Friday, February 22, 2013

The Bachelor: Sean Lowe Fantasy Suite Rejection Ahead?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/02/the-bachelor-sean-lowe-fantasy-suite-rejection-ahead/

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Rape and killing of 3 sisters shock India

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REUTERS

A demonstrator stands on a pavement near paintings by other demonstrators, as she listens to a speaker during a protest near India's parliament in New Delhi on February 21, 2013.

?New Delhi - Police say investigators are searching villages in western India for suspects in the rape and killing of three young sisters.

The killing of the girls aged 7, 9 and 11 last week has horrified Indians still angry over the gang rape and killing of a student on a moving bus in New Delhi in December. The youngest girl had earlier been erroneously identified by Indian news reports as a 5-year-old.

The girls' bodies were found six days ago in a village well in Bhandara district in Maharashtra after they had gone missing from school.

The victims' mother said police did not take the case seriously and did nothing for several days until villagers held protests.

Police officer Abhinav Deshmukh said Friday that 30 investigators are now working on the case. - Sapa-AP

Source: http://www.iol.co.za/rape-and-killing-of-3-sisters-shock-india-1.1475552

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Thursday, February 21, 2013

Report: Orlando Magic trade guard JJ Redick to Milwaukee Bucks, NBA sources tell @YahooSports

With the prospect of losing guard J.J. Redick to free agency this summer the Orlando Magic traded him to the Milwaukee Bucks, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

The Bucks sent the Magic Doron Lamb, Tobias Harris and Beno Udrih for Redick. Gustavo Ayon and Ish Smith were sent to Milwaukee as part of the deal for Redick.

The Magic also traded forward Josh McRoberts to the Charlotte Bobcats for forward Hakim Warrick, a league source told Y! Sports' Marc Spears.

The Bucks have a serious interest in re-signing Redick to a contract this summer. With an increased role this season, Redick has averaged a career-high 15.1 points.

Redick, 28, was a popular player for the Magic, who drafted him 11th overall in 2006 after a storied career at Duke. After entering the NBA as strictly a shooter, Redick has developed into a respected all-around player and will be a significant commodity on the free-agent market this summer.

Other popular content on Yahoo! Sports:
? Movie about Bruce Lee's most legendary fight is in the works
? Manti Te'o, quarterbacks can't falter at NFL scouting combine
? Diamondbacks donate $5,000 after fire guts Arizona Little League

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--bucks-acquire-j-j--redick-from-magic-200520815.html

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From Lincoln to Argo, Oscar goes to Washington

Top Line

'Washington is Hollywood for ugly people,' so the saying goes. By that standard, the nation's capital should look a bit prettier come Sunday's Oscars. This is a bumper year for Washington, with a trio of movies that have the capital at their core: "Argo", "Zero Dark Thirty", and "Lincoln." And of course it wouldn't be Washington if there weren't a bit of controversy around these films.

Each has been criticized for its accuracy. In "Argo," there is a climactic chase scene that never happened; "Zero Dark Thirty" portrays torture as a useful tool in the hunt for bin Laden, contradicting the Senate; and in "Lincoln," the Connecticut delegation votes against abolishing slavery, which was not the case.

But the controversy around "Zero Dark Thirty" is the most serious, it has the most policy implications. The movie seems to take a side on the raging debate over torture techniques that were outlawed by President Obama. Despite what the filmmakers say, it is clear that the narrative of the film is that torture worked, and helped get bin Laden.

One thing that all three films got right is their portrayals of the Washington middle man. In all three movies, it was the people in the middle, the bureaucrats, and the middle managers who were getting things done. "Argo" was not about President Jimmy Carter authorizing an operation, "Lincoln" wasn't even just about President Abraham Lincoln giving soaring speeches, and certainly, 'Zero Dark Thirty" wasn't about high-powered people with big titles attached to their names. These were movies about the grunt men -- and that really is the way Washington works.

For more of this special Oscar episode, including the one thing "Lincoln" got right that the other Washington films did not, check out this week's Top Line.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/power-players-abc-news/oscar-goes-washington-130104510.html

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PastaGate: Buonanotte Restaurant In Quebec Targeted For Too Many Italian Words On Menu (TWEETS)

Buonanotte restaurant, located in French-speaking Quebec, Canada, recently came under fire for using the words "pasta" and "calamari" on its menu, reports CBC. The reason? The words aren't paired with French translations on the menu, and that's a problem for Quebec's office of French language (OQLF).

CBC reported that the restaurant's owner, Massimo Lecas, was told by authorities that Italian words such as "bottiglia," "pasta" and "antipasto" should all have a French translation on the menu. He also claimed that he was told to translate the Italian words for meatball and calamari into French.

As the news (and outcry!) spread, the OQLF backed down a bit from the original claims. The office admitted that the requests were perhaps "overzealous" and explained that the inquiry began due to a citizen's complaint. Appearing on CJAD radio, Martin Bergeron of the OQLF explained that in order to promote French among the public, official policy says that the most predominant language on a menu must be French. Italian words are welcome to appear, but just not as frequently as French ones.

While Lecas' restaurant might be able to keep using the word "pasta," the social media damage has already been done. A parody Twitter account, @QuebecPasta, has been created, as well as a #pastagate hashtag. A few of our favorites:

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/pastagate-buonanotte-restaurant-quebec-menu_n_2733933.html

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Survey: 75 percent of workers who applied for jobs didn't hear back from employers

Survey: 75 percent of workers who applied for jobs didn't hear back from employers

February 20, 2013 Updated Feb 20, 2013 at 2:38 PM EST

(CareerBuilder news release) Job hunting can be a frustrating process especially if you have no idea whether the employer made a decision or even saw your application.

More than one in four workers reported that they have had a bad experience when applying for a job.

The vast majority (75 percent) of workers who applied to jobs using various resources in the last year said they never heard back from the employer, according to a nationwide CareerBuilder survey.
?

Read the entire news release from CareerBuilder HERE.

Source: http://www.wbng.com/news/state/192093401.html

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Coursera Adds 29 Schools, 90 Courses And 4 New Languages To Its Online Learning Platform

Screen shot 2013-02-20 at 3.01.00 PMIt’s almost as if there’s an arms race in online education. Which MOOC platform can expand the fastest? Place your bets now. On the heels of edX’s announcement that it will be expanding internationally with the addition of six new schools (bringing its total to 12), Coursera is doing some addition of its own. Today, the massive online course platform announced that 29 universities from around the globe have agreed to bring their courses online (for free) via Coursera. The new members will join the 33 institutions already on board, bringing Coursera’s grand total to 62. And, of course, just as edX was kicking back to celebrate its five new handpicked international members, Coursera announces that its updated roster just so happens to include 16 international institutions itself. The international expansion of both Coursera and edX is a big win for international students, who (at least in Coursera’s case) now have access to courses in multiple languages, including French, Spanish, Chinese and Italian. Of course, international expansion is also an important part of the roadmap for edX and Coursera (and online learning sites like Lynda.com as well) and could be a boon for both, exposing a whole new audience of potential MOOC adopters to courses from some of the most reputed schools in the world. While edX is a not-for-profit organization, Coursera is decidedly for-profit and, though it has plenty of venture capital in the bank, will need to continue scaling if it hopes to become a sustainable business over the long-term. To do that, as part of the introduction of 29 new schools to its platform, Coursera is also expanding its course offerings by subject, adding 90 new courses to bring its total to 313 courses in all. “With the addition of so many new courses across a wide range of disciplines, languages and academic approaches, we are now able to meet the needs of a more diverse student body, and give students more academic options to explore,” Coursera co-founder Andrew Ng said as part of the announcement. Since launching in April 2012, Coursera has registered 2.8 million students and is now seeing around 1.4 million course enrollments each month. Lately, Coursera has been taking some pronounced steps to begin monetizing its growing user base as well, launching Career Services in December — an opt-in recruiting program that matches students with employers — and adding Verified Certificates in January

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/ICsX5Xuxdxw/

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Wednesday, February 20, 2013

The Happiest and Saddest Places in the Country as Told by Your Tweets

Louisiana residents probably won't be too pleased to hear the following news, which, for them, won't really be a change of pace at all. According to a team at the very not-real-sounding Vermont Complex Systems Center and based on what is surely a totally objective and not-at-all arbitrary analysis of tweets, Louisiana is understandably (Katrina, blacking out the Super Bowl, being notoriously obese) the saddest state while Hawaii (sunshine, pineapple, knowing they bestowed Manti Te'o unto the world) is the happiest. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/duSPbyBrsNs/the-happiest-and-saddest-places-in-the-country-as-told-by-your-tweets

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Two new stores coming to Charlotte-area, bringing jobs

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV)- Academy Sports? + Outdoors will open two new Charlotte-area stores on March 8, 2013. One store will open in Concord and the other in Kannapolis.

Each of the 71,000 square-foot stores will be staffed with approximately 150 associates.

The Concord store will open at 8675 Concord Mills Boulevard, near Concord Mills Mall. The Kannapolis store will open at 2211 Elder Lane.

"We could not be more excited to add two new stores to this area for customers to shop our wide selection of products at our everyday low prices," says Kevin Chapman, Academy Sports + Outdoors executive vice president of stores. "As we continue our expansion in this region, we look forward to being active members of the Charlotte community for years to come."

Academy is a sports, outdoor, and lifestyle retailer. The company says it is committed to community involvement, including support of local youth sports leagues, conservation groups, regional sports teams, and more.

Both stores will cut their ceremonial ribbons on Thursday, March 7 during a private ceremony where they will also donate $100 shopping sprees to 100 total children from the Boys & Girls Club of Cabarrus County and the Cannon Memorial YMCA ? Kannapolis Branch. Both events are private.

Following the openings to the public; Academy will host a three-day grand opening celebration starting at 8 a.m. on Friday, March 22 at both new stores. Amongst the several giveaways at each store will be a free pair of Crocs to the first 100 customers in line that Friday morning. The celebration will continue throughout the weekend and will feature other giveaways from brands like Adidas, Callaway and Wrangler, product try-ons, interactive demos, product displays, games for the whole family, plus opportunities to interact with pros who represent top brands sold at Academy Sports + Outdoors.

Academy opened its first Charlotte-area store in Rock Hill, SC in March 2012, followed by its Hickory, NC opening this past September. With the addition of the two new stores, the company will have brought a total of 550 new jobs to the region in the past year.

Copyright 2013 WBTV. All rights reserved.

Source: http://rockhill.wbtv.com/news/news/78662-two-new-stores-coming-charlotte-area-bringing-jobs

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Tuesday, February 19, 2013

When Foreign Policy Goals Exceed Military Capacity, Call The ...

The Pentagon, headquarters of the United States Department of Defense.

The Pentagon, headquarters of the United States Department of Defense.


By Published by the Foreign Policy Research Institute -- (February 18, 2013)

By Derek S. Reveron

With dozens of treaty allies and a strategic priority of promoting the sovereignty of weak states, the U.S. military has been gradually shifting from a force designed for confrontation to one intended to promote international cooperation. To be sure, the U.S. military retains a technical and doctrinal advantage as a warfighting entity. However, over the past two decades, the military has been incorporating new organizations, doctrine, and training to prioritize efforts to prevent war through security force assistance. This has shifted focus to weak states where sub-national (e.g., gangs in Central America) and trans-national security challenges (e.g., al-Qa?ida) jeopardize sovereignty and regional stability.[1] Consequently, countries such as the Philippines, Georgia, Colombia, Uganda, and Pakistan have requested security assistance from the United States. While level of support varies, U.S. forces are enabling partner countries to combat challenges that threaten their own stability.

This shift in focus has raised concerns about the ?militarization of U.S. foreign policy,? which began in the 1990s with the recognition that combatant commanders are as much policy entrepreneurs as they are war fighters.[2] Generals like Tony Zinni or Wesley Clark epitomized the new breed of warrior-diplomat who directly engaged with foreign heads of state.[3] Far from rogue generals, these military leaders were directed by President Bill Clinton to engage with the world and promote security by assisting partners and assuring allies in a security environment freed from the Cold War dynamic. President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama continued the practice of using the military to assist almost every government of the world. As Administrations from both parties came to value the military?s capabilities in peace and war, some contended that defense overshadowed (if not displaced) traditional diplomacy and development efforts.[4] Within defense circles, critics assumed that helping weak states jeopardized American military dominance and undercut preparations for major war.[5] More recently, critics highlight that in an era of declining budgets, the United States military cannot afford nor overcome unintended consequences of attempting to be a ?global force for good.?[6] These are valid concerns, but the United States shows no signs of retreating from a global leadership role and instead seeks partnerships as a key component of U.S. strategy.

With shared challenges of terrorism and nuclear proliferation, and shared goals of development and protecting human security, there are unprecedented levels of international cooperation to share information, target terrorists, and provide governments the tools they need to confront national threats before they become regional ones. This is on display in Afghanistan where 50 countries operate under the ISAF flag, or in the Indian Ocean where 27 countries operate as Combined Maritime Forces. At the center of the coalitions is a U.S.-sponsored framework to enable partners to contribute to international security.

President Barack Obama intends to continue the American tradition of enabling partners throughout the globe. As he noted in his second inaugural address, ?America will remain the anchor of strong alliances in every corner of the globe. And we will renew those institutions that extend our capacity to manage crisis abroad. For no one has a greater stake in a peaceful world than its most powerful nation.? By training and equipping other militaries, the goal is to reduce U.S. American military presence internationally and allow others to provide for their own security. This has positive benefits not only for the U.S. defense budget (e.g., an Afghan soldier costs hundreds per month compared to an American soldier who costs thousands per month), but also for international security. While my earlier book Exporting Security explains why the United States assists governments from Afghanistan to Zambia, an overlooked area is security assistance provided to developed countries.

CAPACITY MATTERS

As France recently learned in Mali, while it has capable ground forces and aircraft, it has limited ability to sustain these forces just 2,000 miles from home. To support its foreign policy agenda, France needed the United States Air Force to fly its forces and refuel its attack aircraft. As the operation continues, the United States will probably provide intelligence for French and African forces as they shift to stability operations.

Counterterrorism can certainly explain U.S. intervention in Mali; however, enabling French success explains the timeline. More importantly, the case of U.S.-supported French intervention in Mali is illustrative of the role the United States plays in supporting developed countries. France is the latest developed country to need U.S. assistance, but requests like this are common. This is true for almost every one of the 50 countries serving in Afghanistan today, as it was true with European countries in the Balkans, Australian forces in East Timor, and British forces in West Africa. These examples highlight that the foreign policy goals of many developed countries exceed their military capacity, which requires them to rely on the U.S. military for assistance. As developed countries? defense budgets fall further, reliance on the United States is going to increase. This remains a decades-old frustration. Most recently, the NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said, ?There is a lower limit on how little we can spend on defense, while living up to our responsibilities.?[7]

Pragmatically, the United States would like its partners to do more, but shared challenges and limited budgets will reinforce the value of American logistics, combat experience, and intelligence capacity. Further, American support of other countries reinforces the treaty arrangements with 27 NATO countries and five Asian countries. Twenty years ago, there seemed to be little relevance to these treaties and security arrangements, let alone a rationale for invoking them or expanding them. Yet, the opposite occurred. NATO increased its membership three times from 16 to 19 in 1999, again to 26 in 2006, and again to 28 in 2009. At the same time the number of NATO members increased, NATO changed from its traditional mission of territorial defense to one of global security engagement. With each expansion, new members require training and equipping to NATO standards. With each new operation, NATO countries require access to U.S. intelligence, critical technology, and global logistics.

In addition to formal treaties of alliance, an additional dozen countries are offered protection under the U.S. security umbrella either by law, such as the Taiwan Relations Act or by policy such as United States? support for Israel.[8] These protections include provisions to train and equip their militaries. Another dozen countries are offered special security provisions through Major Non-NATO Ally (MNNA) status. MNNA does not confer a mutual defense relationship, but the largely symbolic act implies a close working relationship with another country?s defense forces.[9] It is more akin to a preferred buyer?s program allowing countries like Australia, Japan, and South Korea access to advanced weapons systems. With weapons purchases also come long-term training and maintenance contracts. From a U.S. perspective, it has a comparative advantage in defense exports; strategically, programs like these are intended to overcome the free-rider problem the United States faces with its partners.[10] For every Joint Strike Fighter Japan buys, the United States can deploy one less to northeast Asia.

Given the diplomatic nature of these security partnerships, the Department of State?s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs focuses these activities, regulates the defense trade and arms transfers to reinforce the military capabilities of friends, allies, and coalition partners, and ensures that the transfer of U.S.-origin defense equipment and technology supports U.S. national security interests. Further, the Bureau promotes regional security through bilateral and multilateral cooperation and dialogue, as well as through the provision of security assistance to friendly countries and international peacekeeping efforts. The overall goals of security assistance include creating favorable military balances of power (e.g., selling weapons and training to Saudi Arabia to balance Iran), advancing areas of mutual defense or security arrangements (e.g., collaborating with Japan on missile defense technology), building allied and friendly military capabilities for self-defense and multinational operations (e.g., South Korea), and preventing crisis and conflict (e.g., facilitating Colombia?s success against the decades-old FARC insurgency). Historically, Israel has been the largest recipient of security assistance and its neighbor Egypt benefited from its recognition of Israel and the Camp David Accords.[11] Given its proximity to the United States and challenges with drug trafficking organizations, Mexico has recently emerged as a top recipient of security assistance. Given the history of American military interventions in Mexico, this has required new efforts to build trust to reassure the government that it seeks to strengthen it and not undermine it.[12]

One reason the United States concentrates assistance on just a few countries is to promote particular countries as regional leaders. In practice, this means that Jordan hosts an international special operations exercise, peace operations training center, and an international police training center. Or in Latin America, Colombia provides helicopter training for regional militaries and El Salvador hosts a regional peacekeeping institute, attracting military personnel from countries throughout the Western Hemisphere. Given the significant U.S. investment in Afghanistan?s military and police training infrastructure, it is likely that Afghanistan could eventually host regional training if the insurgency subsides to acceptable levels. This approach not only strengthens key partners, but it also reduces the need for American presence and the negative attention it sometimes generates. We see the benefits of this today where U.S.-trained Colombian pilots are training Mexican pilots in Colombia.

Table 1: Top Recipients of U.S. International Assistance (Account 150)

Fiscal Year 2011 ($ in thousands) [13]
? Non-Security Security
Overall Assistance Assistance
Israel Afghanistan Israel
Afghanistan Pakistan Egypt
Pakistan Ethiopia Afghanistan
Egypt Kenya Pakistan
Kenya Nigeria Jordan
Ethiopia South Africa Colombia
Jordan Tanzania West Bank and Gaza
Nigeria Uganda Iraq
South Africa West Bank and Gaza Mexico
West Bank and Gaza Mozambique Lebanon

?

In addition to the Department of State budget for security assistance, the Defense Department directly funds security assistance through section 1206/7 and other command funds such as Commander?s Emergency Response Program. This authority did provoke more concern about militarizing foreign policy; however, this only makes up about $1 billion annually, which is less than 15 percent of security assistance funded by the State Department. Further, U.S. ambassadors must approve all programs. Thus, the Department of State exerts considerable control of programs at both budgetary and implementation levels through the embassy country team.

CHANGING ROLE OF THE MILITARY

With national security focused on weak states and persistent security concerns among stable allies like South Korea, the U.S. military has been changing over the last 20 years from a force of confrontation to one of cooperation. The military has learned that partnership is better than clientism and is adapting its command structure once optimized for waging major combat to one that is focused on conflict prevention. There is still a tremendous warfighting capability in the U.S. military, but coalition warfare is the norm and developing compatible warfighting partners is a key goal of this cooperative strategy. In some sense, this turns the idea of militarization of foreign policy on its head; the Pentagon is being demilitarized and valued for its ability to impart military capabilities to U.S. partners.

Given the current structure of the international system and technological advances, the United States does not need partners in the same way as it did in the past where they provided direct benefits through coaling stations, maintenance facilities, or large bases. While the number of forward bases is still substantial, the number of forward deployed forces are greatly reduced. More importantly, the nature of the presence has changed; the United States aspires to create true partners that can confront their own threats to internal stability (e.g., assistance to Colombia?s military) or alleviate security dilemmas (e.g., future basing in Australia). It also seeks to foster independence by training and equipping militaries to support the global demand for peacekeepers.[14] The United States certainly gets increased access to countries around the world through these programs, but given the overwhelming military dominance of the United States, it does not abuse these relationships or ignore seemingly insignificant states. Instead, it seeks to create partners where sovereignty is respected and all parties derive benefits. The latest example of this is U.S. withdrawal from Iraq as dictated by a U.S.-Iraqi agreement.

While the Defense Department?s capacity certainly explains why international assistance missions increasingly have a military face, it is also essential to understand that there is a global demand for U.S. security assistance. The Defense Department has recognized that there are limits to what it can do; the military wants and needs partners from across the government, allies and private organizations. Unfortunately, these ideas remain stunted in the broader foreign policy community that gets easily overwhelmed by the size of the Defense Department?s resources. For critics, U.S. military activities in permissive environments bring old memories of invasion or coup. For them, U.S. foreign policy is on a dangerous militarization path. While that part of U.S. military history is real and still resonates in many parts of the world, it is wrong to overlook the changes that have occurred over the last two decades. Further, it is wrong to overlook the significant demands developed countries place on the United States.


Derek Reveron is a professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. These views are his own and do not represent official policy. He can be reached at www.usnwc.edu/derekreveron.

NOTES:

[1] Stephen D. Krasner and Carlos Pascual, ?Addressing State Failure,? Foreign Affairs, Vol. 84, No. 4, (July/August 2005).

[2] Derek S. Reveron (ed.), America?s Viceroys: The U.S. Military and Foreign Policy (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2004).

[3] Dana Priest, The Mission: Waging War and Keeping Peace with America?s Military, (New York: WW Norton, 2004).

[4] Hilary Rodham Clinton, ?Leading through Civilian Power,? Foreign Affairs, November/December 2010. http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/66799/hillary-rodham-clinton/lead?

[5] Gian Gentile, ?COIN is Dead: U.S. Army Must Put Strategy over Tactics,? World Politics Review, November 22, 2011. http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/10731/coin-is-dead-u-s-army-?

[6] Gordon Adams, ?Continental Shift: Why the Pentagon Should Pay Less Attention to Africa,? Foreignpolicy.com, January 25, 2013. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/01/25/continental_shift?wp_lo?

[7] Quoted in ?In Europe, a Moment of Truth on Defense,? Wall Street Journal, January 31, 2013.

[8] Congress enacted the Taiwan Relations Act ?to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social or economic system, of the people on Taiwan.? Taiwan Relations Act, Public Law 96-8, April 10, 1979.

[9] Title 10 U.S. Code Section 2350a authorizes the Secretary of Defense, with the concurrence of the Secretary of State, to designate MNNAs for purposes of participating with the Department of Defense (DOD) in cooperative research and development programs. MNNA Status does not entail the same mutual defense and security guarantees afforded to NATO members. Status makes a nation eligible for priority delivery of excess defense articles, buy depleted uranium ammunition, have U.S.-owned War Reserve Stockpiles on its territory, enter into agreements with the USG for the cooperative furnishing of training on a bilateral or multilateral basis under reciprocal financial arrangements, use U.S. provided Foreign Military Financing for commercial leasing of certain defense articles, makes a country eligible for loans of materials, supplies and equipment for cooperative R&D projects and testing and evaluation, and makes a country eligible for expedited processing of export licenses of commercial satellites, their technologies, components, and systems.

[10] U.S. military spending is the highest in the world at about 4.5 percent of GDP; most European countries spend just under two percent. Only six countries meet the NATO target of two percent of GDP to support defense.

[11] Given the Arab Awakening and long-term challenges of U.S.-Israel relations this may be changing.

[12] The Marine Corps hymn remembers past invasions of Mexico: ?From the Halls of Montezuma??

[13] Derived from Department of State, FY2011 International Assistance Summary Tables. These data do not include supplemental funds or programs funded outside the Department of State. Regional designations are based on the Department of State?s regional boundaries that vary slightly from the Defense Department?s boundaries.

[14] See Global Peacekeeping Operations Initiative (GPOI) at the Department of State. http://www.state.gov/t/pm/ppa/gpoi

Source: http://www.albanytribune.com/18022013-when-foreign-policy-goals-exceed-military-capacity-call-the-pentagon-analysis/

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NBC hires former Obama strategist

FILE - This Jan. 19, 2012 file photo shows David Axelrod, former senior advisor to President Barack Obama, speaking during a panel discussion, "2012: The Path to the Presidency", at the University of Chicago in Chicago. Axelrod has landed a new job at NBC News. The network said Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013, that Axelrod is joining as a senior political analyst. He'll contribute to broadcasts on both NBC News and the cable network MSNBC. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, file)

FILE - This Jan. 19, 2012 file photo shows David Axelrod, former senior advisor to President Barack Obama, speaking during a panel discussion, "2012: The Path to the Presidency", at the University of Chicago in Chicago. Axelrod has landed a new job at NBC News. The network said Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013, that Axelrod is joining as a senior political analyst. He'll contribute to broadcasts on both NBC News and the cable network MSNBC. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, file)

NEW YORK (AP) ? David Axelrod, former strategist and aide to President Obama, has landed a new job at NBC News.

The network said Tuesday that Axelrod is joining as a senior political analyst. He'll contribute to broadcasts on both NBC News and the cable network MSNBC.

Axelrod helped run Obama's successful campaigns in 2008 and 2012 and worked as an adviser to the president during his first term. The former political writer and columnist for the Chicago Tribune started his own political and media consulting firm in 1984.

NBC already employs Steve Schmidt, a top adviser to Obama's 2008 opponent John McCain, as an analyst.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-02-19-TV-NBC-Axelrod/id-86d294042d7c44e9bb54d10f73a911e9

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Monday, February 18, 2013

Photos: Climate-change rally in Washington, D.C.

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Source: http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20130217/NEWS/130217007/1006/RSS

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Australia shares seen opening flat, eyeing China demand

Sun Feb 17, 2013 5:38pm EST

SYDNEY, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Australian shares are seen starting with a flat tone on Monday as blue chips Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Telstra Corp Ltd trade ex-dividend, while miners are likely to climb as top buyer China returns from holiday.          * Local share price index futures rose 0.3 percent to 5,008, a 25.9 point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index close. The benchmark edged down 3 points to 5,033.9 on Friday, but rose 1.3 percent for the week to extend the market's bull-run to a fifth week.       * New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index rose 0.3 percent to 4,208.0 in early trade.     * The S&P 500 dipped on Friday as Wal-Mart dropped following a report of a weak start to February sales, and the index just barely extended its streak of weekly gains to seven.      * Copper dipped as the dollar rose, outperformed again by aluminium and zinc, but investors hoped a surge of buying will emerge when Chinese participants return from holiday this week.      * Australian packaging group Amcor Ltd reported a better-than-expected 5.7 percent rise in first-half underlying profit, buoyed by its Aperio food packaging acquisition last year and despite battling currency headwinds.      * Both Commonwealth Bank of Australia and telecommunication giant Telstra Corp Ltd will be trading ex-dividend on Monday.  ----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2206 GMT ------------                     INSTRUMENT   LAST       PCT CHG   NET CHG S&P 500                   1519.79      -0.1%    -1.590 USD/JPY                   93.82        0.36%     0.340 10-YR US TSY YLD     2.0052          --     0.000 SPOT GOLD                 1609.19      0.00%     0.000 US CRUDE                  96.04       -1.31%    -1.270 DOW JONES                 13981.76     0.06%      8.37 ASIA ADRS                136.35      -0.34%     -0.46 -------------------------------------------------------------                                                                              * Wall St ends slightly down, S&P positive for 7th week     * Oil sinks, Brent headed for first wkly loss since Jan    * Gold drops over 3.7 pct in week on technical selling    * Copper falls, aluminium up as market awaits Chinese           For a digest of the day's business stories in Australian  newspapers, double click on       (Reporting by Maggie Lu Yueyang; Editing by John Mair)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/hotStocksNews/~3/4bSDLd30DRM/markets-australia-stocks-idUSL4N0BH15L20130217

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Music subscription service Rhapshody updates client for Windows Phone 8

Published by Ewan Spence at

It's been a good month for music lovers on Windows Phone 8. Joining an updated version of Spotify earlier in February is a new version of music subscription service Rhapsody (reports the official Windows Phone blog). The Windows Phone app allows you to work with your existing 'personal stations' of music, playlists, and selected music that you have curated on your account through other platforms, such as the XBox 360 client.

Features of the client include:

  • Listen to downloaded playlists, albums and songs without a connection.
  • Do more with My Music
    • View your music library
    • Save artists, albums and tracks to My Music
    • Access My Music from any Rhapsody-supported device
  • Be the first to hear new releases from your favorite artists.??
  • Explore any genre in depth with stations, new releases and top tracks.
  • See what?s popular on Rhapsody.
  • Relax with Rhapsody radio. Pick from artist, genre, or theme-based stations. No ads!??
  • Build playlists on Rhapsody.com and they will automatically appear on your Windows Phone.???

?Rhapsody? Rhapsody

You can download the free client direct from the Windows Store.

Source / Credit: Windows Phone Blog (Microsoft)

Filed: Home > Flow > Music subscription service Rhapshody updates client for Windows Phone 8

Platforms: Windows Phone 8
Categories: Apps
?

Source: http://allaboutwindowsphone.com/flow/item/16861_Music_subscription_service_Rha.php

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Sen. Rubio leaves for visit to Israel, Jordan

(JTA) -- U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has left for an official visit to the Middle East, including Jordan and Israel.

Rubio, who is a likely frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, announced on his website Saturday that he was leaving the same day on the visit, in his official capacities as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee and Foreign Relations Committee. It is his first visit to Jordan and second to Israel.

While in Israel, Rubio is scheduled to meet with President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss various areas of "mutual interest," including the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. He will also meet with Israeli political, defense, intelligence and business leaders.?Rubio?said he will meet with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Fayyad, as well.

"America's friendship with Israel is a truly special one, and we must continue to do all we can to support this beacon of democracy, religious freedom and free enterprise in the heart of an unstable region," Rubio said in the statement on his website. "As Iran continues its pursuit of a nuclear weapon, we must continue to apply pressure through every possible means in order to prevent a nuclear Iran. And I look forward to assessing the impact American security assistance is having and discussing the importance of the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt and how we can maintain it during this time of great uncertainty and tumult in Egypt."

Rubio is scheduled to meet in Jordan with King Abdullah and other members of the Jordanian government, where he plans to discuss the Syrian civil war and how the resulting humanitarian crisis is having an impact on Jordan and the region, he said on his website.

Rubio's wife Jeanette accompanied him on the trip.
?

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Source: http://www.jta.org/news/article/2013/02/17/3119761/sen-rubio-leaves-for-visit-to-israel-jordan

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V2 video conferencing systems go into a festive new communication ...

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Source: http://ellea608.blogspot.com/2013/02/v2-video-conferencing-systems-go-into.html

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West Liberty University professor scrutinized for barring Fox News as source

Feb. 15, 2013

Dive Summary:

  • West Liberty University instructor Stephanie Wolfe assigned students to keep a "politics journal," recording their reactions to various articles from news sources such as The Economist, BBC, CNN and The Huffington Post.
  • She specified, however, that the only two sources that students could not use were The Onion and Fox News, the latter of which earned her scrutiny after students shared the assignment with parents, who in turn called the university and local reporters.
  • In an interview Thursday, President Robin Capehart said that Wolfe's ban on Fox News was inappropriate, that he would have felt the same way about telling students not to use MSNBC and that Wolfe had since realized her mistake and allowed students to quote from that source.

From the article:

Students in a political science class at West Liberty University were given an assignment recently to keep a "politics journal" in which they would record their reactions to various articles they had selected. The instructor at the West Virginia public institution included some possible news sources, such as The Economist, BBC, CNN and The Huffington Post. But the instructor also specified that two sources could not be used. ...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/EducationDive-News/~3/ZiodY5Ds5iQ/

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Sunday, February 17, 2013

Articles and Web Contents: Cell Phone Accessories

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Source: http://articlesandwebcontents.blogspot.com/2013/02/cell-phone-accessories.html

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Friday's near-miss asteroid could help scientists find more dangerous ones

Asteroid 2012 DA14 will buzz within 17,200 miles of Earth ? a record for a known object of that size. While it's no threat to hit, it might help scientists find and track others that are.

By Pete Spotts,?Staff writer / February 14, 2013

The passage of asteroid 2012 DA14 through the Earth-moon system is depicted in this artist's rendering.

JPL-Caltech/NASA/Reuters

Enlarge

Asteroid 2012 DA14 is on course to buzz Earth Friday, making its closest approach at 2:24 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

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The object, roughly 150 feet across, poses no threat to Earth. But its close approach, which will bring it to within 17,200 miles of the planet, is a record for a known object of that size.

Coming so close, the asteroid represents a prime target for scientists who are interested in the object for scientific reasons as well as to improve their abilities to forecast asteroid orbits as a way to keep tabs on potentially hazardous objects.

Factors that influence those orbits can be subtle, notes Ed Beshore, an astronomer at the University of Arizona at Tucson and a key player in NASA's upcoming OSIRIS-Rex mission to asteroid 1999 RQ36. The launch is slated for 2016.

For instance, when sunlight hits the surface of an rotating asteroid, the asteroid returns that energy to space in the form of heat.

"The heat acts like a tiny rocket thruster that can push asteroids out of otherwise harmless orbits," he says. The reason: A rotating asteroid sheds the heat unevenly across its surface, in effect sloughing it off in the direction of "dawn" on the asteroid. This direction may or may not coincide with the direction the asteroid is traveling along its orbit.

Indeed, this force, known as the Yarkovsky effect, is thought to help resupply the inner solar system with asteroids that otherwise might have stayed in the main asteroid belt, which lies between Mars and Jupiter.

A year ago, Dr. Beshore says, one of the mission's team members performed "a really exquisite set of measurements using radar data and came up with a preliminary estimate for the kinds of forces" this effect imposes on OSIRIS-Rex's target asteroid.

It's about the same as "the force that you feel when you hold a couple of grapes in your hand, he says, adding "that force, applied over millions of years, can literally move these mountains of rock around."

Since the force also plays a role in shaping and reshaping the orbits of near-Earth asteroids, "it's really quite important for us to make sure we understand this force much better."

It also helps explain why researchers will be aiming optical telescopes and radar at close-passing objects like Friday's 2012 DA14.

Researchers will be staffing optical telescopes to measure changes in the asteroid's reflected light as it rotates ? a key element in calculating the Yarkovsky effect. Radar will be used to pin down the asteroid's shape, reveal some of its surface features, and determine its rotation rate and direction.

As close as 2012 DA14 is approaching, it's still a small object, adds Amy Mainzer, who heads a project at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to use data from NASA's WISE orbiting infrared telescope to hunt for near-Earth objects ? especially those dark enough to make them tough to see visually. Even though the objects are dark, they still radiate heat.

A similar observing effort revealed a treasure-trove of data on asteroid 2005 YU55, an aircraft-carrier-sized object that passed by Earth just inside the moon's orbit in November 2011.

The object's large size was a key factor in the relatively high quality observations astronomers gathered, Dr. Mainzer says.

For those of us who lack direct access to radars at the Arecibo Radiotelescope in Puerto Rico or to NASA's radar in Goldstone, Calif., the agency will be webcasting the event from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, with commentary for the half hour that brackets the time of closet approach. Weather permitting, the webcast will include live images from observatories in Australia, which will have a dark, ringside seat for the event. A longer webcast will originate at the Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/zW4kGOjr_rs/Friday-s-near-miss-asteroid-could-help-scientists-find-more-dangerous-ones

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