Sunday, 30 June 2013

Texas Longhorns football: Austin is the best

The president of DBU has a message for the world.

This isn't a newsflash to fans of the Texas Longhorns, and particularly those who have lived in Austin or went to school at UT, but the city is pretty awesome:

Just another built-in advantage for a school that puts out defensive backs at a rate that only LSU can currently match. And over the course of the last 30 years, only Miami can contend with Texas in terms of defensive backs taken in the first round, with 12.

So, there's DBU. And the lakes. And the music. And 6th Street. And on and on.

Yeah, Austin is pretty awesome.

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Source: http://www.burntorangenation.com/football/2013/6/30/4480500/texas-longhorns-football-duane-akina-austin-is-awesome

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Egypt braces for storm of protest

By Shaimaa Fayed and Yasmine Saleh

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptians and their security forces prepared for demonstrations on Sunday that may determine their future, two years after people power toppled a dictator and ushered in a democracy crippled by bitter divisions.

Waving national flags, thousands gathered on Cairo's Tahrir Square, cradle of the 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak. They hope that, after the working day, millions will rally across the country to unseat President Mohamed Mursi - exactly a year since the Islamist became Egypt's first freely elected leader.

Across a capital eerily quiet for the start of the working week, Mursi supporters have also congregated - by a mosque not far from the suburban presidential palace. Liberal protest organizers plan to mount a sit-in outside from Sunday evening.

There was none of the street violence seen in the past week.

Interviewed by a British newspaper, Mursi repeated his determination to ride out what he sees as an undemocratic attack on his electoral legitimacy. But he also offered to revise the new, Islamist-inspired constitution, saying clauses on religious authority, which fueled liberal resentment, were not his choice.

He made a similar offer last week, after the head of the army issued a strong call for politicians to compromise. But the opposition dismissed it was too little too late. They hope Mursi will resign in the face of large numbers on the streets. Some also seem to believe the army might force the president's hand.

An economic crisis, deepened by political paralysis, has encouraged some to take to the streets in protest. But many others fear renewed unrest will only make matters worse.

Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood can hope protests fizzle out like previous outbursts. If they do not, some form of compromise, possibly arbitrated by the army, may be on the cards.

VIOLENCE

Both sides insist they plan no violence but accuse the other - and agents provocateurs from the old regime - of planning more of the street fighting that has killed several people, including an American student, and wounded hundreds over the past week.

Helicopter gunships flew over Cairo. The U.S.-equipped army, though showing little sign of wanting power, warns it may step in if deadlocked politicians let violence slip out of control.

U.S. President Barack Obama called for dialogue and warned trouble in the biggest Arab nation could unsettle an already turbulent Middle East. Washington has evacuated non-essential personnel and reinforced security at its diplomatic missions.

In an interview with London's Guardian newspaper, Mursi repeated accusations against what he sees as attempts by entrenched interests from the Mubarak era to foil his attempt to govern. But he dismissed the demands that he give up and resign.

If that became the norm, he said, "well, there will be people or opponents opposing the new president too, and a week or a month later, they will ask him to step down."

State newspaper headlines - "Egypt gripped by fear", "Egypt under the volcano" - gave the government view: that liberal opposition leaders might let loose violent remnants of the old regime to overthrow the country's first freely elected leader.

Many independent papers urged people onto the streets on the very day that Mursi completes his first year in office: "Street to Mursi: One year's enough," headlined Al-Masry Al-Youm. Others referred to what many protesters will demand: "Red card for the president". Others went simply with: "Judgment Day".

Liberal leaders say nearly half the voting population - 22 million people - has signed a petition calling for new elections, although there is no one obvious challenger to Mursi.

The opposition, fractious and defeated in a series of ballots last year, hope that by putting millions on the streets they can force Mursi to relent and hand over to a technocratic administration that can organize new elections.

"We all feel we're walking on a dead-end road and that the country will collapse," said Mohamed ElBaradei, a former U.N. nuclear watchdog chief, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and now liberal party leader in his homeland.

ARMY ROLE

Religious authorities have warned of "civil war". The army insists it will respect the "will of the people".

Islamists interpret that to mean army support for election results. Opponents believe that the army may heed the popular will as expressed on the streets, as it did in early 2011 when the generals decided Mubarak's time was up.

Among the Islamists at the camp in Cairo, Ahmed Hosny, 37, said: "I came here to say, 'We are with you Mursi, with the legitimate order and against the thugs'.

"This is our revolution and no one will take it from us."

At Tahrir Square, banners ranged from "The Revolution Goes On", "Out, Out Like Mubarak" to "Obama Backs Terrorism" - a reference to liberal anger at perceived U.S. support for Mursi's legitimacy and its criticism of protests as bad for the economy.

"I am here to bring down Mursi and the Brotherhood," said Ahmed Ali al-Badri, a feed merchant in a white robe. "Just look at this country. It's gone backwards for 20 years. There's no diesel, gasoline, electricity. Life is just too expensive."

The Egyptian army, half a million strong and financed by Washington since it backed a peace treaty with Israel three decades ago, says it has deployed to protect key installations.

Among these is the Suez Canal. Cities along the waterway vital to global trade are bastions of anti-government sentiment. A bomb killed a protester in Port Said on Friday. A police general was gunned down in Sinai, close to the Israeli border.

Mursi complains the media are vilifying him. The authorities have taken legal action against journalists and media owners, some accused of corruption, others of insulting the president.

Opponents cite that among evidence that the Brotherhood, suppressed for decades under Mubarak, aims to use its organized, vote-winning power to cement itself and its Islamic agenda deep in the state, in much the same way as the ousted leader.

Observers note similarities with protests in Turkey this month, where an Islamist prime minister with a strong electoral mandate has been confronted in the streets by angry secularists.

For many Egyptians, though, all the turmoil that has followed the Arab Spring has just made life harder. Standing by his lonely barrow at an eerily quiet downtown Cairo street market, 23-year-old Zeeka was afraid more violence was coming.

"We're not for one side or the other," he said. "If we vote for this guy he won't feed us and if we vote for the other he won't feed us either.

"What's happening now in Egypt is shameful. There is no work, thugs are everywhere ... I won't go out to any protest. It's nothing to do with me. I'm a tomato guy."

(Reporting by Asma Alsharif, Alexander Dziadosz, Shaimaa Fayed, Maggie Fick, Alastair Macdonald, Shadia Nasralla, Tom Perry and Yasmine Saleh in Cairo, Yusri Mohamed in Ismailia and Abdelrahman Youssef in Alexandria; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypt-protests-set-showdown-violence-feared-003343388.html

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Israel lawmaker emerging as main foil to Netanyahu

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) ? Danny Danon says he has no problem with his party leader, Israel's prime minister ? so long as he doesn't make peace.

The ambitious deputy defense minister isn't a household name internationally yet, but at home he has emerged as an unlikely opponent to Benjamin Netanyahu and his strongest opposition within the hawkish ruling Likud Party.

A soft-spoken lawmaker with a penchant for sharp suits, Danon is suddenly a major stumbling block toward Palestinian statehood as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry embarks on his latest push to restart long-dormant peace talks.

While Netanyahu attempts to convince the world of his peaceful intentions and sincere commitment to establishing a Palestinian state as part of a final peace settlement, Danon has repeatedly defied the prime minister's stance while generating the type of political power that could hinder Netanyahu's ability to make concessions.

His rising influence has raised Palestinian suspicions that Netanyahu is unwilling ?and unable ? to make peace. From his plush office on the 15th-floor of the gleaming, state-of-the-art Defense Ministry complex in Tel Aviv, Danon does nothing to dispel the suspicions.

"I think the prime minister knows that if he is presenting the ideology of the Likud Party we all support him," Danon said, noting that Likud has only had four leaders in its 65-year history. "It means that we do respect our leaders. But if the leader decides to go to the other direction then ... there will be changes within the Likud."

The Likud has long been the leader of Israel's nationalist camp, believing the country should control all of the biblical Land of Israel between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. But Netanyahu and other party moderates have gradually come to the conclusion that there is no choice but to divide the land between a Jewish state and a Palestinian one.

Danon, 42, is among a group of young hard-liners who rose to prominence during a Likud primary vote last year. These officials, including Deputy Foreign Minister Zeev Elkin, Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein, deputy transportation minister Tzipi Hotovely and coalition whip Yariv Levin, oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state and are strong proponents of building settlements in east Jerusalem and the West Bank. The Palestinians claim both areas, captured by Israel in the 1967 war, for their future state.

Danon, a secular father of three, is the most vocal and has become the brightest star and strongest counterforce within the party. He finished fifth in the slate of candidates chosen in last year's primary, well ahead of many party stalwarts, and this week he was overwhelmingly elected head of the Likud convention with 86 percent of the vote. On Sunday, he is expected to score another landslide victory and become chairman of the Likud Central Committee, a key position that will grant him power to set the agenda of the committee's 3,500 members and complicate any Netanyahu initiatives.

He has also generated an impressive following in America, particularly among Christian evangelicals. His recent English-language book ? "Israel: the will to prevail" ? outlines his vision of further Israeli control over the West Bank. It won't find many fans in the Obama administration, but it did receive high praise from two of Danon's closest American allies: former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee and conservative TV personality Glenn Beck.

The front page of Friday's mass-daily Yediot Ahronot points to Danon's surge to prominence at home. Under the headline "Between Kerry and Danon," a cartoon shows Danon and others pinning Netanyahu to the ground. The paper's humor column has a mock quote from Kerry saying he is optimistic his visit can help promote a "brave and effective negotiation between Netanyahu and Danny Danon."

Danon, until recently a rather anonymous backbencher, has garnered so much influence that Netanyahu's chief peace negotiator, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, recently called on the prime minister to reject "Danonism" and forge ahead toward peace. The Palestinian chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, had also cited Danon by name as someone who is killing the prospect of peace.

Danon remains undeterred and is convinced Netanyahu does not have the political backing to cede parts of the West Bank.

"I think that the majority of people, not only inside the Likud, but also within the Israeli public, will not support such a dangerous initiative," he said of a Palestinian state. "It is not just my personal opinion. I represent a lot of people ... that think like me that the idea of land for peace doesn't work anymore."

Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula following its 1979 peace accord with Egypt and made small border adjustments after signing peace with Jordan in 1994. It unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip and evacuated Jewish settlers there in 2005. But the Hamas militant group subsequently seized control of the area, and continued rocket fire out of Gaza has stoked fears that a pullout from the West Bank, located close to major Israeli cities, would bring similar and devastating results.

That withdrawal also spawned a revolt within the Likud against then-leader Ariel Sharon, who eventually bolted to establish the centrist Kadima Party. Netanyahu, who led the rebel forces, eventually took over as leader.

His party has since drifted further to the right, with Jewish settlers taking over key positions and introducing legislation that seeks to give Israel's Jewish nature precedence over its democratic nature.

Political commentator Hanan Kristal said Danon is trying to position himself as leader of the group and a potential future alternative to Netanyahu.

"Danon is Bibi from 10 years ago," he said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname. "He (Danon) is a Likudnik and he is saying what a lot of them believe. He just says it clearly and without mincing words."

Netanyahu has distanced himself from Danon, insisting his comments do not reflect government policy, but he hasn't fired him either as some have suggested he should.

Danon makes no apologies for his maverick ways.

"I don't do things to try and disturb him," he said. "We are in the same boat. I don't want everyone rowing their oars in different directions but I do try to preserve what I believe in."

With Kerry pressing hard to get Israeli and Palestinian leaders to resume peace talks that have been on hold since 2008, and Netanyahu's centrist coalition partners urging a breakthrough, the prime minister may soon be forced to choose between the unity of his government and the unity of his party.

Danon says Netanyahu is free to negotiate as he pleases, but if he ultimately reaches the contours of a deal he will have to bring it to a vote among his party and a general election for the people to decide.

"It is not the case today. It is premature to even discuss this because I don't think the prime minister is going in this direction," he said.

Others disagree. There are jitters in the party that Netanyahu is nearing the point of following in Sharon's path toward concessions. He has recently been sending signals that he is ready for compromises and has accepted the narrative of former opponents that ending the West Bank occupation is essential for Israel.

The prime minister's office refused to comment on Danon's rise in Likud. Associates, though, have been quoted anonymously in the media as saying Danon is pushing Netanyahu out of the party with an extremist hostile takeover.

"Being prime minister of Israel is a very difficult job," Danon said. "There are those who are pushing the ship in one direction and it is legitimate for people like me to pull him in a different direction. He is the captain, steering the ship. At the end of the day, the prime minister navigates."

____

Follow Heller on Twitter @aronhellerap

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israel-lawmaker-emerging-main-foil-netanyahu-072900230.html

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Violence flares in Egypt before weekend rallies

CAIRO (AP) ? Tens of thousands of supporters and opponents of President Mohammed Morsi rallied Friday in Cairo, and both sides fought each other in the second-largest city of Alexandria, where two people were killed ? including an American ? and 85 were injured, officials said.

The competing camps were trying to show their strength before even bigger nationwide protests planned by the opposition Sunday ? the first anniversary of Morsi's inauguration ? aimed at forcing his removal.

The opposition says it will bring millions into the streets across Egypt, and more violence is feared.

The Cairo International Airport was flooded with departing passengers, an exodus that officials said was unprecedented. All flights departing Friday to Europe, the U.S. and the Gulf were fully booked, they said.

Many of those leaving were families of Egyptian officials and businessmen and those of foreign and Arab League diplomats ? as well as many Egyptian Christians, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.

Opposition protesters in Alexandria broke into the local headquarters of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and set fires, throwing papers and furniture out the windows.

For several days, Brotherhood members and opponents of Morsi have battled in cities in the Nile Delta. With Friday's deaths, at least six have been killed this week.

"We must be alert lest we slide into a civil war that does not differentiate between supporters and opponents," warned Sheik Hassan al-Shafie, a senior cleric at Al-Azhar, the country's most eminent Muslim religious institution.

Morsi opponents massed in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the protests in 2011 that ousted longtime leader Hosni Mubarak. The crowd shouted, "Leave, leave" ? this time addressing Morsi. Tents were put up on the grass in the middle of the historic square.

Dozens of protesters also gathered at the gates of the presidential palace in the Heliopolis neighborhood of Cairo, urging him to resign, Egypt's state news agency reported.

At the same time, tens of thousands of Morsi supporters, mainly Islamists, filled a public square outside the Rabia el-Adawiya Mosque, not far from the palace.

"They say the revolution is in Tahrir," said young activist Abdel Rahman Ezz, a Morsi supporter who addressed the crowd. "It is true the revolution started in Tahrir. But shamefully, today the remnants of the old regime are in Tahrir. The revolutionary youth are here."

The palace is one of the sites where the opposition plans to gather Sunday and has been surrounded by concrete walls. Islamist parties have decided to hold a sit-in at nearby Rabia el-Adawiya.

In Alexandria, on the Mediterranean coast, fighting began when thousands of anti-Morsi demonstrators marched toward the Brotherhood's headquarters, where up to 1,000 supporters of the president were deployed, protecting the building.

Someone on the Islamist side opened fire with birdshot on the marchers, and the melee erupted, according to an Associated Press cameraman. Security forces fired tear gas at the Brotherhood supporters, but when the two sides continued battling, they withdrew. Protesters later broke into the building and began to trash it.

Alexandria security chief Gen. Amin Ezz Eddin told Al-Jazeera TV that an American was killed in Sidi Gabr Square while photographing the battle. The U.S. Embassy told The Associated Press it was trying to confirm the report.

A medical official said the American died of gunshot wounds at a hospital. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

The Alexandria health department reported an Egyptian also died from a gunshot wound to the head. It was not immediately known if that victim was a Morsi opponent or supporter.

The country witnessed a wave of attacks against Muslim Brotherhood offices across the country. The Brotherhood's media spokesman, Gehad el-Haddad, said on his Twitter account that eight of his group's headquarters were attacked and looted, and two were burned down.

He accused thugs, remnants of the old regime, including members of Mubarak's disbanded National Democratic Party of being behind the attacks.

Much of the violence was in the provinces of the Nile Delta, north of Cairo.

Protesters stormed an office of the Brotherhood, attacked members inside, injuring 10, and set the office on fire in the city of Shubrakheit, the state news agency said. Others stormed a Brotherhood office in the coastal city of Baltim, destroying electronic equipment, and another of the group's branches was torched in the city of Aga.

Hundreds of protesters in the city of Bassioun threw stones at Freedom and Justice Party offices, tearing down the party sign.

The Brotherhood says at least five of those killed this week were its members. Some people "think they can topple a democratically elected President by killing his support groups," el-Haddad said earlier on his Twitter account.

There were reports of violence from the Islamist side in the Delta as well.

At least six people were injured when an anti-Morsi march was attacked by the president's supporters in the city of Samanod, according to a security official. Attackers fired gunshots and threw acid at the protesters as they passed the house of a local Brotherhood leader, the official said.

In the city of Tanta, four men believed to be Morsi supporters tried to attack a mosque preacher during his sermon, in which he called on worshippers to stand with Al-Azhar's calls to avoid bloodshed.

In Qalioubia, north of Cairo, "popular committees" charged with managing traffic stopped a caravan of more than 90 Islamists heading to Cairo, according to a security official. The group, traveling in a bus and three minibuses, carried Molotov cocktails, clubs and gas cans, the official said.

One small bus escaped, but the others were turned over to police, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to talk with the press.

Each side has insisted it is peaceful and will remain so Sunday, blaming the other for violence.

Tamarod, the activist group whose anti-Morsi petition campaign evolved into Sunday's protest, said in a statement it opposed "to any attack against anybody, whatever the disagreement with this person was," and accused the Brotherhood of sparking violence to scare people from participating Sunday.

Tamarod says it has collected nearly 20 million signatures in the country of 90 million demanding Morsi step down.

"We are against Morsi because he does not govern in the name of the Egyptian people, but in the name of the Brotherhood group," said Ayed Shawqi, a teacher at an anti-Morsi rally in Alexandria.

Outside the Rabia el-Adawiya Mosque, the pro-Morsi crowd waved Egyptian flags while speakers addressed them from a stage. A banner proclaimed, "Support legitimacy," the slogan Morsi's supporters have adopted, arguing that protests must not be allowed to overturn an elected president.

They also waved the Brotherhood's flag ? a green banner with two swords ? and carried Morsi posters and portraits.

"This is a revolution, and there is no other one!" they chanted. Speakers onstage praised the military and the crowd responded with, "The army and the people are one hand," seeking to keep the military on the side of the president.

"Those who burn and those who kill are the traitors of this nation," Brotherhood preacher Safwat Hegazi told the crowd. "Mr. President, use a heavier hand, your kind heart won't be any use. ... We want to complete our revolution and purify our country."

Assem Abdel-Maged, leader of the formerly militant Gamaa Islamiya group, threatened to "sever heads" of opposition supporters if they attacked the military. Rafai Taha, one of the leading figures of Gamaa Islamiya, was also onstage, next to Brotherhood leaders.

In his Friday sermon, the cleric of Rabia el-Adawiya warned that if Morsi is ousted, "there will be no president for the country," and Egypt will descend into "opposition hell."

Pro-Morsi marchers ? many wearing green headbands with the slogans of the Muslim Brotherhood ? chanted religious slogans. "It is for God, not for position or power!" they shouted. "Raise your voice high, Egyptian: Islamic Shariah!"

The anti-Morsi demonstrators in Tahrir Square also waved Egyptian flags. They cheered, clapped, whistled and chanted, "Egypt, Egypt, Egypt. Long live Egypt!" and "The people want the fall of the regime," a phrase heard repeatedly in 2011.

One banner depicted President Barack Obama and said, "Obama supports terrorism."

___

Associated Press writer Steve Negus and Mohammed Khalil of Associated Press Television News contributed to this report from Alexandria.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/violence-flares-egypt-weekend-rallies-210916000.html

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afreena: Northern Food: Devonshire Arms, Baslow, Derbyshire

I've been pretty underwhelmed with the dining options since moving to a small town in Derbyshire. This wasn't entirely unexpected, the more rural areas of the country just can't match the offer of the cities at the budget end of the market, the end where my eating out firmly rests at the moment.?

The big northern city combo of bargain Asian restaurants and a highly competitive casual drinking and dining market mean that it's easy to eat well for under twenty quid, all in, including a drink or two. Down here there are plenty of good options in the high end pub category, but when the average main course is upwards of fifteen quid alone, you're no longer in the cheap and cheerful range.

It would be daft, of course, to criticise the Peak District for not being Sheffield or Manchester. I'm not expecting to get Vietnamese food, but what has so far been disappointing is the pub food. There are loads of non-chain pubs in the vicinity, but sadly a lot of them aren't really serving anything better than a chain, and in some cases are dishing up something far worse. Rule of thumb: if the only chicken you have is in the freezer, and it's been there for god knows how long and has gone all grey and fibrous looking, then maybe take it off the menu. Just a suggestion.

So Sunday lunch at the Devonshire Arms in Baslow came as something of a surprise. Very nice food, served by some nice people who actually seemed to give a shit. Well done them.

The Sunday roast wasn't perfect, because they never are in pubs, but it was a good effort. Thick slices of pink beef rump, good gravy, a Yorkshire pudding that was fresh and pliable rather than ancient and fractured, and accurately cooked veggies. Only the roasts were a bit of a let down, being almost devoid of roasty brown goodness.

Pudding actually was perfect, at least it was as far as I'm concerned. Lemon posset, lemon sorbet and ginger biscuits. I thought the double lemon approach might have been citrus overkill, but it wasn't, it was divine, rich and creamy offset wonderfully by sweet and sharp. And anything can be improved by the addition of ginger biscuits.

Including service we paid exactly twenty quid each for two courses and a drink or two, great value for the quality and locale. I liked it here, but I'll still have to dock them half a point for the lacklustre roast potatoes.

7.5/10

Nether End

Baslow

Derbyshire

DE45 1SR

Source: http://m62food.blogspot.com/2013/06/devonshire-arms-baslow-derbyshire.html

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Source: http://jokkanai.blogspot.com/2013/06/northern-food-devonshire-arms-baslow.html

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Plaintiffs in gay marriage case wed in SF, LA

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? The four plaintiffs in the U.S. Supreme Court case that overturned California's same-sex marriage ban tied the knot Friday, just hours after a federal appeals court freed gay couples to obtain marriage licenses in the state for the first time in 4 1/2 years.

Attorney General Kamala Harris presided at the San Francisco City Hall wedding of Kris Perry and Sandy Stier as hundreds of supporters looked on and cheered. The couple sued to overturn the state's voter-approved gay marriage ban along with Jeff Katami and Paul Zarrillo, who married at Los Angeles City Hall 90 minutes later with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa presiding.

"By joining the case against Proposition 8, they represented thousands of couples like themselves in their fight for marriage equality," Harris said during Stier and Perry's brief ceremony. "Through the ups and downs, the struggles and the triumphs, they came out victorious."

Harris declared Perry, 48, and Stier, 50, "spouses for life," but during their vows, the Berkeley couple took each other as "lawfully wedded wife." One of their twin sons served as ring-bearer.

Although the couples fought for the right to wed for years, their nuptials came together in a flurry when a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a brief order Friday afternoon dissolving a stay it had imposed on gay marriages while the lawsuit challenging the ban advanced through the courts.

Sponsors of California's same-sex marriage ban, known as Proposition 8, also were caught off-guard and complained that the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit's swift action made it more difficult for them to ask the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision.

Under Supreme Court rules, the losing side has 25 days to ask the high court to rehear the case, and Proposition 8's backers had not yet announced whether they would do so.

"The resumption of same-sex marriage this day has been obtained by illegitimate means. If our opponents rejoice in achieving their goal in a dishonorable fashion, they should be ashamed," said Andy Pugno, general counsel for a coalition of religious conservative groups that sponsored the 2008 ballot measure.

"It remains to be seen whether the fight can go on, but either way, it is a disgraceful day for California," he said.

The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Wednesday that Proposition 8's sponsors lacked standing in the case after Harris and Gov. Jerry Brown, both Democrats, refused to defend the ban in court.

The decision lets stand a trial judge's declaration that the ban violates the civil rights of gay Californians and cannot be enforced.

The Supreme Court said earlier this week that it would not finalize its ruling in the Proposition 8 case "at least" until after the 25-day period, which ends July 21.

The appeals court was widely expected to wait until the Supreme Court's judgment was official. Ninth Circuit spokesman David Madden said Friday that the panel's decision to act sooner was "unusual, but not unprecedented," although he could not recall another time the appeals court acted before receiving an official judgment from the high court.

The panel ? Judge Stephen Reinhardt, who was named to the 9th Circuit by President Jimmy Carter and has a reputation as the court's liberal lion; Judge Michael Daly Hawkins, an early appointee of President Bill Clinton; and Judge Randy Smith, the last 9th Circuit judge nominated by President George W. Bush ? decided on its own to lift the stay, Madden said.

Its order read simply, "The stay in the above matter is dissolved effective immediately."

Vikram Amar, a constitutional law professor at the University of California, Davis, said the Supreme Court's 25-day waiting period to make its decisions final isn't binding on lower courts.

"Some people may think it was in poor form, But it's not illegal," Amar said. "The appeals court may have felt that this case has dragged on long enough."

The same panel of judges ruled 2-1 last year that Proposition 8 was unconstitutional, but it kept same-sex marriages on hold while the case was appealed. But when the Supreme Court decided Proposition 8's backers couldn't defend the ban, it also wiped out the 9th Circuit's opinion.

Proposition 8 passed with 52 percent of the vote in November 2008, 4 1/2 months after same-sex marriages commenced in California the first time. The Williams Institute, a think tank at the University of California, Los Angeles, estimates 18,000 couples from around the country got married in the state during that window.

Shortly after the appeals court issued its order Friday, the governor directed California counties to resume performing same-sex marriages. A memo from the Department of Public Health said "same-sex marriage is again legal in California" and ordered county clerks to comply by making marriage licenses available to gay couples.

Given that word did not come down from the appeals court until mid-afternoon, most counties were not prepared to stay open late to accommodate potential crowds. The clerks in a few counties announced that they would stay open a few hours late Friday before reopening Monday.

A jubilant San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee announced that same-sex couples would be able to marry all weekend in his city, which is hosting its annual gay pride celebration.

___

Associated Press writers Jason Dearen, Paul Elias and Mihir Zaveri contributed to this story.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/plaintiffs-gay-marriage-case-wed-sf-la-015212241.html

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SE Asia smog 'may spark palm oil group clampdown'

The uproar over the smog blamed on the burning of Indonesian forests to clear ground for oil palm trees could prompt a clamp down on plantation groups, prompting a slowdown in output of the vegetable oil.

Indonesia's president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has already apologised to Malaysia and Singapore for the extent of the haze, which has forced hundreds of schools to close, and brought pollution levels to record highs in some area.

A Singapore pollution index, which sees anything above 300 as hazardous, reached a record 401.

The extent of the pressure on Indonesia to act to prevent further extreme smogs could prompt the country into measures to curtail the slash-and-burn agriculture strategy blamed for the extremity of this year's haze, Singapore-based broker Phillip Futures said.

Potential action

"With pressures from neighbouring countries to mitigate the haze issue, the Indonesian government might be prompted to tighten regulations on palm oil companies," Phillip Futures analyst Sim Han Qiang said.

"There is a high probability they will do something to prevent certain agricultural practices going forward," he told Agrimoney.com.

Potential measures Indonesia might adopt include removing palm oil licenses from groups deemed not to meet sustainability criteria, besides capping the number of palm oil licences issued.

"As such, the palm oil supply from the world's largest palm oil producer is likely to fall in the future," Mr Sim said.

Too big to punish?

Action to curtail palm oil production would threaten an industry which has grown into a huge earner for Indonesia, where output has soared eightfold over the last 20 years, with exports rising more than 10 times above 20.0m tonnes a year.

Indeed, the country, which overtook Malaysia around seven years ago to claim top rank in palm oil output, may baulk at cutting back on such a strong earner, an analyst at another Singapore bank said.

"The government may make a big song and dance about it, but when it comes down to actually taking action, I can't see them doing much that would really hurt the industry," the analyst said.

In Singapore too, where many leading palm oil groups are listed, "it is unlikely that they will come down hard at all on such important companies".

'Not just a supply effect'

However, Mr Sim flagged that some slowdown in Indonesian output could hold benefits to palm oil groups, in supporting prices, given a weaker demand outlook in the face of stuttering Chinese economic growth.

"There is more than just a supply effect at work in the crude palm oil market," he said.

"Demand also needs to be considered because of what is happening in China."

The economic slowdown highlighted on weak manufacturing data is "likely to affect demand for crude palm oil" from a country which is the second-ranked importer.

Corporate involvement?

A number of major palm oil groups have been accused of having a role in the forest burning behind the haze, including Sinar Mas, which is controlled by powerful Indonesian interests, Malaysia-based Sime Darby ?and Singapore-based Wilmar International.

However, these groups have said they operator strict no-burn policies, switching blame to local operators and smallholders.

Source: http://www.agrimoney.com/news/se-asia-smog-may-spark-palm-oil-group-clampdown--5989.html

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PTSD tied to raised heart disease risk

By Andrew M. Seaman

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may also be at increased risk of heart attacks and strokes, according to a new study of Vietnam War veterans.

After following nearly 300 pairs of male twins, all Vietnam vets, for more than a decade, researchers found that almost a quarter of the men diagnosed with PTSD also had heart disease, compared to less than a tenth of the men without the combat-related stress disorder.

"As time goes by, it's become more and more clear that PTSD is not just something that impacts psychological health. It has broad repercussions throughout the body," said Dr. Viola Vaccarino from the Emory University School of Public Health in Atlanta, the study's lead author.

Behavioral symptoms of PTSD include reliving the traumatic event in memories or nightmares, avoiding situations that may trigger those memories and feelings of paranoia, fearfulness and guilt, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

The symptoms tend to start shortly after a person experiences a traumatic event, such as combat, terrorist attacks, serious accidents, natural disasters and personal violence or abuse.

Physically, Vaccarino's team notes, PTSD sufferers are known to often have raised levels of stress hormones and other chemicals signaling overactivation in the fight-or-flight pathways of the nervous system.

Previous research, including one study examining U.S. veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, have found that people diagnosed with PTSD and other stress disorders are more likely to develop heart troubles (see Reuters Health story of August 5, 2009 here:).

Vaccarino said, however, that other studies found conflicting results and some relied on data from interviews and questionnaires, which may provide inaccurate information.

For its study, Vaccarino's group used data from a study of twins who were all Vietnam War veterans born between 1946 and 1956. None of the men in the new analysis had heart disease when the study started, between 1987 and 1992.

The 281 twin pairs were asked to return for follow-up exams and interviews between 2002 and 2010 - about 13 years later - and were tested to see how many of the men had developed heart disease.

Overall, 137 participants had met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD at the start of the study and 69 men developed heart disease by the time of their follow-up exam.

About 23 percent of those with PTSD had heart disease, compared to about 9 percent of those without the stress disorder.

The results translated to those with PTSD at the outset being twice as likely as men without the disorder to develop heart disease by the end of the study.

That difference remained even after the researchers accounted for the higher rates of smoking, drinking and high blood pressure among the PTSD sufferers, which could also contribute to heart risks.

Vaccarino told Reuters Health that she and her colleagues were able to confirm their findings by imaging the participants' hearts and showing reduced blood flow in the men with PTSD.

While their study cannot prove that PTSD caused heart disease in the men, she said, people should know the two conditions share an association.

"This study and the other studies provide pretty good evidence that there's an association here and it's likely to be causal, but we don't have the proof," said Dr. Stephen Sidney, director for research clinics at the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research in Oakland.

"There is enough of an association that physicians should be aware of it," said Sidney, who wrote an editorial accompanying the new study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Vaccarino said more research is needed to find out exactly how the two conditions are related, but "in the meantime, we need to act on those things that are protective against heart disease in general."

"Patients with PTSD need to realize that they need to take care of their heart, because they are at a higher risk," she said.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/11AIhhY Journal of the American College of Cardiology, online June 2013.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ptsd-tied-raised-heart-disease-risk-205231393.html

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Saturday, 29 June 2013

Obama arrives in South Africa

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? Inspired by Nelson Mandela's struggles in South Africa, a young Barack Obama joined campus protests in the U.S. against the racist rule that kept Mandela locked away in prison for nearly three decades.

Now a historic, barrier-breaking figure himself, President Obama arrived in South Africa Friday to find a country drastically transformed by Mandela's influence ? and grappling with the beloved 94-year-old's mortality.

It was unclear whether Mandela's deteriorating health would allow Obama to make a hospital visit. The former South African leader is battling a recurring lung infection and is said to be in critical condition at a hospital in the South African capital of Pretoria.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One as he made his way to Johannesburg, Obama said he would gauge the situation after he arrived.

"I don't need a photo-op," he said. "And the last thing I want to do is to be in any way obtrusive at a time when the family is concerned about Nelson Mandela's condition."

Obama's visit to South Africa is seen as something of a tribute to the man who helped inspire his own political activism. The president will pay homage to Mandela at Robben Island, the prison where he spent 18 of his 27 years in prison. And with South Africa's ruling party, the African National Congress, facing questions about its effectiveness, Obama will urge the government and the South African people to live up to the democratic example set by their first black president.

"He's a personal hero, but I don't think I'm unique in that regard," Obama said during a news conference Thursday in Senegal, the first stop on his weeklong Africa trip. "I think he's a hero for the world. And if and when he passes from this place, one thing I think we'll all know is that his legacy is one that will linger on throughout the ages."

Obama and Mandela have met just once, a hastily arranged meeting in a Washington hotel room in 2005 when Obama was a U.S. senator. A photo of the meeting hangs in Obama's personal office at the White House, showing a smiling Mandela sitting on a chair, his legs outstretched, as the young senator reaches down to shake his hand. A copy of the photo also hangs in Mandela's office in Johannesburg.

Since then, the two have spoken occasionally by telephone, including after the 2008 election, when Mandela called Obama to congratulate him on his victory. The U.S. president called Mandela in 2010 after the South African leader's young granddaughter was killed in a car accident. Obama also wrote the introduction to Mandela's memoir, "Conversations With Myself."

Despite the two men's infrequent contact, people close to Obama say his one-on-one meeting with Mandela left a lasting impression.

"He is one of the few people who the president has respected and admired from afar who, when he met him, exceeded his expectations," said Valerie Jarrett, Obama's senior adviser and close friend.

Obama's own political rise has drawn inevitable comparisons to the South African leader. Both are Nobel Peace Prize winners and the first black men elected to lead their countries.

But their paths to power have been vastly different. While Mandela fought to end an oppressive government from the confines of a prison cell, Obama attended elite schools and rose through the U.S. political system before running for president.

"President Obama would believe that the challenges he has faced pale in comparison to those faced by President Mandela," Jarrett said.

Mandela had already shaped Obama's political beliefs well before their first encounter. As a student at Occidental College in Los Angeles, Obama joined protests against the school's investments during South Africa's apartheid era. In 1981, Obama focused his first public political speech on the topic.

"It's happening an ocean away," Obama said, according to a retelling of the story in his memoir "Dreams From My Father." ''But it's a struggle that touches each and every one of us. Whether we know it or not. Whether we want it or not."

More than 30 years later, as he traveled through the African continent, Obama recalled the influence Mandela had had on him during that period of his life.

"I think at that time I didn't necessarily imagine that Nelson Mandela might be released," Obama said Thursday. But the president said he had read Mandela's writings and speeches and understood him to be a man who believed in "treating people equally and was willing to sacrifice his life for that belief."

Following his release from prison, Mandela was elected president in 1994 during South Africa's first all-races elections. He served just one term, focusing in large part on racial reconciliation in the post-apartheid era, and retreated from public life several years ago.

The most recent images of him depict a frail man apparently approaching the end of his life. While South Africans have long been loath to talk about Mandela's inevitable death, there is now a growing sense in the country that the time is near. Well-wishers have delivered flowers and messages of support to the Pretoria hospital where he is being treated, and prayer sessions have been held around the country.

___

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

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obamas-ties-mandela-loom-over-africa-visit-173837509.html

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15 Lessons Learned From 'Miss Congeniality': An Appreciation In GIFs

This weekend Sandra Bullock returns to the realm of crime-fighting comedy with "The Heat," her new film with Melissa McCarthy, but seeing the Oscar winner with a gun and a badge has us reminiscing about the movie that started it all, the gem that is "Miss Congeniality." In the 13 years since the story of [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2013/06/28/miss-congeniality-gifs/

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Obama tells leaders to follow Mandela's example

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? President Barack Obama encouraged leaders in Africa and around the world Saturday to follow former South African President Nelson Mandela's example of country before self, as the U.S. president prepared to pay personal respects to relatives who have been gathered around the critically ill anti-apartheid icon.

"We as leaders occupy these spaces temporarily and we don't get so deluded that we think the fate of our country doesn't depend on how long we stay in office," Obama said.

Obama spoke at a news conference with South African President Jacob Zuma in the midst of a weeklong tour of the continent that also included stops in Senegal and Tanzania. But many other African nations are embroiled in religious, sectarian and other conflicts.

Obama decided to avoid stopping in his father's home nation of Kenya because of international disputes there. The International Criminal Court is prosecuting Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta for crimes against humanity, including murder, deportation, rape, persecution and inhumane acts allegedly committed by his supporters in the violent aftermath of Kenya's 2007 elections.

"The timing was not right for me as the president of the United States to be visiting Kenya when those issues are still being worked on, and hopefully at some point resolved," Obama said. He noted he's visited Kenya several times previously and expects he will as well in the future.

Obama and Zuma appeared at the Union Buildings that house government offices and the site of Mandela's 1994 inauguration as the country's first black president after 27 years behind bars for his activism.

The 94-year-old Mandela has been in a nearby hospital for three weeks after being admitted with a lung infection. Zuma told reporters that Mandela is in critical but stable condition and the whole nation is praying that he will improve.

Obama and his wife visited with some of Mandela's relatives Saturday at the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, part of the former president's foundation. The White House didn't say which relatives were meeting with Obama. In accordance with the family's wishes, Obama doesn't plan to visit with Mandela.

Obama revered Mandela as "one of the greatest people in history," referred to him by his clan name as he praised South Africa's historic integration from white racist rule as a shining beacon for the world.

"The struggle here against apartheid for freedom, Madiba's moral courage, this country's historic transition to a free and democratic nation has been a personal inspiration to me, it has been an inspiration to the world," Obama said.

"The outpouring of love that we've seen in recent days shows that the triumph of Nelson Mandela and this nation speaks to something very deep in the human spirit, the yearning for justice and dignity that transcends boundaries of race and class and faith and country," Obama said. "That's what Nelson Mandela represents, that's what South African at its best represents to the world, and that's what brings me back here."

Zuma told Obama he and Mandela are "bound by history as the first black presidents of your respective countries."

"Thus, you both carry the dreams of millions of people in Africa and in the diaspora who were previously oppressed," Zuma said, reading from a prepared statement.

On other topics, Obama declined to commit to supporting South Africa's bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. He said the U.N.'s structure needs to be updated and it would be "odd" for an expanded Security Council not to have African representation.

"How we do that and what fashion is complicated, it's difficult and it involves all kinds of politics," Obama said.

"Everybody wants a seat at the table, but when it comes time to step up and show responsibility, sometimes people want to be free riders," Obama said, adding he wasn't referring to South Africa specifically.

Zuma responded that he wishes the process of change at the U.N. would speed up.

Obama also said he wants to boost trade with Africa and plans to renegotiate an African trade pact to improve it for American businesses. He said he welcomes competition from other nations who have been aggressive in pursuing commercial opportunities in Africa, including China.

"I don't feel threatened by it. I think it's a good thing," he said. He added: "Our only advice is make sure it's a good deal for Africa." He said that includes making sure foreign investment employs Africans and doesn't tolerate corruption or take its natural resources without compensation for Africans.

Obama also is paying tribute to South Africa's fight against apartheid by visiting the Soweto area Saturday afternoon for a town hall with students at the University of Johannesburg. At least 176 young people were killed in Soweto township 27 years ago this month during a youth protest against the apartheid regime's ban against teaching local Bantu languages. The Soweto Uprising catalyzed international support against apartheid, and June is now recognized as Youth Month in South Africa.

The university plans to bestow an honorary law degree on the U.S. president.

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

"People died in Libya. People are still dying in Syria," said 54-year-old Ramasimong Tsokolibane. "In Egypt, in Afghanistan in Pakistan drones are still killing people. So that's why we are calling him a Hitler. He's a killer."

Obama has been trying to inspire the continent's youth to become civically active and part of a new democratically minded generation. Obama hosted young leaders from more than 40 African countries at the White House in 2010 and challenged them to bring change to their countries by standing up for freedom, openness and peaceful disagreement.

Obama wraps up his South Africa stay Sunday, when he plans to give a sweeping speech on U.S.-Africa policy at the University of Cape Town and take his family to Robben Island to tour the prison where Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years behind bars.

Obama has visited the island before, but said it's a particular privilege to bring his daughters back to learn its lessons.

___

Associated Press Television News reporter Bram Janssen contributed to this report.

Follow Nedra Pickler on Twitter at https://twitter.com/nedrapickler and Julie Pace at https://twitter.com/jpacedc

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-tells-leaders-mandelas-example-112000386.html

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Celebrities That Were Caught Making Racist Comments (VIDEOS)

Celebrities That Were Caught Making Racist Comments (VIDEOS)

Paris Hilton talks about Thanksgiving Day plansSome of these celebrities really need to think before they speak. Paula Deen has been in the spotlight recently for using a racial slur 30 years ago, but wait until you check out some of these celebrity comments. Yikes! The latest celebrity to be skewered in the media for using the N-word 30 years ago ...

Celebrities That Were Caught Making Racist Comments (VIDEOS) Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/06/celebrities-that-were-caught-making-racist-comments-videos/

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Obama's environmental nominee in jeopardy from Senate Republicans

By Valerie Volcovici

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama made a plea this week for the U.S. Senate to confirm his choice to head the agency that will oversee the core of his new climate change plan, but nominee Gina McCarthy's prospects seem increasingly in doubt.

McCarthy was nominated by Obama in March to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency where she is currently the top air quality official.

She has yet to receive a vote in the full U.S. Senate after narrowly being approved by the Senate Committee for the Environment and Public Works on a party-line vote.

In his speech Tuesday laying out a climate action plan, Obama said McCarthy was well qualified for the job and has bipartisan credentials. The Senate should confirm her "without any further obstruction or delay," Obama said.

McCarthy has worked for several Republican governors, including 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney when he was governor of Massachusetts. She was seen by many as a choice that could work with lawmakers from both parties.

But many Republicans are bitterly against proposed new regulations from the EPA on coal-fired power plants and could seek to block McCarthy's confirmation.

"Sad to say, but I think (Obama) may have effectively sacrificed her confirmation," said Manik Roy, vice president for strategic outreach for the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions.

McCarthy has received public support from industry representatives and environmental groups alike for her ability to navigate political divisions.

Roy and other analysts have said opposition to her confirmation has less to do with her and more to do with ideological opposition to regulation.

Republican Senator Roy Blunt maintains a hold on her nomination over a river project in his state, while members of the Senate environmental committee continue to press McCarthy and the EPA over the transparency of the agency's emails and the economic analysis that goes into its rulemaking.

Reaction by some Senate Republicans to Obama's climate plan signal a tough fight for McCarthy.

Republican Senator John Barrasso said regulations targeting coal-powered plants will strangle the economy. And he suggested McCarthy had lied when asked at her confirmation hearing in April about the agency's plans to regulate existing power plants.

"The agency is not currently developing any existing source greenhouse gas regulations for power plants," McCarthy told the panel.

Speaking on the Senate floor, Barrasso said, "She has recently reported to the Senate that the things the president is talking about today are things she has known nothing about. So either she was ignorant about what's going on at EPA, a place where she's been an assistant director for the last four years, or she is arrogant.

"Either way, I think this tarnishes her chances of being approved by the Senate, tarnishes her nomination."

Senator Barbara Boxer, the Democrat who chairs the environment panel, told reporters last week that she will lead a public campaign for McCarthy.

Roy said that even if the current acting administrator, Bob Perciasepe, stays on in his role, McCarthy will be able to take the lead on Obama's climate agenda.

Allison Macfarlane, another member of Obama's energy team, was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday to a full term as chairwoman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which she has led since July 2012.

(This story is corrected with spelling to Senator Roy Blunt, not Blount, paragraph 10)

(Additional reporting by Douwe Miedema, Editing by Ros Krasny and Eric Walsh)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obamas-environmental-nominee-jeopardy-senate-republicans-003855744.html

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Judge: Hobby Lobby won't have to pay fines

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) ? Hobby Lobby and a sister company will not be subject to $1.3 million in daily fines for failing to provide access to certain forms of birth control through its employees' health care plans, a judge ruled Friday.

U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton set a hearing for July 19 to address claims by the owners of Hobby Lobby and the Mardel Christian bookstore chains that their religious beliefs are so deeply rooted that providing every form of birth control would violate their conscience. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had said Thursday the companies were likely to prevail.

Until the hearing, the government cannot impose fines against Hobby Lobby or Mardel for failing to comply with all of the federal Affordable Care Act. The companies oppose birth-control methods that can prevent implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus, such as an intrauterine device or the morning-after pill.

"The opinion makes it very clear what is a valid religious belief and what is not," said Emily Hardman, spokeswoman for The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. The group is representing the companies and their owners, the Green family.

Heaton asked the government and the companies to seek some sort of solution before July 19, given that the 10th Circuit has already cleared the way for the companies to challenge the law on religious grounds. Hardman said Thursday's ruling, while not binding beyond the states in the 10th Circuit, could benefit others, such as Catholic hospitals, that oppose all forms of birth control.

"We got a fantastic opinion from the 10th Circuit, which will impact all the cases," she said.

The companies had faced fines totaling $1.3 million daily beginning Monday. The appeals court on Thursday suggested the companies shouldn't have to pay the fines effective Monday, but there were unresolved questions. Heaton resolved those Friday in the companies' favor: that they would suffer consequences and that an injunction was in the public interest.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/judge-hobby-lobby-wont-pay-fines-205227917.html

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Obama's ties to Mandela loom over S. Africa visit

FILE - This two-picture combination of file photos shows Nelson Mandela on Aug. 8, 2012, left, and President Barack Obama on May 31, 2013. It was as a college student that President Barack Obama began to find his political voice. Inspired by Nelson Mandela?s struggle against South Africa?s apartheid government, the young Obama joined campus protests against the white racist rule that kept Mandela locked away in prison for nearly three decades. Now a historic, barrier-breaking figure himself, Obama will arrive in South Africa Friday to find a country drastically transformed by Mandela?s influence, and a nation grappling with the beloved 94-year-old?s mortality. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - This two-picture combination of file photos shows Nelson Mandela on Aug. 8, 2012, left, and President Barack Obama on May 31, 2013. It was as a college student that President Barack Obama began to find his political voice. Inspired by Nelson Mandela?s struggle against South Africa?s apartheid government, the young Obama joined campus protests against the white racist rule that kept Mandela locked away in prison for nearly three decades. Now a historic, barrier-breaking figure himself, Obama will arrive in South Africa Friday to find a country drastically transformed by Mandela?s influence, and a nation grappling with the beloved 94-year-old?s mortality. (AP Photo/File)

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? Inspired by Nelson Mandela's struggles in South Africa, a young Barack Obama joined campus protests in the U.S. against the racist rule that kept Mandela locked away in prison for nearly three decades.

Now a historic, barrier-breaking figure himself, President Obama arrived in South Africa Friday to find a country drastically transformed by Mandela's influence ? and grappling with the beloved 94-year-old's mortality.

It was unclear whether Mandela's deteriorating health would allow Obama to make a hospital visit. The former South African leader is battling a recurring lung infection and is said to be in critical condition at a hospital in the South African capital of Pretoria.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One as he made his way to Johannesburg, Obama said he would gauge the situation after he arrived.

"I don't need a photo-op," he said. "And the last thing I want to do is to be in any way obtrusive at a time when the family is concerned about Nelson Mandela's condition."

Obama's visit to South Africa is seen as something of a tribute to the man who helped inspire his own political activism. The president will pay homage to Mandela at Robben Island, the prison where he spent 18 of his 27 years in prison. And with South Africa's ruling party, the African National Congress, facing questions about its effectiveness, Obama will urge the government and the South African people to live up to the democratic example set by their first black president.

"He's a personal hero, but I don't think I'm unique in that regard," Obama said during a news conference Thursday in Senegal, the first stop on his weeklong Africa trip. "I think he's a hero for the world. And if and when he passes from this place, one thing I think we'll all know is that his legacy is one that will linger on throughout the ages."

Obama and Mandela have met just once, a hastily arranged meeting in a Washington hotel room in 2005 when Obama was a U.S. senator. A photo of the meeting hangs in Obama's personal office at the White House, showing a smiling Mandela sitting on a chair, his legs outstretched, as the young senator reaches down to shake his hand. A copy of the photo also hangs in Mandela's office in Johannesburg.

Since then, the two have spoken occasionally by telephone, including after the 2008 election, when Mandela called Obama to congratulate him on his victory. The U.S. president called Mandela in 2010 after the South African leader's young granddaughter was killed in a car accident. Obama also wrote the introduction to Mandela's memoir, "Conversations With Myself."

Despite the two men's infrequent contact, people close to Obama say his one-on-one meeting with Mandela left a lasting impression.

"He is one of the few people who the president has respected and admired from afar who, when he met him, exceeded his expectations," said Valerie Jarrett, Obama's senior adviser and close friend.

Obama's own political rise has drawn inevitable comparisons to the South African leader. Both are Nobel Peace Prize winners and the first black men elected to lead their countries.

But their paths to power have been vastly different. While Mandela fought to end an oppressive government from the confines of a prison cell, Obama attended elite schools and rose through the U.S. political system before running for president.

"President Obama would believe that the challenges he has faced pale in comparison to those faced by President Mandela," Jarrett said.

Mandela had already shaped Obama's political beliefs well before their first encounter. As a student at Occidental College in Los Angeles, Obama joined protests against the school's investments during South Africa's apartheid era. In 1981, Obama focused his first public political speech on the topic.

"It's happening an ocean away," Obama said, according to a retelling of the story in his memoir "Dreams From My Father." ''But it's a struggle that touches each and every one of us. Whether we know it or not. Whether we want it or not."

More than 30 years later, as he traveled through the African continent, Obama recalled the influence Mandela had had on him during that period of his life.

"I think at that time I didn't necessarily imagine that Nelson Mandela might be released," Obama said Thursday. But the president said he had read Mandela's writings and speeches and understood him to be a man who believed in "treating people equally and was willing to sacrifice his life for that belief."

Following his release from prison, Mandela was elected president in 1994 during South Africa's first all-races elections. He served just one term, focusing in large part on racial reconciliation in the post-apartheid era, and retreated from public life several years ago.

The most recent images of him depict a frail man apparently approaching the end of his life. While South Africans have long been loath to talk about Mandela's inevitable death, there is now a growing sense in the country that the time is near. Well-wishers have delivered flowers and messages of support to the Pretoria hospital where he is being treated, and prayer sessions have been held around the country.

___

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

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-06-28-Obama-Mandela/id-3b3d98ba8fa346018a8b6af8252031e8

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RBS to decide on branch sale plan in July - sources

By Matt Scuffham

LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland will make a decision on how to offload hundreds of branches it has been ordered to sell by European regulators in the next month, industry sources told Reuters on Friday.

RBS is preparing the business, code named Rainbow, for a stock market flotation but is open to the idea of first selling substantial stakes to strategic investors prior to an initial public offering. The investor would then stay on as a dominant force in the floated company after the IPO.

The bank must sell 315 branches as a condition of receiving a 45.5 billion pound government rescue in 2008 which left it 82 percent state-owned.

Industry sources said RBS is considering proposals from 3 sets of investors who could serve as the strategic partner.

One consortium is led by private equity firms Centerbridge and Corsair and has backing from the Church of England's investment fund, while another comprises several of Britain's biggest investment firms and is led by former Tesco finance director, Andy Higginson.

A third proposal has been submitted by British private equity firm Anacap Financial Partners, in conjunction with U.S. private equity group, Blackstone . RBS could also pursue a stock market flotation of the branches on its own without having additional investors on board, the sources said.

RBS is not yet favouring a particular proposal.

"All bids have their merits and it is too early to say which bidder is most likely to succeed," said one source close to the sale process.

RBS is aiming to tell potential investors what its plans are in the next month, the sources said, although that timetable is not set in stone.

An IPO could happen any time in the next two years, the sources said, but the bank would like to go earlier to avoid competing against a glut of impending bank share sales.

The government is planning to start selling its shares in Lloyds Banking Group soon while Lloyds is looking to spin off 630 branches via a stock market flotation.

The deal adds to an increasingly busy block of UK bank assets seeking investment or new capital over the next year, raising questions of whether the market will be swallow everything.

Spain's Santander and Virgin Money, the financial group that is part of Richard Branson's empire, are both planning to float their UK businesses.

The sale of the RBS branches was halted in October when Santander pulled out of a deal to buy the whole portfolio for 1.65 billion pounds. RBS has said a sale this year is now unlikely, meaning it will have to ask European regulators to extend a December 2013 deadline.

(Additional reporting by Laura Noonan; editing by Patrick Graham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rbs-decide-branch-sale-plan-july-sources-145011672.html

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Friday, 28 June 2013

Envoy says U.S. loses trust in Hong Kong after Snowden

By Greg Torode

HONG KONG (Reuters) - The top U.S. diplomat in Hong Kong warned on Thursday of a "big struggle" ahead to repair Washington's trust in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory after the flight of fugitive spy agency contractor Edward Snowden.

Speaking publicly for the first time since Snowden flew from Hong Kong to Moscow on Sunday despite a U.S. request to hold him to face charges of espionage, Consul General Stephen Young told Reuters that Washington's confidence was "shaken".

"My point is simple - I've spent three years working for good relationship between Hong Kong and the U.S. and we've had a loss of trust at this point," said Young, who is due to retire later this year.

Re-building that trust, he said, "is not going to be easy because you have President (Barack) Obama's administration just starting its second term so it is not like you can say: 'We'll wait for these guys to change'."

Young did not specify how any deterioration in ties would play out but added: "I'll say specifically in law enforcement co-operation - where we have a whole series of agreements, and protocols and practices - our confidence has been shaken."

The United States and Hong Kong have enjoyed strong ties under the "one country, two systems" system that has underpinned the former British colony since it was handed over to China 16 years ago.

U.S. multinationals have a strong presence in the city while U.S. warships are frequent visitors to its highly-strategic port on the South China Sea.

Young had repeatedly praised Hong Kong officials and the strength of their ties with the United States in recent speeches, before Snowden's revelations about the scope of Washington's electronic surveillance systems.

In Washington, officials have admonished China for letting Snowden escape, but Young said he was not so worried about the broader U.S.-China relationship, given its importance and opportunities for dialogue.

"But in U.S.-Hong Kong terms, it is a bigger struggle because people in Washington don't usually wake up thinking of Hong Kong but now they do, and it is in a negative sense," he said.

Young's comments come as Hong Kong and Washington officials continue a war of words over the back-room maneuvering ahead of Snowden's departure.

U.S. Department of Justice officials have accused Hong Kong of having feigned confusion over Snowden's middle name to avoid detaining him before he fled to Russia.

They were responding to statements from Hong Kong's Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen that his officials had to wait for clarification of Snowden's middle name and passport number in U.S. documents before detaining him at Washington's request.

The U.S. authorities used the middle name James in some documents for Snowden, while a U.S. Justice Department document referred to him as Edward J. Snowden, Yuen said.

But Hong Kong immigration records showed Snowden's name as "Edward Joseph Snowden."

"These three names weren't completely the same, so we felt that there was a need for clarification. Otherwise when we issued the provisional arrest warrant, it could have caused legal problems," Yuen said.

Before any clarification could be given, Snowden left. He has asked Ecuador for asylum and is now in a transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport.

(Additional reporting by Lavinia Mo; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/envoy-says-u-loses-trust-hong-kong-snowden-103658847.html

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'Django' Stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Foxx Rechained For WB Crime Movie

By Jeff Sneider

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - "Django Unchained" stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Jamie Foxx are set to play bad-ass detectives in "Mean Business on North Ganson Street," an adaptation of S. Craig Zahler's upcoming crime novel that has just been acquired by Warner Bros.

Zahler ("The Brigands of Rattleborge") will write the script, and DiCaprio will produce with his Appian Way partner Jennifer Davisson Killoran.

"Mean Business" marks the first major deal made by Greg Silverman since he was promoted to run the studio's worldwide feature film production arm in the wake of Jeff Robinov's departure.

Story follows a disgraced detective (DiCaprio) who is sent to Victory, Missouri, where violent crime is skyrocketing. He's partnered with another detective (Foxx) who was demoted for brutalizing a suspect. When police officers start showing up dead, they get to work on finding the person responsible for declaring open season on Victory's police department.

Foxx next stars opposite Channing Tatum in "White House Down," which opens on Friday, while DiCaprio will soon be seen in Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street."

Zahler is prepping to direct "Bone Tomahawk," which stars Kurt Russell and Timothy Olyphant.

Deadline broke the news.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/django-stars-leonardo-dicaprio-jamie-foxx-rechained-wb-000935396.html

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