Oh, Franco, Franco, Franco. Just when we thought we'd found something to commend you for, you go?and do this. Yes, it was merely a week ago that we were surprised to find ourselves praising The Franco for his actually noble effort to crowd-source $500,000 for a three-film project. But now he's up and bailed on another auteur project, on which $500,000 had already been spent.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kerry-progress-made-peace-talks-103707946.html
ISLAMABAD (AP) ? The United Nations says Pakistan has extended refugee status for over a million Afghans living in the country. It was set to expire June 30.
The U.N.'s refugee agency said Friday Pakistan agreed to extend their status while it comes up with a new policy.
Pakistan has been hosting Afghan refugees dating back to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan three decades ago. There are 1.6 million in Pakistan. Many Pakistanis have become frustrated with the length of time the Afghans have stayed and want them to leave.
Pakistan has said it will not forcibly evict Afghans. However, revoking their refugee status would encourage people to return to Afghanistan.
Refugee status allows Afghans to get a government ID card that they use for everyday activities like banking or registering for school.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pakistan-extends-refugee-status-afghans-060448915.html
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SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. (AP) ? Ha-Neul Kim saw friend Inbee Park after the world's top-ranked player took the lead in the morning session at the U.S. Women's Open.
Kim, with an afternoon tee time playing the major for the first time, wondered, "Wow, how did she shoot that score?"
Then Kim went out Thursday and shot one stroke better, finishing with a bogey-free, 6-under 66 to take the first-round lead at Sebonack.
Park is trying to make history by winning the first three majors of the year. For a day at least, she was upstaged by a much less-heralded fellow South Korean.
"I'm enjoying myself," Kim said through a translator. "I'm just happy to be here and to be playing in this big event. I'm not really thinking about winning or results but enjoying the moment."
Currently a member of the KLPGA Tour, Kim is a seven-time winner in South Korea. She kept giving herself short birdie putts Thursday and making them.
Kim birdied her second-to-last hole with daylight waning to claim the lead after Park held it for most of the day with her 67 in the morning session.
No player has won the first three majors in a season with at least four majors. The 2008 U.S. Women's Open champion, Park has already won five times this year, including her last two tournaments.
American Lizette Salas, Swedes Caroline Hedwall and Anna Nordqvist and South Korea's I.K. Kim shot 68.
Concerned about bad weather, tournament officials moved up the tees, and with the rain holding off, Park was able to play aggressively.
"I never had practiced from those tees, so I was a little bit shocked when I went to the tees," Park said.
Not that she was complaining.
She repeatedly set up short putts, and the way she has excelled in her short game lately, Park was headed to a low score.
"So instead of hitting like 5-irons, we were hitting 9-irons, and that was making the course much easier," she said. "I was actually able to go for some pins and give myself a lot of opportunities today. I made a lot of putts and didn't leave much out there."
Starting on No. 10, Park birdied her first hole, then started racking up pars. She made the turn at 2 under before birdies on three of her next four holes.
At 5 under, Park briefly struggled with her tee shots, needing to save par on Nos. 5 and 7. On No. 6, her 15th hole of the day, she had to lay up out of the tall grass and settled for her lone bogey.
Park got back to 5 under on the par-5 eighth with a chip shot to about 5 feet that set up a birdie putt.
Hedwall and I.K. Kim were each at 5 under with a hole left, but closed with bogeys. Nordqvist birdied her last two holes to pull into the tie for third.
The two Swedes grew up playing together.
"Certainly seeing her shooting 4 under in the morning session gave me a little bit of inspiration for the afternoon," Nordqvist said.
Salas, a 23-year-old former Southern California star, played with Park in the last group of the final round of this year's Kraft Nabisco Championship. Three strokes back starting the day, she opened with a double bogey and tumbled to 25th after shooting a 79.
She bounced back to reach a playoff at the LPGA Lotte Championship in April, losing to Suzann Pettersen for her best finish on tour.
"I'm just getting a lot more used to being in contention and really studying the leaderboard and really managing my patience," Salas said. "I think that's been key for me this week. Yes, I still get nervous on the first tee and my hands keep shaking, but I just know that if I just trust myself and trust my instincts, I can perform out here."
Chile's Paz Echeverria, a 28-year-old LPGA Tour rookie also making her U.S. Women's Open debut, and Canada's Maude-Aimee Leblanc shot 69.
Among eight players at 70 was Natalie Gulbis, who withdrew from a tournament and missed two others earlier this year because of malaria. Infected by a mosquito during the LPGA Thailand in late February, she returned for the Kraft Nabisco in early April. Gulbis hasn't finished better than 13th since, missing the cut at the LPGA Championship.
Defending champion Na Yeon Choi, second-ranked Stacy Lewis and amateurs Kyung Kim and Brooke Henderson were among 11 players at 71.
Lydia Ko, the 16-year-old New Zealand amateur who won the Canadian Open last August to become the youngest LPGA Tour winner, had a 72. Juli Inkster, playing in a record-breaking 34th U.S. Women's Open at age 53, holed a 103-yard wedge shot for eagle on the 18th to also finish at 72.
Michelle Wie opened her round with a quadruple-bogey 8 on No. 10. She was at 11 over through 14 holes before birdies on three of the last four to finish with an 80.
With Park's two major titles to start the year, South Koreans have won four straight majors. But Ha-Neul Kim was an unlikely representative to lead after the first round of this tournament.
"I was very nervous coming in, and I thought in the practice round that the course was very difficult," she said. "Before playing today I thought that even par would be a very good score for me."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/neul-kim-leads-us-womens-open-1-round-003932677.html
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Obama administration on Friday warned Americans against all but essential travel to Egypt and moved to reduce the official U.S. presence in the country amid fears of widespread unrest.
Just hours after Egyptian officials said an American had been killed in clashes between government supporters and opponents in the city of Alexandria, the State Department said Americans should defer nonessential travel to Egypt, citing the uncertain security situation. It also said it would allow some nonessential staff and the families of personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo to leave Egypt until conditions improve.
"Political unrest, which intensified prior to the constitutional referendum in December 2012 and the anniversary in 2013 of Egypt's 25th January Revolution, is likely to continue in the near future due to unrest focused on the first anniversary of the president's assumption of office," it said. "Demonstrations have, on occasion, degenerated into violent clashes between police and protesters, resulting in deaths, injuries and extensive property damage."
"Participants have thrown rocks and Molotov cocktails and security forces have used tear gas and other crowd control measures against demonstrators. There are numerous reports of the use of firearms as well," it said.
The department added that it had authorized the departure of "a limited number of nonemergency personnel" in addition to family members.
That move doesn't require anyone to depart but encourages them to go by allowing them to do so at government expense. Officials said dependents and nonessential staff could be ordered to leave if the situation deteriorates.
The U.S. is deeply concerned by developments in Egypt, where clashes have broken out ahead of planned mass protests against the government headed by Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. At least six Egyptians have been killed in days of clashes ahead of nationwide protests Sunday demanding Morsi's removal.
On Friday, an American was killed Alexandria while photographing battles between supporters and opponents of Morsi, according to security and medical officials.
The State Department's previous travel alert for Egypt, released on May 15, alerted Americans to the continuing possibility of political and social unrest. It urged them to keep abreast of local security conditions and exercise vigilance but did not warn them against any travel to the country.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-warns-egypt-travel-moves-reduce-presence-215939193.html
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Source: http://www.ibuyhomedmv.com/blog/smarter-in-minutes-real-estate-investors-college-2/
2 hours ago
Dave M. Benett / Getty Images Contributor
Matthew Morrison and Renee Puente.
"Glee" star Matthew Morrison is engaged to his girlfriend Renee Puente, a fact he confirmed with a simple tweet, saying he was going to "marry my best friend!"
The news initially came out during Elton John's White Tie and Tierra Ball on Thursday, an event the couple often attend. Coldplay singer Chris Martin dedicated John's "Your Song" to the couple, according to The Hollywood Reporter, and then sang the tune with John himself.
The proposal appears to have been done earlier; E! Online reported that the couple arrived at the event with her already wearing a "huge sparkler" in the appropriate left-hand finger.
Morrison tweeted the news Thursday morning.
They reportedly began dating in 2011, and this will be a first marriage for both.
Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/glee-star-matthew-morrison-engaged-6C10480930
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Getty ImagesIn their zeal to defend the name Redskins against disorganized and scattered opposition that gradually is becoming more organized and less scattered, the NFL team bearing that name has had a tendency to seize in knee-jerk fashion upon anything that supports the position that the name isn?t offensive.
The two primary tactics having entailed citing the various high schools that still use the name (there are fewer all the time) and trumpeting the opinions of Native Americans who have no problem with the name, and who ostensibly would regard as a compliment the greeting, ?What?s up, redskin??
As explained by Dave McKenna in an item published earlier today by Deadspin (yeah, I know that one of the morons who works there recently called me a moron . . . again), a supposed Native American Chief whom the Redskins recently trotted out in support of the name isn?t a Chief, and may not even be a Native American.? But the Redskins, who apparently have chosen to dispense with steps like vetting a guest, put the guy on their in-house web show, described him as a Chief, and had him explain why he supports the name.
And, yes, the guy actually said that Native Americans on the ?reservation? actually great each other with, ?Hey, what?s up, redskin??
Complicating matters for the league is that Commissioner Roger Goodell recently pointed to the same non-Chief-possibly-non-Native-American in a letter to member of Congress defending the ongoing use of the name Redskins.
The full item is worth a read, even though it?s a little lengthy.? Also, it probably should include a disclaimer that the author once triggered a defamation lawsuit from owner Daniel Snyder, which gives McKenna a natural bias.
But the point has been made.? Yet again, the Redskins end up looking bad while trying to make their name look good.
If nothing else, we now know why they?ve hired Frank Luntz.? Then again, maybe they think he?s a Chief, too.
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Source: http://www.zillow.com/advice-thread/DO-YOUR-HOMEWORK-BEFORE-YOU-BUY-A-HOME/499274/
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Well that didn?t take long. The Google Edition of the HTC One has really only just gone on sale in the US, but already some enterprising hackers have dumped its ROM and made a version any GSM HTC One owner can install on their non-Google Edition devices. You didn?t exactlylove Sense, right?
Of course to actually flash this thing to your phone you?ll need to root it, but that?s pretty easy these days. Here?s an all-in-one tool to get you started. The beauty of plopping something like this on your device ? a modified version of the Google Edition ROM direct from HTC ? is that all the drivers work as you?d expect, so it should be liquid smooth with everything functional.
For those wanting CyanogenMod, we should see HTC?s drivers make their way to other custom ROMs soon, and that goes for the Samsung Galaxy S4 too, while we?re on the subject of Google Editions. There?s never been a better time to be an Android owner, that?s for sure. [XDA via Droid Life]
Source: http://gizmodo.com/you-can-turn-your-htc-one-into-a-google-edition-with-th-607459969
WASHINGTON (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 MF Global to hedge their risks against fluctuating crop prices.
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.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-agency-sues-corzine-over-failure-mf-global-185641107.html
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In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the petitioners who brought the appeal on Prop 8 to the 9th Circuit had no standing to do so.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion on this one, which you can read in full here, and he was joined by Justices Scalia, Ginsberg, Breyer, and Kagan. Suffice it to say, there is a lot of legalese in the opinion that basically comes down to whether a petitioner has standing in state court versus federal court, and he concludes that the proponents of Prop 8 never had that standing to appeal the 2010 decision of federal Judge Vaughn Walker. And since the California attorney general at the time (Jerry Brown) refused to defend Prop 8, it wasn't up to some random citizens to try to do so. To wit:
It was their ?unique legal status? as official proponents?not an agency relationship with the people of California?that petitioners claimed ?endow[ed] them with a significantly protectable interest? in ensuring that the District Court not ?undo[ ] all that they ha[d] done in obtaining . . . enactment? of Proposition 8.... More to the point, the most basic features of an agency relationship are missing here. Agency requires more than mere authorization to assert a particular interest. ?An essential element of agency is the principal?s right to control the agent?s actions.? ... Yet petitioners answer to no one; they decide for themselves, with no review, what arguments to make and how to make them. Unlike California?s attorney general, they are not elected at regular intervals?or elected at all. ... As one amicus [brief by Walter Dellinger] explains, ?the proponents apparently have an unelected appointment for an unspecified period of time as defenders of the initiative, however and to whatever extent they choose to defend it.? ...We have never before upheld the standing of a private party to defend the constitutionality of a state statute when state officials have chosen not to. We decline to do so for the first time here. Because petitioners have not satisfied their burden to demonstrate standing to appeal the judgment of the District Court, the Ninth Circuit was without jurisdiction to consider the appeal. The judgment of the Ninth Circuit is vacated, and the case is remanded with instructions to dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.
Kennedy composed the dissenting opinion, discussing the standing question, and was joined by Alito, Thomas, and Sotomayor. Strangely, this means that the swing vote everyone was counting on, Kennedy, is here actually defending California's initiative process, but he's not exactly talking about the merits of the Prop 8 case, or gay marriage, at all. He writes:
In the end, what the Court fails to grasp or accept is the basic premise of the initiative process. And it is this. The essence of democracy is that the right to make law rests in the people and flows to the government, not the other way around. Freedom resides first in the people without need of a grant from government. The California initiative process embodies these principles and has done so for over a century.
This appears to open the door for gay marriages to resume in California, as the SF City Attorney, Dennis Herrera, is expected to discuss at a news conference this morning. Per SCOTUSblog, if you carefully read Roberts' opinion, it finds that the proponents had no standing to appeal, but it does not question their standing to bring the challenge in the original 2010 case. "The Supreme Court only found no standing by the Prop 8 proponents to appeal. It did not question the standing of the Prop. challengers to challenge the law. So the district court had jurisdiction; the court of appeals did not."
SF Mayor Ed Lee posted this simple tweet upon hearing the news:
[NYT]
[SCOTUSblog]
Additional reporting/analysis by Jay Barmann.
Source: http://sfist.com/2013/06/26/prop_8_scotus.php
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All WWE programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves, trademarks, logos and copyrights are the exclusive property of WWE, Inc. and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. ? 2013 WWE, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This website is based in the United States. By submitting personal information to this website you consent to your information being maintained in the U.S., subject to applicable U.S. laws. U.S. law may be different than the law of your home country. WrestleMania XXIX (NY/NJ) logo TM & ? 2013 WWE. All Rights Reserved. The Empire State Building design is a registered trademark and used with permission by ESBC.
Source: http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2013-06-24/is-the-paul-heyman-circle-on-the-brink-of-implosion
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By Ju-min Park and Sui-Lee Wee
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's president welcomed his South Korean counterpart on Thursday as an "old friend of China" and agreed to make a push for new talks with North Korea on Thursday as two of Asia's newest leaders met for the first time.
Park Geun-hye, one of Asia's few women leaders, took office in Seoul in February amid war threats by North Korea, while China's Xi Jinping was appointed in November and has sought to rein in the North's nuclear weapons program, backing tougher economic sanctions against Beijing's traditional ally.
"The two leaders shared a common view on denuclearizing North Korea, maintaining peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and resolving issues through dialogue and negotiations," Park's office said in a statement after they met.
China backed North Korea in the 1950-53 Korean War with late leader Mao Zedong's eldest son dying in the conflict with the South. The 60th anniversary of the end of the war is July 27.
Beijing is the main economic and diplomatic lifeline for the impoverished and isolated state, whose three nuclear weapons tests since 2006 have threatened Asia's security.
China has boosted sanctions on its ally, which this year conducted a nuclear test in defiance of international criticism. It has also closed access for North Korean banks in China.
Xi was appointed Communist Party chairman, China's most powerful position, last November and named president in March.
In April, he told an international forum in southern China that no country "should be allowed to throw a region and even the whole world into chaos for selfish gain".
While Xi did not name North Korea, his comment came amid the highest tension on the peninsula in years, with daily threats from Pyongyang to attack South Korea and the United States.
Xinhua, China's state news agency, appeared to criticize Pyongyang ahead of the visit, saying that "hard-earned trust among concerned parties has been evaporating following unfortunate incidents one after another" since 2009.
In 2009, the North walked out of denuclearization talks brokered by China, carried out its second nuclear test and in 2010 was accused of sinking a South Korean naval vessel and shelling a South Korean island.
ASIAN ECONOMIC POWERHOUSES
China, Asia's largest economy, consumes 15 percent of South Korean exports in annual trade worth $215 billion. North Korea's puny economy trades just $6 billion with China.
Park, 61, was accompanied by a hefty economic delegation from South Korea's huge industrial conglomerates, including the world's largest electronics company, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, and Hyundai Motor Co. .
The two countries' central banks extended a currency swap for 64 trillion Korean won ($55.44 billion) or 360 billion yuan, as part of a defense against financial market instability.
Unlike a military delegation sent by North Korea last month that featured aged generals bedecked with medals, Park appeared to get an enthusiastic welcome from her hosts.
"Park Geun-hye visits China" was the most searched financial and economic topic on Weibo, China's version of Twitter.
In response to an interview with Park by state broadcaster CCTV, one microblogger, Christumn, said: "I am already her fan".
By contrast, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is derided on some Chinese social media sites as "Fatty Kim".
Stylish and mild mannered, Park arrived with self-taught Mandarin skills, and received a warm welcome from state media for a trip she described as "a journey to deepen the mind and trust" between the two countries.
"The visit, which comes months after both countries saw leadership change, is expected to open a new chapter in bilateral relations," Xinhua said.
Park is to deliver an address at Tsinghua University, Xi's alma mater, on Saturday and visit the ancient capital of Xi'an, the site of major South Korean investment, including a $7 billion chip complex by Samsung Electronics.
Park, whose mother was killed by a North Korean-backed assassin, got a guarded welcome from ethnic Koreans in China.
"I feel thankful for South Korea. Its economy has grown to become one of Asia's four dragons and expanded in China... But on the other hand we want North Korea to live well," said Li Jung-ae, 49, who has a PhD in finance from Tsinghua University. ($ = 1154.5000 Korean won)
(Additional reporting by Jack Kim in SEOUL, Terril Jones and Fiona Li in BEIJING; Writing by David Chance; Editing by Ron Popeski)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-south-korea-push-north-korea-talks-110451509.html
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No word yet on whether or not Xbox Music is breaking out of its application prison and turning into a web-app, but it now has a free, ad-supported radio feature where you can start a station based on a specific artist. You know, like Pandora.
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Dog buries puppy: A video of a dog compassionately burying a puppy in Iraq has gone viral. Why?
A video of a dog compassionately burying a dead puppy has gone viral. That the video garners such attention among humans is perhaps a reflection on how we see the world ? as much as the how a canine in mourning behaves.
Skip to next paragraph Elizabeth BarberIntern
Elizabeth Barber is an intern on The Christian Science Monitor?s Web desk. She holds a master?s degree from Columbia Journalism School and a bachelor?s degree in International Relations and English from SUNY Geneseo. Before coming to the Monitor, she was a freelance reporter at DNAinfo, a New York City breaking news site. She has also been an intern at The Cambodia Daily, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and at Washington D.C.?s The Middle East Journal.
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In the video, whose title translates from Arabic to ?dog buries his son in Iraq,? a dog gently sniffs the puppy ? found in a ditch with empty water bottles ? then proceeds to tenderly bury it, nudging with his nose the sand and dirt over the little body. In the background, three men talk inaudibly in Arabic while the dog works and then call out, in English, ?thank you very much? as the dog finishes and leaves.?
The video does not give any other information about the scene, such as where exactly it was shot, who took the video, the relationship between the two dogs, or how the puppy died.
The video, posted last week to YouTube, has since gone viral. There?s nothing that web audiences like more than animals behaving like people, especially when that animal is replicating our kindest, most selfless practices. Last month, an Oklahoma zoo captured a lion and a puppy "kissing."? Last year, a video of a dog assuming maternal duties for an abandoned kitten also went viral, as did another video of a dog trying to push a dog that a car had just hit and killed out of a road. Other videos of dogs standing sentry at the graves of their owners or crying for deceased animal friends have also made the Internet rounds.
Humans have a tendency to anthropomorphize the animal kingdom. But these videos arguably offer a portrait of a moral animal who embodies the best in human behavior.
"Grief is one of the basic emotions dogs experience, just like people, Dr. Sophia Yin, a San Francisco-based veterinarian and applied animal behaviorist, told HealthDay.com. Dogs also feel fear, happiness, sadness, anger, as well as possessiveness.
While dogs do experience emotion, the recognizable behavior through which dogs express that emotion is probably learned from humans, say some scientists. Studies have found that dogs have an extraordinary capacity to learn and mimic human behavior.?Two years ago,?researchers found?that dogs learn from their owner?s facial cues to perform good behavior when their owner is watching and to save the misbehavior until their owner?s back is turned, like a wised-up child pilfering from the cookie jar.
Does that mean this dog in Iraq learned from its owners how to mourn the loss of a child? We don't know. Certainly, Iraq has been a venue for some of the worst in human behavior in recent years. But the fact that "even dogs" can express compassion is perhaps why we respond so well to such videos: They are encouraging, hopeful reminders that such actions are natural to all beings, including humans.
Jun 25, 2013 5:13pm
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has a word for conservative House Republicans.
?Crazies.?
At his weekly press availability, Reid was asked how House Speaker John Boehner will handle immigration reform ? specifically, what Senate Republican leaders voting against it will mean for future action in the GOP-controlled House.
?You?re asking me?? Reid asked. ?The speaker has said, within a period of a little over 24 hours, we?re going to pass an immigration bill. We?re going to have Democratic votes to do it. As soon as his crazies heard that, I guess they talked to him and he ? the next day he came back and he said, ?I will only pass it if I have a majority of the majority.??
Reid was referring to Boehner?s insistence that he will only bring an immigration bill to the floor if a majority of House Republicans support it.
Source: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/06/harry-reid-calls-house-republicans-crazies/
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Who likes taking out the trash? Nobody, that's who. We'll do anything we can to avoid trips to the curb, or the garbage chute, including letting it pile up for weeks on end. But a giant mountain of stinking trash in your kitchen isn't the only solution. This stainless steel trash can includes a manual compressor letting you squeeze roughly twice the amount of trash into its 10 gallon capacity.
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June 25th, 2013
The mighty Nadal has been swept out of the Wimbledon Tennis Tournament in straight sets by an unknown in the first round. Yes he has had some injuries lately, but he has been dominating clay court play for months. He could fairly point out that tennis on grass is a remarkably different sport than tennis on clay (or concrete).
Think how shocked we would be if a professional basketball team announced that they were changing the surface of their floor from wood to cement and were also going to raise their rim by six inches. We expect consistency in the conditions of basketball, ice hockey and bowling, but not tennis.
Is there a sport that allows as much variation in the game under the same name? The only one I could think of is baseball, in which a stadium can have artificial turf versus grass and the outfield fences can be arranged in a variety of ways.
Are there other examples of sports that are really multiple, different versions of a game? And are any of them as variable as is tennis?
Source: http://www.samefacts.com/2013/06/sports/multiple-sports-in-one/
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Miami Heat forward LeBron James reacts as he is introduced, Monday, June 24, 2013, during a celebration for season ticket holders at the American Airlines Arena in Miami. The Heat defeated the San Antonio Spurs 95-88 in Game 7 to win their second straight NBA championship. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
Miami Heat forward LeBron James reacts as he is introduced, Monday, June 24, 2013, during a celebration for season ticket holders at the American Airlines Arena in Miami. The Heat defeated the San Antonio Spurs 95-88 in Game 7 to win their second straight NBA championship. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
Miami Heat players laugh as they watch highlights of center Chris Bosh, right, Monday, June 24, 2013, during a celebration for season ticket holders at the American Airlines Arena in Miami. Other players from left are: Shane Battier, Juwan Howard, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Rashard Lewis. The Heat defeated the San Antonio Spurs 95-88 in Game 7 to win their second straight NBA championship. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
NBA champion Miami Heat's LeBron James, left, motions to the fans during a parade honoring the team as Juwan Howard, right, looks on in Miami, Monday, June 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Javier Galeano)
Miami Heat LeBron James, left and Dwyane Wade celebrate after defeating the San Antonio Spurs 95-88 to win their second straight NBA championship.(AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
MIAMI (AP) ? LeBron James says he is not thinking about the possibility of becoming a free agent in 2014 yet, though he does think that the opportunity to compete for several more championships with the Miami Heat is "the ultimate."
James can opt out of his contract next summer, as can Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. There's still a second straight NBA title to defend this coming season, along with a chance at making the Heat just the fourth franchise to win three consecutive championships. He also has a wedding looming this summer to his longtime girlfriend Savannah Brinson.
Asked Tuesday about continuing to play with Wade and Bosh for years to come, James says "that's the goal. That's the ultimate finish. And we all hope that can happen."
Associated PressSource: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/06/26/razor-thin-card-case-for-your-iphone/
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Chris Clark, Brad Ellis, Louie Mantia, Neven Mrgan, Rene Ritchie discuss iOS 7 and the new design language Apple unveiled for it at WWDC 2013, including icons, fonts, physics, interactions, and more. (Part 2 of a 2 part special edition.)
Yell at us on Twitter/ADN via the above accounts. Loudly.
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/tL8a_HCuqD4/story01.htm
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Trader David O''Day, left, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, June 21, 2013. Global stock markets reeled Monday, June 24, 2013 with Shanghai's index enduring its biggest loss in four years, after China allowed commercial lending rates to soar in a move analysts said was aimed at curbing a booming underground lending industry. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Trader David O''Day, left, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, June 21, 2013. Global stock markets reeled Monday, June 24, 2013 with Shanghai's index enduring its biggest loss in four years, after China allowed commercial lending rates to soar in a move analysts said was aimed at curbing a booming underground lending industry. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
A stock investor reacts near a board displaying stock prices at a brokerage house in Huaibei in central China's Anhui province Monday June 24, 2013. Global stock markets reeled Monday, with Shanghai's index enduring its biggest loss in four years, after China allowed commercial lending rates to soar in a move analysts said was aimed at curbing a booming underground lending industry. (AP Photo) CHINA OUT
NEW YORK (AP) ? The Federal Reserve's hazy timetable for winding down its stimulus programs and new signs of a cash strain in China are hammering global markets and U.S. stock futures.
Dow Jones industrial futures are down 110 points to 14,601. S&P futures have given up 13.3 points to 1,570.80. Nasdaq futures are down 16.75 points to 2,848.25.
Yields on U.S. debt are reaching levels not seen since late 2011 as markets gauge the pace at which the Fed will ease back on its bond-buying program.
And on Monday, The People's Bank of China told banks that they are on their own in securing cash. The central bank said "commercial banks should pay close attention to the market liquidity situation, to strengthen the liquidity factors analysis and forecasting."
Shares in Chinese banks plunged.
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Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/06/24/charge-up-to-six-devices-with-your-alarm-clock/
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Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Tuesday:
1. WHAT'S ANGERING THE WHITE HOUSE
Hong Kong's decision not to detain Snowden has "unquestionably" hurt relations between the U.S. and China, the Obama administration says.
2. ZIMMERMAN TRIAL OPENS WITH STARTLING LANGUAGE
The prosecution begins by repeating obscenities that the ex-neighborhood watchman uttered to a police dispatcher moments before his deadly confrontation with Trayvon Martin.
3. IMMIGRATION OVERHAUL PASSES KEY TEST
Monday's vote clears the way for Senate passage of a bill calling for more than $30 billion in new border security and a chance at citizenship for millions.
4. AFFIRMATIVE ACTION SURVIVES SUPREME COURT REVIEW
But the ruling regarding the University of Texas seems certain to generate more challenges to race-conscious admissions plans.
5. LEFT, TOO, CAME UNDER IRS SCRUTINY
The AP obtains an internal agency document showing terms such as "Progressive" and "Occupy" were used to help pick groups for closer examination.
6. 'BUNGA BUNGA' LANDS BERLUSCONI A 7-YEAR SENTENCE
Italy's ex-premier is also banned from politics for life after paying an underage prostitute for sex during one of his infamous parties, then forcing a cover-up.
7. WHY A SAFETY NET IS IN TATTERS
House investigators say Social Security is approving disability benefits at strikingly high rates, leaving the fund on the brink of insolvency.
8. SOUTH AFRICANS URGED TO PRAY FOR MANDELA
The nation's president says doctors are doing everything they can for the critically ill former leader.
9. WHICH HOLLYWOOD STAR IS DISPARAGING HIS OWN FILM
Jim Carrey says "Kick-Ass 2," in which he plays a superhero vigilante, contains violence that he cannot support after the Connecticut school shootings.
10. ANOTHER EARLY WIMBLEDON EXIT FOR NADAL
The Spaniard is bounced out in the first round by 135th-ranked Steve Darcis of Belgium. Last year, Nadal lost in the second round.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/10-things-know-tuesday-103642113.html
HONG KONG (Reuters) - A former contractor for the U.S. National Security Agency, charged by the United States with espionage, was allowed to leave Hong Kong on Sunday because the U.S. extradition request did not fully comply with the law, the Hong Kong government said.
Edward Snowden left for Moscow on Sunday and his final destination may be Ecuador or Iceland, the South China Morning Post said, a move that is bound to infuriate Washington.
U.S. authorities have charged Snowden with theft of U.S. government property, unauthorized communication of national defense information and willful communication of classified communications intelligence to an unauthorized person, with the latter two charges falling under the U.S. Espionage Act.
The United States had asked Hong Kong, a special administrative region (SAR) of China, to send him home.
"The U.S. government earlier on made a request to the HKSAR government for the issue of a provisional warrant of arrest against Mr Snowden," the Hong Kong government said in a statement.
"Since the documents provided by the U.S. government did not fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law, the HKSAR government has requested the U.S. government to provide additional information ... As the HKSAR government has yet to have sufficient information to process the request for provisional warrant of arrest, there is no legal basis to restrict Mr Snowden from leaving Hong Kong."
Hong Kong, a former British colony, reverted to Chinese rule in 1997.
The South China Morning Post earlier quoted Snowden offering new details about the United States' spy activities, including accusations of U.S. hacking of Chinese mobile telephone companies and targeting China's Tsinghua University.
Documents previously leaked by Snowden revealed that the NSA has access to vast amounts of internet data such as emails, chat rooms and video from large companies, including Facebook and Google, under a government program known as Prism.
(Writing by Nick Macfie; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/former-nsa-contractor-snowden-leaves-hong-kong-moscow-080843121.html
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? A look at key moments this past week in the wrongful death trial in Los Angeles between Michael Jackson's mother, Katherine Jackson, and concert giant AEG Live LLC, and what is expected at court in the week ahead:
THE CASE
Jackson's mother wants a jury to determine that the promoter of Jackson's planned comeback concerts didn't properly investigate Dr. Conrad Murray, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter by a criminal jury for Jackson's June 2009 death. AEG's attorney says the case is about personal choice, namely Jackson's decision to have Murray serve as his doctor and give him doses of a powerful anesthetic as a sleep aid. Millions, possibly billions, of dollars are at stake.
WHAT HAPPENED THIS PAST WEEK
? Jackson's personal chef Kai Chase told jurors about Jackson's relationship with his children as well as her impressions that the singer appeared weaker in the final weeks of his life. She recounted numerous tender moments, including a party Jackson threw for his daughter Paris on her 11th birthday, complete with a private circus.
? Charles Czeisler, an expert sleep researcher from Harvard University, told jurors that Jackson was totally sleep-deprived by the time of his death because the singer's use of propofol was not giving him actual sleep but was akin to being in a drug-induced coma.
WHAT THE JURY SAW
? Jurors got their first glimpse of Jackson's oldest children, Prince and Paris, testifying. An AEG lawyer played short clips of the pair to challenge testimony offered by Chase. The two-minute clip of Paris Jackson's testimony showed her alternately looking down and at an AEG Live attorney as she described her father's rocky relationship with her former nanny.
? The jury was shown several images related to how Jackson raised his children, including a handwritten note that Paris wrote Chase thanking her for several gifts she bought for the family while at Disneyland.
QUOTABLE MOMENTS
? "It was the most beautiful expression of love I've ever seen," Chase said about a Cirque du Soleil-style circus that Jackson hired for Paris' 11th birthday.
? "The meticulous detailing of his deterioration here was both profound and sad," Czeisler said of emails documenting Jackson's missed rehearsals and inability to perform songs and dance moves without tour worker being afraid he would hurt himself.
WHAT'S NEXT
? Jurors will hear from an expert in medical conflict of interest cases and may also hear testimony from Tim Leiweke, the former CEO of AEG Live's parent company, the Anshutz Entertainment Group. Leiweke's testimony may be shown to jurors from his videotaped deposition.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/week-8-jackson-trial-features-experts-emotion-151810969.html
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GOMA, Congo (AP) ? Congo's information minister described a recently published Amnesty International report on working conditions in the country's mines as "unfairly targeting" Chinese companies.
In a media briefing Saturday, Minister Lambert Mende said the government had taken note of the serious accusations in the report and was concerned about conditions for miners, but he questioned why Chinese firms had been singled out for criticism.
He said: "Mining companies in Katanga (the Congo's copper belt province) are of 30 different nationalities, and none of them offer their employees and clients different conditions to the Chinese companies."
The Amnesty report details three case studies including two directly involving Chinese companies. The latter cases involved the forced eviction of 300 families and a confrontation with police in which a protestor was shot dead.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/congo-defends-chinese-mining-companies-005751519.html
PARIS (Reuters) - France's Socialist government aims to introduce a law preventing online retailer Amazon from offering both discounts and free delivery for books in France, the culture minister said, arguing this amounts to unfair competition.
Aurelie Filippetti said the government was looking for the right time to introduce a ban on the practice, which book sellers say threatens their business model by allowing Amazon to undercut their prices.
"I'm in favor of ending the possibility of offering both free delivery and a five percent discount," she told BFM news television on Friday. "We need a law, so we're going to find a legislative window to introduce one."
Amazon in France declined to comment.
Filippetti's remark underscored tensions between the French government and U.S. online firms such as Amazon and Google, which have been criticized for paying too little to the creators of cultural or news content.
France, like other European countries, bans retailers from discounting books more than 5 percent from a sale price set by the publisher. This is to prevent small sellers from being crushed by giant retailers that can absorb bigger discounts.
Guillaume Husson, spokesman for the SLF book retailers' union, said Amazon's practice of bundling a 5 percent discount with free delivery amounted to selling books at a loss, which was impossible for traditional book sellers of any size.
"Today, the competition is unfair... No other book retailer, whether a small or large book or even a chain, can allow itself to lose that much money," he said, referring to Amazon's alleged losses on free delivery.
The SLF union had sued Amazon for unfair competition before a French court, and the case was still being reviewed, he added.
France settled a dispute with Google in February over whether it should pay content providers for linking to news articles, which resulted in the firm creating a 60-million-euro fund to support the press. France made a new push against Google this week, arguing it broke French privacy laws.
Filippetti's comments raised the possibility of a similar public spat with Amazon.
"This is not just in France," she said. "Amazon's behavior, and the risks it poses for the survival of a whole network of book stores and the entire chain of book production, are obvious in Britain and in the United too."
(Reporting by Nicholas Vinocur; editing by Mark Heinrich)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/france-seek-ban-amazon-bundled-discounts-free-delivery-121105790.html
By Sruthi Gottipati
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Flash floods and landslides triggered by early monsoon rains have killed at least 560 people in northern India and left tens of thousands missing, officials said on Saturday, with the death toll expected to rise significantly.
Houses and small apartment blocks on the banks of the Ganges, India's longest river and sacred to Hindus, have toppled into the rushing, swollen waters and been swept away with cars and trucks.
Thousands of military servicemen are involved in rescue operations, with air force helicopters plucking survivors, many of them Hindu pilgrims and tourists, from the foothills of the Himalayas.
About 33,000 people had been rescued so far this week, according to the home ministry. Railways were running special trains from the devastated areas to take people home.
"Whatever is humanly possible is being done," Manish Tewari, the minister of information and broadcasting, told reporters.
The rains had eased on Saturday but more rain is expected early next week.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has offered 200,000 rupees ($3,400) to each of the families of those who have lost their lives and 50,000 rupees ($840) to the injured from his national relief fund. He also pledged money to people who have lost their homes.
Singh promised 10 billion rupees ($167 million) to Uttarakhand, home to the gods in Hindu mythology and the hardest-hit state, for disaster relief.
So far, the rains have not hit the summer sowing season in northern India, as planting of rice, sugar, cotton and other agricultural produce is not yet in full swing.
Heavy rain early in the June-September season makes planting easier, but if flooding persists, stagnant water can delay sowing or damage early rice shoots.
(Additional reporting by Ratnajyoti Dutta; Editing by Nick Macfie)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/india-monsoon-floods-kill-least-560-thousands-missing-063101300.html
