Saturday, 22 October 2011

Cadaver Dogs Detect Scent In Home of Missing Baby

An FBI cadaver dog searching the home of a missing Missouri baby has detected the scent of a human body, according to a police affidavit, which noted that investigators discovered soil in the backyard that had been "recently disturbed or overturned."

The document, obtained by Fox News' "Justice with Judge Jeanine," says the cadaver dog indicated a reaction to the scent of a dead person inside the parents' bedroom.

Police filed the affidavit to support a search warrant request for the home of Deborah Bradley and Jeremy Irwin, who reported 10-month-old Lisa Lisa missing on Oct. 4.

The affidavit says the dog was taken into the house Monday and indicated a "hit" on the floor of Bradley's bedroom. A judge approved the search warrant Tuesday, and police and the FBI conducted a daylong search Wednesday.

Court documents filed Friday said police took blankets, toys and clothing from the house, as well as rolls of tape and a tape dispenser.

Earlier on Friday, three Kansas City residents said they saw a suspicious man walking the streets with an infant on the night the child disappeared.

Mike Thompson told ABC's "Good Morning America" that he was heading home on his motorcycle around 4 a.m. local time when he noticed the man, who was dressed in a T-shirt, on a street near the baby's home.

"[It was] 4 o'clock in the morning, 45 degrees, the baby don't have a blanket or coat or nothing, and this guy's walking down the street," Thompson said. "I thought it was kind of weird."

Thompson claimed the infant -- who was only wearing a diaper -- resembled Lisa and said that he would recognize the man if he saw him again.

He said he waited about a week to report the sighting to police because he did not immediately make the connection to the girl's disappearance.

Two other witnesses, who were not named, said they encountered a similar scene a few hours earlier.

"It was shocking because I couldn't imagine anybody outside walking with their baby in the cold like that with no clothes on," the female witness told ABC.

The woman and her husband reported the sighting to police that morning, and the female witness said she was interviewed four times since.

Among other revelations in the affidavit:

--Officers searched all rooms in the house and the basement after being called to the home Oct. 4. Officers sought evidence but because the parents said the baby had been abducted, the only areas extensively processed for DNA and fingerprints were the baby's bedroom and possible entry points.

--The parents had told police that three cell phones were missing. The affidavit said a phone had since been found in a desk drawer, but that phone wasn't one of those reported missing. The missing phones haven't been found.

--Interviews with people involved in the case revealed "conflicting information for clear direction in the investigation."

Another document released Friday revealed some of what police recovered from the home during Wednesday's search: a comforter and blanket, some clothes, rolls of tape and a tape dispenser.

The family's local lawyer, Cynthia Short, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment on the documents, and police declined to discuss what they found.

But before the affidavit was released, a statement issued by Short's office insisted the parents had no role in the disappearance and disputed claims that the parents aren't cooperating with police. The statement said the parents have consented to "unfettered access" to their property and allowed police to take hair and other samples.

"They have taken all calls from detectives, and answered questions posed again and again," the statement read. "In the initial hours of the investigation, they tolerated accusations, volunteered to take polygraph examinations; continued to work with detectives even after the interviews turned into pointed accusations."

Newscore and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

View the original article here

Peliculas Online

Hurting Hometown Eyes Tax on Jack Daniels

If ever there was a “company town,” it is Lynchburg, Tenn.

Jack Daniel’s and Lynchburg have been inseparable since a young man named Jack Daniel came there more than a century ago to learn the art of distilling corn mash into whiskey. He set up shop on the northeastern end of town and the company has never looked to go anywhere else. It produces 23 million gallons of amber gold – about a billion dollars worth, every year.

But the company’s deep pockets make it a prime target for a local government that is strapped for revenue – and now a private citizen wants to slap the storied whiskey producer with a $10 tax on each and every barrel the distillery fills.

“We are entitled to more money from the only industry in the county – Jack Daniel’s distillery,” said Charles Rogers, a 75-year-old retiree and self-described “concerned citizen” of Moore County – home to Lynchburg and Jack Daniel’s.

Rogers wants the proposed tax to pay the bills for new schools, roads, bridges, even a new water treatment plant.

Rogers says Moore County is “entitled” to more money because Jack Daniel’s used bucolic images of small-town life in Lynchburg to sell its product. And as Norman Rockwell made a living off of his iconic images of Americana, so too should Lynchburg, according to Rogers.

“They (Jack Daniel’s) created the image of this little old hamlet down here being the place where this fantastic whiskey is being made,” Rogers said. “And the people didn’t realize what was going on. They were being marketed all over the world as ‘the place.’”

In the same way a film company would pay ‘usage’ fees for a location, Rogers believes Jack Daniel’s should too. It’s a way, he says, of giving back to the community.

That idea infuriates Jack Daniel’s management. The distillery is Moore County’s largest employer. It accounts for a third of its tax base. And already, nearly 60 percent of the price of a bottle of Jack Daniel’s is in some form of tax. General Manager Tommy Beam says where does it stop?

“It’s a job killer because it ups our costs. We’re competing in a global marketplace,” Beam said.

The tax would add about 3.4 cents to the price of a bottle of JD. While that doesn’t seem like much on the surface, considering the distillery sells more than 100 million bottles of whiskey every year, it quickly adds up to about $4 million a year. That’s a million dollars more than the entire county budget. And a cost, says Beam, that could affect the company’s growth.

“We have been able to hire 25 or 30 people in the last four or five months. And if our costs go up $4 or $5 million dollars, that’s probably going to make us a little less competitive. So, we might not grow as much,” Beam said.

That argument rings hollow for Rogers. He figures the company could easily tack a nickel on to the price of a bottle, recover the tax and make a little money in the process.

And there’s another thing that really bugs Rogers. The Jack Daniel’s distillery attracts tourists. Lots of them. About a quarter of a million every year. More than 20,000 are expected this weekend alone for the Jack Daniel’s World Championship Invitational Barbecue Competition.

“We get 25, 30,000 people coming in here, we can’t even move around,” Rogers said. “There’s no place to park. Traffic is backed up sometimes a mile or two up the road.” He told the story of a pensioner who couldn’t find a place to park at the courthouse. She left her car in the middle of the road, saying ‘Maybe the sheriff can find a place to park it’.

The Moore County Council passed a measure this year asking the Tennessee Assembly for enabling legislation to put the question of a barrel tax on the ballot. Rogers is hoping to get it on in time for the presidential primary next March. But there’s a real divide among business owners. Some are for it, others are wary of biting the hand that feeds them. Those tourists bring lots of dollars with them.

Could the company possibly move to a more tax-friendly county? Most folks think not. But Lynchburg Mayor Sloan Stewart isn’t so sure.

“Everybody says no they won’t. You can’t say no they won’t. That’s always a possibility,” he said. “There’s a chance they could do something like that, pack up and move.”

Beam, the general manager of Jack Daniel’s, says a move certainly wouldn’t be his first choice. Jack Daniel’s likes it here – even revels in the idea of producing top-shelf whiskey in a county that’s been dry since prohibition.

But Beam thinks the idea of taxing someone just because they’re successful is fundamentally unfair.

“That’s not free enterprise and that’s not what this country was built on,” he said. “I saw a quote the other day that said that a person used to look at a successful person and say now, what do I have to do to become like that? Whereas now, they might look at him and say, what can I do to get what they’ve got.”

View the original article here

Peliculas Online

Eminent Domain Pits Welder vs. Government

Bob Valerio's thoughts were on his country as he waited for a court hearing on whether he would get to keep his business.

“This is not the United States of America that I know,” Valerio lamented. “Does the Constitution mean anything? Obviously, there are no personal property rights.”

For nearly 60 years, Valerio’s family business, Wally and Joe’s Welding, has stood in a squat brick building on a busy highway in McKeesport, Pa. But the government has taken title to his land by eminent domain, forcing Valerio to consider the prospect of closing his doors forever.

“I’m not ready to retire,” says the 64 year-old welder.

Bob has lost his building because the City of McKeesport Sewage Authority used eminent domain to take the property. They say they need the land to expand a sewage pumping station next door. The battle landed in court, pitting Valerio against the government.

“My family has worked at this thing their whole lives, and I’m carrying on the legacy.”

The city of McKeesport originally paid Valerio $57,000 for the building and offered a check for $47,000 for his equipment, some of it specialized and custom-made for the welding process. But Valerio says the amount was not enough to cover his move and keep him in business, and he did not accept the second check.

“I just want it replaced. I’m not looking to make a windfall and retire at Myrtle Beach on a golf course. I just want you to move me to an adequate facility where I can continue.”

They got the deed, they did eminent domain, and if you’re ordered out, you don’t have enough to continue the business,” says Valerio’s business partner, Bob Livingston.

“We had it appraised at a certain value, and he wanted far more than what the appraisal was,” countered Joe Rost, executive sirector of the Muncipal Authority of the City of McKeesport. “When you can’t come to an agreement, then you have to resort to the court, and hope that the courts will determine what is fair and reasonable."

Rost says the small pumping station expansion is part of a federally mandated $54 million expansion of the sewage system needed to clean rain run-off, and that Valerio’s building is the only place where the new facility can be built. He insists that Valerio has been treated fairly in the process.

“We only used eminent domain as a very last resort. None of us would like that to happen to us. We realize that. We put ourselves in their place.”

He says the city has tried to find an alternative location for the business.

“We didn’t want to do it under any stretch of the imagination…but in this case we had no choice. We were running out of time and this project had to be done.”

At a court hearing, a partial settlement was reached that will force Valerio out in 30 days but allow him to try and relocate his business elsewhere. Both sides agreed on a payment of $140,000 to help Valerio purchase a new building, and the final amount to be paid by the city will be decided under arbitration.

“It’s going to get me enough to relocate and remain in business, and that was my main objective,” Valerio told Fox News after the hearing, adding, “I will have to fight for the rest.”

The lawyer for the McKeesport Authority, Cliff Johns, said, “a fair and equitable understanding has been reached for possession of the property,” but the final settlement will still have to be reached.

Pittsburgh Republican Rep. Tim Murphy, who represents the district where Valerio lives, said in a written statement that it would have been “a travesty for McKeesport to lose a 60-year-old institution like Wally and Joe’s.” He said government “should be doing everything to help them survive in tough economic times.”

Construction on the sewage pumping station expansion will soon impact the site, and Valerio will lose the building where he has welded since he was 15 years old. But while he endured what he calls “the heartbreaking” experience of eminent domain, he has hope that the agreement means he will remain in business.

“I expected maybe to turn my keys in today," he said.

It's All Your Land: Click here for other stories about eminent domain and property rights.

View the original article here

Peliculas Online

DOE Defends $529M Loan That Fueled Finland Jobs

Published October 21, 2011

| FoxNews.com

The Department of Energy is standing by a $529 million loan guarantee to a company building an electric car line in Finland.

A department official, in a lengthy response posted on a government blog Thursday night, confirmed that the company Fisker is assembling its Karma electric car at its "overseas facility."

The response comes after ABC News reported that the Obama administration gave the green light for the company to move the manufacturing to Finland two years after announcing the loan.

But Energy Department spokesman Dan Leistikow said none of the U.S. loan money contributed to the production work in Finland.

"The Department's funding was only used for the U.S. operations," Energy Department spokesman Dan Leistikow wrote. "The money could not be, and was not, spent on overseas operations. The Karma also relies on an extensive network of hundreds of suppliers in more than a dozen U.S. states."

He said the first part of the loan, $169 million, supported engineering work at Fisker's U.S. facilities as the company "developed the tools, equipment and manufacturing processes for Fisker's first vehicle" -- though that work so far has not contributed to a production line in the U.S.

But Leistikow said the rest of the loan is still supporting U.S. production of another vehicle line called the Nina.

"Fisker is using this funding to bring a shuttered General Motors plant in Delaware back to life and employing more than 2,500 workers. Fisker was attracted to this site in part by the opportunity to rehire some of the trained, dedicated workers who lost their jobs when that plant closed," Leistikow said. The department later clarified that 120 workers have been hired at the site to date, with the rest set to be hired by early 2013.

For the Karma line, founder Henrik Fisker reportedly claimed the company could not find a manufacturer in the U.S. for the job. So the production went to Finnish company Valmet Automotive, along with 500 manufacturing jobs.

A company spokesman told FoxNews.com that Fisker had "explored the possibility of producing the Karma in the U.S."

"However, there are no contract manufacturers like Valmet in the U.S., and none of the established domestic automakers were willing to partner with Fisker to provide an manufacturing option in the U.S. that would work for the Karma program," the spokesman said.

The development comes amid widespread scrutiny of the Obama administration's loan programs for alternative energy companies and projects. The bankruptcy of government-backed solar panel firm Solyndra in September touched off a frenzy of questions on Capitol Hill over whether U.S. taxpayer money is being used wisely to prop up the industry.

The ABC News report noted the political connections enjoyed by Fisker and another company, Tesla Motors, which together received about $1 billion in loans. Fisker reportedly is backed by a firm that counts ex-Vice President Al Gore among its partners. The article said just 40 of Fisker's Karma cars have been produced so far, and that Tesla is consistently losing money.

But Leistikow said Tesla has added 1,000 new jobs since receiving the government support. He said both companies' loans were approved "on the merits after extensive review."

"They represent exactly the type of cutting edge, innovative manufacturing this program was intended to support, and are part of a large, robust portfolio of investments that are helping America become more globally competitive," he said.

View the original article here

Peliculas Online

You're Not on Facebook? Experts Say Think Again

Eight hundred million users are not enough. Facebook, the world's biggest social network, is now building profiles of non-users who haven't even signed up, an international privacy watchdog charges.

The sensational claim is made in a complaint filed in August by Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner. It alleges that users are encouraged to hand over the personal data of other people -- including names, phone numbers, email addresses and more -- which Facebook is using to create "extensive profiles" of non-users.

Facebook categorically denies the allegation, but experts tell FoxNews.com that it could well be true.

“There can be little doubt that Facebook collects from its current users information about individuals who are not currently Facebook users, and collects from its current users information about other Facebook users,” said Kelly Kubasta, who heads the Dallas law firm Klemchuk Kubasta’s social media division.

Ciara O'Sullivan, a spokeswoman for Ireland's Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, told FoxNews.com that its audit of Facebook Ireland's privacy policies was part of a "statutory investigation" that the office anticipates will lead to immediate changes.

"The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner will be commencing a comprehensive audit of Facebook Ireland before the end of the month," O’Sullivan said.

But Facebook flat-out denies that it is creating "shadow profiles" and tracking users and non-users alike.

"The allegations are false," Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes told FoxNews.com. "We enable you to send emails to your friends, inviting them to join Facebook. We keep the invitee's email address and name to let you know when they join the service. This practice is common among almost all services that involve invitations -- from document sharing to event planning."

"The assertion that Facebook is doing some sort of nefarious profiling is simply wrong," Noyes added.

Furthermore, Facebook says that no information it receives from users is employed to target ads, and that it does not resell information from users to third parties. The company prominently posts its established privacy policy on its Web site.

But that isn’t what they’re thinking in Ireland. The complaint makes clear that it believes Facebook is doing just that -- and enumerates several scenarios that would give any social-networker shivers.

“Facebook Ireland is gathering excessive amounts of information about data subjects without notice or consent by the data subject," the complaint states, adding that in many cases the information "might be embarrassing or intimidating for the data subject. This information might also constitute sensitive data such as political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation and so forth."

European law carries heavy penalties for companies that violate "information privacy" laws -- in contrast to the relatively lax U.S. laws. But the U.S. has issues with Facebook as well: Privacy rights litigation is proceeding in Mississippi, Louisiana, Kansas and Kentucky. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is also probing complaints about Palo Alto-based Facebook, while Congress is calling for an inquiry.

Kubasta noted that -- for better or for worse -- Facebook's best defense may be a good offense. After all, it's not alone: Several other websites are undertaking this kind of tracking as well.

“Regardless of what Facebook is doing, many websites collect and propagate personally identifiable information about individuals who have not entered into any agreement with the website. Just a few examples include Spokeo, iSearch, WhitePages.com,” Kubasta told FoxNews.com.

"In other words, ‘the horse may be out of the barn,’” he said.

Noyes told FoxNews.com Facebook's features are "consistent with people's expectations. We look forward to making these and other clarifications to the Irish DPA."

Other experts say these lawsuits may be at the forefront of a new trend -- increased consumer demand for data privacy online, and improved corporate response to those demands.

Marilyn Prosch, co-founder of the Privacy by Design Research Lab at Arizona State University, has conducted extensive research on online privacy, electronic commerce and other IT subjects.

She is working with social media and other online industry leaders to create guidelines for businesses worldwide to effectively protect personal data.

“Privacy assurance must ideally become an organization’s default mode of operation,” Prosch told FoxNews.com.

View the original article here

Peliculas Online

Cain Revamps Tax Plan, Says It's '9-0-9' for Poor - Bachmann Campaign Reacts to Reports of N.H. Staff

Stung by criticism that his signature "9-9-9" economic plan would saddle America's poorest citizens with a disproportionate share of the country's tax burden, GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain announced some new features to the plan, even as he insisted they have been included in his campaign literature all along.

Speaking at a sparsely attended outdoor event, Cain stood before the stately Michigan Central Station in downtown Detroit, where the unemployment levels are among the highest in the country, to announce his proposal to create "opportunity zones" in America's inner cities. His announcement came just days after the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center in Washington released a study of the "9-9-9" plan that concluded the plan would increase taxes by more than 900 percent on U.S. households earning between $10,000 and $20,000 annually.

Accusing his rivals and critics of having never read his plan all the way through, Cain then used language about the plan never heard before - and sure to raise questions about whether his economic proposals now lack the simplicity that once appeared their central virtue.

"If you're at or below the poverty level, your plan isn't ‘9-9-9,'" Cain said, with economic adviser Rich Lowrie and other supporters flanking him. "It's ‘9-zero-9.' Say ‘Amen,' y'all! In other words, if you are at or below the poverty level based upon family size, because there's a different number for each one, then you don't pay that middle ‘9' tax on your income. This is how we help the poor."

A day earlier, Fox News had exclusively reported that Cain's opportunity zone proposal is stirring displeasure among leaders of organized labor. Although he did not dwell on this during his appearance in Detroit, Cain insists that those areas that wish to qualify as an opportunity zone must eliminate what the campaign calls "barriers" to economic growth.

Examples of how to do that, as provided by campaign sources, include a number of steps considered anathema to Big Labor. They include the abolition of the minimum wage; the institution of school choice for parents; and the establishment of "right to work" conditions, which allow workers to refuse to join unions in unionized workplaces.

"It's tough to take anything like that seriously," AFL-CIO President richard Trumka told Fox News. "Look, workers are working hard and their wages have stagnated. To have Herman Cain, a serious contender on the Republican side, make a statement like that - that he wants to further lower wages, he wants to do away with the minimum wage - it's almost laughable."

"Herman Cain's 'opportunity zones' appear to be an opportunity for corporate America to exploit workers and turn the United States into a third-world country," said Teamsters President James Hoffa, in an email to Fox News.

View the original article here

Peliculas Online

Business Apps Help to Boost the Bottom Line

By Meg Baker

Published October 21, 2011

| FoxNews.com

No matter how productive you are, work can follow you out of the office. Save yourself time and energy by downloading a few apps to help you organize your business expenses, be prepared for any meeting, and answer emails by simply speaking into your phone.

jot

A pile of receipts for business expenses can feel awfully overwhelming. Instead of going back in time to remember who, what, where, and when you had a lunch or needed transportation, you can file the information in just a click, thanks to JPMorgan Chase's Jot app.

If your company uses the Chase Ink business card for its employees, download jot to make finalizing the company’s books that much simpler. Jot will alert you when a transaction has gone through and prompt you to fill in the expense information on the go. Just tag your purchases or other bills with a customer’s name, job number, or whatever makes sense for your business.

If you're a manager, you can access employee reports by tag, change employee credit limits, and access info on outstanding balances and payment due dates.

Download jot: Apple. Google Android.
Mobilewalla app score: 75 out of 100.

Here's how it works:

MightyMeeting

You can be prepared for any meeting, anytime with MightyMeeting. The app uses a cloud-based server so that you can access uploaded presentations, product videos, slideshows documents and more -- from anywhere.

If a client calls you up unexpectedly looking for information, or you get pulled into an impromptu meeting, you won’t have to enter the room empty-handed. You can showcase content on your iPad or iPhone or connect through a PC.

If you need to include people outside of the office in the meeting, the ToMeeting function allows you to tap right into an off-site location and share presentation material with your team. Meetings can be run over Wi-Fi or a 3G or 4G wireless connection.

Download MightyMeeting: Apple iTunes.
Mobilewalla app score: 79 out of 100.

Here's how it works:

Dragon Dictation

Need to respond to an urgent email or text but your hands are busy driving or cooking in the kitchen? No need to stop, just tap into Dragon Dictation and speak your response into the phone.

The app is even faster than typing and will convert your words into type before sending your message. Dragon Dictation supports multiple languages as well. The voice-recognition technology also works for updating your social networking status, writing blog posts, and taking notes or recording your thoughts.

Download Dragon Dictation: Apple iTunes.
Mobilewalla app score: 98 out of 100.

Here's how it works:

View the original article here

Peliculas Online

Defense Challenges Expert Who Says Murray at Fault

Published October 21, 2011

| Associated Press

The lead attorney for the doctor charged in Michael Jackson's death challenged a key prosecution expert Friday about his contention that the physician was responsible for the death of the singer.

Attorney Ed Chernoff cross-examined Dr. Steven Shafer, who previously testified that the only plausible explanation for the death was that Jackson had been hooked up to an IV drip of the anesthetic propofol then left alone by Dr. Conrad Murray.

"That's a bold claim, isn't it," Chernoff asked.

"It's an honest statement," Shafer replied.

Chernoff also questioned the Columbia University researcher and professor about his IV demonstration for jurors on Thursday.

The defense attorney suggested Shafer had drawn conclusions that weren't necessarily supported by the evidence. Chernoff said the type of IV line that Shafer used in the demonstration was never found at Jackson's house.

Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter. He could face up to four years behind bars and the loss of his medical license if convicted.

Shafer was expected to be the last witness called by the prosecution. After Shafer's testimony ends, defense attorneys will begin presenting their case.

Shafer, an expert on propofol, told jurors Thursday that his explanation was supported by items found in Jackson's bedroom, the singer's autopsy results and Murray's lengthy statement to police.

Using charts and his own experience, Shafer said Jackson likely stopped breathing because of the propofol and without someone to clear his airway. The propofol would have kept dripping into the IV tube, with gravity carrying it into the singer's body, he said.

Shafer said Murray committed 17 violations of the standard of care that could have led to Jackson's serious injury or death.

He rejected any theory that Jackson could have given himself the fatal dose of the anesthetic or sedatives.

View the original article here

Peliculas Online

NPR Drops Show Over Host's Protest Involvement

Published October 21, 2011

| FoxNews.com

WASHINGTON – NPR will no longer distribute the member station-produced program "World of Opera" to about 60 stations across the country because the show host helped organize an ongoing Washington protest, a network official said Friday evening.

Instead, North Carolina-based classical music station WDAV, which produces the show, said it will distribute the nationally syndicated program on its own beginning Nov. 11. The station said it plans to keep Lisa Simeone as host and has said her involvement in a political protest does not affect her job as a music program host.

NPR spokeswoman Dana Davis Rehm said the network disagrees with the station on the role of program hosts but respects its position.

"Our view is it's a potential conflict of interest for any journalist or any individual who plays a public role on behalf of NPR to take an active part in a political movement or advocacy campaign," she told The Associated Press. "Doing so has the potential to compromise our reputation as an organization that strives to be impartial and unbiased."

Rehm said any host with NPR attached to their title is a public figure representing the network as a whole. But she said "reasonable people can have different views about this." She said the negotiations with WDAV were civil and amicable.

NPR's ethics code states that "NPR journalists may not participate in marches and rallies" involving issues NPR covers. The code notes that some provisions may not apply to outside contributors. It uses a freelancer who primarily contributes arts coverage as an example.

Rehm said the network didn't need to cite the code in its decision to drop the show because its position on hosts' political activities was "even more fundamental."

Simeone, who lives in Baltimore, is a freelancer who has worked in radio and television for 25 years. She has hosted music shows and documentaries. She was fired Wednesday as the host of a radio documentary program, "Soundprint," because she helped organize an anti-war demonstration that also protested Wall Street and what participants call corporate greed.

"Soundprint" is heard on about 35 NPR affiliates and is produced by Maryland-based Soundprint Media Center Inc. Its president said the company had adopted NPR's code of ethics as its own.

"World of Opera" is the only radio show in the nation devoted to broadcasting full-length operas from around the world, according to WDAV.

The Davidson, N.C.-based station will use the same distribution process as NPR and hopes to retain all the stations that have aired the program, spokeswoman Lisa Gray said. The network is assisting with the change in distribution, and it won't affect the listener's experience.

"We think it's really important to classical music that we continue to produce the show and make it available," Gray told the AP. "That's our primary concern, that we continue to be able to provide this programming to listeners and stations across the country."

WDAV had previously said it has a different mission than NPR and seeks to provide arts and cultural programming nationally and internationally, rather than news.

NPR had previously produced and distributed "World of Opera" in house until January 2010 when production was shifted to WDAV. The show has been in production for more than 20 years. It has featured performances from U.S. opera companies including Washington National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Glimmerglass and New York City Opera, as well as operas from Paris, Vienna and elsewhere.

View the original article here

Peliculas Online

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Sultan Dies

NEW YORK – The heir to the Saudi throne, Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdel Aziz Al Saud, died abroad Saturday after an illness, state TV said. The death of the 85-year-old prince opens questions about the succession in the critical, oil-rich U.S. ally.

Sultan was the half-brother of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, who is two years older than him and has also been ailing and underwent back surgery last week.

The most likely candidate to replace Sultan as Abdullah's successor is Prince Nayef, the powerful interior minister in charge of internal security forces. After Sultan fell ill, the king gave Nayef -- also his half-brother -- an implicit nod in 2009 by naming him second deputy prime minister, traditionally the post of the second in line to the throne.

The announcement did not say where outside the kingdom he died or elaborate on Sultan's illness but Saudi official circles in Riyadh said he passed away at a hospital in New York. Saudi royal family members typically received medical treatment in New York.

Sultan, who was the kingdom's deputy prime minister and the minister of defense and aviation, has had a string of health issues. He underwent surgery in New York in February 2009 for an undisclosed illness and spent nearly a year abroad recuperating in the United States and at a palace in Agadir, Morocco.

"With grief, King Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz mourns the death of Sultan bin Abdel Aziz Al Saud, crown prince and his brother," the palace said. The statement, which was carried on the official Saudi Press Agency, added that Sultan's funeral will be held on Tuesday afternoon in Riyadh at the Imam Turki bin Abdullah mosque.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also expressed condolences Saturday, and said U.S. ties with Saudi Arabia were "strong and enduring."

"The Crown Prince was a strong leader and a good friend to the United States over many years, as well as a tireless champion for his country," Clinton said during a visit to Tajikistan, in the first official U.S. comment on his death.

"He will be missed," she said at a news conference.

"Our relationship with Saudi Arabia is strong and enduring and we will look forward to working with the (Saudi) leadership for many years to come," Clinton said.

For the first time, however, the mechanism of picking the next crown prince is not entirely clear.

It is possible the king will for the first time put the decision of his heir to the Allegiance Council, a body Abdullah created a decade ago as one of his reforms, made up of his brothers and nephews with a mandate to determine the succession.

That would open the choice up to a degree of debate with the top echelons of the royal family. Nayef, however, will still be the front-runner.

Traditionally the king names his successor. But Abdullah formed the council in order to modernize the process and give a wider voice to the choice. When it was created, it was decided that the council would act when Sultan rose to the throne and his crown prince had to be named; however, it was not specified whether it would be used if Sultan died before the king. The choice of whether to evoke the council now will likely be made by Abdullah.

Saudi Arabia has been ruled since 1953 by the sons of its founder, King Abdul-Aziz, who had over 40 sons by multiple wives.

Anyone who rises to the throne is likely to maintain the kingdom's close alliance with the United States. But it would have an internal impact. Abdullah has been seen as a reformer, making cautious changes to improve the position of women -- such as granting them to right to vote in elections scheduled for 2015 -- and seeking modernize the kingdom despite some backlash from the ultraconservative Wahhabi clerics who give the royal family the religious legitimacy needed to rule. Nayef, however, is often seen as closer to the clerics.

Sultan's death comes amid questions about the health of the king. Last week, King Abdullah underwent back surgery in Riyadh. The SPA news agency said the operation was to treat a loose vertebra in his back. Abdullah had two back surgeries late last year, also in New York City.

Sultan was part of the aging second generation of the King Abdul-Aziz's sons.

Sultan was long seen as a powerful aspirant for the throne. When Fahd became king in 1982, Sultan had hoped to be named crown prince. But instead Fahd appointed their half-brother, Abdullah, a decision that Sultan challenged. The sons of Abdul-Aziz closed ranks when the issue was decided, aware that a direct confrontation with Abdullah could tear the family apart. Sultan was named second deputy prime minister, a position that guaranteed him the move to crown prince.

When Fahd died and Abdullah ascended to the throne, Sultan was named crown prince and heir.

Sultan was the kingdom's defense minister in 1990 when U.S. forces deployed in Saudi Arabia to defend it against Iraqi forces that had overrun Kuwait. His son, Prince Khaled, served as the top Arab commander in operation Desert Storm, in which U.S., Saudi and other Arab forces drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait.

In May 2004, the royal court announced that Sultan was discharged from a Jiddah hospital after an operation to remove a cyst from his intestines.

In a rare move, Saudi television showed footage of the prince, dressed in a traditional white robe and sitting in an armchair, receiving greetings from a number of Saudi dignitaries. A few days before that, state-guided media showed photos of the prince in his hospital bed, apparently to counter rumors about his health.

Sultan was born in Riyadh in 1928, according to the defense ministry's web site. In 1947, he was appointed governor of Riyadh. At the same time, he was assisting his father in the setting up of a national administrative system based on the implementation of Islamic Sharia law. In 1953, he became the kingdom's first minister of agriculture.

Two years later, Sultan became minister of transportation, supervising the development of the kingdom's roads and telecommunications network and the construction of the railway system connecting the eastern city of Dammam with Riyadh, the capital.

As defense minister, Sultan closed multibillion deals to establish the modern Saudi armed forces, including land, air, naval and air defense forces.

On more than one occasion, the deals implicated several of his sons in corruption scandals -- charges they have denied.

Sultan is survived by 32 children from multiple wives. They include Bandar, the former ambassador to the United States who now heads the National Security Council, and Khaled, Sultan's assistant in the Defense Ministry.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Peliculas Online

Pregnant Woman Shot While Shielding Kids

NEW YORK – A pregnant 34-year-old New York mother was fatally shot as she bravely shielded her children and others when gunfire erupted outside a Brooklyn school Friday afternoon, police said.

Bullets also struck an 11-year-old girl and a 31-year-old woman who was walking out of P.S./I.S. 298 with her own kids right after classes were dismissed at about 2:35pm, authorities said.

"As soon as we crossed the street, they started shooting," said a cousin of the dead woman Zurana Horton, a mother of 13 kids who was on the way to pick up another one of them from another school when she was struck down.

"The gunfire was everywhere, we couldn't move, there was nowhere [to] go, we didn't know where the bullets were coming from," said the cousin, who did not give her name. "She was about to get ready to move out of here, she's getting married, but now she can't do any of that."

The 11-year-old victim, Cheanne McKnight, "kept screaming, 'They shot me in the face! They shot my face!'" said her aunt Ximinia Fernandez.

"I didn't know if she was OK -- I just saw a big hole in her face," Fernandez said at Brookdale Hospital, where she drove her niece after the horrific shooting. "That poor little girl." Cheanne was in stable condition with a graze wound to her face.

The shots -- believed to have been fired from the roof of a nearby building -- struck the victims as they walked in front of the Lucky Supermarket on Watkins Street, less than a block from the school, police said.

NYPD spokesman Paul Brown said police are eyeing the possibility the gunman was firing at a group of youths arguing on the street below. Investigators retrieved seven 9mm shell casings from the rooftop of the building at 1800 Pitkin Avenue -- a gang-ridden address -- and another five 9mm casings from the sidewalk right in front of the building.

When Horton heard the gunshots, she grabbed the child she was with and others around her "to protect them as the shots were fired," Browne said. Her dramatic sacrifice was caught on a surveillance video, sources said.

The third victim was identified by a cousin as Unique Mobily, who was shot in the arm and chest as she walked from the school with her kids. "She says she's OK, I talked to her," said Mobily's cousin, who did not give his name. "She's in pain, she's hurting."

Three men, one with a black hooded top and a second in dark clothing, fled from the scene eastbound on foot and entered a nearby property, said Browne, the police spokesman. Two people from the property were being questioned by police Friday night.

Two suspects, including the gunman, were still being sought. A $12,000 reward is being offered for information in the case.

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Republicans Push for U.S. Role in Rebuilding Libya

Published October 21, 2011

| FoxNews.com

With Muammar Qaddafi finally out of the picture, Republican lawmakers are pressing the U.S. to open its wallet to help the new regime in Libya rebuild its nation, restore essential services and care for those wounded in the eight-months-long bloody conflict – an expense they say oil-rich Libya can and will reimburse.

“They’re willing to reimburse us. It’s not a matter of money,” Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told Fox News, making a tough sales pitch in an era of high unemployment and increasing austerity.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., noted that the Libyans’ top request was for help in tending to the country’s wounded and that the French and Germans have reached agreements with the new government to treat them.

“So we’ll get our money back, but the one thing we can’t get back is an opportunity,” he told Fox News. “And this is an opportunity to take a dictatorship, the mad dog of the Mideast, and replace him with people who live in peace with us.

“We can do business, have economic ties that will allow American business to prosper from a free Libya,” he added. “So I know we’re broke, but if you disengage the world, you’ll regret it and if we miss this opportunity, we’ll regret it.”

The U.S. is moving to release $37 billion in assets to Libya – assets of Qaddafi’s regime that the U.S. froze in February. And in August, the United Nations released $1.5 billion in frozen Libyan assets in American banks.

In March, Obama launched a multinational campaign to protect Libyans from Qaddafi’s crackdown on protesters who had been emboldened by gains elsewhere in the Arab world during the Arab Spring. Obama's move drew criticism from both sides of the aisle. The U.S. has spent about $1.2 billion on its military campaign, including refueling NATO planes and deploying armed drones, according to the Pentagon.

Libyan revolutionaries killed Qaddafi on Thursday, prompting NATO to start winding down its operation. But lawmakers warn rebuilding the country will be a challenge.

“This is not going to cost American tax dollars,” McCain told CBS’ Early Show on Friday. “But they have never known democracy, they have been under this brutal, oppressive dictator for 42 years, and so they’re going to need a lot of help in that direction.”

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Ohio Governor Pushes for Crackdown on Exotic Pets

Authorities found numerous problems with conditions at a wild animal owner's property over the years, including big cats kept in cages without locks, a black leopard in a basement, lion and bear cubs housed in the same pen and a lion running loose, according to documents released Friday.

Several neighbors also complained over the years that Terry Thompson's horses regularly got out from the property where the wild animals were kept, and that he and his wife were starving bison and cattle they kept on a farm on the other side of town, the documents show.

Thompson, 62, freed dozens of lions, tigers, bears and other animals Tuesday, then committed suicide, triggering a big-game hunt in the Ohio countryside as police officers shot and killed 49 of the animals for fear they would harm humans.

Ohio has some of the nation's weakest restrictions on exotic pets, and authorities decided not to take Thompson's animals because there were no serious health problems.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich said he'll push for a moratorium on exotic animal auctions and a crackdown on unlicensed auctions. He had let an order that banned buying and selling exotic animals expire this spring, arguing it lacked legal authority.

He says he'll propose laws to regulate wild animals by Nov. 30. And he says the state will work toward better application of existing laws until more specific laws are enacted.

Authorities and animal experts went to the Thompson farm three years ago during a cruelty investigation and found that some of the cages weren't padlocked and were secured with plastic ties, according to the records released by the Muskingum County Sheriff's office.

They also thought the fences were low enough to allow the animals to get out.

Authorities in 2008 found animal pens scattered on the patio and driveway and several others inside the garage and basement. They had a black panther in the basement and two tigers and two lion cubs in the garage.

On a patio next to the Thompson's pool, two lion cubs and one black bear cub were housed in the same pen.

Terry Thompson's wife, Marian, was quoted in the records released Friday telling detectives that they took in the animals because no one else wanted them. She also said she was trying to end the practice.

"I'm going to put a stop to bringing in all these animals. I'm telling Terry, `No more,"' she said in a report filed April 13, 2005.

Authorities told the couple to fix the cages or they would get a court order forcing the changes.

In one 2005 complaint, a neighbor said horses from Thompson's property walked to her car, "and started licking the vehicle to get water from the rain."

Thompson's estranged sister, Polly Thompson, says her brother was likely overwhelmed financially when he committed suicide.

Terry Thompson had just returned to the property after a year in federal prison on possessing unregistered weapons charges.

Court records show that the Thompsons owed at least $68,000 in unpaid taxes to the IRS and the county, and he had two federal tax liens filed against him last year.

"I can just see him standing on that hill looking at every animal, thinking, 'How am I going to do this?"' Polly Thompson, 56, told the AP late Thursday.

"And I'm sure he thought, `Nobody wants me,"' she said.

Polly Thompson said her brother threw himself into any activity he undertook and it was no different when he began collecting wild animals about 15 years ago. His first animal was a lion cub named Simba, she said.

Her brother summed up his philosophy in a frequently quoted line, she said: "We're not here for a long time, just a good time."

Her brother got by financially on proceeds from a motorcycle business he sold, sales of horse trailers and other equipment and a small family inheritance. He was also a pilot who occasionally flew chartered planes for businesses.

Thompson reluctantly testified against her brother about five years ago when he was charged with starving bison and cattle kept at their parents' farm near Zanesville.

"Anybody that has animals should take care of them," she said in an interview at her home on 10 acres on the outskirts of Zanesville.

"I don't care who you are, if you can't take care of them, it's not right, you shouldn't have them," she said. "Who wants to testify against their brother?"

Deputies killed 48 animals -- including 18 rare Bengal tigers, 17 lions and eight bears -- in a hunt across the Ohio countryside that lasted nearly 24 hours and that has been criticized by some who say the animals should have been saved. Only a monkey was still missing, and it was probably killed by one of the big cats, the county sheriff says.

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GOP Slams Biden for Jobs Bill 'Scare Tactics'

Republicans are stepping up their criticism of Vice President Biden for his claim that rapes and murders will climb if Congress does not approve proposed aid for police and first responders.

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said the vice president is using "fear tactics." Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said Biden's remarks were "over the top."

And as the Senate Thursday night turned down a pared-back jobs bill to send $35 billion to the states for teachers and first responders, the Republican National Committee threw up a web video accusing Biden of using "scare tactics" to try to push it through. The video excerpted several remarks, including Biden's claim to a reporter this week that "murder will continue to rise, rape will continue to rise" without more aid.

The RNC on Friday morning also forwarded around a study from FactCheck.org claiming Biden was telling a "whopper."

Biden's narrative started last week when he claimed in Flint, Mich., one of the most violent cities in America, that the number of murders and rapes had soared as the number of police officers had dropped. He said that between 2008 and 2010, the number of murders went from 35 to 65, and the number of rapes went from 91 to 229. FoxNews.com reported last week that, according to FBI figures, the city did see a significant rise in murders but the number of reported forcible rapes actually declined -- from 103 in 2008 to 92 in 2010.

Biden's office told FoxNews.com last week that it got the 229 number from the Flint Police Department.

However, FactCheck.org claimed it figured out the significant discrepancy. A city spokeswoman told the site that the 2010 number counted "all cases of criminal sexual conduct," and not just rapes.

"That's an apples-to-oranges comparison," FactCheck.org wrote.

In a statement to Fox News Radio, the city spokeswoman on Friday continued to defend Flint's stats, calling them an "actual portrayal of the level of violent crime in our city."

"The discrepancies with the FBI and other sources reveal the differences in how crimes can be counted and categorized, based on different criteria," spokeswoman Dawn Jones said.

FactCheck.org said Biden is "right on his larger point," that murders increased in Flint as police staffing dropped. But the site said Biden is "clearly wrong" on his stats about rape.

But White House Press Secretary Jay Carney stood by the premise on which Biden was basing his claims.

"I think it would be hard to find anyone who doesn't agree with the simple equation that fewer police officers on the street has a direct effect on the crime rate," Carney said. "Having more law enforcement officers on the job, police officers on the job, would have a positive impact on crime. ... That's the point he was making. And that's a point that the president absolutely does share."

The number of officers in Flint has declined from 201 in 2008 to 132 in 2010, according to FBI stats, while the number of murders has just about doubled in that time.

Carney questioned why Republicans were picking apart Biden's words.

"Are Republicans arguing that there is no correlation between the number of cops on the beat and the crime rate?" he said. "That would be an interesting argument to hear. It's a new one, a novel one."

The response comes after Biden on Tuesday said in an address to Philadelphia police officers that the jobs bill is not a "temporary "salve.

"Let me tell you, it's not temporary when that 9-1-1 call comes in and a woman's being raped. If a cop shows up in time to prevent the rape, it's not temporary to that woman," Biden said with his voice rising. "It's not temporary to the guy whose store is being held up and has a gun being pointed to his head if a cop shows up and he's not killed. That's not temporary to that store owner. Give me a break -- temporary," he said.

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Peliculas Online

Wall Street's Surge Launches Dow Into Green

FOX Business: The Power to Prosper

Stocks soared on Friday, launching the blue chips back into positive territory for the year, as traders grew more confident that European policymakers would craft a solution for the region's debt crisis, and numerous corporate heavyweights posted strong quarterly results.

Today's Markets

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 267 points, or 2.3%, to 11,809, the S&P 500 climbed 22.9 points, or 1.9%, to 1,238 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 38.8 points, or 1.5%, to 2,637.

Consumer-driven shares posted the best performance after McDonald's (MCD) posted quarterly earnings that topped expectations. The materials sector performed strongly as well on the back of a rally in metals futures. However, every major sector was sharply to the upside.

Volatility, as measured by the VIX, tumbled 7.4%, and the yield on U.S. government debt began climbing as investors rushed back into equities. The benchmark 10-year note yields 2.221% from 2.194%.

Wall Street has had a turbulent week, bouncing between big gains and losses. Headlines from Europe have been driving the markets, as traders have fretted that the debt and financial crises will spread from the periphery to the core, potentially causing a threat to major global economies.

Germany and France -- Europe's economic superpowers -- conceded late Thursday that a solution will not be finalized at this weekend's summit, but one would be announced no later than the following Wednesday. Developments Friday suggested the 17-member currency bloc may be nearing a compromise on how to structure the region's bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility. The Austrian finance minister said the group is down to two options on how to leverage the EFSF.

Previous media reports have suggested that one option the group is considering is allowing the EFSF to sell troubled sovereign debt it acquires straight to the European Central Bank. This, economists say, would dramatically enhance the EFSF's firepower because its capital won't get locked up in buying debt, and the ECB has theoretically limitless buying abilities. However, this has made Germany uneasy, so there has also been a proposal to allow the EFSF to leverage using commercial banks, which would be considerably more restrictive.

This comes as the international community, including the U.S., has turned up the heat on EU officials to stem the crisis before it does more damage to global economies. The markets have added pressure too, with the spread between European safe-haven bonds, the German bund, and other sovereign debt widening markedly this month, meaning investors are demanding higher yields to hold the relatively riskier sovereign debt. This makes it more expensive for countries to borrow, and creates a feedback loop that worsens the crisis.

European traders remained optimistic that officials will be able to draft a solution by next week. Indeed, euro-zone blue chips leaped nearly 3%, and the euro rose 0.67% to $1.39. The dollar fell 0.71% against a basket of world currencies.

A heavy earnings week comes to a close today. Nearly half of Dow components, and more than 20% of the S&P 500 will have reported by the end of the day.

Big Earnings Week Ends on High Note

McDonald's third-quarter net of $1.45 a share topped analysts' predictions by two cents. The fast-food giant benefited from a bigger-than-expected increase in same store sales.

General Electric (GE), the biggest U.S. conglomerate, said its earnings jumped 18% to 31 cents a share in the third quarter, excluding one-time charges, meeting analysts' expectations. Verizon Communications (VZ) posted continuing profits of 56 cents a share, topping estimates of 55 cents.

There were no major economic releases on Friday.

Energy markets were higher on a much weaker dollar. Light, sweet crude gained $1.33, or 1.6%, to $87.40 a barrel. Wholesale RBOB gasoline rose 1 cent, or 0.34%, to $2.68 a gallon.

Metals were sharply to the upside as well. Gold jumped $23.20, or 1.4%, to $1,636 a troy ounce. Silver soared 91 cents, or 3%, to $31.19 a troy ounce.

Foreign Markets

The Euro Stoxx 50 soared 2.9% to 2,337, the English FTSE 100 rose 1.9% to 5,488 and the German DAX surged 3.6% to 5,929.

In Asia, the Japanese Nikkei 225 slipped 0.04% to 8,678 and the Chinese Hang Seng rose 0.24% to 18,026.

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Peliculas Online

Ohio to Vote on Blocking Federal Health Care Mandate

In Columbus, Ohio this week, several college-aged volunteers were manning a bank of phones, striving to reach a goal of a million calls in support of Ballot Issue 3 -- an amendment to the state’s Constitution that amounts to a repudiation of President Obama’s health care overhaul.

While at least four states have attempted to block the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act that requires everyone to purchase health care -- and 28 state attorneys general have joined in a Supreme Court challenge to the law -- Ohio’s action is different because it is driven entirely by citizens.

In the months since the health care bill became law, opponents in Ohio have been gathering enough signatures on a petition to reach the required threshold of 384,000 certified signatures to place Issue 3 on the November 8 ballot.

The constitutional amendment reads in part, that no government, neither federal, nor state nor local “shall compel, directly or indirectly, any person, employer, or health care provider to participate in a health care system."

“First, at the state level, it guarantees that Ohio can never be a state like Massachusetts or Vermont with a big state run healthcare system with a forced insurance mandate,“ said Jeff Longstreth, the campaign manager for Ohioans for Healthcare Freedom.

He is confident that conservative Ohioans, for whom the Affordable Care Act is a hot button issue, will turn out in significant number in this off-year election. All that is now necessary for the amendment to become a part of the state constitution is a simple majority vote on November 8.

Should it pass, some political analysts believe it will carry little weight beyond the symbolic.

“If the (U.S.) Supreme Court rules in favor of the president's healthcare bill, and says yes, the mandate is constitutional, then there's really no state law can supersede it right? The supremacy clause of the constitution is going to mean that federal law trumps state law,” said Mack Mariani, a political scientist at Xavier University.

Democratic opponents agree with that assessment but also object to the amendment’s wording.

“It is so sloppily written, so ambiguously written, that it would threaten and even invalidate literally dozens of already existing Ohio laws and regulations that we use to keep our population healthy and safe,” said Dale Butland , communications director at Innovation Ohio, a group opposed to the amendment.

Butland says the clause in question bans any new health care mandates passed after March 2010. He believes it would effectively invalidate many medical regulations rules made before that date.

Supporters admit that a victory for “Issue 3” would be mostly symbolic – but powerfully so. “Sometimes symbols matter,” said Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich. “The problem with Obamacare is you stick all these people on, and you have no way to pay for it.”

Adding to the symbolism of the vote – Ohio is again a volatile swing state and key to the re-election of the Obama. In addition, Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who is also up for re-election next year, voted for the Affordable Care Act and is ranked among the Senate’s most liberal members.

Some analysts believe that his Senate seat is ripe for a Republican takeover.

“We are effectively issuing a referendum on them and their policies,” said Chris Littleton of Ohio Liberty Council, a grass roots organization formed by Tea Party activists.

“And while this doesn't directly affect of course their election, I think there's a strong statement that's going to be made by Ohioans that we don't like this kind of infringement on our personal rights,” he said.

Supporters of Ballot Issue 3 enjoy a slim majority of support with 48 percent in favor and 45 percent opposed, according to a Quinnipiac Poll in July. But the poll breaks down strictly along party lines, with Republicans supporting it by a margin of 78 percent to 17 percent, and Democrats opposed to it by margin of 71 percent to 20 percent. Independents, who are crucial to the “swing” status of Ohio, are almost evenly split, 49 percent to 44 percent.

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Peliculas Online

Clinton Says U.S. Still Stands by Iraq

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the U.S. commitment to the democratic future of Iraq remains strong despite the withdrawal of American troops by the end of the year.

"Even as our troops come home, the United States' commitment to Iraq's future as a secure, stable, democratic nation remains as strong as ever," she said at a news conference in the Tajik capital. "This will end the war and it will open a new chapter in our relationship," Clinton said Saturday.

President Barack Obama says the death of Libya's Muammar Qaddafi and ending the U.S. war in Iraq are powerful reminders of America's renewed leadership in the world.

At the same time, Obama said Saturday that the U.S. now must tackle its "greatest challenge as a nation" -- rebuilding a weak economy and creating jobs -- with the "same urgency and unity that our troops brought to their fight."

Obama informed the nation on Friday that the long and costly war in Iraq will be over by the end of the year and that some 40,000 U.S. servicemen and women still there "will definitely be home for the holidays."

A day earlier, he hailed the killing of Libya's longtime leader as a "momentous day" in the history of a country that Gadhafi had ruled for decades through tyranny.

Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address that these foreign policy successes were part of a larger story.

"This week, we had two powerful reminders of how we've renewed American leadership in the world," Obama said. "After a decade of war, we're turning the page and moving forward, with strength and confidence."

He said withdrawing troops from Iraq has allowed the U.S. to focus on Afghanistan and score major victories against Al-Qaeda, including the killing in May of terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden. Troops also have been coming home from Afghanistan.

Obama said ending both wars will allow the U.S. to focus on rebuilding a weak economy so it can start creating enough jobs to reduce high levels of unemployment. That could possibly aid his re-election bid, which is being jeopardized by the tough financial circumstances.

"Over the past decade, we spent a trillion dollars on war, borrowed heavily from overseas and invested too little in the greatest source of our national strength -- our own people," the president said. "Now, the nation we need to build is our own."

The announcement of the troop withdrawal came after the president completed a secure video conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

The discussion apparently finalized negotiations that have dragged on for months over what, if any, military presence the U.S. would maintain in Iraq beyond a Dec. 31 withdrawal deadline set in 2008. The president said the two are now in "full agreement" over how to move forward, and that no U.S. troops will remain.

"As promised, the rest of our troops in Iraq will come home by the end of the year," Obama said. "After nearly nine years, America's war in Iraq will be over."

Though the president cast the announcement as making good on his promise to wind down the conflict, the plan was far from a sure thing.

Officials had been discussing with Iraqi leaders the possibility of several thousand U.S. troops staying beyond 2011 to train Iraqi security forces. However, Iraqi leaders had refused to give U.S. troops immunity from prosecution, something that was seen as a deal-breaker.

Talks with the Maliki government did not begin in earnest until August of this year. The White House had authorized the ambassador there to negotiate the possibility of up to 5,000 trainers remaining -- though Gen. Lloyd Austin, the commanding general, had requested upwards of 15,000.

Over the summer, Pentagon officials expressed public frustration with the stalling being done by Maliki -- it later became increasingly clear that all U.S. troops would have to leave.

Capitol Hill sources indicated Friday that, while the troops will come home, the standard presence of Marines will be kept to guard the U.S. Embassy there.

Democratic leaders in Washington commended Obama Friday for the announcement. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi called it a "promise kept."

But some Republicans have expressed concern that the U.S. runs a risk in pulling all troops out.

"I respectfully disagree with President Obama. I feel all we have worked for, fought for, and sacrificed for is very much in jeopardy by today's announcement. I hope I am wrong and the president is right, but I fear this decision has set in motion events that will come back to haunt our country," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in a statement.

More than 4,400 American military members have been killed since the U.S. invaded Iraq in March 2003.

There are still 40,000-45,000 U.S. troops in the country, but Obama said they would all be shipping home soon. He said the next challenge will be to ensure those troops can find work in America upon returning home.

Fox News' Ed Henry and Jennifer Griffin and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Peliculas Online

All F-22 Raptors at Langley Air Force Base Grounded After Oxygen Problem

By Jennifer Griffin

Published October 21, 2011

| FoxNews.com

All F-22 Raptors at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia have been grounded after a pilot experienced loss of oxygen while flying.

Air Force officials are meeting on Friday to determine whether it is necessary to extend the grounding to the rest of the F-22 fleet. The pilot experienced what is known as "hypoxia," and had to return to base.

America's premier fighter jet has experienced similar problems in the past, though it is not clear what is causing the problem. The Air Force last month brought the jets back into service after a grounding months earlier over oxygen issues.

"There is no conclusive cause or group of causes that has been established for the incidents that prompted the stand down earlier this year," the Air Force said in a statement Friday.

While the Air Force is again using F-22s, the statement said officials are making improvements and pausing when needed.

"Part of our protocol is to allow units to pause operations whenever they need to analyze information collected from flight operations to ensure safety. That is what is happening at Langley at the moment, and we support that decision," the statement said.

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Peliculas Online

Jobs Warned Obama of 'One-Term Presidency'

Published October 21, 2011

| NewsCore

CUPERTINO, Calif. – Steve Jobs warned President Barack Obama last year that he risked losing re-election over his policies toward business, according to the official biography of Apple's late co-founder.

"You're headed for a one-term presidency," Jobs told Obama when the two met in the fall of 2010, according to The Huffington Post, which obtained a copy of the book.

Jobs told Obama he had to adopt more business-friendly policies, saying companies were more likely to build factories in China because of "regulations and unnecessary costs" in the United States.

The meeting at the Westin San Francisco Airport almost did not occur, the biography reveals. The iconic CEO, notorious for his stubborn personality, initially insisted that he wanted to receive a personal invitation from the president. He ultimately gave in after maintaining his demand for five days, The Huffington Post reported.

Jobs also suggested Obama convene with CEOs but became irritated when the White House added too many people to the guest list, threatening that he had "no intention of coming."

Jobs fussed over the menu for the dinner meeting, telling venture capitalist John Doerr that the planned meal of shrimp, cod and lentil salad was "far too fancy." When he objected to a chocolate truffle dessert, he was rebuffed by the White House, which said the president was fond of cream pie.

The biography, which is written by Walter Isaacson and is set for release on Oct. 24, also reveals that Jobs offered to design ads for Obama's 2012 re-election campaign.

"He had made the same offer in 2008, but he'd become annoyed when Obama's strategist David Axelrod wasn't totally deferential," Isaacson wrote, adding that Jobs later divulged that he envisioned the ads would aid Obama in the same way the optimistic "Morning in America" commercial helped Ronald Reagan.

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Thursday, 20 October 2011

Fighters Capture Qaddafi Hometown

Published October 20, 2011

| Associated Press

SIRTE, Libya – Libyan fighters on Thursday overran the remaining positions of Muammar Qaddafi loyalists in his hometown of Sirte, ending the last major resistance by former regime supporters still holding out two months after the fall of the capital Tripoli.

Reporters at the scene watched as the final assault began around 8 a.m. and ended about 90 minutes later. Just before the assault, about five carloads of loyalists tried to flee the enclave down the coastal highway but were met by gunfire from the revolutionaries, who killed at least 20 of them.

"Our forces control the last neighborhood in Sirte," Hassan Draoua, a member of Libya's interim National Transitional Council, told The Associated Press in Tripoli after Sirte's fall. "The city has been liberated."

After the battle, revolutionaries began searching homes and buildings looking for any Qaddafi fighters who may be hiding there. At least 16 pro-Qaddafi fighters were captured, along with multiple cases of ammunition and trucks loaded with weapons. Reporters saw revolutionaries beating captured Qaddafi men in the back of trucks and officers intervening to stop them.

Celebratory gunfire echoed through Sirte, which fell into the hands of revolutionaries almost two full months after they overrun Tripoli and many other parts of the oil-rich North African nation.

Despite the fall of Tripoli on Aug, 21, Qaddafi loyalists mounted fierce resistance in several areas, including Sirte, preventing Libya's new leaders from declaring full victory in the eight-month civil war.

Earlier this week, revolutionary fighters gained control of one stronghold, Bani Walid, and by Tuesday said they had squeezed Qaddafi's forces in Sirte into a residential area of about 700 square meters but were still coming under heavy fire from surrounding buildings.

Deputy defense minister Fawzi Abu Katif on Wednesday told the AP that authorities still believe Qaddafi's son Muatassim is among the ex-regime figures holed up in the diminishing area in Sirte. He was not seen on the ground after the final battle on Thursday.

In an illustration of how difficult and slow the fighting for Sirte was, it took the anti-Qaddafi fighters, who also faced disorganization in their own ranks, two days to capture a single residential building.

It is unclear whether Qaddafi loyalists who have escaped might continue the fight and attempt to organize an insurgency using the vast amount of weapons Qaddafi was believed to have stored in hideouts in the remote southern desert.

Unlike Iraq's Saddam Hussein, Qaddafi had no well-organized political party that could form the basis of an insurgent leadership. However, regional and ethnic differences have already appeared among the ranks of the revolutionaries, possibly laying the foundation for civil strife.

Qaddafi, who is in hiding, has issued several audio recordings trying to rally supporters. Libyan officials have said they believe he's hiding somewhere in the vast southwestern desert near the borders with Niger and Algeria.

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Man Arrested for Allegedly Using Crane to Steal Jeep

Published October 19, 2011

| FoxNews.com

Think snagging stuffed animals with an arcade crane is tough? How about snagging full-size vehicles?

That was the idea behind a brazen theft early Sunday in LaPorte, Ind., when someone drove a crane into the city’s Chrysler dealership and can be seen on surveillance video using it to lift a Jeep Wrangler onto a flatbed truck and then driving off, NWI reports.

The theft lasted just six minutes.

"He clamped into the roof, put the jaws through both doors and lifted it up,” Matt Magnuson, LaPorte Chrysler’s general manager, told the Chicago Tribune. "The Jeep has to be heavily damaged."

A suspect was taken into custody Tuesday afternoon, LaPorte Police Chief of Detectives Adam Klimczak told NWI, but the person's identify has yet to be released.

The 2008 red Jeep Wrangler, with a plow attached to it, had not been found as of Wednesday. The vehicle had been sold the day before the theft for $25,000 but had yet to be picked up by the new owner, Magnuson told ABC News.

Magnuson described the truck used in the theft as a logging or railroad truck with a Prentice-brand crane.

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Critics Blast Move to Make D.C. 'Sanctuary City'

Published October 19, 2011

| FoxNews.com

The nation's capital has officially become the latest safe haven for illegal immigrants.

District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray on Wednesday signed an executive order instructing police officers not to question people about their immigration status -- even people who are arrested on other matters -- unless immigration status is directly related to a criminal investigation.

"This executive order ensures public safety by ensuring that our police resources are deployed wisely and our immigrant communities feel safe cooperating with those who are sworn to protect them," Gray said in a statement.

"The district is home to thousands of immigrants," he added. "If they are afraid to cooperate with authorities on criminal investigations because they fear it might endanger their presence in the United States or the presence of a loved one, then it endangers their public safety and that of our entire city."

Although district officials say the order only confirms a longstanding policy, critics still blasted the move.

"This is an abomination," said Corey Stewart, the Republican chairman-at-large of Prince William County of Virginia, which is about 25 miles south of D.C. Stewart's county has sued the Department of Homeland Security twice, seeking information on 4,000 illegal immigrants that the county has arrested and turned over to Homeland Security for deportation.

"This is the capital of the United States," Stewart told FoxNews.com, "and to have the nation's capital as a sanctuary city where essentially federal law is not going to be enforced sends all the wrong messages -- not just in the United States but around the world."

The term "sanctuary city" is used to describe places where local officials refuse to enforce federal immigration laws and undocumented workers are free to seek jobs, housing or local government services without fear of deportation unless targeted by federal agencies.

Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Paul Quander said the order does not mean the district is opting out of a mandatory federal program called Secure Communities, which directs local agencies to share fingerprints collected from people in local jails with the Department of Homeland Security. The program is expected to be in place nationwide by 2013.

But Stewart noted Secure Communities is only relevant once people are arrested and jailed.

"So the fact they they're going to comply with Secure Communities is of little consequence."

In signing the order, Gray said he wanted to clarify that the local police in district are not in the business of enforcing federal immigration laws.

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Courthouse Break-In Blamed on Drunk Pranksters

Published October 19, 2011

| Associated Press

SAN ANTONIO – Five foreign nationals with French visas broke into a San Antonio courthouse early Wednesday, authorities said, setting off a heavy police response with bomb-sniffing dogs and FBI agents. Hours later, officials said the young men turned out to be harmless bar hoppers looking for kicks.

Courthouse surveillance photos released by police show two men donning sombreros while running down a hallway around 1:30 a.m. A beer bottle was left in one courtroom, Bexar County Sheriff Amadeo Ortiz said, and the suspects playfully swung around a judge's gavel before getting caught.

"Evidently, they had been drinking prior to coming up here," Ortiz said. "It's very likely these individuals were just intoxicated."

All the men are in their 20s and are expected to be charged with burglary. Although their visas listed French addresses, authorities said they were not sure of their original nationalities. Ortiz said the men appeared to pose no security threat.

The levity with which police described the drunken caper at an afternoon news conference differed sharply from the intensity and suspicion that surrounded the courthouse earlier in the day. Police closed downtown streets and tactical units combed the building for explosives.

Authorities also searched the nearby convention center where dozens of top U.S. intelligence officials were attending a conference, including Michael Vickers, the undersecretary of defense for intelligence.

Ortiz defended the aggressive police response to five foreign suspects seen breaking into a government building, and acknowledged local kids pulling the same prank wouldn't have brought out the same swarm of law enforcement.

"Because they are foreign nationals, and because of everything that has happened in the United States recently, we can't take anything like this as a prank," Ortiz said. "We have to do our due diligence."

Also raising initial suspicion was the rented RV the men had been using to travel across the country. Some of the group arrived in New York and had driven down to Florida to pick up the others, Ortiz said. Authorities were waiting on a search warrant Wednesday afternoon to thoroughly search the RV, though investigators said they already had found the visas, maps, cell phones and computers.

Ortiz said two of the men broke into the courthouse through a fire escape and set off an alarm immediately. They were arrested shortly after and appeared to cause no damage. Ortiz said they spoke little English but were being cooperative with investigators through the help of a translator.

"They were clowning around in the courtroom. They put on Mexican hats, they grabbed the gavel," Ortiz said. "That gave us an indication they weren't up to anything other than a prank."

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Tech Sees Through Walls

Published October 19, 2011

| FoxNews.com

Invisible tanks, Iron-Man suits, and now x-ray vision?

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are developing an experimental radar system that will allow U.S. troops in combat to see through walls.

In recent tests held at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory, the radar successfully showed humans moving behind solid concrete.

The researchers’ device is an unassuming array of antenna in two rows — eight receiving elements on top, 13 transmitting ones below — and some computing equipment, all mounted onto a movable cart. But project leader Gregory Charvat and his team believe the technology could have powerful implications for “urban combat situations.”

“If you’re in a high-risk combat situation, you don’t want one image every 20 minutes, and you don’t want to have to stand right next to a potentially dangerous building,” Charvat said.

Charvat envisions the unit mounted on a military vehicle and providing real-time video through walls as far as 60 feet away at a rate of 10.8 frames per second — far surpassing current technologies.

Humans and other animals see via waves of visible light that bounce off objects and then strike the retina. Light can’t pass through solid objects in quantities large enough for the eye to detect, of course.

"Rather than using visible light to look through walls, which is not very effective, we instead use a microwave,” Charvat explained.

X-ray would be perfect for this application, but its "ionizing radiation" is too dangerous, Charvat said. "We use microwave technology that’s about as powerful as a cellular phone, so it’s very weak. So, microwaves work. It’s not ideal, but it gets the job done."

The system does have limits, in other words.

“Eight inches is all we’ve been able to do,” Charvat said. Visibility “may be able to be increased by more transit power or lowering the frequency. The lower you go in frequency, the better it is, but it becomes a resolution issue.”

In time, the radar could be used by police or emergency-response teams, but the researchers said they developed the technology first and foremost for the military.

"This is meant for the urban war fighter … those situations where it's very stressful and it'd be great to know what's behind that wall," Charvat said.

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Boy Told Sports Gear OK, But No Band Gear on Bus

By Joshua Rhett Miller

Published October 19, 2011

| FoxNews.com

Andrew DiMarzio just wants to ride the bus with his tenor saxophone, but the 12-year-old Massachusetts boy claims he's been told to cut the music or get another ride, so to speak.

Cathy DiMarzio, of Raynham, said her son recently was told that his 31-inch-long, 12-inch-wide saxophone case would no longer be allowed on Bus 9 within the Bridgewater-Raynham Regional School District because the bus is filled to capacity and the instrument creates a safety hazard.

But DiMarzio claims the case, which fits under the seat, is no bigger than a large backpack, and other students are allowed to carry athletic equipment or other gear onto the bus. And since she leaves for work every day before her son, DiMarzio has had to make other arrangements three times a week to get Andrew to band practice.

"I either have to quit my job if I want him in band or he has to give up band. That's not feasible," she told FoxNews.com. "I don't see why they can't bring another bus down here. I am willing to work with them, but they're clearly not willing to work with me. He's not a problem child -- he's trying to do good things here."

Messages seeking comment from Lucini Bus Line, which operates the school buses, were not returned on Wednesday. Multiple calls to school officials at Raynham Middle School, including Principal David Thomson, were not returned.

Andrew, a sixth-grader at Raynham Middle School, has been playing the tenor sax for more than a year and has recently begun practicing with the marching band at Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School, his mother said.

"My feeling is he's being targeted, for what reason, I don't know," she continued. "He's a good all-around kid."

DiMarzio said she was told by officials at the bus company and at Andrew's school that no instruments larger than a flute or clarinet are allowed on the bus since it's at capacity. She has not seen that policy in writing, she said.

The Bridgewater-Raynham Regional School District refunded DiMarzio's $225 fee for her son to ride the bus to school last week, but that wasn't the resolution she had sought. Superintendent Jacqueline Forbes, who could not be reached for comment on Wednesday, told the Taunton Daily Gazette that the instrument "cannot fit" and characterized the situation as unfortunate.

Pat Riley, chairwoman of the district's school committee, told the newspaper that school officials have considered several scenarios to accommodate Andrew, including storing the instrument at school.

But DiMarzio said that potential solution won't work since her son needs to practice at home.

"Kids are born with baggage, let's face it," she said. "They have stuff, they need stuff with them. My son is being denied a proper education."

View the original article here

Peliculas Online

Biden Uses Violent Imagery to Pitch Jobs Plan

Vice President Biden is stepping up his argument that rapes and murders could increase if Congress does not pass President Obama’s $447 billion jobs bill – evoking sexual and violent imagery in his sales pitch for the second time in a week.

Speaking to Philadelphia police officers Tuesday at the University of Pennsylvania, Biden slammed Republican critics who say the jobs bill is just “temporary,” underscoring measures aimed at maintaining police force levels.

“Let me tell you, it’s not temporary when that 9-1-1 call comes in and a woman’s being raped. If a cop shows up in time to prevent the rape, it’s not temporary to that woman,” Biden said with his voice rising. “It’s not temporary to the guy whose store is being held up and has a gun being pointed to his head if a cop shows up and he’s not killed. That’s not temporary to that store owner. Give me a break -- temporary.

“I wish these guys who thought it was temporary, I wish they had some notion what it’s like be on the other side of a gun or a 200-pound man standing over you telling you to submit,” he added. “Folks, it matters. It matters.”

Last Wednesday, Biden suggested during a speech in Flint, Mich., that rapes and murders could rise if the jobs bill failed to pass Congress.

The Republican National Committee released a memo calling Biden’s comments “irresponsible and mean-spirited” and calling on the media and women’s groups to condemn the remarks.

“No victim of violent crime would ever wish that others were forced to experience the same trauma they went through – especially to make a brazen political point. So why would the sitting vice president of the United States?”

“Our economy is hurting and the Obama administration’s policies have only prolonged the pain, but that is no excuse for Vice President Biden to wish his political opponents to be subjected to rape or have a gun held to their head,” the RNC said. “Victims of violent crime should never be used for political gain.”

Biden’s comments came after the Democratic-controlled Senate defeated the bill last Tuesday. The White House is pushing Congress to pass the bill piece-by-piece.

The first piece is a $35 billion bill that Senate Democrats proposed on Monday that would provide $30 billion in aid for state and local governments to help keep about 400,000 teachers on the job and another $5 billion to help cities retain about 18,000 police officers and 7,000 firefighters.

But Senate Republicans are expected to block that bill too. They are pushing their own bill that includes tax reform, a balanced budget amendment, a repeal of the federal health care law and lifting prohibitions on offshore drilling – provisions that most Democrats don’t support.

Obama went to rural Virginia on Wednesday as part of his tour pitching the bill and trashing the GOP plan for creating jobs.

“Let me repeat, dirtier air, dirtier water, repealing health care and ending rules on Wall Street is not a jobs plan,” he told firefighters.

Since he addressed a joint session of Congress to announce his jobs plan last month, Obama has given remarks supporting the bill every two days, visiting a new state to pitch it every six days.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid accused Republicans of putting their political interests ahead of the country’s.

“Republicans’ No. 1 priority is to defeat President Obama, and their strategy is to keep the economy weak as long as possible,” he said. “So they oppose legislation we know beyond a shadow of a doubt will support 400,000 American jobs without adding a penny to the deficit.”

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday Obama needs to “park the campaign bus, shelve the talking points and focus on jobs."

“It’s completely preposterous at a time when 14 million Americans are looking for a job in this country for the president to be riding around on a bus saying we should raise taxes – on the very folks who create jobs,” he said on the Senate floor.

“Let’s drop the talking points about millionaires and billionaires,” he said. “And let’s work together on bipartisan jobs legislation that’s designed to pass, not fail.”

View the original article here

Peliculas Online

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Thursday, 20 October 2011

Fighters Capture Qaddafi Hometown

Man Arrested for Allegedly Using Crane to Steal Jeep

Critics Blast Move to Make D.C. 'Sanctuary City'

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