chambermaid codded: August 2013

Monday, August 5, 2013

Al Qaeda embassy threats: Sign of shrinking ambition?

Al Qaeda is growing, according to some measures, but as it evolves its focus is less on the American homeland than on striking interests abroad, like embassies, according to one study.

By Mark Sappenfield,?Staff writer / August 4, 2013

The US embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel, was closed as usual Sunday, but the threat of a terrorist attack led to the weekend closure of 21 US embassies and consulates in the Muslim world and a global travel warning to Americans, the first such alert since an announcement before the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 strikes.

Ariel Schalit/AP

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The closure of 19 embassies Sunday and the issuing of a month-long global travel alert for all Americans abroad shows how Al Qaeda's threat to the United States has evolved since 9/11 ? and how the US response has evolved, too.

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The closed embassies are all in an arc that runs from North Africa through the Middle East to Afghanistan, and the information suggests that the primary threat comes from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ? the Yemen-based Al Qaeda branch that many experts say is now the movement's strongest.

Officials with knowledge of the intelligence that led to the closures say the intercepts point to discussion of actual operations, not just typical chatter.

Some Obama administration critics have hailed the decision, with Rep. Peter King (R) of New York, who has been briefed on the threat, telling CNN: "I think the government is doing exactly the right thing here."

The closures are both a testament to Al Qaeda's persistent threat and an indicator of how its aspirations have contracted since 9/11.

While Al Qaeda has by some measures become larger since 9/11, it has become less cohesive, according to a recent study by the RAND Corp., a defense and security consultancy. This means that the goals and capabilities of the various branches have shifted from attacking the American homeland to achieving narrower goals.

?They want to establish Islamic emirates in specific countries or regions, though they may be agnostic about a broader violent jihad,? RAND terrorism expert Seth Jones said in congressional testimony last month.

Attacks on Western embassies in the Mideast fit the profile, with the bolder Al Qaeda franchises hitting the US closer to home ? operations that are both easier to carry out and achieve local aims.

In some ways, this is not unlike the pre-9/11 Al Qaeda. Before the attacks on New York and Washington, Al Qaeda's biggest strike was against the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, which killed more than 200 people.

But post-9/11 political realities have reshaped America's response. Post-9/11 investigations faulted America's intelligence agencies for being fractured and failing to recognize telltale signs of an imminent attack. This year, the Obama administration is still facing congressional investigations looking into whether it failed to adequately secure the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, which was attacked on Sept. 11, 2012, killing four, including the US ambassador.

In explaining the embassy closures Thursday, State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters the move was taken "out of an abundance of caution."

That could be the new watchword of US response to terror threats. In Boston, during the manhunt for the surviving marathon bomber in April, police issued a "shelter in place" order for a half dozen cities surrounding the spot where he was seen last ? effectively shutting down a wide swath of the metro area for an entire day. Today, the Obama administration is taking a similar approach with the embassy closures and the month-long travel advisory.

"I think this, closing all of these embassies in the Middle East to North Africa, is in fact unprecedented. At least, I didn't see this during my career," Christopher Hill, a former US ambassador to Iraq, told CNN.

The warnings coincide with the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan this Wednesday, as well as a new message from Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri that called on followers to attack American interests.

While Representative King said the intelligence that led to the warnings was "the most specific I've seen," there were no specifics about targets. "We are focused on the Middle East, but it's a potential series of attacks that really could be almost anyplace."

The travel warning, which ends Aug. 31, states: "US citizens are reminded of the potential for terrorists to attack public transportation systems and other tourist infrastructure. Terrorists have targeted and attacked subway and rail systems, as well as aviation and maritime service."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/JQKgs65aX-Y/Al-Qaeda-embassy-threats-Sign-of-shrinking-ambition

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NY WWII airman's remains arrive home decades later

This undated handout photo provided by the family, shows World War II airman Sgt. Dominick Licari, whose remains were identified nearly 70 years after his plane and two others slammed into a remote, jungle-covered mountainside in the South Pacific. Relatives say they were notified by military officials in July 2013 that bone fragments found at the crash site on the island of Papua-New Guinea were that of the 31-year-old from Frankfort, N.Y. His remains will be returned to his upstate New York hometown for burial. (AP Photo/Family Photo)

The remains of Sgt. Dominick J. Licari, 31 of Frankfort N.Y., arrives at Albany International Airport Friday afternoon, Aug. 2, 2013, in Colonie, N.Y. Sgt. Licari was a member of the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II who vanished on March 13, 1944. He will be buried Tuesday in Frankfort, N.Y. (AP Photo/The Albany Times Union, Michael P. Farrell) TROY, SCHENECTADY; SARATOGA SPRINGS; ALBANY OUT

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) ? Many saluted, some cried and a few held signs.

But for 70 miles, hundreds of people paid their respects to a World War II airman who died in combat in the South Pacific almost 70 years ago and was finally returned to his upstate home on Friday.

Funeral director Vincent Iocovozzi, who escorted Sgt. Dominick Licari's remains from the Albany airport to the small town of Frankfort, said there's "only one word that describes this: unbelievable."

"He's a man who has been dead longer than most people have been alive, but he's a hero coming home," Iocovozzi said.

Veterans' groups, businesses and residents along a 10-mile stretch of the Mohawk Valley paid tribute to Licari as his remains made the journey home. Honor guards from Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion chapters were posted along Route 5 as the vehicle procession carrying his casket left the New York State Thruway at Little Falls and traveled to Frankfort, west of Albany.

A commercial flight carrying Licari's casket arrived at the Albany airport, and military pallbearers carried the casket from the plane to the hearse Friday evening, Iocovozzi said. Licari's brother and sister and several nieces and nephews were at the airport to accompany his casket back home, with the Patriot Guard motorcycle riders providing an escort, said the funeral director, a distant relative of the Licari family.

At Melrose Market, the windows facing the street were decorated with American flags and a sign that read: "Thank you and Welcome Home Sgt. Dominick Licari." Organizations and business owners along Route 5 posted signs in Licari's honor.

"We just thought it would be a nice tribute for him for giving his life for our country," grocery store owner Linda LaValla said. "It's good to know that they take the time years later to find our servicemen and bring them home. It's closure for everybody."

Licari was a 31-year-old gunner aboard a two-man Army Air Force A-20 Havoc bomber that crashed into a jungle-covered mountain in Papua New Guinea on March 13, 1944, while returning from a bombing raid on a Japanese airfield. The pilot, 2nd Lt. Valorie Pollard, of Monterey, Calif., also was killed, along with four airmen in two of the mission's other A-20s that slammed into the mountain in bad weather.

Licari, one of nine children, was officially declared dead in 1946. Last month, U.S. military officials notified his two surviving siblings that his remains and those of Pollard were found and identified. Licari's funeral and burial with full military honors are set for Tuesday in Frankfort.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo directed lowering flags on state government buildings to half-staff on Tuesday to honor Licari.

Pollard's burial arrangements are pending, a Pentagon official said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-08-03-US-WWII-Airman-Remains/id-d6b8b257077241e5b52be48f7bef2890

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Democratic governors nervous about health plan

MILWAUKEE (AP) ? Democratic governors say they are nervous about getting the new federal health care law implemented but add they will be better positioned in next year's elections than many of their Republican counterparts who have resisted the far-reaching and politically polarizing measure.

Several of the 12 Democratic governors shared that sense of nervousness-veiled-by-optimism at the National Governors Association in Milwaukee Saturday.

"There's some angst, and you can see that from the decision the administration made a couple weeks ago," said Delaware Gov. Jack Markell. "There's a lot of work to do."

By next Jan. 1, most people will be required to have insurance. States have to set up exchanges by Oct. 1, when uninsured individuals can start buying subsidized private health coverage that would go into effect Jan 1, and businesses with more than 50 employees working 30 or more hours a week were supposed to offer affordable health care to their workers or risk a series of escalating tax penalties.

But businesses said they needed more time, and on July 2, President Barack Obama's administration abruptly extended the deadline one year ? to Jan. 1, 2015.

That caused some Democrats in Congress to worry the program would not be ready on time, as states are building online platforms for their residents to use to comply with the law. Although the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act in June 2012, the Republican-controlled House has voted 40 times since Obama signed the law in 2010 to repeal, defund or scale it back, most recently Friday.

As Congress prepared to head home for a five-week recess, Obama sought to calm jittery Democrats, assuring them that they are "on the right side of history" despite problems with the law's launch.

Republicans have stated openly they plan to use the slow economic recovery and the health care law to attack Democrats in the 2014 congressional elections.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, the governors' host and a possible 2016 Republican presidential prospect, said Obama delayed the employer mandate out of fear voters would blame Democrats in the 2014 elections if the economy suffered as a result of the new law.

"A cynic would be right to say the reason they pushed back the employer mandate had little to nothing to do with policy and everything to do with politics," Walker said.

Most of the two dozen governors from both parties gathered at the conference expressed confidence that their states would be ready on time, especially Democrats, although they said the work is daunting.

"Any time you go and make this much change in this short a period of time, it does cause headaches," Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said.

But with that pain comes progress, Hickenlooper and others argued. And those Republicans who have resisted or delayed taking action will pay the price.

Long before election day, the philosophical debate over the bill will have turned into a practical reality for millions of newly insured voters.

"Choosing ideology over jobs and affordable health care is a false choice, and it's an example of the differences between Republicans and Democrats," Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, a Democrat, said.

Among the challenges states are encountering are the technological requirements to allow buyers to search for insurers, rates and benefits on the exchanges. Others are training state employees to administer the program and marketing it to millions of Americans, all during a time of strained state budgets. Marketing employees were often among the first to lose their jobs.

Despite the headaches, the alternative to the status quo is far worse, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley said.

"Nothing could be more complicated than doing what we were doing before, which was to throw away more and more money on more expensive care for worse results," said O'Malley, a Democrat also mulling a 2016 White House run.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/democratic-governors-nervous-health-plan-201750108.html

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Taliban deny attack on Indian consulate in Afghanistan

Three suicide attackers killed at least nine civilians, most of them children, in a botched attack Saturday on the Indian consulate in Afghanistan. Were the attackers from Pakistan?

By Associated Press / August 3, 2013

Afghan policemen walk near a crater at the site of a suicide attack at the Indian consulate in Jalalabad province August 3, 2013.

REUTERS/Parwiz

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Three suicide attackers killed at least nine civilians, most of them children, in a botched attack Saturday on the Indian consulate in an eastern Afghan city near the border with Pakistan, security officials said.

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Authorities also reported that 22 police officers and over 70 Taliban fighters died in two days of fighting earlier in the week in the same province touched off by a feud between militants and villagers. Officials regularly announce high militant death tolls that are impossible to independently confirm.

Militants, mostly smaller groups based in Pakistan, have targeted Indian diplomatic interests multiple times in recent years. Afghanistan's main insurgent group, the Taliban, denied in a text message that it had carried out the attack.

Militant groups known for attacking Indian interests include Lashkar-e-Taiba, blamed for the 2008 attack on the Indian city of Mumbai that killed 166 people. LeT has been active in Afghanistan in recent years, often teaming up with insurgent groups operating in the eastern part of the country near the frontier with Pakistan. Last year the U.S.-led military coalition arrested a senior LeT leader in eastern Afghanistan.

India has been frustrated by Pakistan's failure to crack down on Lashkar-e-Taiba, which has strong historical links with Pakistani intelligence. Pakistan has always viewed India as a potential rival in Afghanistan, which it considers its strategic backyard.

"Such coward attacks will not deter India from providing reconstruction and developmental assistance to our true friend, Afghanistan," the Indian Embassy Tweeted in reaction to the consulate bombing.

In the latest attack, police fired on the militants as they approached a checkpoint outside the consulate in Jalalabad, prompting one of them to set off their explosives-laden car, said Masum Khan Hashimi, the deputy police chief of Nangarhar province.

The blast killed nine bystanders, and wounded another 24 people including a policeman. Six of the dead and three of the wounded were children, said Jalalabad hospital director Dr. Humayun Zahir. He did not give their specific ages.

All three attackers also died, although it was not clear how many were killed by police fire and how many by the explosion.

In New Delhi, India's External Affairs Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said that all Indian officials in the consulate were safe.

Hashimi said the Jalalabad attack began when three men in a car approached the checkpoint. Two of the men got out of the car wearing vests rigged with explosives and a police guard immediately opened fire on them, Hashimi said. He added that the third man then detonated a large bomb located inside the car.

In 2010, two Kabul guest houses popular among Indians were attacked, killing more than six Indians. India blamed that attack on LeT.

The Indian Embassy was bombed in 2008 and again in 2009, leaving 75 people dead in the two attacks.

The attack came as the U.S. planned to close its embassies in the Muslim world for the weekend due to an al-Qaida threat.

In other violence in the same province, 22 police officers and 76 Taliban were killed in the Sherzad district of Nangarhar in two days of battles with insurgents that broke out when militants shot a tribal elder, officials and police said.

The militant death toll could not be checked independently, but four separate officials confirmed the police death toll.

Fighting has intensified in eastern and southern parts of Afghanistan in recent months, especially since the mid-June handover of security responsibilities from the U.S.-led international military coalition to the Afghan national security forces. The Taliban have been fighting to regain ground they lost in the past three years to foreign forces, and violence is expected to spike again after the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

So far this year, a total of 613 Afghan and 470 Afghan soldiers have been killed in fighting.

The battles in the Sherzad district began on Wednesday when Taliban fighters shot and killed a tribal elder for allegedly cooperating with the government of President Hamid Karzai, sparking retaliation from the family and other villagers, residents said.

According to Ahmad Mushtaq, a villager, that initial gun battle resulted in the deaths of a number of Taliban. The militants retaliated by kidnapping 12 members of a family, who were rescued when Afghan police rushed to the scene and, backed by reinforcements from Jalalabad, mounted a rescue operation.

A number of Taliban again were killed and wounded during this rescue operation, Sherzad district chief Shukrullah Durani said. But when the reinforcements were on their way back to Jalalabad they were attacked by big number of Taliban.

The Taliban, who numbered about two hundred, were fleeing an Afghan army operation in a neighboring province when they ran into the police convoy on Thursday.

In a battle which lasted hours, 22 police officers were killed along with scores of Taliban fighters, Durani and three other officials said. The three spoke anonymously as they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Durani said the police requested air support from NATO, but none came. "This is why 22 police... were killed," he said. "If we had received air support we would not have lost such a big number of police and at the same time all Taliban in the area would have been killed and would not have escaped this time."

It was unclear why the police did not receive air support. Coalition forces do provide such assistance when requested and if the fighting is not in an inhabited area.

___

Associated Press writer Amir Shah contributed from Kabul.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/dxzQoB4AWrE/Taliban-deny-attack-on-Indian-consulate-in-Afghanistan

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Sunday, August 4, 2013

TV Expert: Time Warner Cable-CBS Blackout To Result In ?Best Of All Possible Worlds' For Cable Subscribers

Subscribers to Time Warner Cable might not be able to watch CBS shows over the next few weeks, as a result of the latest contract fallout between a network and a pay TV operator. But at least one expert believes that the blackout, while disruptive in the short term, is actually good news for those who pay TV viewers, whether they?re Time Warner Cable subscribers or not.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/1jPIHU9Gv5w/

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Jay-Z Debuts Star-Studded 'Picasso Baby' Performance Art Film

Following an appearance on HBO's 'Real Time With Bill Maher,' Hov reveals new video.
By Sowmya Krishnamurthy

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1711773/jay-z-picasso-baby-performance-art-film.jhtml

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Al Qaeda threat is 'real and serious' - intelligence ... - World News

A threat of an al Qaeda attack is "real and serious" and "we must not let our guard down," the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence has warned after a worldwide alert was issued for all U.S. citizens traveling abroad. NBC's Kristen Welker reports.

By Tony Capra, Andrea Mitchell and Catherine Chomiak, NBC News

A meeting of the National Security Council chaired by Susan Rice was held at the White House Saturday evening to discuss the latest intelligence regarding the?threat of an al Qaeda attack.

There are different views among analysts -- including whether a plot is already underway, with team members already selected, as reported Saturday by CBS.

At least some present at the meeting said they believed that to be the case, but others disagree. There is no consensus on whether the plot is underway, officials told NBC News.

The threat of an al Qaeda attack is ?real and serious? and ?we must not let our guard down,? the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence warned after a worldwide alert was issued for all U.S. citizens traveling abroad.

In a statement issued Friday, the State Department warned the terror group and its affiliates ?may focus efforts to conduct attacks in the period between now and the end of August.?

On Saturday, President Obama was updated on a potential threat coming from the Arabian Peninsula, a White House official said. The president would continue to be updated throughout the weekend, according to the official.

U.S. officials said that the threat warning is based primarily on a "significant increase in chatter from a growing number of intercepts" throughout the region.

NBC News counter-terrorism analyst Michael Leiter and NBC's Richard Engel join Lester Holt with more on the al Qaeda threat.

Mike Rogers, the intelligence committee chairman, said the situation showed just how dangerous the al Qaeda network still is.

?The seriousness of the threat stream is a sober reminder of al Qaeda's determination and ongoing intention to commit acts of violence on Western and U.S. targets,? he said in a statement late Friday.

?The threats against American interests are real and serious and we must not let our guard down,? he added.

At least 22 embassies and consulates that normally open on Sundays -- mostly in the Muslim world -- were closing this weekend because of the potential threat.

The closures so far include diplomatic missions in Cairo, Tel Aviv, Riyadh, Baghdad, Kabul, and Bahrain.

"It is possible we may have additional days of closings as well, depending on our analysis,? a State Department official said.

The chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, Ed Royce, told MSNBC he believed it was ?probably now prudent, given the fact that, in this case, we do have this intelligence, to take this step to make certain that we have fully protected our embassy personnel.?

Britain said it would close its embassy in Yemen on Sunday and Monday. "We are particularly concerned about the security situation in the final days of Ramadan and into Eid," Britain's Foreign Office said in a statement, referring to the Muslim holy month that ends on Wednesday.

The intelligence says nothing about a specific target of the plot, U.S. officials said Friday. The United States is working with foreign spy agencies to try to find out more about the target.

The State Department?s alert said U.S. citizens ?should take every precaution to be aware of their surroundings and to adopt appropriate safety measures to protect themselves when traveling.?

The U.S. State Department has announced officials will close down all U.S. embassies across the Middle East on Sunday after Al-Qaeda-related intelligence suggested a threat. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

"The Department of State alerts U.S. citizens to the continued potential for terrorist attacks, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa, and possibly occurring in or emanating from the Arabian Peninsula,? it added.

Terrorism expert Xenia Dormandy, U.S. director of London-based think tank Chatham House, said Friday it was the first time in memory that the U.S. had closed such a large number of embassies at once.

?The bottom line is clearly they?ve had firm intelligence from multiple sources that there?s an al Qaeda threat or an al Qaeda-affiliated threat," she said.

Dormandy said the United States' actions were likely influenced by the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in September, in which Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed.

?I think they are being cautious because any attack on American diplomats is something they want to avoid at all costs," she added. "I think they are certainly likely to be more nervous now about making a mistake than they were before the Libyan [Benghazi consulate] attack, but they?ve seen the consequences of what can happen if you don?t take precautions, so it?s perhaps an appropriate response."

Ian Johnston and Henry Austin of NBC News and Reuters contributed to this report.

Related:

This story was originally published on Sat Aug 3, 2013 3:15 AM EDT

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/03/19844862-al-qaeda-threat-is-real-and-serious-intelligence-committee-chief?lite

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Dubai: Tell Alicia Keys those who entertain apartheid Israel are not welcome!

We at the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) call on our sisters and brothers in the United Arab Emirates to cancel Alicia Keys? scheduled concert in Dubai on November 15 due to her support for apartheid Israel [1].

Alicia Keys has not only undermined our civil resistance to Israel?s regime of occupation, settler colonialism and apartheid, but she has reportedly visited a support group for the Israeli occupation army based in occupied Jerusalem [2], ignoring the fact that the Israeli army is the key instrument of oppression and war crimes against the Palestinian, Lebanese and other people in the region.

As was the case in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, people of conscience everywhere should shun artists who insist on crossing the boycott picket line and entertaining apartheid. In 1984, at the height of the struggle against South African apartheid, Enuga S. Reddy, director of the United Nations Center against Apartheid, stated that artists who performed in South Africa, despite the cultural boycott called for by the oppressed, must have done so out of ?ignorance of the situation or the lure of money or unconcern over racism,? adding, ?they need to be persuaded to stop entertaining apartheid, to stop profiting from apartheid money and to stop serving the propaganda purposes of the apartheid regime.? [3]

On July 4^th Alicia Keys ignored appeals from thousands worldwide who called on her to uphold the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it ends its military occupation, dismantles its system of racial discrimination and upholds the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes of origin, as stipulated in UN resolution 194 [4]. These calls included a petition signed by 16,000 individuals, letters from Alice Walker, Roger Waters and others, and a statement signed by dozens of prominent African Americans affirming the similarities between Israel?s apartheid system and the system of racial segregation and subjugation that African Americans endured under Jim Crow. [5]

By insisting on performing in Israel despite its grave violations of international law and human rights, Alicia Keys has consciously lent her name to the Israeli state?s ?Brand Israel? propaganda campaign that aims at projecting Israel?s false semblance of normalcy, and concealing its inhumane and racist colonial policies [6]. Keys has in fact gone further than this. She chose to open her show in Tel Aviv with Israeli artist Idan Raichel, who shamelessly states that he and his band ?certainly see ourselves as ambassadors of Israel in the world, cultural ambassadors, hasbara [propaganda] ambassadors, also in regards to the political conflict.? [7]

Keys also reportedly visited the right-wing organization, Thank Israel Soldiers, in the occupied Old City of Jerusalem [8], a group that seeks to ?empower? Israeli soldiers and organizes ?weekend trips? for them in the occupied Palestinian territory [9]. These are the same soldiers that maintain Israel?s cruel military occupation and apartheid as well as its medieval, life endangering siege on the occupied Gaza Strip; that in January 2009 carried out a massacre in Gaza, killing more than 1,440 Palestinians, of whom 431 were children, and injured another 5380 [10]; and that were described by the UN Fact Finding Mission as having committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during this savage military assault. [11]

For over 65 years Israel has pursued colonial and apartheid designs to dispossess and ultimately ethnically cleanse the indigenous people of Palestine from their homeland. The state of Israel was created in 1948 by systematically dispossessing and ethnically cleansing more than 750,000 Palestinian people in order to form a racist, exclusionary Jewish state and has denied Palestinian refugees their internationally recognized right to return to their homes and their lands. The most recent phase of the cruel realities of Israel?s ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians is the Prawer-Begin Plan whose objectives are the forcible uprooting and dispossession of tens of thousands of Bedouin Palestinians in the Naqab (Negev) and the destruction of 35 ?unrecognized? Bedouin villages, in order to proceed with Zionism?s vision of creating Jewish only spaces, ?cleansed? of the Palestinians. [12]

Meanwhile in the occupied West Bank, Palestinians live under a repressive military occupation. Israel?s apartheid wall ? declared illegal by the international court of justice in 2004 ? has further aggravated the regime of ghettoization and dispossession imposed on Palestinians through a network of Jewish-only colonies and segregated roads. ?

The overwhelming majority in Palestinian civil society supports the BDS movement and regards it as a main form of resisting Israel?s regime of oppression and as the most effective and morally consistent way for Arabs and internationals to stand with Palestinian rights. The inspiring BDS achievements in the last few months may well indicate that the movement is reaching a tipping point [13]. The world?s most prominent scientist, Stephen Hawking, has recently cancelled his participation in an Israeli conference, unambiguously citing the unanimous Palestinian voices calling on him to boycott as his reason for not attending, further legitimatising boycott as a mode of resistance [14]. Distinguished filmmaker Mira Nair has also recently rejected an invitation to attend the Haifa International Film Festival, stating, ?I will go to Israel when apartheid is over? [15]. Both have joined a long list of artists, writers, and anti-racist activists, such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Angela Davis, Judith Butler, Naomi Klein, Ken Loach, Arundhati Roy and numerous others, who stand with this movement.

As our struggle for freedom continues, we call on our allies and solidarity supporters worldwide to redouble their efforts to expand the movement and show people like Keys that complicity in covering up Israel?s crimes is not without its cost. In doing so, we also appeal to our Arab sisters and brothers directly: we know that the Palestinian cause is alive in every Arab country. Our struggle against Zionist settler colonialism is also your struggle; it is part of our collective struggle against colonial and western imperial domination over the region. In September 2012, the Lebanese band Mashrou? Leila set an important precedent when they pulled out of the Red Hot Chili Peppers? concert in Beirut. In doing so, they sent an unequivocal message to international artists ?that touring the region and including Israel on the schedule ? despite the Palestinian cultural boycott call ? will be met with resistance in Arab countries where public opinion strongly opposes what is often called ?normalization.? [16]

PACBI urges the Dubai Media City Amphitheatre and the sponsors of Alicia Keys? scheduled performance there to cancel this show. Send Alicia Keys a clear message and tell her that she is not welcome in Arab countries! Dubai, Palestinian civil society is asking this of you as an essential contribution to our struggle to achieve freedom and justice in Palestine.

[1] http://gulfnews.com/arts-entertainment/music/jason-derulo-to-join-alicia-keys-in-dubai-1.1204775

[2] http://mondoweiss.net/2013/07/pro-israel-blog-removes-photo-of-alicia-keys-meeting-soldiers-supporter.html

[3] http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1417

[4] http://www.bdsmovement.net/call

[5] http://www.usacbi.org/2013/07/as-keys-performs-in-israel-despite-boycott-campaigners-say-new-precedent-set/

[6] http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/05/13/truth_and_advertising; http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11093.shtml ?

[7] http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=3647; http://www.australia-il.com/articles-967.htm?

[8] http://mondoweiss.net/2013/07/pro-israel-blog-removes-photo-of-alicia-keys-meeting-soldiers-supporter.html

[9] http://www.thankisraelisoldiers.org/?CategoryID=185

[10] http://www.ochaopt.org/gazacrisis/index.php?section=3

[11] http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=91&LangID=E

[12] http://adalah.org/eng/?mod=articles&ID=1589

[13] http://pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=2094

[14] http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=2200 ?

[15] http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=2228

[16] http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/lebanons-mashrou-leila-cancels-chili-peppers-after-latter-refuses-israel-boycott

Posted on 02-08-2013

Source: http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=2233

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EF-2 tornado hits Jacksonville

A tornado struck Jacksonville Thursday.

Thunder storms produced an EF-2 tornado in the Arlington area Thursday afternoon.

The tornado produced winds reaching speeds of 120 mph. The twister is the first to hit Jacksonville since 2004, Action News reports.

The tornado reached the EF-2 level momentarily. Most of the damage reported was from an EF-1 tornado, which has winds between 80 mph and 110 mph.

The storms and tornado knocked down trees, power lines and left several streets flooded.

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Facebook For Android App Now Sports Cover Feed

Facebook has pushed out an update to their forever-buggy Android app which brings in something over from the not-so-well received Facebook Home launcher. Remember Cover Feed? Well, you no longer require the Facebook Home launcher to use Cover Feed on your Android phone. This kind of makes the entire purpose of the home launcher pointless, but considering the success (not) that Facebook had with their Home launcher, this seems a nice move to roll out the features which they spent so much time and money developing.

Mind you, not all phones support Cover Feed. The restriction stays as it was with the original launcher app. Supported devices include the Samsung Galaxy S4, Galaxy S III, Galaxy Note II, Nexus 4, HTC One X, One X+ and HTC One.

Source: http://www.nextpowerup.com/news/2271/facebook-for-android-app-now-sports-cover-feed.html

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Google Drive for Windows gets desktop shortcuts for speedier editing

Google Drive is as much about productivity as cloud storage, but it's hard to discover this through a cursory glance at Drive's desktop apps. That connection should soon become clearer, at least for some users -- a new version of Google Drive for Windows will create shortcuts to Docs, Sheets and Slides after installation. The editing-friendly aliases should reach Google Drive over the course of the next week. There's no word of a Mac equivalent, but we've reached out to Google and will let you know if a matching update is on the way.

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/08/01/google-drive-for-windows-gets-desktop-shortcuts/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Need a Job? Volunteer

Giving back to the community is one way job seekers can boost their chances of finding work, new research shows.

A study by financial and consulting firm Deloitte revealed that skills-based volunteering enhances job prospects, with more than three-quarters of human resources executives saying it makes a job candidate more desirable.

"Many of us in the volunteer sector have long felt volunteering gives a boost to those looking for work, but we've never had solid research to back it up," said Wendy Spencer, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service.?"Volunteering can provide the skills, contacts and leadership qualities that make you stand out in a competitive job market."

[5 Types of People Everyone Wants to Hire]

The research shows volunteering can pay particularly high dividends for graduating college students and returning military veterans. Close to 80 percent of the human resources executives surveyed feel skills-based volunteering improves the job prospects of new grads and vets.

But job candidates seem to be unaware of the boost that volunteering can bring to their job search: Less than half of the college students and military personnel surveyed think of volunteering at a nonprofit as a way to develop skills and gain the experience needed to land a future job. ??

"It is clear that the skills and experience gained through volunteering offer a competitive edge," said Evan Hochberg, national director of community engagement for Deloitte Services LP. "However, when more than half of college grads and returning veterans don't consider volunteering to improve their employability, there is work to be done to help them see the upside of volunteer bridging as a viable job-search option."?

The study also found that it's not just job candidates who can improve their image by volunteering their time and skills. Nearly 90 percent of those surveyed think volunteering contributes toward an employee's positive reputation, while 65 percent believe the experience is beneficial for an employee.

The study was based on surveys of 202 human resources executives, 202 college seniors and 101 members of the U.S. armed forces who are to be discharged within the next 12 months.

Follow Chad Brooks on Twitter @cbrooks76 or BusinessNewsDaily @BNDarticles. We're also on Facebook & Google+. This story originally published on BusinessNewsDaily.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/job-volunteer-105325718.html

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Friday, August 2, 2013

Apple wins back the world's most valuable company crown ? RT ...

Published time: August 02, 2013 11:53 AFP Photo

Apple has again become the stock market king as rumors of upcoming next-generation iPhones and iPads are spreading.

Apple toppled Exxon Mobil from its number one spot as its market capitalization went up by 0.9% to $414bn. Exxon overtook Apple's market cap in? late January of this year, amidst a continued sell-off of AAPL stock. It lost the title last Thursday as its shares were down 1.8% on its disappointing earnings report, giving the firm a market capitalization of $409bn, Market Watch? reports.?

Apple share price has last reached $457. However, the company is still $100 short from the beginning of 2013. Last September 2012, the company?s share price went as high as $700, its highest so far, ibtimes.com reports.? Overall the tech giant?s stock surged 14% in July, though that still left it down 14% so far this year, according to the MarketWatch.

Investors are hoping that the company can now gain its momentum as consumers anticipate the debuts of the iPhone 5S, iPhone 5C, which is a low-cost iPhone, a fifth-generation iPad, an iPad mini with retina display and iWatch, ibtimes.com reports.

In July Apple?s share of the smartphone market dropped to 14 per cent, it?s lowest for three years. This happened against growing leadership of the South Korean tech-giant Samsung (33,1% of sales in the second quarter). An increasing popularity of Chinese manufacturers Huawei and ZTE, producing lower price smartphones have also helped Apple lose market share, newsru.com reports.

Source: http://rt.com/business/apple-again-world's-most-valuable-953/

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Raw Deal ? The Health Journal: Fitness, Nutrition, Wellness

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Source: http://www.thehealthjournals.com/2013/08/raw-deal/

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Maybe NASA Won't Be Capturing an Asteroid After All

Over the past year PopMech has been covering how NASA might execute one of President Obama's grandest plans: grabbing and asteroid and towing it closer to Earth, perhaps into an orbit around the moon, where astronauts could visit and investigate the big hunk of space rock. Yet, perhaps predictably, the proposal has gotten bogged down in Congress, where big ideas go to die.

The New York Times reports this week that the science committee in the House of Representatives voted down Obama's agenda for NASA in favor of one that calls on the agency to plan a return trip to the moon and start thinking about a future manned voyage to Mars.

The asteroid-snatching plan is not doomed, the Times says. The Senate could pass its version of the NASA bill, which leaves out any mention of the asteroid mission specifically and instead allows NASA to pursue the path it thinks is best for ramping up to an eventual mission to Mars.

Just about everybody?Democrats, Republicans, and NASA?agrees on the end goal of getting humans to the surface of the Red Planet. It's just that they can't agree on the best course. Some in the House decry the President's asteroid plan as an expensive waste of time. The House proposal would charge NASA with duplicating a 44-year-old accomplishment, landing on the moon, though with the goal of setting up some kind of base to boost the agency's ability to operate in space.

The counterpoint: The new analysis by NASA JPL, the folks who put Curiosity on Mars, says the cost of the asteroid-snaring mission could come in at $1 to $2 billion, quite affordable by the standards of big space missions (they did Curiosity for $2.5 billion). Besides boosting NASA's ability to operate beyond Earth orbit, the asteroid capture mission would be humanity's first try at moving an asteroid, something that might come in handy if we ever spot such as object hurtling toward our planet, rendering our political quibbles moot.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/how-to/blog/maybe-nasa-wont-be-capturing-an-asteroid-after-all-15754182?src=rss

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Thursday, August 1, 2013

Hacking expert says mobile firms moved fast to fix security flaw?

11 hours ago

Getty Images

LAS VEGAS ?? A well-known security expert said mobile carriers have quickly protected customers from a security bug that he revealed 10 days ago and that he estimated had put more than 500 million phones at risk of cyber attacks.?

Karsten Nohl, chief scientist with Berlin's Security Research Labs, led a research team at the German firm that figured out a way to remotely gain control of and also clone some mobile SIM cards.?

"Pretty much every carrier we have spoken to has fixed it," Nohl said in advance of a talk late Wednesday afternoon at the Black Hat hacking conference in Las Vegas.?

The team was the first to accomplish the hacking feat, which has long been a Holy Grail of mobile hackers. The tiny, highly secured devices are located in phones and allow operators to identify and authenticate subscribers as they use networks.?

He discussed that three-year research effort late Wednesday afternoon in one of the most anticipated talks at Black Hat, a conference where some 7,000 security professionals gathered to hear about the latest risks posed by hacking.?

Nohl said at a news conference prior to that talk that he would not be able to demonstrate part of his technique for attacking SIM cards because he had prepared to show it on SIMs from five carriers, but that all five carriers had made changes to prevent them from being hacked.?

Nohl is a so-called "white hat," or a hacker who figures out how to attack things in a bid to find vulnerabilities so that companies can fix bugs before criminals can exploit them.?

He told Reuters that he was pleased that they had implemented the fix before his demonstration because that means they are ahead of criminal hackers, who could use compromised SIMs to commit financial crimes or engage in electronic espionage.?

Nohl said that carriers have used methods to fix the bug in SIM cards without having to physically replace them, which would have been quite costly.?

He said he was not sure whether all carriers around the world have fixed the bug, but that he had checked with many major carriers and that they had gone ahead and taken care of the security problem.?

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663301/s/2f684d64/sc/21/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Ctechnology0Chacking0Eexpert0Esays0Emobile0Efirms0Emoved0Efast0Efix0Esecurity0Eflaw0E6C10A814147/story01.htm

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Cleveland kidnap victims kept diaries during captivity -prosecutors

By Kim Palmer

CLEVELAND (Reuters) - The three women who endured years of isolation, sexual assaults, beatings and starvation as prisoners of a Cleveland school bus driver documented their ordeal in diaries kept during their captivity in his house, prosecutors revealed on Wednesday.

Ariel Castro, 53, was scheduled to be sentenced Thursday. He pleaded guilty last week to multiple counts of rape and kidnapping. He also pleaded guilty to murder for forcing one of the young women, Michelle Knight, to miscarry a pregnancy by starving and beating her.

According to a pre-sentencing report released on Wednesday, the three women - Knight, 32, Amanda Berry, 27, and Gina DeJesus, 23 - "did everything humanly possible to retain a sense of normalcy" and were able to mark time by keeping diaries.

"The entries speak of forced sexual conduct, of being locked in a dark room, of anticipating the next session of abuse, of the dreams of someday escaping and being reunited with family, of being chained to a wall," prosecutors said.

The three victims all disappeared from the west side of Cleveland between 2002 and 2004 and were discovered in May after neighbors heard cries for help from Berry coming from Castro's home on Seymour Avenue.

Berry and her 6-year-old daughter, fathered by Castro, escaped through the front door of Castro's rundown home and alerted police about the two other women who were being held on the second floor.

After months of negotiations with prosecutors, Castro accepted a plea deal that calls for a sentence of life in prison without parole plus 1,000 years. The agreement spared Castro the possibility of facing the death sentence if he were convicted at trial, and spared his victims the prospect of making repeated court appearances.

The prosecutors' office said Castro and his lawyers will be allowed an opportunity to speak before government attorneys present information "relevant to sentencing," which may include statements by the victims or a representative for the victims.

Prosecutors say that while Castro has admitted to some of the offenses with which he was charged, he has never expressed any remorse and claimed that sex with Knight was consensual, even after admitting he lured her into his car with the promise of a ride and a puppy for her son.

Berry and DeJesus also were coaxed into his car with a promise of a ride. DeJesus had been a friend of Castro's daughter.

In their report, prosecutors painted a grim picture of the conditions endured by the three women in Castro's house, where they were long kept isolated from each other, received only one meal a day, one or two showers a week and had to use small plastic toilets that were not often emptied.

The three survivors told investigators Castro controlled every aspect of their lives, including the use of sexual abuse and confinement in the cold basement and hot attic as punishment and threats on their lives with a gun. He also told the women that he had other victims, and that "some of them made it home, but that others had not," prosecutors said.

The opinion of a psychiatrist attached to the prosecutors' report said that despite the abuse they suffered, the women "acted with fortitude, courage and grace."

(Additional reporting by Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Steve Gorman and Eric Walsh)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cleveland-kidnap-victims-kept-diaries-during-captivity-prosecutors-022826976.html

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