     |
Long Island Medium Alfonso Ribeiro adam sandler College Football Scoreboard nfl scores nfl scores Devon Walker
Sunday, June 30, 2013
W.H.O. Issues Guidelines for Earlier H.I.V. Treatment
[unable to retrieve full-text content]The new guidelines mean that millions more people will be eligible for treatment in poor and middle-income nations that perform triage because of limited drug supplies.
Friday, June 28, 2013
Jackson's teenage son describes upbringing, death
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Michael Jackson's oldest son described the frantic efforts to revive his father to a jury, a scene of tears and agony that ended a dozen idyllic years being raised by one of pop music's superstars.
Michael Joseph "Prince" Jackson Jr. told the panel Wednesday how he knew there was trouble in the singer's rented mansion when heard screaming upstairs and went into his father's bedroom. His father was laying halfway off the bed, eyes rolled up into the back of his head as his physician tried CPR.
His sister Paris screamed for her father and Prince, now 16, told jurors that he was crying. On the ride to a hospital, the teenager recounted how he tried to calm the fears of his sister and younger brother by telling them that angels were watching over their father and everything would be fine.
It wasn't until his father's doctor, Conrad Murray, came out of the emergency room and said he had died that Prince knew his father was gone.
"Nothing will ever be the same," the teenager told jurors. He said while his younger brother doesn't totally realize the loss, his sister has had the hardest time of them all and he has had many sleepless nights since his father died four years ago.
His voice wavered at times and tears appeared to form in his eyes, but Prince remained composed as he publicly recounted for the first time what he saw the day his father died.
The re-telling of the scene in Jackson's bedroom came after nearly an hour of Prince describing happier times, showing photos of him and his sister when they were younger and a series of videos of the children filmed by their father.
He testified in a lawsuit accusing concert promoter AEG Live LLC of negligently hiring Murray, who was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter for giving Jackson an overdose of the anesthetic propofol.
AEG denies it hired the physician or bears any responsibility for the entertainer's death.
Wearing a black suit with a dark grey tie and his long brown hair tucked behind his ears, Prince testified that he saw AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips at the family's rented mansion in a heated conversation with Murray in the days before his father died. The teenager said Phillips grabbed Murray's elbow.
Phillips "looked aggressive to me," Prince testified.
His father wasn't at home at the time and was probably rehearsing, he said.
He said he saw his father cry after phone conversations with Phillips, and wanted more time to rehearse and was unhappy with pressure to perform his 50 scheduled comeback concerts titled "This Is It."
Murray's attorney Valerie Wass and AEG defense attorney Marvin S. Putnam later denied outside court that the meeting Prince described ever happened.
Putnam said Prince would be re-called to the witness stand during the defense case later in the trial.
"I think as the testimony will show when he is called in our defense that's not what happened," Putnam said. "He was a 12-year-old boy who has had to endure this great tragedy."
The testimony began with the teenager showing jurors roughly 15 minutes of private family photos and home videos.
He described growing up on Neverland Ranch and narrated videos of the property's petting zoos, amusement park and other amenities. After his father's acquittal of child molestation charges, Prince described living in the Middle East, Ireland and Las Vegas.
Prince is the first Jackson family member to testify during the trial, now in its ninth week. On Thursday his cousins, TJ and Taj Jackson, who are Tito Jackson's sons, will take the witness stand.
Prince Jackson, his sister Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson and brother Prince Michael "Blanket" Jackson are plaintiffs in the case against AEG, which their grandmother and primary caretaker filed in August 2010.
Another image showed Michael Jackson playing piano with his son while Prince was still a toddler.
Plaintiffs' attorney Brian Panish asked Prince whether he was interested in pursuing a career in music. "I can never play an instrument and I definitely cannot sing," Prince said to laughter from the jury.
He said he wanted to study film or business when he goes to college.
His testimony also included details that AEG's lawyers will likely point to later in the case to bolster their contention that Jackson was secretive about using propofol as a sleep aid.
Prince said none of the household staff were allowed upstairs at the mansion, and the singer kept his bedroom locked while receiving treatments from Murray.
During cross-examination, Putnam played a clip from a deposition of Prince in which the teen said he discovered the bedroom was locked when he and his siblings were playing hide-and-seek and couldn't get inside.
Prince also said his father gave him and his sister Paris a stack of $100 bills on a few occasions to give to Murray. He said his father told him that Murray wouldn't take the money from him, and the doctor wouldn't take the full amount from the children.
The teenager said his understanding was that the money was meant to tide Murray over until he got paid by AEG Live.
He never saw or knew how Murray was treating his father.
"I was 12. To my understanding he was supposed to make sure my dad stayed healthy," Prince testified.
___
Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jacksons-teenage-son-describes-upbringing-death-084136382.html
Anna Kendrick Allan Simonsen paula deen Super moon Super Moon June 2013 world war z discovery channel
Student loan deal seems on edge of falling apart
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Efforts to keep interest rates on new student loans from doubling appeared to be falling apart Wednesday as the Democratic leader of the Senate declared a bipartisan proposal unacceptable.
With just days to spare before a July 1 deadline sends subsidized Stafford loan rates up from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent, a group of senators from both parties announced a plan that would link interest rates on new federally backed loans to the financial markets. The deal would avert a costly rate hike for now but could spell higher rates in coming years.
The proposal seemed to stall even before it had a chance to be considered.
The chamber's top Democrat, Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, said it could never pass. The Democratic chairman of the education panel said he couldn't back a plan that doesn't include stronger protections for students and parents.
Undeterred, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said Wednesday he would introduce the legislation on Thursday, along with Republican collaborators Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina. Sen. Angus King of Maine, an independent, also signed on to the plan.
Aides to Manchin said he expected to have Democrats on board, as well.
"This deal shows the American people that bipartisanship and common sense are alive in Washington," Manchin said.
Alexander, the top Republican on the Senate education panel, said: "This proposal is fair to students and fair to taxpayers, and combines the best ideas from the president's budget, the House-passed bill and the work of this bipartisan coalition of senators. There's no reason Congress shouldn't pass it and the president shouldn't sign it before July 1."
Republicans have long sought to link student loans to the financial markets instead of letting Congress set the rates for federal lending. President Barack Obama included a variation of that market-based approach in the budget he sent to Congress earlier this year, leaving his fellow Democrats grousing and trying to thwart those efforts.
"Why Senate Democrats continue to attack the president's plan is a mystery to me, but I hope he's able to persuade them to join our bipartisan effort to assist students," said Don Stewart, a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
McConnell had kept tabs on the Manchin-led talks and GOP aides suggested the resulting proposal might be the best ? if not only ? way to the Senate to advance legislation that would prevent a rate hike that Congress' Joint Economic Committee estimated would cost the average student borrower an extra $2,600.
Under the Manchin-led deal, interest rates would be based on the 10-year Treasury note plus an added percentage rate.
For loans taken this fall, that means all undergraduate borrowers would pay 3.6 percent interest rates, graduate students would pay 5.2 percent and parents would pay 6.2 percent. In future years, those rates could climb and there was not a cap on how high they could go.
Undergraduates who receive subsidized Stafford loans make up a quarter of all borrowers and they currently pay 3.4 percent interest. Undergraduates who do receive unsubsidized Stafford loans pay 6.8 percent and make up another half of borrowers. Graduate students and parents borrow from the government at 7.9 percent interest under the current system.
But if the Congressional Budget Office estimates for 10-year Treasury notes hold, students might be better off if rates double as scheduled to do. The low-at-first undergraduate rates would rise to the current 6.8 percent for the 2017 year and reach 7.2 percent the next year under the compromise proposal.
There is no limit to how high interest rates could go.
That, Democrats and student groups have warned, will hurt students worse than no deal at all.
"Any proposal that lacks a cap is a nonstarter and indicates that its proponents are putting their ideology above students and their families," said Allison Preiss, a spokeswoman for the Democratic-led Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that Sen. Tom Harkin leads.
And a group of coalition of student groups wrote Senate leaders earlier this week: "No deal is better than a permanent bad deal."
For now, there seemed to be no vote imminent.
"There is no deal on student loans that can pass the Senate because Republicans continue to insist that we reduce the deficit on the backs of students and middle-class families, instead of closing tax loopholes for the wealthiest Americans and big corporations," said Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson. "Democrats continue to work in good faith to reach a compromise but Republicans refuse to give on this critical point."
The bipartisan proposal would save the government $960 million over a decade. Republicans have said they want any savings to go toward paying down the national deficit while Democrats insist any money generated from the program should go back to students and not to reduce red ink.
Students loans issued this year were set to bring in $51 billion net gain over the next decade.
The compromise plan would keep the cap on a students' annual loan repayment at no more than 15 percent of a graduate's income. When students start paying back their loans, they could consolidate them at a rate no higher than 8.25 percent.
The Republican-led House earlier passed legislation for student loans but let the interest rates shift every year, meaning loans taken at one interest rate to pay for freshman year could have higher rates by graduation day.
The White House threatened to veto that bill, although top officials later told lawmakers they were open to a compromise that could win congressional approval and avoid an embarrassing and avoidable rate hike.
Democrats in the Senate earlier tried to push through a measure that would extend current rates for two years while lawmakers rewrote the law that governs all higher education institutions that receive federal dollars. That process was slated to being this fall ? too late to help students returning to campus this fall.
Those efforts to keep rates at 3.4 percent fell apart under Senate rules but Senate Democrats said late Wednesday they would try again. Senate Republicans, too, failed to advance their own earlier student loan bill.
Some leaders in the Republican-led House said they were likely to pass whatever the Senate sends them. While the House already passed its own version of student loan legislation, the principles included in the Senate compromise were acceptable and GOP officials were not eager to revisit the issue.
If lawmakers don't formally act before the July 1 deadline, officials say they can pass the bill when they return from the July 4 holiday and retroactively set the rates. Officials say few students are expected to sign loan documents in July and instead were looking to finalize the aid packages closer to returning to campus in the fall.
Additionally, Obama left earlier Wednesday for a trip to Africa. He is not set to return until after the July 1 deadline and the White House is likely to want a public signing ceremony.
___
Follow Philip Elliott on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/philipelliott
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/student-loan-deal-seems-edge-202519301.html
brandon inge freedom tower freedom tower eric church world trade center quick silver where have you been rihanna
Bipartisan group opposes arming Syrian rebels
WASHINGTON (AP) ? A bipartisan group of lawmakers is pushing a resolution that would prevent President Barack Obama from arming the Syrian rebels without congressional approval.
Countering the loud Senate voices clamoring for action, the libertarian Republicans and liberal Democrats told a Capitol Hill news conference that they fear the United States being dragged into the deadly civil war that has killed more than 100,000 based on the latest estimates.
"If we intervene militarily, we will exacerbate the situation," said Rep. Chris Gibson, R-N.Y., who served more than two decades in the Army with multiple tours to Iraq and deployments to Kosovo and Haiti. He said he was concerned about the U.S. getting "sucked into a very difficult situation" when budget cuts have hit the military hard.
Democratic Rep. Peter Welch of Vermont said everyone recognizes that Syria is a humanitarian crisis as rebels have fought the regime of President Bashar Assad for more than two years. He warned, however, about "Americanizing a civil war."
The Obama administration announced earlier this month that it would start sending weapons to Syrian opposition groups, after it found conclusive evidence that Assad's regime has used chemical weapons against opposition forces. The White House said multiple chemical attacks last year with substances including the nerve agent sarin killed up to 150 people. Britain and the United States notified the United Nations of 10 different incidents of alleged chemical weapons use by the Syrian government, a U.N. diplomat said Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity because the incidents have not been publicly divulged.
The lawmakers cited Libya, where U.S. involvement helped oust strongman Moammar Gadhafi but left a lawlessness reflected in the deadly assault in Benghazi last September that killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens.
Joining Gibson and Welch on the resolution were Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Republican Rep. Walter Jones of North Carolina and Democratic Rep. Rick Nolan of Minnesota.
Asked about the legislative effort, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said it was too soon to discuss such a vote.
"I think that the United States has a strategic interest in what happens in Syria. We all would like to see Assad go. We'd also like to see a democratically elected government there," Boehner told reporters at a separate news conference. "And so for our interests and to support our allies in the region, I'm going to continue to work with the president on responsible steps that we can take to protect our interests."
On the resolution, he said, "I don't know that we are ready for that conversation because the president has not suggested any specific steps forward at this point and so there is really nothing yet to vote on."
Separately, Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Fla., a member of the House Intelligence Committee, and Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, head of the Homeland Security panel, have introduced similar legislation that would block the administration from providing weapons to the rebels unless it gets congressional approval first.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bipartisan-group-opposes-arming-syrian-rebels-162400583.html
Plumber american idol memphis grizzlies aretha franklin Beyonce Pregnant Riot Fest Granbury Tx
Thursday, June 27, 2013
President Obama Announces Emissions Regulation Plans, Congress Dithers
WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 25: U.S. President Barack Obama waves after he unveiled his climate plan June 25, 2013 at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. President Obama laid out his plan to diminish carbon pollution and prepare the country for the impacts of climate change. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
www.nytimes.com:
President Obama?s announcement on Tuesday that he will use his executive authority to regulate carbon-dioxide emissions from existing power plants, and to finalize rules for plants that have yet to be built, is reason to celebrate ? but also an occasion for mourning. The announcement reflects Congress?s refusal to pass serious laws to curb greenhouse-gas emissions. Ultimately, if America is to fully contribute to an effective global response to the perils of a warming planet, Congress must stop dithering.
Editor's Note: This was written and published by participants in the Aspen Institute Forum on Global Energy, Economy and Security.
Read the whole story at www.nytimes.com
"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });Filed by Mohini Kundu ?|?
? "; var coords = [-5, -78]; if( HPConfig.current_vertical_name == 'homepage' ) { coords = [-5, -70]; } else if( HPConfig.current_vertical_name == 'mapquest' ) { coords = [-5, -68]; } FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });?
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/26/president-obama-announces_0_n_3505562.html
pineapple upside down cake free ecards flying car masters golf tournament the replacements how to hard boil eggs new nfl uniforms
7 Steps to Simplify Social Media Strategy for Your Business | Social ...
Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.
Source: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-setup-a-social-media-business-strategy/
veterans day When Is Veterans Day 2012 brooke burke Alexa Vega Bram Stoker books Paula Broadwell Photos Veterans Day 2012
Report: Xbox Music Will Leave Its Windows 8 Prison and Hit the Web
You see, we were very fond of Xbox Music
Source: http://gizmodo.com/according-to-the-verge-microsofts-xbox-music-service-w-573329884
brandi glanville White Smoke Kwame Kilpatrick New pope 2013 good morning america earthquake california earthquake california
Russia rules out Snowden expulsion, rejects U.S. "ravings"
By Alexei Anishchuk and Thomas Grove
MOSCOW/NAANTALI, Finland (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin confirmed on Tuesday a former U.S. spy agency contractor sought by the United States was in the transit area of a Moscow airport but ruled out handing him over to Washington, dismissing U.S. criticisms as "ravings and rubbish".
In his first public comments since the fugitive flew in on Sunday, he appeared to make light of the affair around Edward Snowden, whose flight from U.S. authorities is becoming an increasing embarrassment for President Barack Obama. Asked by a journalist about the affair, he smiled fleetingly.
"I myself would prefer not to deal with these issues. It's like shearing a piglet: there's a lot of squealing, but there's little wool," he told a news conference in Finland.
His refusal to hand back Snowden risked deepening a rift with the United States that has also sucked in China and threatens relations between countries that may be essential in settling global conflicts including the Syrian war.
Putin said the 30-year-old American was in the transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport and, not having gone through passport control, was free to leave.
"The sooner he chooses his final destination, the better it would be for us and for himself," Putin said.
Snowden has applied for asylum in Ecuador but Quito has said it is still considering the application and the United States is trying to persuade the governments of countries where he might head to hand him over. His plans remain unclear.
"He has not crossed the state's border, and therefore does not need a visa. And any accusations against Russia (of aiding him) are ravings and rubbish," Putin said in response to a question at a news conference during a visit to Finland.
Washington has gone to great lengths to try to ensure Snowden has nowhere to go to seek refuge. But Putin said Russia had no extradition treaty with the United States and suggested Moscow would expel Snowden only if he were a criminal.
"Thank God, Mr Snowden committed no crimes on the territory of the Russian Federation," Putin said in the garden of a presidential residence, with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto beside him.
Putin said he hoped relations with the United States would not be affected by the affair but his words seemed to rebuff U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking only hours earlier.
"It is accurate there is not an extradition treaty between Russia and the United states, but there are standards of behaviour between sovereign nations," Kerry said, in Jeddah.
There has been speculation in the Russian media that Snowden may be talking to the FSB and could be involved in a prisoner swap. Putin said Russian security agencies "never worked with... Snowden and are not working with him today".
TALKS
The U.S. State Department said diplomats and Justice Department officials were talking to Russia, suggesting they sought a deal to secure his return to face espionage charges.
Snowden, charged with disclosing secret U.S. surveillance programmes, left Hong Kong for Moscow on Sunday and the WikiLeaks anti-secrecy group said he was headed for Ecuador.
Journalists camped out at the airport have not spotted him inside, or leaving, the transit area. He has not registered at a hotel in the transit zone, hotel sources say.
A receptionist at the Capsule Hotel "Air Express", a complex of 47 basic rooms furnished predominantly with grey carpets and grey walls, said Snowden had turned up on Sunday, looked at the price list and then left.
U.S. officials admonished Beijing and Moscow on Monday for allowing Snowden to escape their clutches but the United States' partners on the U.N. Security Council, already at odds with Washington over the conflict in Syria, hit back indignantly.
"The United States' criticism of China's central government is baseless. China absolutely cannot accept it," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in Beijing, also dismissing U.S. criticism of Hong Kong, a Chinese territory, for letting Snowden leave.
WIKILEAKS
Putin also went on to praise WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is also a fugitive from U.S. justice, and questioned whether he or Snowden should be treated as criminals.
"Ask yourself: should such people be handed over to be imprisoned or not?" said Putin, who last week was smarting at being isolated over Syria at a summit of the G8 industrial powers and sees Washington as an overzealous global policeman.
Fallout from a protracted wrangle over Snowden could be far-reaching, as Russia, the United States and China hold veto powers at the U.N. Security Council and their broad agreement could be vital to any settlement in Syria.
International mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said on Tuesday he was pessimistic an international conference on Syria could take place in July as hoped and urged Russia and the United States to help contain a conflict which has killed almost 100,000 people.
The Sheremetyevo airport transit area is Russian sovereign territory, but Russia says that in staying there Snowden has not formally entered the country. Going through passport control might implicate Putin in helping a fugitive.
Snowden is travelling on a refugee document of passage provided by Ecuador, WikiLeaks said.
U.S. officials said intelligence agencies were concerned they did not know how much sensitive material Snowden had and that he may have taken more documents than initially estimated which could get into the hands of foreign intelligence.
(This story refiles to adjust translation in paragraph 3) (Additional reporting Gabriela Baczynska and Lidia Kelly in Moscow, Alexandra Valencia in Quito, Mark Felsenthal, Paul Eckert and Mark Hosenball in Washington and Katya Golubkova in Havana, Writing by Elizabeth Piper and Timothy Heritage, editing by Ralph Boulton)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-presses-russia-mystery-over-snowden-deepens-015914306.html
camp david hawaii weather the jerk lake havasu halo 4 jewel san francisco earthquake
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Astronomers spy on galaxies in the raw
June 26, 2013 ? A CSIRO radio telescope has detected the raw material for making the first stars in galaxies that formed when the Universe was just three billion years old -- less than a quarter of its current age. This opens the way to studying how these early galaxies make their first stars.
The telescope is CSIRO's Australia Telescope Compact Array telescope near Narrabri, NSW. "It one of very few telescopes in the world that can do such difficult work, because it is both extremely sensitive and can receive radio waves of the right wavelengths," says CSIRO astronomer Professor Ron Ekers.
The raw material for making stars is cold molecular hydrogen gas, H2. It can't be detected directly but its presence is revealed by a 'tracer' gas, carbon monoxide (CO), which emits radio waves.
In one project, astronomer Dr Bjorn Emonts (CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science) and his colleagues used the Compact Array to study a massive, distant conglomerate of star-forming 'clumps' or 'proto-galaxies' that are in the process of coming together as a single massive galaxy. This structure, called the Spiderweb, lies more than ten thousand million light-years away [at a redshift of 2.16].
CSIRO's Compact Array radio telescope can detect star formation, helping to answer fundamental questions about how early galaxies started forming stars.
Dr Emonts' team found that the Spiderweb contains at least sixty thousand million [6 x 1010] times the mass of the Sun in molecular hydrogen gas, spread over a distance of almost a quarter of a million light-years. This must be the fuel for the star-formation that has been seen across the Spiderweb. "Indeed, it is enough to keep stars forming for at least another 40 million years," says Emonts.
In a second set of studies, Dr Manuel Aravena (European Southern Observatory) and colleagues measured CO, and therefore H2, in two very distant galaxies [at a redshift of 2.7].
The faint radio waves from these galaxies were amplified by the gravitational fields of other galaxies -- ones that lie between us and the distant galaxies. This process, called gravitational lensing, "acts like a magnifying lens and allows us to see even more distant objects than the Spiderweb," says Dr Aravena.
Dr Aravena's team was able to measure the amount of H2 in both galaxies they studied. For one (called SPT-S 053816-5030.8), they could also use the radio emission to make an estimate of how rapidly the galaxy is forming stars -- an estimate independent of the other ways astronomers measure this rate.
The Compact Array's ability to detect CO is due to an upgrade that has boosted its bandwidth -- the amount of radio spectrum it can see at any one time -- sixteen-fold [from 256 MHz to 4 GHz], and made it far more sensitive.
"The Compact Array complements the new ALMA telescope in Chile, which looks for the higher-frequency transitions of CO," says Ron Ekers.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/U3tDbFmAtfs/130626113656.htm
60 minutes go daddy Tom Kenny Long Island Medium Alfonso Ribeiro adam sandler College Football Scoreboard
Texas Senate Democrats prep marathon filibuster over abortion
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ? A sweeping bill that would effectively shut down most abortion clinics across the nation's second most-populous state has stalled in the Texas Senate, and a Democratic filibuster that will only need to last a seemingly manageable 13 hours Tuesday looks like it will be enough to talk the hotly contested measure to death.
After thwarting two attempts Monday by majority Republicans to bring the abortion bill to a floor vote ahead of its scheduled time Tuesday morning, Democrats are turning to Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, to stage the marathon speech.
"We want to do whatever we can for women in this state," said Sen. Kirk Watson of Austin, leader of the Senate Democrats.
The bill would ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy and force many clinics that perform the procedure to upgrade their facilities and be classified as ambulatory surgical centers. Also, doctors would be required to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles ? a tall order in rural communities.
Although Texas is just the latest of several conservative states to try to enact tough limits on abortions, the scope of its effort is notable because of the combination of bills being considered and the size of the state.
When combined in a state 773 miles wide and 790 miles long and with 26 million people, the measures would become the most stringent set of laws to impact the largest number of people in the nation.
"If this passes, abortion would be virtually banned in the state of Texas, and many women could be forced to resort to dangerous and unsafe measures," said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund and daughter of the late former Texas governor Ann Richards.
Outnumbered 19-11 ? with San Antonio Sen. Leticia Van de Putte missing to attend the funeral of her father, who died last week in a car crash ? Senate Democrats held firm Monday to their razor-thin margin of a single vote to block the bill from moving forward.
That's key since the 30-day special legislative session ends at midnight Tuesday, meaning the filibuster Democrats have promised only needs to last the better part of one day, instead of two.
Davis gave a filibuster at the end of the 2011 session to temporarily block $5.4 billion cuts to public schools, and said she was preparing for her upcoming speech but refused to say exactly how.
She will have to speak nonstop, remain standing, refrain from bathroom breaks or even leaning on anything. Other Democrats can give her voice a break by offering questions to keep conversation moving.
"Democrats chose not to negotiate, and we could not get the block undone," said Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, a Republican who controls the flow of Senate legislation. He refused to declare the issue dead ? but others were less optimistic.
Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, said the Democrats never should have been allowed to put Republicans "in a box" and complained that many in the Senate GOP were "flying by the seat of their pants."
But the bill's bogging down began with Gov. Rick Perry, who summoned lawmakers back to work immediately after the regular legislative session ended May 27, but didn't add abortion to the special session to-do list until late in the process. The Legislature can only take up issues at the governor's direction during the extra session.
Then, House Democrats succeeded in stalling nearly all night Sunday, keeping the bill from reaching the Senate until 11 a.m. Monday.
The measure only passed the lower chamber after a raucous debate that saw more than 800 women's rights activists pack the public gallery and surrounding Capitol, imploring lawmakers not to approve it.
While supporters say it will protect women's health, abortion rights groups warn the practical effect of the bill would be to shutter most abortion providers statewide ? making it very difficult for Texas women to have the procedure.
Debate ranged from lawmakers waving coat-hangers on the floor and claiming the new rules are so draconian that women are going to be forced to head to drug war-torn Mexico to have abortions, to the bill's sponsor, Republican Rep. Jodie Laubenberg of Spring, errantly suggesting that emergency room rape kits could be used to terminate pregnancies.
In the end, though, the bill passed by more than 60 votes as Republicans and some conservative Democrats approved it.
Still, Legislature rules prohibit the Senate from taking up a bill for 24 hours after it clears the House. Republicans struggled to find a way to break the Democratic roadblock, but the vote swung Monday on Sen. Eddie Lucio, a Brownsville Democrat who voted for the abortion bill when it first passed the Senate a week ago but pledged not to approve suspending the rule with Republicans unless Van de Putte was able to make it to the chamber.
She didn't show and Lucio voted with his party, despite his support for the bill.
If the abortion restrictions go down, other measures could fall with it. A proposal to fund major transportation projects as well as a bill to have Texas more closely conform with a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision banning mandatory sentences of life in prison without parole for offenders younger than 18 might not get votes. Current state law only allows a life sentence without parole for 17-year-olds convicted of capital murder.
Watson said Democrats are willing to pass the transportation and 17-year-old sentencing measures but won't budge on abortion.
"Let's get those up, let's get those out of here," Watson said. "Let's not make these victims of red-meat politics."
Patrick said that if the filibuster succeeds, he hopes Perry will summon lawmakers back for a second or even third special session.
"If the majority can't pass the legislation that they believe is important and the people believe is important," he said, "than that's of great concern to me."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/texas-senate-set-filibuster-finale-abortion-071515450.html
British Open 2012 bane Aurora Colorado Rajesh Khanna friday the 13th toy story 4 toy story 4
Jim Carrey 'Cannot Support' 'Kick-Ass 2' After Sandy Hook
Carrey tweeted that he's had a 'change of heart' about the August sequel, prompting creator Mark Millar to respond.
By Jocelyn Vena
Actor Jim Carrey attends Jane Fonda's hand and footprint ceremony at TCL Chinese Theatre on April 27, 2013 in Hollywood, California.
Photo: Getty Images
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1709455/jim-carrey-kick-ass-2-sandy-hook.jhtml
tannehill joel ward mock draft north country brian mcknight sbux nfldraft
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Taliban kill 10 foreign climbers, Pakistani guide
ISLAMABAD (AP) ? Islamic militants disguised as policemen killed 10 foreign climbers and a Pakistani guide in a brazen overnight raid against their campsite at the base of one of the world's tallest mountains in northern Pakistan, officials said.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed it carried out the attack at Nanga Parbat to avenge the death of their deputy leader in a U.S. drone strike last month.
The area has largely been peaceful, hundreds of kilometers (miles) from the Taliban's major sanctuaries along the Afghan border. But the militant group, which has been waging a bloody insurgency against the government for years, has shown it has the ability to strike almost anywhere in the country.
The Taliban began their attack by abducting two local guides to take them to the remote base camp in Gilgit-Baltisan, said Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. One guide was killed, and the other has been detained for questioning. The attackers disguised themselves by wearing uniforms used by the Gilgit Scouts, a paramilitary force that patrols the area, Khan said.
Around 15 gunmen attacked the camp at around 11 p.m. Saturday, said the Alpine Club of Pakistan, which spoke with the surviving guide, Sawal Faqir. They began by beating the mountaineers and taking away any mobile and satellite phones they could find, as well as everyone's money, said the club in a statement.
Some climbers and guides were able to run away, but those that weren't were shot dead, said the club. Faqir was able to hide a satellite phone and eventually used it to notify authorities of the attack.
Attaur Rehman, the home secretary in Gilgit-Baltistan, said 10 foreigners and one Pakistani were killed in the attack. The dead foreigners included three Ukrainians, two Slovakians, two Chinese, one Lithuanian, one Nepalese and one Chinese-American, according to Rehman and tour operators who were working with the climbers. Matt Boland, the acting spokesman at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, confirmed that an American citizen was among the dead, but could not say whether it was a dual Chinese national.
The shooting ? one of the worst attacks on foreigners in Pakistan in recent years ? occurred in a stunning part of the country that has seen little violence against tourists, although it has experienced attacks by radical Sunni Muslims on minority Shiites in recent years.
Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan claimed responsibility for the attack, saying their Jundul Hafsa faction carried out the shooting as retaliation for the death of the Taliban's deputy leader, Waliur Rehman, in a U.S. drone attack on May 29.
"By killing foreigners, we wanted to give a message to the world to play their role in bringing an end to the drone attacks," Ahsan told The Associated Press by telephone from an undisclosed location.
The U.S. insists the CIA strikes primarily kill al-Qaida and other militants who threaten the West as well as efforts to stabilize neighboring Afghanistan. In a recent speech, President Barack Obama outlined tighter restrictions on the highly secretive program.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who wants to pursue peace talks with militants threatening his country, has insisted the U.S. stop the drone strikes, saying they violate Pakistan's sovereignty and are counterproductive because they often kill innocent civilians and stoke anti-U.S. sentiment in this nation of 180 million people.
Sharif responded to the attack on the camp by vowing "such acts of cruelty and inhumanity would not be tolerated and every effort would be made to make Pakistan a safe place for tourists."
Officials expressed fear the attack would deal a serious blow to Pakistan's tourism industry, already struggling because of the high level of violence in the country.
The interior minister promised to take all measures to ensure the safety of tourists as he addressed the National Assembly, which passed a resolution condemning the attack.
"A lot of tourists come to this area in the summer, and our local people work to earn money from these people," said Syed Mehdi Shah, the chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan. "This will not only affect our area, but will adversely affect all of Pakistan."
He said the base camp was cordoned off by police and paramilitary soldiers after the attack, and a military helicopter searched the area.
Volodymyr Lakomov, the Ukrainian ambassador to Pakistan, also condemned the attack and said, "We hope Pakistani authorities will do their best to find the culprits of this crime."
Many foreign tourists stay away from Pakistan because of the country's reputation as being a dangerous place. But a relatively small number of intrepid foreigners visit Gilgit-Baltistan during the summer to marvel at the towering peaks in the Himalayan and Karakoram ranges, including K2, the second-highest mountain in the world.
A few try to climb them. The world's ninth-highest mountain, Nanga Parbat is 8,126 meters (26,660 feet) tall and is notoriously difficult to summit. It is known as the "killer mountain" because of numerous mountaineering deaths in the past.
Pakistan has very close ties with neighboring China and is sensitive to any issue that could harm the relationship. Pakistani officials have reached out to representatives from China and Ukraine to convey their sympathies, the Foreign Ministry said.
The government suspended the chief secretary and top police chief in Gilgit-Baltistan following the attack and ordered an inquiry into the incident, said Khan, the interior minister.
The shooting was one of the worst attacks on foreigners in Pakistan in the last decade. A suicide attack outside a hotel in the southern city of Karachi killed 11 French engineers in 2002. In 2009, gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team in the eastern city of Lahore, killing six Pakistani policemen, a driver and wounding several players.
___
Associated Press writer Rasool Dawar contributed to this report from Peshawar, Pakistan.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/taliban-kill-10-foreign-climbers-pakistani-guide-003952483.html
March Madness 2013 selection sunday NIT Tournament clay matthews Ncaa Tournament 2013 2013 NCAA Bracket leprechaun
Snowden heads to Venezuela via Moscow, Havana: airline source
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden will fly from Moscow to Cuba on Monday and then plans to go to Venezuela, a source at the Russian airline Aeroflot said on Sunday.
The source said Snowden was already on his way to Moscow from Hong Kong and would leave for Havana within 24 hours.
The South China Morning Post also reported that Snowden had left Hong Kong for Moscow and that his final destination might be Ecuador or Iceland. The WikiLeaks anti-secrecy website said Snowden was heading for an unnamed "democratic nation".
The flight to Moscow prompted speculation that Snowden might remain in Russia, whose leaders accuse the United States of double standards on democracy and have championed public figures who challenge Western governments.
But Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said he was unaware of Snowden's plans and the Foreign Ministry declined immediate comment on whether he had asked for asylum.
State-run news agency RIA cited an unnamed law enforcement official as saying Russian authorities had "no claims" against Snowden and that there were no orders to detain him.
Interfax news agency cited an unnamed source as saying Snowden apparently did not have a Russian visa, which U.S. citizens need to enter Russia, and that he might not leave the transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly, Gleb Stolyarov and Alexei Anishchuk,; Writing by Steve Gutterman, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/snowden-fly-venezuela-via-cuba-russia-airline-source-122956797.html
dallas weather nike nfl uniforms ben and jerrys free cone day tornado in dallas texas the island president the maldives harper lee
Blackberry releases Secure Work Space for iOS and Android
Paranoid corporate types living in fear of bring-your-own-device employees can soon relax: BlackBerry has just launched its Secure Work Space app, right on schedule. It'll allow organizations to manage and secure Google and Apple devices through BlackBerry Enterprise Service (BES) 10, which forms the mobile backbone of many a company's internal network. By using it, personnel without BlackBerry devices like the Z10 or Q10 will gain a way to check their company's calendars, email and organizers without fear of snooping. At the same time, IT types will be able to securely see, manage and update all Android and Apple devices network-wide. For its part, the Waterloo outfit should gain another source of revenue through the software (which consists of a suite of apps and BES 10.1 update), even with companies that haven't invested in its devices. For more info about the software or to grab a trial, check the source.
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Blackberry
Via: Reuters
Source: Blackberry
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/CkldB5eeMv4/
Kristen Wiig Leila Fowler Seth Meyers mothers day Mothers Day Cards Players Championship 2013 rod stewart
Can you live in America just buying 'made in the USA'?
Top Line
After a manufacturing plant closed down in his hometown of Ravenswood, W.Va., resulting in 650 people losing their jobs, Josh Miller began to wonder what was really made in America anymore.
He decided to set out on a 30-day road trip across the United States in search of answers for how to revive American manufacturing - all the while trying to survive on only goods and products stamped with ?Made in USA.?
?I really thought that I could take this opportunity to give the Made in America movement and these folks a voice,? said Miller, who documented his trip in a film, ?Made in the USA: The 30 Day Journey.?
Miller told Top Line that the Made in America movement isn?t so much about trying to get people to buy only American-made products that might be more expensive than foreign-made ones, but it?s about finding solutions to lower the prices of American-made products.
?I think there are a lot of policies that we can push to help allow our businesses here in America to help reduce costs and lower the prices,? Miller said. ?We need to put policies in place that allow us to outcompete the world, and that's what this film was about.?
While Miller hopes that Congress and the president will act to help American businesses become more competitive, his producer, Ron Newcomb, added that they also want to see less government regulation.
?They need to also get out of the way, if you will, and let Americans to do what they do best, thrive in a business environment,? Newcomb said, referring to the federal government.
But perhaps the most effective and immediate solution to create more manufacturing jobs in the United States, Miller and Newcomb said, is for the American consumer to demand it.
??It's a business aspect too,? Miller said. ?If the consumers create that demand, the businesses will meet that demand. Request it, demand it, and it will come back and jobs will come back.?
For more of the interview with Miller and Newcomb, and to hear how they say you can live by the principles of the Made in America movement without being a purist, check out this episode of Top Line.
ABC's Eric Wray, Freda Kahen Kashi, Chris Carlson, Tom D?Annibale, and Bob Bramson contributed to this episode.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/power-players-abc-news/made-usa-journey-behind-label-112854639.html
elizabeth taylor cam newton FedEx Gabriel Aubry cyber monday deals small business saturday small business saturday
Monday, June 24, 2013
Twinkies To Return To Shelves July 15, Hostess Says
NEW YORK ? Hostess is betting on a sweet comeback for Twinkies when they return to shelves next month.
The company that went bankrupt after an acrimonious fight with its unionized workers last year is back up and running under new owners and a leaner structure. It says it plans to have Twinkies and other snack cakes back on shelves starting July 15.
Based on the outpouring of nostalgia sparked by its demise, Hostess is expecting a blockbuster return next month for Twinkies and other sugary treats, such as CupCakes and Donettes. The company says the cakes will taste the same but that the boxes will now bare the tag line "The Sweetest Comeback In The History Of Ever."
"A lot of impostor products have come to the market while Hostess has been off the shelves," says Daren Metropoulos, a principal of the investment firm Metropoulos & Co., which teamed up with Apollo Global Management to buy a variety of Hostess snacks.
Hostess Brands Inc. was struggling for years before it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in early 2012. Workers blamed the troubles on years of mismanagement, as well as a failure of executives to invest in brands to keep up with changing tastes. The company said it was weighed down by higher pension and medical costs than its competitors, whose employees weren't unionized.
To steer it through its bankruptcy reorganization, Hostess hired restructuring expert Greg Rayburn as its CEO. But Rayburn ultimately failed to reach a contract agreement with its second largest union. In November, he blamed striking workers for crippling the company's ability to maintain normal production and announced that Hostess would liquidate.
The shuttering triggered a rush on Hostess snack cakes, with stores selling out of the most popular brands within hours.
About 15,000 unionized workers lost their jobs in the aftermath.
In unwinding its business, Hostess sold off its brands in chunks to different buyers. Its major bread brands including Wonder were sold to Flowers Foods, which makes Tastykakes. McKee Foods, which makes Little Debbie snack cakes, snapped up Drake's Cake, which includes Devil Dogs and Yodels.
Metropoulos & Co. and Apollo bought Twinkies and other Hostess cakes for $410 million.
Apollo Global Management, founded by Leon Black, is known for buying troubled brands then selling them for a profit; its investments include fast-food chains Carl's Jr. and Hardee's. Metropoulos & Co., which has revamped then sold off brands including Chef Boyardee and Bumble Bee, also owns Pabst Brewing Co.
That could mean some cross-promotional marketing is in store.
"There is certainly a natural association with the two," Metropoulos said. "There could be some opportunities for them to seen together."
The trimmed-down Hostess Brands LLC has a far less costly operating structure than the predecessor company. Some of the previous workers were hired back, but they're no longer unionized.
Hostess will also now deliver to warehouses that supply retailers, rather than delivering directly to stores, said Rich Seban, the president of Hostess who previously served as chief operating officer. That will greatly expand its reach, letting it deliver to dollar stores and nearly all convenience stores in the U.S.
Previously, he said Hostess was only able to reach about a third of the country's 150,000 convenience stores.
Production was also consolidated, from 11 bakery plants to four ? one each in Georgia, Kansas, Illinois and Indiana. The headquarters were moved from Texas to Kansas City, Mo., where Hostess was previously based and still had some accounting offices.
In the months since they vanished from shelves, the cakes have been getting a few touchups as well. For the CupCakes, the company is now using dark cocoa instead of milk chocolate to give them a richer, darker appearance.
Seban stressed that the changes were to improve the cakes, not to cut costs. Prices for the cakes will remain the same; a box of 10 Twinkies will cost $3.99.
Looking ahead, Seban sees Hostess expanding its product lineup. He noted that Hostess cakes are known for three basic textures: the spongy cake, the creamy filling and the thicker icing. But he said different textures ? such as crunchy ? could be introduced, as well as different flavors.
"We can have some fun with that mixture," he said.
He also said there are many trendy health attributes the company could tap into, such as gluten-free, added fiber, low sugar and low sodium.
During bankruptcy proceedings, Hostess had said that its overall sales had been declining, although the company didn't give a breakout on the performance of individual brands. But Seban is confident Twinkies will have staying power beyond its re-launch.
As for the literal shelf-life, Seban is quick to refute the snack cake's fabled indestructibility.
"Forty-five days ? that's it," he said. "They don't last forever."
___
Follow Candice Choi at www.twitter.com/candicehoi
Also on HuffPost:
"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/23/twinkies-july-return-to-shelves_n_3486930.html
alabama football sean taylor Nexus 4 Girl Meets World Jason Babin Nolan Daniels angus t. jones
Jefferies readies loans for Icahn's Dell bid: sources
By Leela Parker and Michelle Sierra
(Reuters) - Jefferies & Co will provide $5.2 billion in term loans to back Carl Icahn's bid for computer manufacturer Dell Inc, sources told Thomson Reuters LPC.
The funding will be launched on Monday at a 4:00 p.m. lender call that the billionaire investor is expected to join, the sources said.
The $5.2 billion is split between a $2.2 billion six-year term loan B-1 and a $3 billion three-year term loan B-2. The six-year tranche will have standard 1 percent amortization, while the shorter-dated tranche amortizes at 10 percent, they said.
Icahn declined to comment on details of the term loans on Friday.
As previously reported, initial price guidance in May was in the LIB+350 area, subject to change due to market conditions.
Earlier this week, Icahn repeated his interest in owning Dell, saying in a telephone interview with Thomson Reuters LPC on Tuesday that he was moving forward with his plans to line up $5.2 billion in credit facilities. His comments echoed statements he made earlier that day in an open letter to Dell shareholders.
"Nothing has changed regarding the financing," Icahn said in the interview. "We expect to have $5.2 billion in the next couple of weeks. Our investment bank is already committing $1.6 billion and my affiliates and I would provide $2 billion, if necessary."
Icahn's letter to Dell's shareholders came on the heels of a series of reports that Icahn could exit the Dell race after struggling to raise the $5.2 billion in debt he needed to back a leveraged recapitalization he proposed to Dell's board on May 9.
In May, Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management initiated talks with banks and asset managers to line up financing to back a leveraged recapitalization of Dell as an alternative to an existing buyout offer led by Dell and Silver Lake Partners for $13.65 a share, or $24.4 billion. Jefferies has already committed $1.6 billion.
FUNDING SEEN READY BEFORE JULY 18 VOTE
Icahn is expected to have the financing lined up for a July 18 shareholder vote on the Silver Lake bid.
Icahn is offering a new path for shareholders. Under the May 9 leveraged recapitalization plan, Icahn proposed giving shareholders the option of receiving either a distribution of $12 per share in cash or $12 per share in stock valued at $1.65 per share. Now, Icahn is asking that Dell shareholders agree to a tender offer for 1.1 billion shares at $14 apiece in a stock buyback.
Icahn and Southeastern, which together own about 13 percent of Dell stock, argue the Dell and Silver Lake offer of $13.65 undervalues the company and that the recent numbers reported by Dell are understated.
"Despite the company using scare tactics concerning the company's health, you cannot get away from the fact that their own consulting firm, BCG, believes the company would earn $3.3 billion for 2014," Icahn said in the interview on Tuesday. "This means the 670 million shares left outstanding after our tender will earn $3.72 per share."
Dell's proposed take-private sale price has undergone several iterations starting at $11.22 to $12.16 per share, a pricing proposed by Silver Lake in October during the early stages of the take-private conversations.
In the letter, Icahn revealed he is now Dell's second-largest shareholder after Michael Dell, after he purchased half of Southeastern's Dell shares for $13.52 apiece. That brings Icahn's total ownership to 152 million shares, or 9 percent of the company's shares.
Dell shares closed on Friday down 0.1 percent at $13.35.
(Reporting By Leela Parker, Michelle Sierra; Editing by Lynn Adler and Andre Grenon)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jefferies-readies-loans-icahns-dell-bid-sources-072940054.html
september 11 2001 blake lively Espn Fantasy Football Grandparents Day 2012 army wives 60 minutes go daddy
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Egypt Morsi Protests: Army Ready To Save Nation From 'Dark Tunnel,' Defense Minister Says
CAIRO ? Wading into an increasingly volatile fray, Egypt's military on Sunday gave the nation's Islamist rulers and their opponents a week to reach an understanding before planned June 30 opposition protests aimed at forcing out the president, in a toughly worded warning that it will intervene to stop the nation from entering a "dark tunnel."
The powerful military also gave a thinly veiled warning to President Mohammed Morsi's hard-line backers that it will step in if the mostly secular and liberal protesters, who have vowed to be peaceful, are attacked during the planned demonstrations.
In a bid to project a business-as-usual image, Morsi's office said in a statement late Sunday that the president met with the army's chief, Defense Minister Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, to discuss the "domestic scene and the government's efforts to maintain the security of the nation and the safety of its citizens." There was no mention of el-Sissi's warning.
Seeking to assert Morsi's seniority over el-Sissi ? the president is the supreme commander of the armed forces ? the brief statement, alluding to June 30, said he ordered the quick completion of plans to protect the state's strategic and vital installations.
The opposition argues that Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood, despite having won a series of elections since the 2011 revolution that ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak, have squandered their legitimacy with heavy handed misrule. It contends that the Islamists have encroached on the independence of the judiciary, sought to monopolize power, and pushed through an Islamist-backed constitution, breaking promises to seek consensus.
Morsi's supporters say the opposition has shunned his offers of dialogue and now are turning to force to remove him because they have been unable to compete at the ballot box.
On Sunday, a court compounded Morsi's troubles by saying members of his Muslim Brotherhood conspired with Hamas, Hezbollah and local militants to storm a prison in 2011 and free 34 Brotherhood leaders, including Morsi. Also, the most iconic youth figure of the 2011 revolution, Wael Ghonim, called on Morsi to step down before June 30 to prevent bloodshed.
Both sides say they intend to be peaceful on June 30, but many fear the day could descend into violence. There are worries young protesters could attack offices of the Brotherhood and its political arm, the Freedom and Justice party. Some of Morsi's hard-line supporters have vowed to "smash" the protests or have declared protesters infidels who deserve to be killed.
"Those who will spray Morsi with water will be sprayed with blood," warned one cleric.
El-Sissi, weighed in with his first public comments on the planned protests while addressing officers at a seminar Sunday.
It was his most direct warning yet that the military ? which ruled Egypt directly after Mubarak's fall until Morsi's June 30, 2012 inauguration ? could step in.
He said the country's divisions had reached a point that they were a danger to the state itself.
"Those who think that we (the military) are oblivious to the dangers that threaten the Egyptian state are mistaken. We will not remain silent while the country slips into a conflict that will be hard to control," he said in his comments, made public on the military's Facebook page.
Ostensibly, el-Sissi addressed both sides. But his demand for "genuine reconciliation" seemed to be a nod toward the opposition's stance that Morsi's past gestures of "dialogue" have been empty and a signal to him that he must make compromises.
"It is the most powerful public and direct message from the military to the president," said analyst Abdullah el-Sinnawi, thought to be close to the military. "I see this as a warning of a coup if Morsi does not find a solution."
Another analyst, Gamal Abdel-Gawad of the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic studies, said the comments signaled a change in the military's position.
"We are in a different phase now. He (el-Sissi) is giving a deadline for a solution to the president to do what he can do or else they will be forced to intervene," he said.
El-Sissi appeared to lower the threshold for what warrants intervention by the military. In earlier pronouncements, he cited the collapse or near collapse of the state.
On Sunday, however, he said the military has a "patriotic and moral responsibility" to stop Egypt from "slipping into a dark tunnel of conflict or internal fighting." He said sectarian violence and the collapse of state institutions would also justify intervention.
He urged all parties to reach a "genuine reconciliation" to defuse the crisis before June 30.
"We have a week during which a great deal can be achieved. This is a call that is only motivated by love of the nation, its presence and future," he said.
In a thinly veiled warning to Morsi's hard-line backers, el-Sissi said: "It is not honorable that we remain silent in the face of the terrorizing and scaring of our Egyptian compatriots. There is more honor in death than watching a single Egyptian harmed while the army is still around."
El-Sissi also warned that the military will no longer tolerate any "insults" to the armed forces and its leaders, apparently a reference to a series of comments by figures from the Muslim Brotherhood, from which Morsi hails, that were perceived by the military as derogatory.
After its post-Mubarak period of direct rule, the powerful military has largely stayed out of the political fray. Soon after his inauguration, Morsi pushed the military's top two generals into retirement, ending the de facto military rule of Egypt that dates back to a 1952 coup that toppled the monarchy.
Morsi appointed el-Sissi as military chief and defense minister, leading many to believe the general would be beholden to the president. But el-Sissi, through a series of subtle but telling hints, has shown a significant level of independence as well as displeasure over the policies of the Morsi administration.
Morsi's comrades in the Brotherhood have made it clear that they want the military to focus entirely on protecting the nation against outside threats, but el-Sissi has countered by making clear that maintaining the security and stability of the nation was part of the military's mandate.
Protest organizers say they will bring out crowds across the country, building on public anger over a host of problems in the country, from surging crime and rising prices to fuel shortages, power cuts and unemployment. The protests call for Morsi to step down and early elections to be held at the end of a short transitional period.
Sunday, another prominent figure from the anti-Mubarak uprising, Ghoneim, weighed in with a video posted on his Twitter account saying it was time for Morsi to go.
"I was hoping that I would thank (Morsi) for what he has done for Egypt a year after he took office. But regrettably, the conditions in Egypt now are very grave," Ghoneim said. "Please stop the strife we are approaching, for the sake of God and country, and resign before June 30."
The report issued by a court in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia added to Morsi troubles. The court statement read by judge Khaled Mahgoub named two members of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood as among the conspirators along with Hamas and Hezbollah members in an attack on Wadi el-Natroun prison on Jan. 29, 2011.
The judge said his court would refer the evidence and testimonies it gathered to prosecutors so they can start their own investigation.
Morsi and the 33 Brotherhood leaders who were in jail in 2011 have maintained that they were freed by local residents. Hamas, the Palestinian chapter of the Brotherhood, has denied involvement in the attacks on prisons.
The Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party said Sunday's court statement on the Wadi el-Natroun prison break was "void and illegal." It posted on its Twitter account that Mahgoub "will end like any other judge who did not respect the law or the constitution."
The prison breaks took place during the 18-day popular uprising that toppled Mubarak's regime. The breaks involved about 11 of Egypt's 41 prisons and led to a flood of some 23,000 criminals onto the streets, fueling a crime wave that continues to this day.
____
Associated Press reporter Maggie Michael and Tony G. Gabriel contributed to this report.
"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });
Todd Akin Register To Vote Obama 2016 Who Is Winning The Election 2012 Election Coverage 2012 Linda McMahon Voting Results 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)