Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/rss/top_news/top_science.xml
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Thursday, February 28, 2013
ScienceDaily: Top Science News
China claims its defense sites face constant US hacking attacks
China is routinely accused of launching concerted hacking campaigns against the US, many of them reportedly tied directly to the army's Unit 61398 in Shanghai. If you believe the Ministry of Defense's spokesman Geng Yansheng, however, just the opposite is true. Along with claiming that China would never hurt (or rather, hack) a fly, he asserts that the Ministry and China Military Online sites faced an average of 144,000 hacking attempts per month from foreign sources in 2012, 62.9 percent of which allegedly came from the US. The Ministry's man stops short of leveling cyberwarfare charges, although he notes the US' recent plans to expand and formally define its cyberwar strategy. There's some 'splainin to do, he argues. While there isn't a formal US response, we suspect that neither side is an innocent dove here -- China is just the most recent to cry foul.
Filed under: Internet
Via: Reuters
Source: Ministry of National Defense (translated)
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/7XMCUu9HWOU/
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Time to step in? U.S. weighs direct aid to Syrian rebels
PARIS (AP) ? The Obama administration, in coordination with some European allies, is for the first time considering supplying direct assistance to elements of the Free Syrian Army as they seek to ramp up pressure on Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down and end nearly two years of brutal and increasingly deadly violence.
Officials in the United States and Europe said Tuesday the administration is nearing a decision on whether to provide non-lethal assistance to carefully vetted fighters opposed to the Assad regime in addition to what it is already supplying to the political opposition. A decision is expected by Thursday when U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will attend an international conference on Syria in Rome that leaders of the opposition Syrian National Coalition have been persuaded to attend, the officials said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the shift in strategy has not yet been finalized and still needs to be coordinated with European nations, notably Britain. They are eager to vastly increase the size and scope of assistance for Assad's foes.
Kerry, who was a cautious proponent of supplying arms to the rebels while he was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has been consulting with European leaders on how to step up pressure on Assad to leave power. The effort has been as a major focus of his first official trip abroad as America's top diplomat. On the first two stops on his hectic nine-nation tour of Europe and the Middle East, in London and Berlin, he has sought to assure the Syrian opposition that more help is on the way.
In London on Monday, he made a public appeal to opposition coalition leader Mouaz al-Khatib not to boycott the Rome meeting as had been threatened and to attend the conference despite concerns among Assad foes that international community is not doing enough. Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden made private telephone calls to al-Khatib to make the same case.
"We are determined that the Syrian opposition is not going to be dangling in the wind, wondering where the support is, if it is coming," Kerry told reporters after meeting British Prime Minister David Cameron and Foreign Secretary William Hague.
Hague said that the deteriorating conditions in Syria, especially recent scud missile attacks on the city of Aleppo, were unacceptable and that the West's current position could not be sustained while an "appalling injustice" is being done to Syrian citizens.
"In the face of such murder and threat of instability, our policy cannot stay static as the weeks go by," Hague told reporters, standing beside Kerry. "We must significantly increase support for the Syrian opposition. We are preparing to do just that."
The officials in Washington and European capitals said the British are pushing proposals to provide military training, body armor and other technical support to members of the Free Syrian Army who have been determined not to have links to extremists. The officials said, however, that the U.S. was not yet ready to consider such action although Washington would not object if the Europeans moved ahead with the plans.
The Obama administration has been deeply concerned about military equipment falling into the hands of radical Islamists who have become a significant factor in the Syrian conflict and could then use that materiel for terrorist attacks or strikes on Israel.
The Italian government, which is hosting Thursday's conference, said on Monday that the Europeans would use the meeting "to urge the United States' greater flexibility on measures in favor of the opposition to the Assad regime."
"They will be asking, in particular, that 'non-lethal' aid be extended to include technical assistance and training so as to consolidate the coalition's efforts in the light of what emerged at the latest meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council," the foreign ministry said in a statement. In a recent meeting, European Union foreign ministers agreed that support to the rebels needed to be boosted.
Officials in Washington said the United States was leaning toward providing tens of millions of dollars more in non-lethal assistance to the opposition, including vetted members of the Free Syrian Army who had not been receiving direct U.S. assistance. So far, assistance has been limited to funding for communications and other logistical equipment, a formalized liaison office and an invitation to al-Khatib to visit the United States in the coming weeks.
The officials stressed, however, that the administration did not envision American military training for the rebels nor U.S. provision of combat items such as body armor that the British are advocating.
The officials said the U.S. is also looking at stepping up its civilian technical assistance devoted to rule of law, civil society and good governance, in order to prepare an eventual transition government to run the country once Assad leaves.
In Europe, meanwhile, Kerry on Tuesday visited Berlin where he met his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, for the first time in his new post, spending more than an hour discussing the Syria conflict. Russia has been a strong supporter of Assad and has, along with China, repeatedly blocked efforts at the United Nations to impose global sanctions against the regime unless it stops the violence that has killed nearly 70,000 people.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the two met for an hour and 45 minutes, spending more than half that time on Syria in what she called a "really serious and hardworking session."
Kerry and Lavrov discussed how they could implement the so-called Geneva Agreement, which is designed to get the Syrian government and rebels to plan a transitional government for the time after Assad leaves office, Nuland said.
Lavrov told Russian news agencies that his talks with Kerry were "quite constructive." On Syria, he said the two reaffirmed their "intention to do all Russia and the U.S. can do. It's not that everything depends on us, but we shall do all we can to create conditions for the soonest start of a dialogue between the government and the opposition."
Syria's foreign minister was in Moscow on Monday and while there expressed a willingness to meet with opposition leaders.
The Syrian National Coalition is skeptical about outside help from the West and threatened to boycott the Rome meeting until a series of phone calls and meetings between Kerry and his ambassadors and Syrian opposition leaders repaired the schism. The council now says it will attend the meeting, but is hoping for more concrete offers of help, including military assistance.
___
Klapper contributed to this report from Washington.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-sources-us-weighs-direct-aid-syrian-rebels-014311467--politics.html
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Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Arkansas lawmakers override governor's veto of abortion bill
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) ? The Arkansas House voted 53-28 Tuesday to override Gov. Mike Beebe's veto of a bill that would outlaw most abortions starting in the 20th week of pregnancy, hours after a state Senate committee approved a package of even tighter abortion restrictions.
The Republican-controlled state Senate, which overwhelmingly backed the 20-week near-ban on abortions before Beebe vetoed it, was expected to discuss whether to vote to override the veto Thursday. Like the GOP-led House, only a simple majority in the Senate is needed to override a veto.
The House-sponsored measure is based on the disputed argument that a fetus can feel pain by the 20th month of pregnancy, and thus deserves protection from abortion. Beebe vetoed the bill Tuesday, saying it contradicts the U.S. Supreme Court's 1976 Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion until a fetus can viably survive outside of the womb, which is typically at 22 to 24 weeks.
"This is not just any regular bill. It's one that has an eternal impact on each of us and to those children," Republican Rep. Andy Mayberry told House members as he urged them to override.
Prior to the House vote, the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee voted 5-2 to advance a bill that would ban most abortions starting in the 12th week of pregnancy, sending it to the full Senate. The Senate passed an earlier version of the bill that would have outlawed abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, but amended it to push back the restriction and to add more exemptions.
22 to 24 weeksBeebe declined to say Wednesday whether he would also veto the Senate's proposed 12-week ban, but he said he thinks it's on even shakier legal ground than the House's 20-week version.
"I'm pretty sure I know what I'm going to do on a bill that's even more problematic than the one I already vetoed, but I won't tell you officially until that time," Beebe said Tuesday.
GOP Sen. Jason Rapert said he hopes Beebe lets it stand but said he was confident the 12-week ban would have enough support to override a veto.
"The governor has his own conscience," Rapert, R-Conway, told reporters. "I think probably the best route would be that he just simply not sign the bill and let it become law, if that's what he decides to do. If he doesn't, then we'll override the veto and it'll become law in the state of Arkansas."
___
Associated Press writer Michael Stratford contributed to this report.
___
Andrew DeMillo can be reached at www.twitter.com/ademillo
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ark-house-overrides-veto-abortion-restrictions-214013377--politics.html
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Italy faces post-vote stalemate, spooking investors
ROME (Reuters) - The Italian stock market fell and state borrowing costs rose on Tuesday as investors took fright at political deadlock after a stunning election that saw a protest party lead the poll and no group had a clear majority in parliament.
"The winner is: Ingovernability" ran the headline in Rome newspaper Il Messaggero, reflecting the stalemate the country would have to confront in the next few weeks as sworn enemies would be forced to work together to form a government.
In a sign of where that might lead, former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi indicated his center-right might be open to a grand coalition with the center-left bloc of Pier Luigi Bersani, which will have a majority in the lower house thanks to a premium of seats given to the largest bloc in the chamber.
Results in the upper house, the Senate, where seats are awarded on a region-by-region basis, indicated the center-left would end up with about 119 seats, compared with 117 for the center-right. But 158 are needed for a majority to govern.
Any coalition government that may be formed must have a working majority in both houses in order to pass legislation.
World financial markets reacted nervously to the prospect of a stalemate in the euro zone's third-largest economy with memories still fresh of the crisis that took the 17-member currency bloc to the brink of collapse in 2011.
The Milan bourse was down more than four percent at its opening and the spread between yields on 10-year Italian and German government bonds widened to 338.7 basis points, the highest since December 10. An ally of conservative German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Italy to stick with reforms pursued by the outgoing technocratic emergency government of Mario Monti.
However, the poor showing by Prime Minister Monti's centrist bloc reflected a weariness with austerity that was exploited by both Berlusconi and comic Beppe Grillo; his anti-establishment 5-Star Movement won more votes than any other single party, taking 25 percent nationally. Bersani's allies helped his center-left bloc win the lower house by just 125,000 votes.
Berlusconi, a media magnate whose campaigning all but eroded Bersani's once commanding lead, said he was not worried about market reaction and played down the significance of the spread.
In a telephone call to a morning television show, he said: "Italy must be governed." He ruled out a deal with Monti but said he "must reflect" on a possible deal with the center left: "Every (political side) must be prepared to make sacrifices."
The euro skidded to an almost seven-week low against the dollar in Asia on fears about the euro zone's debt crisis. It fell as far as $1.3042, its lowest since January 10.
Another indication of investors' reaction to the results will come later on Tuesday when the Treasury auctions 8.75 billion euros in 6-month bonds.
Bersani claimed victory in the lower house and said it was obvious that Italy was in "a very delicate situation".
Grillo, however, showed no immediate willingness to negotiate. Commentators said all his adversaries underestimated the appeal of a grassroots movement that called itself a "non-party", particularly its allure among young Italians who find themselves without jobs and the prospect of a decent future.
"NON-PARTY" SURGES TO THE TOP
The 5-star Movement's score of 25.5 percent in the lower house was just ahead of the 25.4 percent for Bersani's Democratic Party, which ran in a coalition with the leftist SEL party, and it won almost 8.7 million votes overall - more than any other single party.
"The 'non-party' has become the largest party in the country," said Massimo Giannini, commentator for the Rome newspaper La Repubblica about Grillo, who mixes fierce attacks on corruption with policies ranging from clean energy to free Internet.
Grillo's surge in the final weeks of the campaign threw the race open, with hundreds of thousands turning up at his rallies to hear him lay into targets ranging from corrupt politicians and bankers to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
In just three years, his 5-Star Movement, heavily backed by a frustrated generation of young Italians increasingly shut out from permanent full-time jobs, has grown from a marginal group to one of the most talked about political forces in Europe.
RECESSION
"It's a classic result. Typically Italian," said Roberta Federica, a 36-year-old office worker in Rome. "It means the country is not united. It is an expression of a country that does not work. I knew this would happen."
Italy's borrowing costs have come down in recent months, helped by the promise of European Central Bank support but the election result confirmed fears of many European countries that it would not produce a government strong enough to implement effective reforms.
A long recession and growing disillusionment with mainstream parties fed a bitter public mood that saw more than half of Italian voters back parties that rejected the austerity policies pursued by Monti with the backing of Italy's European partners.
Monti suffered a major setback. His centrist grouping won only 10.6 percent and two of his key centrist allies, Pier Ferdinando Casini and lower house speaker Gianfranco Fini, both of parliamentarians for decades, were booted out.
"It's not that surprising if you consider how much people were let down by politics in its traditional forms," Monti said.
Berlusconi's campaign, mixing sweeping tax cut pledges with relentless attacks on Monti and Merkel, echoed many of the themes pushed by Grillo and underlined the increasingly angry mood of the Italian electorate.
Stefano Zamagni, an economics professor at Bologna University said the result showed that a significant share of Italians "are fed up with following the austerity line of Germany and its northern allies".
"These people voted to stick one up to Merkel and austerity," he said.
Even if the next government turns away from the tax hikes and spending cuts brought in by Monti, it will struggle to revive an economy that has scarcely grown in two decades.
Monti was widely credited with tightening Italy's public finances and restoring its international credibility after the scandal-plagued Berlusconi, whom he replaced as the 2011 financial crisis threatened to spin out of control.
But he struggled to pass the kind of structural reforms needed to improve competitiveness and lay the foundations for a return to economic growth, and a weak center-left government may not find it any easier.
(Additional reporting by Barry Moody, Gavin Jones, Catherine Hornby, Lisa Jucca, Steven Jewkes, Steve Scherer and Naomi O'Leary; Writing by Philip Pullella and James Mackenzie; Editing by Pravin Char and Alastair Macdonald)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/huge-protest-vote-leaves-italy-facing-deadlock-005214049.html
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With The Open, ZTE Aims To Get The Young And Adventurous Fired Up For Firefox OS
ZTE's press conference yesterday didn?t really reveal anything we didn't already know, but it at least gave us the opportunity to play with the Chinese OEM's first Firefox OS-powered smartphone. The cost-conscious Open is apparently meant for "young people who are adventurers and want to try something new" (according to He Shiyou, head of ZTE's Mobile Devices Division anyway), but how is it?Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/8CiW5l6tJ_I/
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Libertarian paternalism and school lunches: Guiding healthier behavior while preserving choices
Feb. 26, 2013 ? The term 'libertarian paternalism' is a peculiar phrase because it invokes feelings about two seemingly contradictory philosophies. Yet, as a principle of the behavioral sciences, this phrase actually implies gentle guidance, without force.
Recently, the USDA passed regulations designed to make school lunches more nutritious. Schools participating in the National School Lunch Program are required to increase whole grain offerings, cap the fat of milk at 1% for white and non-fat for flavored, and ensure that students take either a fruit or a vegetable with their purchased lunch. Unfortunately, forcing behavior jeopardizes the potential to accomplish the most important goal of improving children's diets. After all, it's not nutrition until it's eaten!
Staying true to the meaning of libertarian paternalism, Cornell University researchers Andrew Hanks, David Just and Brian Wansink conducted a field study in two of high school cafeterias to test whether low- and no-cost environmental changes could lead children to take and eat healthier foods. Under the name, "Smarter Lunchrooms Makeover," they tested multiple small changes such as making fruits and vegetables more attractive, convenient, and normative, all simple applications of libertarian paternalism.
Make the Fruit More Visible
After the "makeover" was implemented, students were 13% more likely to take fruits and 23% more likely to take vegetables. These are very encouraging results, but selection is only half of the battle!
To check the consumption of the fruits and vegetables selected, Hanks, Just and Wansink recorded whether food items were completely eaten, half eaten or not eaten at all. They found that students not only took more fruits and vegetables, but actual consumption increased by 18% for fruits and by 25% for vegetables. They also found that after the makeover the percentage of kids eating a whole serving of fruit increased by 16% and by 10% for vegetables.
These small changes, based on the principle of libertarian paternalism, cost three hours of time and less than $50 to implement. Evidence from the results demonstrates that this "makeover" not only preserves choice but also can 'nudge' children toward healthier behaviors that they can carry with them into adulthood, contributing to the fight against current childhood obesity trends!
Furthermore, these simple changes could also be effective in the cafeterias of other organizations, including hospitals, companies, and retirement homes, as well as within the walls of your very own home.
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Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Cornell Food & Brand Lab. The original article was written by Joanna Ladzinski and Andrew Hanks.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Andrew S. Hanks, David R. Just, Brian Wansink. Smarter Lunchrooms Can Address New School Lunchroom Guidelines and Childhood Obesity. The Journal of Pediatrics, 2013; DOI: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2012.12.031
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
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Tuesday, February 26, 2013
TransUnion: Late auto-loan payments rose in 4Q
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? More Americans fell behind on their auto loan payments in the last three months of 2012, a time of the year when some borrowers' financial obligations temporarily take a backseat to spending on holiday shopping.
Beyond the seasonal increase, the late-payment rate on auto loans declined on an annual basis and remained near the lowest point in more than a decade, credit reporting agency TransUnion said Tuesday.
The trend comes amid a strong market for cars and trucks. Many Americans are moving to replace older vehicles after holding back on purchases for several years following the last recession.
U.S. auto sales grew 13.4 percent last year to 14.5 million and are projected to climb up to 15.5 million this year.
The combination of strong auto sales and low interest rates has fueled a rise auto financing. As more borrowers have taken on auto loans, the ratio of those who have failed to make timely payments has diminished.
In addition, most borrowers continue to make paying their auto loans a priority, a trend that grew more pronounced in the aftermath of the housing collapse and recession.
"Consumers are valuing their auto-related loans a little more ahead of other things when they do get a little bit stretched in their budgets," said Peter Turek, automotive vice president in TransUnion's financial services business unit.
The rate of auto loans with payments late by 60 days or more was 0.41 percent in the last three months of 2012. That's up from 0.38 percent in the previous quarter, but down from 0.46 percent a year earlier, TransUnion said.
Turek noted that the company always sees a slight uptick in the auto loan delinquency rate during the fourth quarter. The financial pressures of holiday shopping can lead some borrowers to delay or skip a loan payment ? a dynamic that also leads to higher late-payment rates for credit cards and home loans.
Even so, the fourth quarter's late-payment rate remained near the lowest rate on TransUnion's records going back to 1999. That record-low rate, 0.33 percent, was recorded in the second quarter of last year.
The national late-payment rate on auto loans peaked in the first three months of 2000 at 2.39 percent, the firm said.
All told, the auto-loan delinquency rate has fallen on an annual basis for 13 consecutive quarters.
The trend has held up even as Americans have been taking on higher levels of auto-loan debt.
In the fourth quarter, bank auto debt per borrower increased for the seventh consecutive quarter, rising 5.4 percent to $13,747 from $13,045 a year earlier, TransUnion said.
One reason for that is that banks are making more auto loans, which tend to have higher balances early on, as it typically takes several years for borrowers to pay them down.
TransUnion's analysis of data on new auto loans lags by a quarter, so the most recent figures are for the third quarter. In that period, new auto loans and leases grew nearly 16 percent from the same quarter in 2011.
The rise in auto sales also has spurred banks to step up lending to borrowers with less-than-stellar credit.
Some 32.4 percent of new auto loans issued in the July-September period were made to nonprime borrowers, up from 30.6 percent a year earlier. Non-prime borrowers are defined as those with a score between 501 and 700 on the VantageScore credit scale, which runs between 501 and 990, with borrowers scoring at 900 or above being considered prime borrowers, or the safest credit bet.
The average balance of new auto loans also increased on an annual basis in the third quarter, rising about 1.7 percent to $18,326, the firm said.
"We've been observing an increase in sub-prime borrowers in the auto loan space now for several quarters and we do expect this will eventually push the overall delinquency numbers higher," Turek said.
Given the rise in auto loans going to higher-risk borrowers, Turek said he expects that the trend will eventually drive the overall late-payment rate for auto loans higher. But he anticipates that the delinquency rate will remain about the same in 2013's first quarter, possibly even dropping slightly.
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Hackers target visitors to NBC's site
NBC.com has been found to harbor the RedKit browser exploit kit, which can deliver malware to vulnerable computers.?
Jane Krakowski and Jimmy Fallon in a Late Night with Jimmy Fallon show.
Virginia Sherwood/NBCU Photo Bank/AP
EnlargeThe main website for the NBC television network, NBC.com, was found yesterday to have been hacked so that it infected unsuspecting visitors.
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Specifically, it harbored the RedKit browser exploit kit, which triggers?drive-by downloads?of malware onto vulnerable computers.
The hack was one of a trio of security breaches yesterday, as the Aspen Institute think tank and the customer-support specialist Zendesk disclosed hacker intrusions into their networks.
NBC's problems arose when the head of Dutch security firm Fox-IT?tweeted his observations?about NBC.com, followed quickly by a posting on the?HitmanPro blog?run by the Dutch anti-virus firm SurfRight.
"There were two exploit links on the NBC website. The first one was on the main default (entry) page. And the second one was located on hxxp://www.nbc.com/assets/core/js/s_wrapper.js," said the HitmanPro blog. "It serves both Java (CVE-2013-0422) and PDF exploits. The exploit drops the Citadel Trojan, which is used for banking fraud and cyberespionage."
The?Java exploit?referred to, which affects Macs, Windows PCs and Linux boxes alike, was responsible for the recently announced hacks into Apple's, Facebook's and Twitter's employee networks.
[Why and How to Disable Java on Your Computer]
The HitmanPro posting noted that RedKit was also installing the ZeroAccess malware, which "moderates an affected user's Internet experience by modifying search results, and generates pay-per-click advertising revenue for its controllers," as well an unknown form of malware.
Stand-alone NBC TV network sites, such as those for "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" and one featuring "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno's collection of vintage cars, were also said to be compromised.
An NBC spokeswoman?confirmed the hacks to Bloomberg News. All the affected sites were cleaned and back up Friday morning.
(The NBCNews.com website, with which TechNewsDaily has a professional relationship, was not affected.)
Copyright 2013?TechNewsDaily, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/C_kLgwhVtAw/Hackers-target-visitors-to-NBC-s-site
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Monday, February 25, 2013
Poet jailed for life in Qatar insult trial has term cut to 15 years
DOHA (Reuters) - A Qatari poet jailed for life for criticizing the emir and attempting to incite revolt had his sentence cut to 15 years on Monday, in a case human rights groups said showed hypocrisy by the Gulf state, which has supported Arab uprisings abroad.
In his verses, Muhammad Ibn al-Dheeb al-Ajami praised the Arab Spring revolts that toppled four dictators, often with the help of money and other support from Qatar, a close U.S. ally which also backs rebels in Syria.
But the poet also criticized Qatar's absolute monarch and spoke, for example, of "sheikhs playing on their PlayStations".
He was sentenced to life in prison three months ago, but he appealed against the conviction and sentence, arguing he should be freed as there was no evidence that he had recited the offending verses in public and so no basis for charging him with incitement.
His term was reduced on Monday to 15 years. Al-Ajami shouted "There is no law for this" as he was led away by guards from Qatar's court of appeal.
Defense lawyer Najib al-Naimi said the poet would now appeal to the supreme court, describing the unanimous decision by the three-judge appeal court as a miscarriage of justice.
"There is politics behind this. They are trying to demonstrate to the Qatari citizens that if anyone opens his mouth, they will have the same treatment ... to set an example."
Among offending passages from one of al-Ajami's poems, translated from Arabic, was the line: "If the sheikhs cannot carry out justice, we should change the power and give it to the beautiful woman."
Qatar, a major natural gas producer and home to a U.S. military base, has escaped the unrest seen in other Arab countries. The emir has taken a high-profile role at times in calling for human rights - for example, when he went to Gaza in November, the first foreign leader there in years.
BACKING REBELS
Qatar-based Al Jazeera television has closely covered the Arab revolts, though it gave scant coverage to an uprising in neighboring Bahrain - ruled by another Gulf Arab monarchy.
The Qatari government has also taken a prominent role in the confrontation between, on the one hand, Sunni Muslim-ruled Arab states like itself and Saudi Arabia and, on the other, Iran and its Shi'ite allies in Syria, Lebanon and elsewhere.
Qatar supported the street protests that ousted rulers in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen. It also supported the NATO-backed uprising in Libya and is backing the rebels battling President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's civil war.
But freedom of expression is tightly controlled in the small Gulf state, home to less than two million people. Self-censorship is prevalent among national newspapers and other media outlets. Qatar has no organized political opposition.
When al-Ajami was given life, Amnesty International's Middle East director Philip Luther said: "It is deplorable that Qatar, which likes to paint itself internationally as a country that promotes freedom of expression, is indulging in what appears to be such a flagrant abuse of that right."
The United Nations has also said it is concerned about al-Ajami's situation. U.N. human rights spokeswoman Cecile Pouilly told a news briefing in Geneva on Jan 8 his trial had been marred by a number of procedural irregularities.
Ali al-Hattab, a Saudi who tracks human rights in the Gulf, said Monday's ruling presented a "very bad image for Qatar".
"They talk about democracy and equality, but they won't give people like Mohammed the freedom to speak, because it threatens their power and control. All he has done is recite a poem. How can they charge him with trying to overthrow a regime?" he said.
(Reporting By Regan Doherty; Editing by William Maclean and Pravin Char)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/poet-jailed-life-qatar-insult-trial-term-cut-094239457.html
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Lenovo outs new Android tablet lineup, new 7 and 10-inch offerings
Lenovo has outed their latest lineup of Android tablets over in Barcelona at Mobile World Congress. None have particularly inspiring names, but launched today are the 7-inch A1000 and A3000, and the 10-inch S6000.
The A1000 is the entry level offering of the bunch. Packing a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 16GB of on-board storage which is expandable to 32GB by way of microSD card, and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. It's 7-inch sibling, the A3000 is carrying a little more in the spec department by way of a 1.2GHz quad-core MTK processor and upto 64GB total storage including microSD cards. The A3000 too runs Jelly Bean, although the display is a slightly disappointing 1024x600 resolution IPS panel, but there will be a HSPA+ version of the A3000.
The 10-inch S6000 completes the Jelly Bean toting lineup, and is also powered by a quad-core 1.2GHz MTK processor. Like the A3000 there will be a cellular, HSPA+ variant, and carries a 1280x800 resolution IPS display which promises a 178 degree viewing angle.
One interesting addition though is the included Lenovo Mobile Access. On the cellular enabled tablets, Lenovo will be indicated as the service provider upon first powering up the tablet allowing new users to start browsing the web immediately. Once this runs out, you then have to go back to a regular data plan. No word on how much is included, but it's a nice touch nevertheless
No word at this stage on price or availability of any of these three new tablets beyond worldwide release in Q2 of this year. You can find the full press release after the break.
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/auBrM17zx1k/story01.htm
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Samsung takes on iPad Mini, expands lineup pen-based tablets with Galaxy Note 8.0
BARCELONA, Spain ? Samsung Electronics is beefing up its tablet range with a competitor?
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BARCELONA, Spain ? Samsung Electronics is beefing up its tablet range with a competitor to Apple?s iPad Mini that sports a pen for writing on the screen.
The Korean company announced on Sunday in Barcelona that the Galaxy Note 8.0 will have an 8-inch screen, putting it very close in size to the Apple?s tablet, which launched in November with a 7.9-inch screen. It?s not the first time Samsung has made a tablet that?s in the Mini?s size range: it?s very first iPad competitor had a 7-inch screen, and it still makes a tablet of that size, but without a pen.
Samsung will start selling the new tablet in the April to June period, at an as yet undetermined price. It made the announcement ahead of Mobile World Congress, the wireless industry?s annual trade show, which starts Monday in Barcelona, Spain.
The Note 8.0 fills a gap in Samsung?s line-up of pen-equipped devices between the Galaxy Note II smartphone, with its 5.5-inch screen, and the Galaxy Note 10.1, a full-size tablet. Samsung has made the pen, or more properly the stylus, one of the tools it uses to chip away at Apple?s dominance in both tablets and high-end smartphones. Apple doesn?t make any devices that work with styluses, preferring to optimize its interfaces for fingers, mice and touchpads.
On Samsung?s Note line, the pens can be used to write, highlight and draw. The screens also sense when the mouse hovers over the screen, providing an equivalent to the hovering mouse cursor on the PC. However, few third-party applications have been modified to take full advantage of the pens.
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Sunday, February 24, 2013
Illinois GOP Chair Pat Brady Could Lose Job Over Gay Marriage Support
Some Illinois GOP state party bosses are seeking to unseat state chairman Pat Brady over his support for a gay marriage law.
Brady said in a statement last month that legalizing the institution for gay and lesbian couples ?honors the best conservative principles. It strengthens and reinforces a key Republican value ? that the law should treat all citizens equally.?
Party leaders immediately pounced on Brady; some called for his resignation. But Brady has stood by his remarks.
?If people want to throw me out because I took on an issue of discrimination [as] the chairman of the Republican Party, the party founded by Abraham Lincoln, then that's ? that's up to them and they're free to do it. But I'm not backing down,? he said.
On Friday, Brady told WBEZ that party bosses have called a March 9 special meeting to discuss his stance on the issue.
According to WBEZ, Brady's ouster would require ?the weighted vote of three-fifths of the state central committee.?
State Senator Jim Oberweis, also a committeeman, said there is sufficient support to fire Brady.
?We'd have exactly the same reaction if suddenly Pat decided to talk about the merits of Obamacare,? Oberweis said.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OnTopMagazineHeadlines/~3/7dlD5OfA-7o/article.aspx
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If Twitter and Facebook users picked Oscar winners ? (infographic)
The Oscars are here, and guaranteed, some arty subtitled French film that no football-watching man has voluntarily watched will win one or three. But what if the Twitterati and Facebookers chose the winners?
According to digital ad firm RadiumOne, Twitter and Facebook users would select Hugh Jackman as best actor for Les Mis ? shockingly, not Wolverine ? and Jennifer Lawrence as Best Actress for Silver Linings Playbook.
Twitter users would pick teen vamp Twilight thriller?Breaking Dawn Part 2?as Best Picture, with almost 1.3 million followers, but their second place would go to Paranormal Activity 4, with less than 10 percent as many followers at 117,192. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey would slot into number three position, with 86,389 followers.
Facebook users would also pick the Twilight movie as Best Picture.
The film received a massive 38 million likes, almost five times as many as first loser ? and a much better movie, if I do say so myself ? The Hunger Games. And Facebook would select TED, a movie about a teddy bear that comes to life, in third place.
(Perhaps there?s a good reason why social media doesn?t pick the Oscars.)
Here?s all the data in visual form:
photo credit: Dave_B_ via photopin cc
Source: http://venturebeat.com/2013/02/23/if-twitter-and-facebook-users-picked-oscar-winners-infographic/
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