diplomatic shield for Israel, not in order to reach an agreement.

Abbas has much to lose domestically if he drops his demands that Netanyahu either freeze settlement building or recognize the 1967 frontier as a starting point before talks can resume. Netanyahu has rejected both demands. A majority of Palestinians, disappointed after 20 years of fruitless negotiations with Israel, opposes a return to talks on Netanyahu's terms.

While details of the ongoing discussions have remained closely held, it has not quelled speculation. Midday Saturday, news reports said a four-way meeting was going to be held in coming days with the U.S. Jordan, Israel and the Palestinians at the table.

"They're saying a four-way summit, did you hear that?" Netanyahu asked Kerry during a photo-op before his latest meeting with Kerry.

"I did," Kerry replied.

There is speculation that talks are going well and that they're headed nowhere.

Asked if the two sides were close to resuming negotiations, Israeli Cabinet Minister Gilad Erdan told Channel 2 TV: "Regrettably, so far, no."

___

Associated Press writer Karin Laub in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-06-29-ML-Kerry/id-1e4d1876b886486a8f282c6c60bb5483

duke invisible children garbage pail kids st bonaventure ncaa tournament 2012 peyton manning 49ers andy pettitte

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Kerry meets with Palestinian leader

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) ? U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was meeting Friday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and planned to return to Jerusalem for more talks with the Israelis as he continues his latest round of Mideast diplomacy in an effort to get both sides back to the negotiating table.

Kerry was using Amman as a base for the talks. He drove to Jerusalem Thursday night for a dinner meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that lasted about four hours.

He and his delegation returned to Amman early Friday. Around noon, he drove to a diplomatic area of Amman for a luncheon with Abbas.

"It's good to be back and I look forward to our conversation. We have a lot to talk about, obviously, as you know," Kerry told Abbas.

As reporters and photographers were ushered out of the meeting, Kerry turned to Abbas and said: "We had a good long meeting." It was an apparent reference to his meeting with Netanyahu the night before. "We're going back."

State Department officials have said little about the details of the talks. It was clear from the travel schedule given to the delegation that Kerry was going to go back to Jerusalem, but State Department officials wouldn't confirm the return trip.

It, however, was one of the first things Kerry told Abbas as the two men sat down to talk.

Kerry, who is on a two-week swing through the Mideast and Asia, left Amman on Thursday evening in a convoy of nearly a dozen vehicles for the roughly 90-minute drive to Jerusalem. A Jordanian military helicopter flew over his convoy during the trip, according to a reporter who was allowed to make the trip with Kerry and his delegation.

Netanyahu was about an hour late, apparently telling Kerry that he was delayed because he had been attending a graduation ceremony for Israeli military pilots. They talked mostly one-on-one, but advisers also were present for some of the discussion, which began around 9:30 p.m. local time in a suite at a hotel in Jerusalem and ended around 1:30 a.m. Friday.

The State Department released the dinner menu ? fish ceviche and a main course of red tuna and sea bream over lentils and mushrooms ? but offered no detailed information about their talks. The State Department said only that the two had a "productive, in-depth and wide-ranging conversation" and that Kerry reiterated his commitment to working with all parties to achieve a two-state solution.

There was no readout from the Israelis.

State Department officials say Kerry will continue to try to find common ground between the two sides that would lead to a re-launching of negotiations. On this trip, Kerry is trying to pin down precisely what conditions Abbas and Netanyahu have for resuming talks and perhaps discuss confidence-building measures.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kerry-meets-palestinian-leader-102416211.html

Sandy Hurricane flight tracker Marina Krim Justin Bieber cancer Mockingbird Lane peyton manning sf giants

Just how much shale gas does the UK have?

It?s obvious that any attempt to ridicule UK estimates of shale gas resources as inconsequential is absurd, Grealy writes.

By Nick Grealy,?Guest blogger / June 29, 2013

A crew works on a drilling rig at a well site for shale based natural gas in Zelienople, Pa.

Keith Srakocic/AP/File

Enlarge

Let the original UK shale gas expert, established? August 2008, run you through some numbers. There?s an all you can eat buffet of ?expert? words special today in the restaurant of ideas.?

Skip to next paragraph Nick Grealy

is a shale gas consultant and publisher of No Hot Air, a forum on energy issues published from Britain that follows the emergence of shale gas around the world.?For more of his insights, click?here.

Recent posts

' + google_ads[0].line2 + '
' + google_ads[0].line3 + '

'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; // google_adtest = "on"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // -->

The average use of a UK gas consumer is 16,500 kWh

There are approximately 10.5 kWh in one cubic meter

The average home thus uses 1,571 cubic meters

UK gas consumption is divided into three equal parts: Electricity generation, heating and industrial use.?

Tesla's Direct-Sales Model Exhausts Auto Dealers, Prompts White House Petition

Car dealers are upset with a car manufacturer willing to do whatever it takes to sell cars. Their problem? The cars don't go through local dealerships, which in some states is against the law.

That company, a certain electric vehicle manufacturer by the name of Tesla, isn't without allies, and has been known to put up a fight.

A White House petition, voicing support for Tesla's direct-to-consumer sales, seeks an end to what it says are "state legislators ... trying to unfairly protect automobile dealers in their states from competition."

Started by "Ken," a Tesla fan, the petition supports the company's sales model, which cuts dealers entirely out of the process. According to the petition, "Tesla is providing competition, which is good for consumers." Reached for comment by CNet, Ken, who requested to remain anonymous, said he owns some stock in Tesla, but doesn't work for the company.

As of this writing, the petition had more than 35,000 signatures of the 100,000 required by July 5 to qualify for a response from the White House.

Signatures or no, with regulations in 48 states banning or restricting the direct sales of automobiles, a quick fix may be hard to come by.

According to CNBC, local auto dealers consistently are among the largest contributors to state legislators, and often generate a great deal of tax revenue. So the incentive for state-level change, at least on the legislative level, is low at best. Adds Forbes contributor Steve Blank, "In these states it appears innovation be damned if it gets in the way of a rent seeker with a good lobbyist."

Of course, car dealers have a far different perspective. Bob Glaser, president of the North Carolina Automobile Dealers Association, told The Associated Press local car dealers have a vested interest in bettering their communities, while big car manufacturers do not.

"It's a consumer protection," explained Glaser, "and why we say that is a dealer who has invested a significant amount of capital in a community is more committed to taking care of that area's customers."

As the battle between Tesla and auto dealers inevitably heats up, the question may have best been distilled by an unnamed Tesla official, who asks: "How do you sell the future if your business depends on the present?"

"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/28/tesla-direct-sales-auto-dealers-petition_n_3516836.html

Nazanin Boniadi Deval Patrick Dedication 4 labor day college football scores khan academy Espn College Football

Wall Street rallies for third day as Fed concerns fade

By Alison Griswold

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks climbed for a third straight day on Thursday after comments from several Federal Reserve officials soothed concerns that the central bank would begin to reduce its stimulus efforts in the near future.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed back above 15,000 for the first time since June 19. The Dow scored its third consecutive day of triple-digit point gains for the first time since October 4-6, 2011.

The rally helped the S&P 500 post its best three-day run since January after three Fed policymakers sought to downplay the notion that the central bank would bring an imminent end to its accomodative monetary policy, known as quantitative easing.

"I think the Fed is trying to delicately prepare the markets for an eventual ending of QE3," said David Carter, chief investment officer of Lenox Wealth Advisors in New York.

"The Fed has bent over backwards to introduce this huge program over the past few years to get the economy going. The last thing the Fed wants to do is pull the plug too fast and have the economy go down the drain."

Thursday's advance was again broad-based. Nine of the 10 S&P 500 industry sectors gained, with financials, industrials and consumer discretionary shares leading the way. Stocks also got a lift from economic data showing a decline in weekly jobless claims and improvements in consumer spending and income.

Volatility erupted in the stock market after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said last week that the central bank could begin to reduce its $85 billion in monthly bond purchases later this year and end the program altogether by mid-2014 if economic conditions improve.

On Thursday, William Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said the Fed's asset purchases would be more aggressive than the timeline Bernanke had outlined if U.S. economic growth and the labor market prove weaker than expected.

Dudley stressed that slowing the pace of the Fed's bond buying would depend not on calendar dates but on the economic outlook, which remained unclear.

While the S&P 500 remains more than 3 percent below its all-time closing high of 1,669.16 reached on May 21, it has rallied 2.6 percent over the past three sessions after numerous Fed officials have sought to calm markets roiled by expectations of tighter monetary policy.

Volume was about average as some 6.3 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges. More than 80 percent of stocks traded on the New York Stock Exchange advanced.

Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Dennis Lockhart echoed Dudley's comments, saying the pace of the Fed's purchases remained contingent on evolving economic conditions.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average <.dji> rose 114.35 points or 0.77 percent, to end at 15,024.49. The S&P 500 <.spx> gained 9.94 points or 0.62 percent, to finish at 1,613.20. The Nasdaq Composite <.ixic> added 25.64 points or 0.76 percent, to close at 3,401.86.

Hewlett-Packard was the Dow's best performer, advancing 3.2 percent to $24.77. Bank of America also ranked among the Dow's top gainers, adding 2 percent to $13.01.

A separate report showed consumer spending rose 0.3 percent last month while incomes grew 0.5 percent, the largest gain since February. Pending home sales rose 6.7 percent to their highest since December 2006.

ConAgra Foods Inc rose 5.1 percent to $35.04. The stock was the S&P 500's third-best performer after the food manufacturer reported a quarterly profit slightly above Wall Street's estimates and raised its long-term outlook.

Time Warner Cable jumped 4.4 percent to $108.22 as John Malone, chairman of Liberty Media, sounded out options for cable operator Charter Communications to acquire its larger rival, according to a Bloomberg report.

The SPDR Gold Trust ETF hit a 52-week low at $115.65 in the wake of gold's slide to its lowest level in almost three years. The price of gold dropped more than 2 percent to below $1,200 an ounce on Thursday, while the SPDR Gold Trust ETF lost 2 percent on heavy volume. With about 29 million shares traded, volume was more than double the daily average of 12.7 million over the past 50 days.

(Reporting by Alison Griswold; Editing by Kenneth Barry and Jan Paschal)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wall-street-ends-third-day-fed-angst-ebbs-200623895.html

julio jones j crew san francisco 49ers san francisco 49ers stan musial Mega 49ers

US agency sues Corzine over failure of MF Global

FILE - In this Dec. 15, 2011 file photo, former MF Global Holdings Ltd. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jon Corzine testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, before the House Financial Services Committee. Federal regulators announced Thursday, June 27, 2013, that they have accused former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine of failing to properly manage MF Global, which misused customer funds before its 2011 collapse. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 15, 2011 file photo, former MF Global Holdings Ltd. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jon Corzine testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, before the House Financial Services Committee. Federal regulators announced Thursday, June 27, 2013, that they have accused former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine of failing to properly manage MF Global, which misused customer funds before its 2011 collapse. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

(AP) ? Jon Corzine once saw a boutique brokerage called MF Global as his best hope to rescale the heights of Wall Street he'd once occupied as head of Goldman Sachs.

Now, MF Global is bankrupt. And Corzine faces a lifetime ban from the futures industry.

On Thursday, federal regulators sued Corzine, a onetime U.S. senator and governor of New Jersey. They allege that he was responsible for the misuse of customer money while CEO of MF Global, which collapsed in 2011.

A civil lawsuit filed in Manhattan by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission seeks to restrict Corzine's ability to trade investments and demands he pay unspecified penalties.

The suit charges that MF Global violated U.S. laws in the weeks before it collapsed by using customer funds to support its own trading operations. About $1.2 billion in customer money vanished when the firm collapsed.

Corzine bore responsibility for the unlawful acts by MF Global because he controlled the firm and its holdings and "either did not act in good faith or knowingly induced these violations," the lawsuit says.

In a conference call with reporters, CFTC Enforcement Director David Meister said Corzine failed to do enough to "prevent the firm from dipping into customers' funds to stay afloat."

MF Global has agreed to pay a $100 million penalty as part of a settlement announced Thursday. The money will come from bankruptcy proceedings.

Corzine has disputed the allegations by the CFTC, which regulated New York-based MF Global. He did so again Thursday through his lawyers.

"Mr. Corzine did nothing wrong, and we look forward to vindicating him in court," attorney Andy Levander said in a statement.

James Giddens, the court-appointed trustee overseeing MF Global's bankruptcy, called the settlement with the CFTC "appropriate." He said the $100 million penalty will be paid only after the firm's customers and creditors have received all their claims.

The CFTC also filed civil charges against Edith O'Brien, the firm's former assistant treasurer. Last year, O'Brien was summoned to a congressional hearing into what happened in MF Global's final days. She declined to answer questions, invoking her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Attorneys for O'Brien didn't immediately return a call seeking comment Thursday.

The lawsuit seeks to bar Corzine and O'Brien from working for any firms that trade commodities or other investments regulated by the CFTC. Corzine and O'Brien would also be barred from trading any such investments on their own. They could still trade stocks and bonds.

Thursday's lawsuit is striking in that regulators have seldom charged individuals with financial crisis-era misdeeds. They have instead imposed fines and penalties against companies, often with no one having to admit blame.

Nearly 90 percent of the money belonging to the firm's U.S. customers has been recovered. Many farmers, ranchers and business owners used futures contracts through MF Global to hedge their risks against fluctuating crop prices. A futures contract allows someone to agree with someone else to buy or sell something ? corn, say, or gold ? at a set price at some point in the future.

The CFTC need not show in court that Corzine personally authorized the use of customer money, said Anthony Sabino of the New York law firm Sabino & Sabino, which specializes in white-collar crime. Top executives can be liable for "failure to maintain internal controls" or "failure to supervise," Sabino said.

Under a 2002 anti-corporate fraud law ? which Corzine co-wrote as a U.S. senator ? CEOs of public companies must personally certify the accuracy of their company's financial statements.

"When the Titanic went down, you didn't blame the cook; you didn't blame the guy in the engine room," Sabino said. "You blamed the captain. And Corzine is the captain of the ship called MF Global."

The CFTC has "a very substantial case" against Corzine and MF Global, Sabino said.

Robert Mintz, a former federal prosecutor, predicted that Corzine and the CFTC would eventually settle but not before a drawn-out battle.

That the CFTC filed suit against such a major defendant signals confidence that they have a strong case, he suggested.

"A defeat in a case like this, in such a high-profile setting, would come at some cost to the reputation of the agency," said Mintz, now at McCarter & English in New Jersey.

It isn't clear how much money Corzine is worth. He spent roughly $100 million of his fortune to win a U.S. Senate seat and the New Jersey governorship. In 2005, the last full year that he was a U.S. senator, he was estimated to be worth between $125 million and $175 million.

MF Global sought bankruptcy protection in 2011 after a disastrous bet on European countries' debt. Under Corzine's leadership, the firm bet $6.3 billion on bonds issued by Italy, Spain and other nations with deeply troubled financial systems. Those bonds plummeted in value in the weeks before MF Global's failure as fears intensified that some European countries might default.

The firm's $41 billion bankruptcy was the eighth-largest in U.S. history. It was also the first collapse of a Wall Street firm since the 2008 financial crisis ended. Critics have long complained that regulators have failed to aggressively pursue much bigger financial firms, whose high-risk bets nearly toppled the financial system.

Corzine, 66, had been a CEO of Wall Street powerhouse Goldman Sachs before entering politics in 2000. He served as a Democratic U.S. senator from New Jersey and later governor of the state. He took the top job at MF Global in March 2010 after losing his 2009 bid for re-election as governor to Chris Christie.

MF Global was a small commodities broker when Corzine arrived. His vision was to transform the firm into a full-scale investment bank, similar to Goldman. The CFTC's lawsuit says he sought to do so by generating revenue from aggressive trading strategies.

The plan worked for a while even as the firm's investments grew increasingly risky, the lawsuit said. In the second half of 2011, its investments put heavy strains on its cash flow and capital. By October 2011, the lawsuit says, sources of cash were drying up.

Corzine and other employees communicated with one another, by email and sometimes on recorded phone lines, about the firm's "dire situation," the lawsuit says.

It says a treasurer of the firm's parent company, MF Global Holdings Ltd., told a chief financial officer and another employee in a recorded conversation on Oct. 6, 2011, that "we have to tell Jon that enough is enough. We need to take the keys away from him."

Corzine "disparagingly nicknamed the Global treasurer 'the Gravedigger,'" the lawsuit says

Corzine stepped down as MF Global chief in November 2011, a few days after the firm filed for bankruptcy protection.

Three reports on MF Global's collapse, by a House panel and two court-appointed trustees, placed most of the blame on Corzine. It said his risky strategies caused the failure.

Shareholders of MF Global have sued Corzine and other top managers. The investors say they lost about $585 million in just a week as the firm foundered. They accuse MF Global and the executives of making false and misleading statements about the firm's financial strength.

Giddens, the trustee, also joined a lawsuit filed by MF Global customers against Corzine and the other top executives.

Corzine testified at three hearings of House and Senate committees in December 2011 after lawmakers subpoenaed him. It was a rare sight in Washington: A former member of Congress being called by former colleagues to testify publicly about potential violations of law.

Corzine's testimony offered little to satisfy lawmakers or MF Global customers who lost money. Yet his explanations would be hard to disprove, legal experts said.

He said he never intended to "misuse" client money or to order anyone else to do so. Corzine also rebuffed an assertion that he knew about customer money that might have been transferred to a European affiliate just before MF Global collapsed.

O'Brien, the former assistant treasurer, was subpoenaed to testify at a hearing last year about an email she sent that appeared to contradict testimony from Corzine. The email said Corzine ordered a transfer of customer money to cover an overdraft in the firm's bank account in London.

"On the advice of counsel," she told Congress, "I respectfully decline to answer based on my constitutional right."

___

Neumeister and Rexrode contributed from New York.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-06-28-MF%20Global-Corzine%20Lawsuit/id-b7a9a60d522a4342ad5f5cadfedd0fbc

Jrue Holiday Jillian Bynes jodie sweetin OUYA Mellody Hobson Scotus Blog heidi klum

In South Africa, Obama pays tribute to ill Mandela

U.S. President Barack Obama delivers remarks and takes questions at a town hall meeting with young African leaders at the University of Johannesburg Soweto campus in South Africa, Saturday June 29, 2013.(AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

U.S. President Barack Obama delivers remarks and takes questions at a town hall meeting with young African leaders at the University of Johannesburg Soweto campus in South Africa, Saturday June 29, 2013.(AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

U.S. President Barack Obama, left, talks with South African President Jacob Zuma at the Union Building on Saturday, June 29, 2013, in Pretoria, South Africa. The visit comes at a poignant time, with former South African president and anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela ailing in a Johannesburg hospital. The White House issued a statement Saturday that President Barack Obama plans to visit privately with relatives of former South African President Nelson Mandela, but doesn't intend to see the critically ill anti-apartheid activist he has called a "personal hero." (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

U.S. President Barack Obama, center left, flanked by First Lady Michelle Obama, left, waves with South African President Jacob Zuma and his wife Tobeka Madiba-Zuma on the steps of Union Building in Pretoria, South Africa, Saturday, June 29, 2013.(AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

U.S. Secret Service agents stand guard outside the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory as U.S. President Barack Obama visits the family of the former South African president and anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela on Saturday, June 29, 2013, in Johannesburg, South Africa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

A wellwisher takes a photograph with their smartphone of a painting of President Barack Obama that sits amongst get-well messages and images of former South African President Nelson Mandela outside the Mediclinic Heart Hospital where Nelson Mandela is being treated in Pretoria, South Africa Saturday, June 29, 2013. President Barack Obama encouraged leaders in Africa and around the world Saturday to follow former South African President Nelson Mandela's example of country before self, as the U.S. president prepared to pay personal respects to relatives who have been gathered around the critically ill anti-apartheid icon. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

(AP) ? Paying tribute to his personal hero, President Barack Obama met privately Saturday with Nelson Mandela's family as the world anxiously awaited news on the condition of the ailing 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader.

Obama, who has spoken movingly about Mandela throughout his trip to Africa, praised the former South African president's "moral courage" during remarks from the grand Union Buildings where Mandela was inaugurated as his nation's first black president.

Obama also called on the continent's leaders, including in neighboring Zimbabwe, to take stock of Mandela's willingness to put country before self and step down after one term despite his immense popularity.

"We as leaders occupy these spaces temporarily and we don't get so deluded that we think the fate of our country doesn't depend on how long we stay in office," Obama said during a news conference with South African President Jacob Zuma.

Obama's stop in South Africa marked the midway point of a weeklong trip to Africa, his most significant engagement with the continent since taking office in 2009.

His lack of personal attention on the region has frustrated some Africans who had high expectations for the first black American president and son of a Kenyan man.

Even with Mandela's health casting a shadow over his visit, Obama tried to keep focus on an agenda that includes deeper U.S. economic ties with Africa. The president dismissed suggestions that he was only investing personal capital on Africa's economy now as a response to the increased focus on the continent by China, India, Brazil and others.

"I want everybody playing in Africa," Obama said. "The more, the merrier."

But the president pointedly called on Africans to make sure that countries seeking an economic foothold on the continent are making a "good deal for Africa."

"If somebody says they want to come build something here, are they hiring African workers?" Obama said. "If somebody says that they want to help you develop your natural resources, how much of the money is staying in Africa? If they say that they're very interested in a certain industry, is the manufacturing and value-added done in Africa? "

Obama did not specifically mention China, but some African leaders have criticized Beijing for such behaviors.

Obama's focus on trade and business appeared to be well received in Africa, home to six of the world's 10 fastest-growing economies. The majority of the questions he received from the South African press and later at a town hall meeting with young African leaders focused on U.S. economic interests in the region.

Between his two events, Obama spent 30 minutes meeting privately with two of Mandela's daughters and several of his grandchildren at the former leader's foundation offices in Johannesburg. He also spoke by phone with Mandela's wife, Gra?a Machel, who remained by her husband's side at the Pretoria hospital where he has battled a lung infection for three weeks.

In a statement following the call, Machel said she drew strength from the Obama and his "touch of personal warmth."

Obama, who has met Mandela in person only once before, did not visit the former leader in the hospital out of respect for his family's wishes, the White House said. Ahead of his arrival in South Africa, the president had told reporters that he did not need "a photo-op" and didn't want to be obtrusive.

Obama ascent to the White House has drawn inevitable comparisons to Mandela. Both are their nations' first black presidents, symbols of racial barrier breaking and winners of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Zuma said Obama and Mandela "both carry the dreams of millions of people in Africa and in the diaspora who were previously oppressed." Zuma said Mandela's condition remained the same as it had in recent days ? critical yet stable ? though he expressed hope that Mandela soon would leave the hospital.

Later Saturday, Obama held a town hall with young people in Soweto, an area of Johannesburg that was the center of the youth-driven movement to fight against South Africa's apartheid government. At least 176 young people were killed there 27 years ago this month during a youth protest against the white government's ban against teaching local Bantu languages. The Soweto Uprising catalyzed international support against apartheid, and June is now recognized as Youth Month in South Africa.

Outside the event, protesters under police watch demonstrated outside the university against Obama's record on surveillance and foreign policy. Protesters from a range of trade unions and civil society groups chanted, "Away with intelligence, away," holding posters depicting Obama with an Adolf Hitler moustache.

In Africa, where some governments struggle with corruption, Obama has made it a priority to promote civic activism among young people and invest in their development. He hosted young leaders from more than 40 African countries at the White House in 2010 and announced plans during the event to expand the program.

About 600 youth leaders from South Africa attended the town hall, with other young people participating via video conference from Uganda, Nigeria and Kenya, Obama's ancestral homeland.

Kenya's current political environment made it impossible for Obama to visit the country where many of his relatives live. The International Criminal Court is prosecuting Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta for crimes against humanity, including murder, deportation, rape, persecution and inhumane acts allegedly committed by his supporters in the aftermath of Kenya's 2007 elections.

"The timing was not right for me as the president of the United States to be visiting Kenya when those issues are still being worked on, and hopefully at some point resolved," said Obama, though he added that he planned to make many more trips to the East African nation.

The president planned to stop in Cape Town on Sunday and visit Robben Island, the prison where Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in jail. Obama will close his trip with a visit to Tanzania.

___

Associated Press writer Nedra Pickler and AP Video Journalist Bram Janssen contributed to this report.

___

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-06-29-Obama/id-04d328178c89424d9b459b8bc8d3e812

Bret Bielema sons of anarchy adriana lima victoria secret fashion show SEC Championship Rick Majerus Cotto vs Trout

Friday, June 28, 2013

DuPont and PMA team up to embed Powermat wireless charging in Corian countertops

DuPont and PMA team up to embed Powermat wireless charging in Corian countertops

DuPont's managed to work its way into just about every home and place of business here in the US of A, but despite this nationwide proliferation, we haven't seen the Delaware-based chemicals giant making waves in the consumer electronics space. But with home wraps, plastics and body armor on lockdown, it's as good a time as any to venture into CE. Through a partnership with the Power Matters Alliance (PMA), the company will soon begin embedding Powermat's wireless charging tech within its Corian solid surface, a synthetic granite alternative often used for countertops and installed everywhere from kitchens and meeting rooms to hospitals and research labs. As a notable first step, DuPont has joined the PMA, and could soon be playing a key role in charging up your gadgets on the go. We've seen Powermat demo its own tabletop charging concept at CES, but with DuPont now on board, it shouldn't be long before we begin to see seamless Corian installations pop up in public spaces, and perhaps even some homes.

Filed under:

Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/fAryWg5lNGA/

key largo ryan madson louisiana primary syracuse basketball chipper jones chipper jones mickael pietrus

Microsoft Turns On Its First Carrier-Billing Deal For The Windows Phone Store With Bango, In Indonesia

indonesia sceneMicrosoft, unveiling a raft of product annoucements at its Build conference this week, is also making some advances further afield. Today, Bango, the UK-based mobile payments and analytics company that works with companies like Facebook, Amazon, Blackberry and Google so that app purchases can be billed directly to users' phone bills, is announcing the first implementation of its service with Microsoft, on the Windows Phone Store. Specifically, Microsoft is turning it on in Indonesia, the largest mobile phone market in South East Asia with over 50 million users. The plan is to expand it to further markets in the near future.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/WYAWd50rKsc/

red sox white sox chuck colson ufc 145 results orrin hatch marlon byrd charles colson

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev charged in Boston Marathon bombing

FBI via Reuters file

Boston Marathon Bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, is pictured in this undated FBI handout photo.

By Pete Williams and Andrew Rafferty, NBC News

A grand jury has indicted Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on charges of using weapons of mass destruction and killing four people, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

Tsarnaev, 19, has been accused of setting off bombs near the finish line of the city's annual race on April 15 with the help of his older brother Tamerlan. The blasts killed three people, and investigators believe the brothers killed a university police officer in the days after the attack while attempting to evade capture.

The indictment alleges that the two men used improvised explosive devices, made from pressure cookers, explosive powder and shrapnel, which were ?were designed to shred skin, shatter bone, and cause extreme pain and suffering, as well as death,? according to the grand jury indictment. ??

Seventeen of the charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison or death.

The surviving Tsarnaev was arrested while hiding in a boat in the backyard of a Watertown, Mass. home.

Though the brothers have lived in in the United States for about 10 years, they hail from Dagestan, a turbulent region that has become a hotbed for Islamic extremism. In early 2012, Tamerlan Tsarnaev traveled to the region, a move that prompted Russia to alert U.S. authorities of possible terrorist activities. An FBI investigation at the time was inconclusive.

A press conference is scheduled for Thursday afternoon.

Related:

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663306/s/2de390de/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A60C270C191733120Edzhokhar0Etsarnaev0Echarged0Ein0Eboston0Emarathon0Ebombing0Dlite/story01.htm

branson mo monkees songs rail gun harrisburg top chef texas great pacific garbage patch ben affleck and jennifer garner

Gmail app for Android returns quick-access delete button following user feedback

Confused by where that delete button went when you updated to the latest version of Android's Gmail app? You weren't the only one. The delete button has now reappeared alongside the archive option for quick access, while the update also improves settings for showing both buttons, accessed through the menu icon on the far right corner. Touching sender images will now let you choose multiple emails in a thread and Google's bundled in a handful of bug fixes too, just weeks since the last refresh.

Filed under: , ,

Comments

Source: Android (Google+), Gmail (Google Play)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/28/gmail-app-for-android-returns-quick-access-delete-button-improv/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

ufc results water for elephants old school nick swisher jaco san jose sharks humber perfect game

Former senior U.S. general targeted over leak investigation: report

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Retired U.S. General James Cartwright is the target of a Justice Department investigation into the leaking of secret information about the Stuxnet virus attack on Iranian nuclear facilities in 2010, NBC News reported on Thursday, citing unidentified legal sources.

NBC said Cartwright, once the second highest ranking officer in the U.S. military, is being probed over the leaked information about the computer virus, which temporarily disabled 1,000 centrifuges used by Iran to enrich uranium, setting back its nuclear program.

The United States and Western powers believe the Iranian nuclear enrichment program is aimed at building atomic weapons, while Tehran says it is solely for civilian energy purposes.

The New York Times published a detailed account of the Stuxnet program in June last year, in which it said President Barack Obama had decided to accelerate U.S. cyber attacks, which began under former President George W. Bush.

The story was based on 18 months of interviews with "with current and former American, European and Israeli officials involved in the program, as well as a range of outside experts," the Times said in its story.

Cartwright, a four-star general who is now retired, was vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs from 2007 to 2011.

News of the leak investigation came as the United States is trying to persuade Russia to deport American Edward Snowden, a former contractor working at the National Security Agency who disclosed information to two newspapers about secret U.S. government surveillance of internet and phone traffic.

Snowden fled the United States to Hong Kong before the information was made public this month and is now believed to be in the transit area of a Moscow airport.

(Reporting by Douwe Miedema; editing by Christopher Wilson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/former-senior-u-general-targeted-over-leak-investigation-012055020.html

the secret world of arrietty cee lo allen iverson doma dwight howard wimbledon

Thursday, June 27, 2013

BlackBerry launches Secure Work Space for Android and iOS

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - R&B singer Chris Brown, on probation for beating his former girlfriend, was charged on Tuesday with a hit-and-run and driving without a valid license in connection with a May 21 traffic accident in Los Angeles. Brown, 24, allegedly rear-ended another car and faces up to six months in jail on each misdemeanor charge, L.A. City Attorney spokesman Frank Mateljan said. He will be arraigned in Los Angeles Superior Court on July 15, Mateljan said. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blackberry-launches-secure-space-android-ios-214055554.html

brody jenner brody jenner maurice sendak E3 Schedule Gamespot rafael nadal cicely tyson

nilakas8811: dreary bountiful: astigmatic precast: PPC Advertising ...

When we think about pay per click advertising for internet businesses, we just think of the advertisements appearing alongside search results. We already have this particular concept in our minds that those advertisements are just there for search engine relations reasons whenever actually, it is so much more. For a while now, pay-per-click advertising and marketing has already been one of the primary sources of traffic driven to websites. For internet companies, brand name awareness and driving traffic to their website to collect leads in addition to generate sales is a considerable factor for their success. Nevertheless, all over the Internet, we have seen that this type of advertising is actually popular not necessarily because of its ease-of-use, however also because of its success.

With regards to internet business generally speaking, having fantastic brand name awareness by using PPC advertising may mean the real difference in between success plus failing. Whenever people understand exactly what your business has to offer, they can then compare and also analyse the reason why your business may be much better than your competition.

Utilising this kind of advertising successfully will provide you with the advantage by allowing your product or service to stick out in front of a large area of the market you?re trying to attract. Even though brand name awareness is significant to the success of an online business, there happen to be several other things which should end up being considered as well.

Driving traffic to your own online business is vital if perhaps your own goal is to produce leads and sales for your product or service. Simply by collecting leads for your own product, you are giving yourself the ability to re-market to them at some point. For example when you produce a new product or even are partnering with some other related companies.

With enough leads collected, you may then begin driving sales towards your service, which obviously, should be your main goal in this matter. Pay-per-click advertising along with product fulfilment go hand in hand in the event that you truly wish to provide your clients or customers an excellent experience. Regardless of whether you need to collect leads or perhaps produce product sales for your internet business, pay per click advertising has been a established and trustworthy technique to get the job done.

Knowing the marketing uses of PPC advertising for online businesses may enable you to be able to scale up your business efficiently without the extra costs integrated onto your spending budget. Because this sort of advertising may be easy even for a beginner, having a wide range of staff running your campaigns is not required for you to observe key results.

Knowing who your target market is, exactly what they?re seeking, and taking note of their buying patterns may certainly assist you in your own pay per click campaigns because it may enable you to close out any unneeded or unrelated traffic sources from landing onto your own product page. With that said, there are usually numerous PPC networks out there which will allow you to start marketing your product currently. Research which of them match your service best and start utilizing the features they have to provide

PPC Advertising is just one way to achieve Internet visibility. Local Gold Coast businesses should in addition think about listing their website with a free Gold Coast business directory. To see more information check this out.

coded by nessus

Source: http://blogcashbiz.com/29174/ppc-advertising-is-it-for-you/

Nazanin Boniadi Deval Patrick Dedication 4 labor day college football scores khan academy Espn College Football

Source: http://astigmatic-precast.blogspot.com/2013/06/ppc-advertising-is-it-for-you-blog-cash.html

woody guthrie benson henderson 2012 dunk contest edgar vs henderson berkshire hathaway ufc 144 james jones

Source: http://dreary-bountiful.blogspot.com/2013/06/astigmatic-precast-ppc-advertising-is.html

Eddie Murphy Dead Democratic National Convention 2012 myocardial infarction What Is Labor Day jersey shore Pasquale Rotella Michael Clark Duncan

Source: http://nilakas8811.blogspot.com/2013/06/dreary-bountiful-astigmatic-precast-ppc.html

mothers day 2012 osama bin laden death spinal muscular atrophy brooklyn nets may day protests tony nominations 2012 facebook organ donor

Brazil protesters: Is common ground really necessary?

The bus fare hikes that sparked widespread Brazilian protests have been reversed, but protests continue. Can they last?

By Taylor Barnes,?Correspondent / June 26, 2013

Demonstrators march toward the Mineirao stadium where a Confederations Cup semifinal soccer match will be played between Brazil and Uruguay in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Wednesday.

Felipe Dana/AP

Enlarge

When Gilmar Lopes marched from the favela Rocinha to the Rio de Janeiro governor?s house last night with a thousand of his neighbors, his demand was a very local one: Basic sanitation in the low-income community where he lives.

Skip to next paragraph

' + google_ads[0].line2 + '
' + google_ads[0].line3 + '

'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; // google_adtest = "on"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // -->

Mr. Lopes?s call was one in a sea of diverse demands: clean up the polluted Rio beaches, improve public daycare facilities, raise teacher salaries, and stop police brutality.

In the past two weeks?Brazil has seen its biggest demonstrations in two decades, which were sparked by a rise in bus fares. Local governments quickly reversed the increases as protests gained momentum. But transportation costs were?just the final straw for many Brazilians, and the protesters? voices have since grown louder, but also more fractured.

Brazil is now facing a cacophony of disparate grievances. In order to push for more lasting changes, demonstrators face a growing and key challenge, observers say: how to keep up momentum while identifying and rallying behind a shared list of demands.

?We have to take advantage of the fact that the people are on the streets and the government is listening,? says Lopes. ?We are here to demand our rights. The bus price is just the smallest of our problems.?

'Everyone with ideas' can protest

The current demonstrations are serving as a catchall for whoever has a grievance, says David Fleischer, a professor of political science at the University of Bras?lia.

From broad issues like government corruption to very specific calls to throw out the so-called ?gay cure? legislation, which would allow medical professionals to treat homosexuality as an illness, the multitude of complaints signal that the movement is digging in for the long run. It has created a headache for President Dilma Rousseff, who has found no easy fix for the mass frustration on the streets, despite repeatedly praising the expression of democracy and offering partial solutions, such as convening a constitutional assembly to address issues weighing down the country?s political system. Talks of a nationwide general strike on July 1 are gaining force, while protests are daily shutting down streets and ending with skirmishes with police.

?If you?re going to do this, you?re going to have to let everyone with ideas come,? Mr. Fleischer says, highlighting the vital role social media has played in rallying protesters, potentially lending it some staying power.

Though Brazil has been celebrated as a success story as an emerging economy with a burgeoning middle class, the protests have shown how middle- and working-class Brazilians still feel their fortunes and quality of life have lagged. Brazil is the world?s seventh largest economy but ranks in the bottom 10 percent for income equality, according to the World Bank. Rather than enjoying the fruits of a prospering economy, many entrants to the new middle class are strapped by payments for private schools and healthcare, calling the public system unreliable.

Past Brazilian demonstrations were largely organized by political parties or groups with specific agendas, Fleischer says. In 1992, demonstrations led to the impeachment of President Fernando Collor, and the "Direitas, J?" movement helped bring an end to the 1964 to 1985 dictatorship.

The protesters today have not united against an easily identifiable figure in the same way. Fleischer contrasts that with the focus Turkish protesters have on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, saying President Rousseff has not been similarly demonized.

What protesters might lack in unity of ideas or figures to detest is made up for by the extra attention Brazil has received during the Confederations Cup, Fleischer says. Demonstrators have been offered a global platform in the media.

?In large part, [the demonstrators] are carpe diem ? they are seizing the moment. And it is a very appropriate moment to seize,? he says. Fleischer questions whether momentum could die down after the soccer tournament concludes at the end of the month, but predicts similar uprisings could take place during next year?s World Cup when the media returns.

'Battle for rights'

Tadeu Lemos, a student leader with the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro who helped organize the first demonstrations against the increase in the bus fare, says transportation activists welcome the broadening of the movement.

?From the beginning we?ve been saying that this is not a battle for 10 cents [fare increase] ? this is a battle for rights,? says Mr. Lemos, who participated in a public forum last night to define the movement?s demands.

Those include free public transportation, reversing the privatization of the Rio de Janeiro Maracan? soccer stadium, and protesting recent police violence, focusing on a confrontation Monday in a Rio favela that left nine dead, including a police officer.

?It?s not a problem that we have diverse causes,? Lemos argues. ?This just shows the will of the people to demonstrate.?

And there have already been small victories, in addition to lowering bus fares. The protests drove the Brazilian congress to vote early and reject a proposed constitutional amendment that would limit the ability to investigate corruption of elected officials. Legislators cited the clamor in the streets for moving quickly.

Inclusivity, but...

Though there is a push for inclusivity, there is a concern among the core demonstration leaders that groups with right-leaning or partisan views are taking advantage of largely anticorruption, pro-social inclusion protests.

In S?o Paulo, where the ?Free Pass? movement that organized the first of the country?s largest demonstrations is located, transportation activists have complained that causes they do not stand by have cropped up at the protests. ?In recent demonstrations we could see people asking to lower the age to be tried as an adult and other issues that we consider conservative. We do not endorse these demands,? Douglas Belome, a S?o Paulo Free Pass activist, told the local press.

Lenita Adriano, a public servant, came to a protest last week in Rio to call for an end to government corruption and what she sees as too populist an administration.

?People ? vote for the wrong people,? Ms. Adriano says. ?People sell themselves for the bolsa fam?lia,? she says, referring to the conditional cash transfer program that gives small stipends to low-income mothers for keeping their children in school and taking them for routine doctor check-ups. The program has often been a sticking point for middle-class Brazilians who feel overtaxed.

'One thing' led to many

As demonstrations continue into a second week, there are signs that the very local nature of complaints could be what is providing the staying power these demonstrations may need to continue. When asked what brought her to the streets with protesting favela residents in Rio yesterday, saleswoman Suzana Oliveira replies, ?everything.?

She and neighbors protesting with her tick off a list of issues, including a proposed cablecar in their community, which residents say is a waste of money when doctors are still hard to find in neighborhood clinics. There are overcrowded schools with underpaid teachers, and the city government restricts the use of transit vans, which are adept at snaking through the narrow streets of favelas, they say.

?One thing brought on another,? Ms. Oliveira says of the beginning of the protests, the first one organized in her favela and that she participated in.

?We needed something unified to bring us out to protest the [other] things which we saw as broken.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/gppS63aQUjQ/Brazil-protesters-Is-common-ground-really-necessary

joe johnson scientology Wimbledon 2012 TV Schedule fourth of july IFE Fireworks 2012 4th Of July independence day

'Active surveillance' may miss aggressive prostate cancers in black men

June 25, 2013 ? A Johns Hopkins study of more than 1,800 men ages 52 to 62 suggests that African-Americans diagnosed with very-low-risk prostate cancers are much more likely than white men to actually have aggressive disease that goes unrecognized with current diagnostic approaches. Although prior studies have found it safe to delay treatment and monitor some presumably slow-growing or low-risk prostate cancers, such "active surveillance" (AS) does not appear to be a good idea for black men, the study concludes.

"This study offers the most conclusive evidence to date that broad application of active surveillance recommendations may not be suitable for African-Americans," says urologist Edward M. Schaeffer, M.D., Ph.D., a co-author of the study. "This is critical information because if African-American men do have more aggressive cancers, as statistics would suggest, then simply monitoring even small cancers that are very low risk would not be a good idea because aggressive cancers are less likely to be cured," he says. "We think we are following a small, nonaggressive cancer, but in reality, this study highlights that in black men, these tumors are sometimes more aggressive than previously thought. It turns out that black men have a much higher chance of having a more aggressive tumor developing in a location that is not easily sampled by a standard prostate biopsy."

A report of the study, posted online and ahead of the print version in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, describes it as the largest analysis of potential race-based health disparities among men diagnosed with a slow-growing, very nonaggressive form of prostate cancer.

The Johns Hopkins study also showed that the rate of increased pathologic risk, as measured by the Cancer of the Prostate Risk Assessment (CAPRA), was also significantly higher in African-Americans (14.8 percent vs. 6.9 percent). The 12-point CAPRA score is an accepted predictor of biochemical disease recurrence based on blood levels of prostate specific antigen, Gleason score, lymph node involvement, extracapsular extension, seminal vesicle invasion, and positive surgical margins. Schaeffer and his team say their data suggest that "very-low-risk" African-Americans have different regional distributions of their cancers and appear to also develop more high-grade cancers. Researchers added that these tumors hide in the anterior prostate -- a region that is quite difficult to assess using current biopsy techniques.

All study participants, of whom 1,473 were white and 256 black, met current National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) criteria for very-low-risk prostate cancer, and were thus good candidates for AS. The study showed that preoperative characteristics were similar for very-low-risk whites and blacks, although black men had slightly worse Charlson comorbidity index scores, a commonly used scale for assessing life expectancy. Detailed analysis showed that black men had a lower rate of organ-confined cancers (87.9 percent vs. 91.0 percent), a higher rate of Gleason score upgrading (27.3 percent vs. 14.4 percent) and a significantly higher hazard of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) defined biochemical recurrence (BCR) of prostate cancer. The latter measure is widely used for reporting the outcome of surgical prostate removal.

According to Schaeffer, the median age of men in his study was 58, younger than the median ages (62 to 70) of most men in AS groups. And he cautioned that the age difference is a potential "confounder" of his results, highlighting the need for more studies to gauge the safety of AS.

Schaeffer, associate professor of urology, oncology and pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and director of global urologic services for Johns Hopkins Medicine International and co-director of the Prostate Cancer Multi-Disciplinary Clinic at The Johns Hopkins Hospital's James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute, emphasizes that "the criteria physicians use to define very-low-risk prostate cancer works well in whites -- this makes sense, since the studies used to validate the commonly used risk classification systems are largely based on white men." But, he adds, "Among the vast majority of African-American males with very-low-risk cancer who underwent surgical removal of the prostate, we discovered that they face an entirely different set of risks."

"Alternate race-specific surveillance entry criteria should be developed and utilized for African-American men to ensure oncologic parity with their white counterparts. Our research team, in collaboration with the internationally recognized Hopkins pathologist Dr. Jonathan Epstein, is currently developing new race-based risk tables that begin to solve this key issue," adds Schaeffer.

All of the men whose records were analyzed for the current study were selected from a group of 19,142 who had surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital between 1992 and 2012 to remove the prostate gland and some of the tissue around it.

Previous published research, Schaeffer says, revealed significant racial disparities in prostate cancer, with African-Americans having a much higher incidence of death from the disease than Caucasian men. According to the National Cancer Institute, black men have considerably higher incidence rates (236 cases per 100,000 from 2005 to 2009) than white men (146.9 cases per 100,000 per 2005 to 2009). The reasons for this are unclear.

"In the laboratory, we are developing new strategies to more accurately risk-classify African-Americans with newly diagnosed prostate cancer, in order to determine whether a patient should undergo active surveillance or have immediate treatment," says Schaeffer. "And we are beginning to work out the science behind why prostate cancers have a tendency to hide out in the anterior prostate, specifically in African-Americans."

Schaeffer says the main limitation to their study is that it is a retrospective analysis of the experience of a single academic medical center. "The results of our study do not support the universal rejection of AS in black men, but, rather, should promote future studies to address whether alternate race-specific surveillance entry criteria should be used for African-American men to ensure oncologic parity with their white counterparts," adds Schaeffer.

The study was financially supported by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases training Grant No. T32DK007552, the American Urological Association Foundation's Astellas Rising Star Award, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Physician-Scientist Early Career Award.

Besides Schaeffer, other Johns Hopkins investigators involved in this study were lead investigator Debasish Sundi, M.D.; Ashley E. Ross , M.D., Ph.D.; Elizabeth B. Humphreys, M.D.; Misop Han, M.D.; Alan W. Partin, M.D., Ph.D.; and H. Ballantine Carter, M.D.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/Pn9kidrA6yA/130625150745.htm

Krystle Campbell Pressure Cooker MIT Shooting NFL schedule 2013 Boston Explosion West Texas American Airlines

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Violence kills 27 in minority region of west China

BEIJING (AP) ? Knife-wielding assailants attacked police and other people at a remote town in China's restive far western region early Wednesday in violence that killed 27 people, one of the bloodiest incidents since unrest in the regional capital killed nearly 200 in 2009.

The early-morning violence ? described by state media as riots ? also left at least three people injured in the Turkic-speaking Xinjiang (shihn-jahng) region, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Police stations, a government building and a construction site were targeted in the attacks, the report said.

Xinhua said 17 people were killed, including nine policemen, before police shot and killed 10 of the assailants in Lukqun, a township in Turpan prefecture. The agency cited officials with the region's Communist Party committee.

Xinjiang is home to a large population of minority Muslim Uighurs (WEE'-gurs) but is ruled by China's Han ethnic majority. The region borders Central Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan and has been the scene of numerous violent incidents in recent years, including the ethnic riots four years ago in Urumqi, the regional capital.

Xinhua did not provide details about the cause of the unrest and it was impossible to independently confirm the report. Information is tightly controlled in the region, which the Chinese government regards as highly sensitive and where it has imposed a heavy security presence to quell unrest. However, forces are spread thin across the vast territory and the response from authorities is often slow.

An official reached by phone at the press office of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau, the region's police, said she had only seen news of the violence on the Internet and had no information. Other officials at the county's propaganda department and police said they also had no details. Calls to the region's government spokeswoman, Hou Hanmin, rang unanswered.

Though it remained unclear what caused Wednesday's violence, police stations, government offices and other symbols of Han Chinese authority have been targets of attacks in the past. The attack occurred at 6 a.m. local time, when most residents would still be asleep.

The report said three assailants were seized, and that police pursued fleeing suspects, though it did not say how many. It said three people were injured by the unrest and were being treated.

An overseas Uighur activist said the conflict was triggered by the Chinese government's "sustained repression and provocation" of the Uighur community. Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the Germany-based World Uyghur Congress, urged the international community to pressure China to "stop imposing policies in Xinjiang that cause turmoil."

China often accuses overseas Uighur activists of orchestrating violent incidents and obscure militant groups sometimes take responsibility, with little or no evidence to prove claims on either side.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/violence-kills-27-minority-region-west-china-073509508.html

taylor swift and zac efron basketball wives manny ramirez easter 2012 jeremy lin espn sassafras mardi gras 2012