UK's Cameron arrives in Kazakhstan for talks

MOSCOW (AP) ? British Prime Minister David Cameron has arrived in Kazakhstan, becoming the first serving British leader to visit the Central Asian nation.

Human rights groups have criticized the trip, saying the government of President Nursultan Nazarbayev imprisons critics, restricts the media and limits freedom of expression.

Cameron, who hopes to sign lucrative business deals with oil- and gas-rich Kazakhstan, said "there's never anything off the table" in talks and promised he would raise human rights issues with Kazakh officials.

But he noted that "Kazakhstan is one of the rising economic powers in the world" and important to British business interests.

He said it was "high time" a British leader visited, according to the Press Association news agency.

Cameron flew to the Kazakh capital, Astana, on Sunday after visiting Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uks-cameron-arrives-kazakhstan-talks-150211383.html

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Eminem Gets 'Open And Forthcoming' About Addiction In 'How To Make Money Selling Drugs'

Director tells MTV News about Eminem's "arresting" interview in "Drugs" doc.
By James Montgomery

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1709793/eminem-how-to-make-money-selling-drugs-director.jhtml

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NASA's Flying Laboratories Seek Answers in the Atmosphere

The Earth's atmosphere is a swirling soup of organic gases and aerosols, a continuing chemical reaction that envelops the planet. With help of a 250-person crew, NASA satellites, and three outfitted aircraft, scientists hope to discover a little more about the skies above us. We're not talking basic meteorology to help your local weatherman's accuracy. This three-month, multimillion-dollar campaign will analyze all the moving parts of the southern United States' atmospheric system and how they affect climate change and thunderstorm formation.

SEAC4RS (pronounced "seekers") stands for?take a deep breath?the Studies of Emissions, Atmospheric Composition, Clouds and Climate Coupling by Regional Surveys. The project is described as NASA's most "complex airborne science campaign of the year," and campaign leader Brian Toon, a professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at University of Colorado-Boulder, is at the helm.

"It'll be exciting to get into the field and see what opportunities occur," Toon tells PopMech. "We have a lot of instruments here, so there's a high probability of discovering something new and interesting."

Toon, along with about 250 scientists, flight personnel, engineers, and students from 15 different universities will travel to Houston for the project and will operate out of NASA's Ellington Field. Planes outfitted with climate-gauging sensors will fly missions every other day from Aug.7 to the end of September. The project's primary goal is studying the atmospheric affects of emissions, both natural and man-made.

"In summertime across the United States, emissions from large seasonal fires, metropolitan areas, and vegetation are moved upward by thunderstorms and the North American Monsoon," Toon says. "When these chemicals get into the stratosphere they can affect the whole earth."

In Search of a Monsoon

The beginnings of SEAC4RS extend to the 1990s. NASA originally selected Thailand and Southeast Asia as the best location for SEAC4RS because of the perfect coalescence of emissions, biomass burning, and the Asian Monsoon. The mission was scheduled for summer 2012, but confusion about the project's purpose between the Thai government and NASA led to unfounded suspicions of possible espionage.

"Every rumor you could think of about what was happening occurred," Toon says. "We just couldn't get the people's permission in time to figure out the logistics for something like this."

The canceled program shifted its gaze to the southern United States and the North American Monsoon, an anticyclone which circles clockwise down the Gulf of Mexico, cuts across the Central America, and travels up the Pacific coast. "That's one of two areas where a lot of water is moving upward into the stratosphere," Toon says.

Flying Labs

Science this sophisticated needs a little more than weather balloons, program manager Hal Maring says. "The real driver here is the science. So we use the aircraft that most appropriately gives us the kind of sampling we need."

NASA will be flying a DC-8 passenger aircraft converted into a flying laboratory, complete with 26 sensors; an ER-2, the scientific cousin to the U-2 spy plane; and a Learjet from SPEC, Inc., outfitted to capture detailed cloud measurements. Jos?-Luis Jim?nez, a professor at CU-Boulder and participant in the SEAC4RS project, says that if you want to picture these flying labs, imagine a passenger plane with all the seats ripped out and replaced with scientific equipment. Instead of a packed-like-sardines coach-class seats, there are computer displays and crates of science equipment to fill the sides, with a narrow path between. Instruments and sensors poke outside plane fuselage like strange antennae.

These aircraft will work in conjunction with NASA satellites, as well as ground instruments, to get to most detailed atmospheric images possible while also improving NASA's satellite capabilities. The DC-8 and ER-2 fly only 8 hours every other day, so on off-days, flight planning will create more precision and less guesswork. "We will look at the science we learned from previous flights and try to figure out the best way to use the plane the next day," Toon says.

Aerosols

A lot of this science depends on the aerosol, a tiny particle in the atmosphere that can obscure visibility and cause climate change. Within the last decade, these particles have been discovered to be much more complex, sometimes with tens of thousands of compounds in them, Toon says. Understanding these particles, as well as organic gases, and how they interact with the atmosphere is what Toon hopes to find out. "Every cloud droplet forms on an aerosol particle, so if people make more aerosol particles, it's going to affect the number of drops in clouds," Toon says. "They change the properties of the clouds."

Despite the advanced gadgetry and an overwhelming workforce, Maring describes SEAC4RS research as pretty basic. But understanding how the atmosphere reacts to emissions can indirectly improve how scientists are able to predict air quality, and could provide a knowledge boost in unexpected places. "We'll learn about how efficiently these convective systems move material from near the surface up into the upper atmosphere, and, chemically, what goes on, and what impact that has," Maring says.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/climate-change/nasas-flying-laboratories-seek-answers-in-the-atmosphere-15638427?src=rss

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Stocks snap three-day winning streak, open lower

stocks

JeeYeon Park CNBC

3 hours ago

The Dow and S&P 500 dropped on Friday as investors were reluctant to jump in following a three-day rally, but major averages still capped the volatile quarter with gains.

Stocks finished lower for the month of June, logging their first monthly drop this year. But all three major averages logged their third winning quarter in four. And so far for the year, the Dow has surged more than 14 percent, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have spiked more than 13 percent each.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 114.89 points to close at 14,909.60, pulling back after logging its third-straight day higher. Still, the Dow posted its strongest first half of the year since 1999.

The S&P 500 fell 6.92 points to finish at 1,606.28. The S&P 500 logged its best first half performance since 1998. The Nasdaq eked out a gain of 1.38 points to end at 3,403.25.

The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, finished unchanged below 17.

For the quarter, the Dow rose 2.27 percent, the S&P 500 climbed 2.36 percent, and the Nasdaq soared 4.15 percent. Microsoft was the best performer for the quarter on the Dow, while IBM tumbled.

Financials topped the S&P 500 sector gainers in the second quarter, while utilities lagged.

Stocks initially opened in negative territory after Fed Governor Jeremy Stein highlighted the upcoming September policy meeting as a possible time when the central bank may need to consider paring back its QE program, adding that the Fed consider the overall economic improvements since it launched the stimulus instead of giving undue weight to the most recent round of tepid economic data.

(Read More: Buckle Up! Expect More Market Volatility This Year)

Stein's comments contradicted comments from other Fed policymakers who have suggested the central bank will bide its time before scaling back its bond purchases.

Menawhile, Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker said markets should brace for more volatility as they digest news the Fed will scale back bond buying later this year, but the swings will not derail growth. Lacker said he expects U.S. growth to remain around 2 percent for the "foreseeable future."

(Read More:Fed Out in Force as Markets Stabilize)

On the economic front, business activity index in the Midwest fell in June to 51.6 from 58.7 in May, according to the Institute for Supply Management-Chicago. A Reuters survey of economists on average expected a median reading of 56.0 in June versus the May figure of 58.7.

Meanwhile, consumer sentiment improved in late June, with the final reading on the overall index at 84.1, above the preliminary reading of 82.7, according to Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the final June reading of 82.8.

Japan's benchmark stock index hit a three-week high on the heels of positive economic reports that include much stronger than expected industrial output and retail sales numbers.

"We had better job market numbers, better production numbers, and even consumer prices are picking up. So data-wise, today is a pretty good day for Japan," said Takuji Okubo, principal and chief economist at Japan Macro Advisors.

Traders will closely watch gold prices, as the precious metal dipped below a key level of $1,200 per ounce. Analysts warned that miners could be severely affected if prices remain this low.

(Read More: Three Reasons Gold Will Go to $800)

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The Newcomer's Guide To Efficient Internet Promotion - Maynas Eric

It is no secret that there is a lot of hard work involved in Website marketing. Hard work and persistence can help your Internet promotion plan improve your bottom line. It does no good to work very hard at pointless tasks. The tips listed here will get you going in the right direction.

A client mailing list is vital. Post notification on your website to collect emails. However, if you want to be slightly more aggressive, request it in order for customers to purchase items off your site. Either way, you can use this information later to send out sales information, offer promotional materials or to ask for customer feedback.

You need to create a great site before worrying about getting it ranked. Building a great website should be your very first step in starting a web business. Once your website operates without glitches and looks great, you are ready to move forward with marketing.

TIP! To increase your ad clicks, place an image on your page that, when clicked, leads to a page that describes the item you are advertising or selling. Ensure you use the font that you use in your articles and linking it.

Split your website into sections, and have a map from which people can choose the products they?d like to see. While variety is desirable, ensure that your options are presented in an organized way.

Try putting a blog on your site and updating it regularly. Frequent blogging is a great way of keeping your potential customers informed and up to date about your business. Having a blog also makes your site larger, which gives search engines more material to index and should thus bring you more traffic.

You have everything you need to be successful with internet marketing. Fancy computer programs and overpriced get-rich-quick schemes can?t compare to a person with knowledge and the desire to get the job done. Just work hard and imagine what you can achieve when you are marketing yourself.

TIP! Use social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook as a part of your Internet marketing campaign. You can use these sites to advertise new offers or to share your latest articles.

To build a good website, be as content-focused and as comprehensive as you can. Your main goal should be to teach the viewer about your product in a timely manner. Repetitive descriptions and data, facts and information that the customer will find irrelevant or even boring, should be avoided.

Video marketing is an awesome way to generate interest in your business. Incorporating an informative video onto your website is a great method for gaining the attention of your viewers. Sharing these videos should be easy thanks to social networks and blogs.

To become a successful internet marketer, you need dedication and a high work ethic rather than luck. There is no such story about a business that just got lucky in their success. Coca Cola?s success isn?t pure luck, but rather years of research and work that culminated in a wildly successful soft drink. Not at all. They did a superb job of marketing their product.

TIP! A ?squeeze page? can be an effective way to gather contact info for your mailing list. This will encourage visitors to enter their email addresses.

The majority of cellular providers permit multiple numbers to be routed to a single phone. Therefore, it is wise to get a dedicated number.

To bolster the credibility of your web business, you should try to land interviews with authorities within your niche who are well respected. The interviews can be done on video, audio, or in text form. Your interview will boost readership of your website, improve your reputation as someone in the know and give you more incoming traffic.

You should approach banner advertising differently, and go for a unique approach when designing one for your website. The more appealing and original your banner ad appears, the more people you?ll have clicking on it.

TIP! Check out what your competition is up to. You can check your competition?s site to see what they have.

Consider creating a web page for comments and customer reviews of your products and services. Customer reviews can help establish loyalty and will increase your reputation in the industry.

Add the word ?fast? in you advertisement campaigns and add language that would strengthen your products. Customers value speedy service, which is why you want to ensure that your products are delivered quickly.

TIP! If you website is static and rarely ever changes, perhaps you should consider including a blog on your site. New content gets the attention of the search engines which will increase your ranking in their listings and lead to more traffic for your site.

Offering free gifts or promotions will make your customers feel valued. Sometimes, it is easy to overlook simple things such as this, but offering freebies can keep customers coming back.

Customers will order their products faster if you give them incentives to do so. This could include free shipping, faster shipping or free gift wrapping. One way to do this is to offer free shipping to the first 100 customers who purchase a specified item. Offering incentives can encourage more people to purchase your product and promote customer satisfaction.

Are you searching for some way to do online marketing? Encourage people to give you their email address or to connect with you on social networks by advertising special offers regularly. Offer freebies or contests and ask them if you can send them future emails. A customer will provide their email if they get something in return for it.

TIP! Internet marketing ventures will not succeed through chance, only through deliberate effort and hard work can you hope to enjoy success. No one ever got rich in their own business from luck.

Employ a lot of descriptions on the site. Adjectives work very well in the world of web marketing. Be creative, and come up with your own words and site- or product-specific jargon. Make them want to revisit your site just to read what you have to say.

Write relevant content and submit it to article directories online. Make sure these articles are signed with your full name and contain information about your business. If you get published in an online magazine, include a link to your site. You can entice the editors with commissions or freebies that encourage them to publish your content.

Offer something free with your business name and logo on it. For example, if it?s a wallpaper, submit it to sites that offer free wallpapers. Many websites are available that give out free e-content and are easy to submit too.

TIP! Put customer testimonials on your site. It is easy to claim that your product is effective, but without good, solid proof, your audience may not buy it.

Many people won?t believe ad copy. For years, advertising has been misleading. Because of this, you have to show proof of what you claim on your website. Examples of this include testimonials, before-and-after photographs, and test reports. Just do not say anything that you cannot back up. You must take your customer?s word as truthful and sincere. Don?t take advantage of people. You will get a great reputation and gain customers to do business with for a long time.

Take advantage of these hints and ensure that you are making positive strides toward maximum profits. Armed with the information you learned here, and with a bit of hard work, soon you will see the results of your website marketing efforts.

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Source: http://www.maynaseric.com/the-newcomers-guide-to-efficient-internet-promotion

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Wedding banquet turns to funeral in Ras Al Khaimah

Submit Your Photo Of Dubai

'; jQuery(document.body).append( message ); jQuery(document.body).append( '' ); jQuery('#darkbg').show(); jQuery('#darkbg').css('height', jQuery(document).height()); jQuery('#message_box').css('top', 150); jQuery('#message_box').show('slow'); } else { var message = '' + body + '
' + button; jQuery('#darkbg').show(); jQuery('#darkbg').css('height', jQuery(document).height()); jQuery('#message_box').css('top', 150); jQuery('#message_box').show('slow'); jQuery('#message_box').html( message ); } }, close_message: function() { jQuery('#message_box').hide('fast'); jQuery('#darkbg').hide(); } } }();

Source: http://dubaiinformer.com/113258/wedding-banquet-turns-to-funeral-in-ras-al-khaimah/

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NASA set to launch sun-observation satellite

File-This undated image provided by NASA shows technicians preparing at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. for the launch of NASA?s latest satellite, Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS), that will study the sun. The Iris satellite is set to ride into Earth orbit on a rocket, which will be dropped from an airplane flying over the Pacific some 100 miles off California?s central coast Thursday June 27, 2013. (AP Photo/NASA,VAFB, Randy Beaudoin,File)

File-This undated image provided by NASA shows technicians preparing at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. for the launch of NASA?s latest satellite, Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS), that will study the sun. The Iris satellite is set to ride into Earth orbit on a rocket, which will be dropped from an airplane flying over the Pacific some 100 miles off California?s central coast Thursday June 27, 2013. (AP Photo/NASA,VAFB, Randy Beaudoin,File)

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) ? NASA on Thursday was poised to launch a satellite to observe a little-understood region just above the surface of the sun.

Unlike a traditional liftoff, the Iris satellite was to cruise into Earth orbit on a Pegasus rocket dropped from an airplane after taking off from the Vandenberg Air Force Base on California's central coast.

The launch was to scheduled to occur at approximately 7:27 p.m. PDT. About 100 miles off the coast and at an altitude of 39,000 feet, the rocket was to be released and ignite its engine for the climb to space. If all goes as planned, Iris will be boosted into orbit 400 miles above the Earth, unfurl its solar panels and begin its two-year mission after a checkout period.

Previous sun-observing spacecraft have yielded a wealth of information about our nearest star and beamed back brilliant pictures of solar flares.

Iris carries an ultraviolet telescope that can take high-resolution images every few seconds. Its focus is on a little-explored region of the sun that lies between the surface and the corona, the glowing white ring that's visible during eclipses. The goal is to learn more about how this mysterious region drives solar wind and to better predict space weather that can disrupt communications signals on Earth.

"Every time we look at the sun in more detail than we ever have before, it opens up a new window," NASA program scientist Jeffrey Newmark said earlier this week.

The mission is cheap by NASA standards, costing only $182 million, and is managed by the space agency's Goddard Space Flight Center.

Once in orbit, engineers will spend a month making sure Iris is in perfect health before powering on the telescope to begin observations.

The launch was delayed by a day so that technicians at the Air Force base could restore power to launch range equipment after a weekend outage cut electricity to a swath of the central coast.

The Pegasus, from Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., is a winged rocket designed for launching small satellites. First flown in 1990, Pegasus rockets have also been used to accelerate vehicles in hypersonic flight programs.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2013-06-27-Sun%20Satellite/id-b048aa92cda34a8184f12176c1cd33d1

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Swell Launches A Personalized App For News Radio Listening

Swell, a new app launching today, is quickly becoming my favorite way to listen to spoken-word content. There are other apps focusing on that kind of content ? for example, when we wrote about Stitcher's growth last year, we said it was starting to sound like "the Pandora of talk radio." Stitcher, however, actually follows more of an on-demand model ? you choose what you want to listen to (although there are also content recommendations). Swell, on the other hand, is closer to the Pandora experience, where you just open the app, hit play, and interesting content should immediately start streaming.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/4141EHh6YYc/

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Verizon's LTE network 'substantially complete' with 500th city

Verizon this morning announced that the fine folks of Parkersburg, WVa., are the proud recipients of its 500th 4G LTE market, and that the rollout of its high-speed data is "substantially complete," blanketing 99 percent of its network. Verizon says more than 95 percent of the U.S. population — some 298 million people — have access to its LTE network. (Though obviously they're not all Verizon customers.)

Some 57 percent of of data Verizon served up is done over its LTE network.

read more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/8fzt_UARhgw/story01.htm

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Field Sales Consultants Required In Cork and Waterford For ...

Field Management Ireland

Address: Unit 3a Dundrum Business Park Dundrum Dublin 14, Dublin 14, Ireland

Phone: +353 1 496 3399

Fax: +353 1 496 3089

Field Management Ireland - Field Sales Consultants Required In Cork and Waterford For Leading Energy Company (Basic + Commission)

Location:	Cork and Waterford
Salary:	?21K per annum plus commission. OTE ?35K+
Job type:	Permanent, Full-time

Job description
Field Management Ireland currently have a vacancies for Field Sales Consultants in?Cork and Waterford?representing Ireland's market-leading energy provider. This position offers a basic salary plus generous commission.

This is a highly autonomous role and requires

candidates with a natural desire to succeed, the ability to get on with people of all ages/backgrounds and possessing a 'can-do' attitude.

As a result of deregulation, energy companies are now able to offer residential customers cheaper energy prices/packages for both electricity and gas as well as additional home energy services. This is an exciting opportunity to be part of a major campaign, with a proven track record of success to date, for one of the most well-respected companies in Ireland whilst enhancing your own sales skills and experience. Previous door-to-door sales experience is a distinct advantage for this role.

FMI is one of Irelands leading Field Management companies involved in a wide range of activities including sales, retail services/management, merchandising & auditing, on behalf of many of the leading companies in their fields such as Cadbury, UPC, Canon, Superquinn, BMW, Irish Cancer Society, Esso and ESB Electric Ireland.

The Role

• Working from 'warm' leads of previous customers covering the?Cork and Waterford?areas, offering residential customers new household energy packages and services.?
• Full-time - Must be available 12:00pm to 8pm Monday - Friday
• Basic salary (see below) plus generous commission structure
• Full training provided

The Person

• Excellent communication skills
• Motivated self-starter who is able to work on own initiative
• Portrays a professional image at all times and understands the importance of delivering a first-class customer service experience
• Fluent English is essential
• Previous door-to-door sales experience is a distinct advantage
• Must have own car and full driving licence

Apply below with your CV and cover letter outlining your suitability for this role.

Salary for this role is ?21K plus uncapped commission structure.

Email this job to yourself / a friend

Source: http://www.jobs.ie/ApplyForJob.aspx?Id=1273286

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Rousseff's referendum plan for Brazil runs into trouble

By Anthony Boadle

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's bid to defuse a sudden outburst of national discontent by proposing a referendum on political reforms ran into stiff opposition on Tuesday from politicians and lawyers who questioned its legality.

Tens of thousands of Brazilians have taken to the streets this month in the biggest protests in 20 years, fueled by an array of grievances ranging from poor public services to the high cost of World Cup soccer stadiums and corruption.

The demonstrations against Brazil's political establishment have jolted politicians of all stripes and clouded the outlook for Rousseff, who is expected to seek re-election next year.

The national capital, Brasilia, braced for more protests on Wednesday, with some schools cancelling classes. New demonstrations were also expected in Belo Horizonte during a game between Brazil and Uruguay for the Confederations Cup, a warm-up for the World Cup in 2014.

In an emergency meeting with Brazil's governors on Monday, Rousseff proposed a national plebiscite to ask voters whether they agree to holding a constituent assembly to reform Brazil's political system.

The bold move was seen as an attempt by a popular president to bypass the country's unpopular Congress with an appeal to the people. Legal experts said that was unconstitutional.

The head of the Brazilian Bar Association, Marcus Vinicius Furtado, proposed in a meeting with Rousseff that political reforms be adopted by Congress based on a popular petition.

Politicians - including the head of the lower chamber of Congress Henrique Alves, a member of the governing coalition of parties - said political reforms should be decided by Congress.

Former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso said that under Brazil's constitution Rousseff could not call an assembly to amend the charter. He said political reforms should be drawn up by Congress and then submitted to the country's approval in a plebiscite.

To hold a referendum to decide what to reform would "take up what is left of this presidential term and have repercussions for the economy that are hard to predict," Cardoso said in a post on the FHC Institute's Facebook page.

Political analysts saw Rousseff's referendum proposal as a ploy to gain time and spread the political risk of the crisis.

"Rousseff's intention is to address the public's huge disaffection with the political class by separating herself as an agent of change," Washington-based Eurasia consultancy said in a note to clients. "In practical terms, however, the proposal is unlikely to lead to any meaningful political reform."

Eurasia said it was not a lack of legal mechanisms that has hampered political reform in Brazil, but the absence of will across the political class.

The same point was made by the president of Brazil's Supreme Court, Joaquim Barbosa, who weighed into the debate with a news conference after meeting with Rousseff on the issue.

"Proposals have been sitting for years in Congress, which has shown no interest in reforming the political system. And that lack of interest, in part, has led to the crisis of legitimacy we have now," Barbosa told reporters.

It was unusual for a chief justice to be publicly giving his opinion on a matter he might have to rule on if it is brought before the Supreme Court. But Barbosa is highly respected in Brazil for leading the country's biggest political corruption trial, which led to the conviction last year of several leaders of the ruling Workers' Party.

Barbosa said the Brazilian people should be consulted directly because they were tired of political deals negotiated behind their backs by the political elites.

Brazil's democratic system was not endangered by the current wave of protests, he said. "Brazil's democracy is solid enough to weather this turbulence."

(Editing by Christopher Wilson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rousseffs-referendum-plan-brazil-runs-trouble-004434509.html

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Pakistani Judge Injured in Blast, 4 Killed (Voice Of America)

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Presidential palace in Afghanistan attacked

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? Suicide attackers blew up a car bomb and battled security forces outside Afghanistan's presidential palace Tuesday after infiltrating one of the most secure areas of the capital. The army said the attackers were killed but knew of no other deaths.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which came as reporters were gathering for a news event on Afghan youth at which President Hamid Karzai was expected to talk about ongoing efforts to open peace talks with the militant group.

The palace is in a large fortified area of downtown Kabul that also includes the U.S. Embassy and the headquarters for the NATO-led coalition forces. Access is heavily restricted. It houses Karzai's residence but it was not immediately clear whether the president was in the building at the time and his spokesman did not answer his phone.

Gunfire started around 6:30 a.m. inside a heavily guarded area near the east gate leading to the palace next to the Afghan Ministry of Defense and the former Ariana Hotel, which former U.S. intelligence officials have confirmed is used by the CIA.

Kabul police chief Gen. Mohamad Ayub Salangi said three or four gunmen jumped out of their SUV and opened fire after being stopped by security forces while trying to use fake documents to get through a checkpoint. All gunmen were killed, and one palace security guard was wounded, he said.

A car bomb then exploded as it tried to enter the area. About 20 journalists took cover behind a religious shrine, pulling a schoolboy off the street who had been caught in the open on his way to school.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility, saying in a text message the militants had "brought death to the enemy" with a suicide attack. He later suggested in an emailed statement that all three buildings had been targeted, saying the attack came "near the Ariana Hotel, the important CIA base, and also the presidential palace and Ministry of Defense."

Smoke could be seen coming from the area of the hotel, but there was no immediate indication any of the buildings were hit in the attack.

Mujahid claimed the attackers had inflicted "heavy casualties," but Afghanistan's Kabul division army commander Gen. Kadam Shah Shahim said he knew of no deaths among security forces or civilians.

He said his forces killed all of the attackers after they jumped out of their vehicle and opened fire.

The NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan instituted a camp lockdown during the incident and said in a short statement that its forces had been ready to assist but were not called in by Afghan authorities.

The U.S. Embassy cancelled all consular appointments and advised American citizens in Kabul to stay indoors but had no immediate comment on the incident.

The Taliban have indicated they are willing to open peace talks with the U.S. and the Afghanistan government and just last week opened an office in Qatar for possible negotiations.

But at the same time they have not renounced violence and attacks have continued across Afghanistan.

_____

Associated Press writers David Rising and Amir Shah contributed to this report

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/taliban-attack-presidential-palace-afghanistan-030026459.html

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Senator Wendy Davis is Filibustering Anti-Choice Legislation in Texas (Balloon Juice)

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Melissa McCarthy: 'I've been every size'

Celebs

Gael Fashingbauer Cooper TODAY

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Yu Tsai for More 2013

Melissa McCarthy on the cover of More magazine.

Actress Melissa McCarthy's weight was an issue for movie critic Rex Reed, who called the actress "tractor-sized" when she starred in "Identity Thief." But it's not an issue for McCarthy, she tells More magazine in the July/August issue, on newsstands June 25.

"I've been every size in the world," she said. "Parts of my twenties, I was in great shape, but I didn't appreciate it. If I was a 6 or an 8, I thought, 'Why aren't I a 2 or a 4'?

But McCarthy can see beyond dress sizes to realize how lucky she is -- with a happy marriage to writer-actor Ben Falcone, two young daughters, and a lively movie career. And she hears from fans, some in the field themselves, who may not be a size zero.

"The letters I really love are from young actresses who were worried they had to fit a certain look," she tells the magazine. "They say I've opened it up. And I don't just mean plus-size girls. You can push things now. With all the great performances in 'Bridesmaids,' it changed how people see funny women."

McCarthy stars with Sandra Bullock in "The Heat," a rare buddy comedy that involves two women, not men. She says that a scene in which she sticks a straw up Bullock's nose to dislodge a peanut helped the two bond.

"But the peanut was so far up," McCarthy remembers. "I was nervous for Sandy that something was going to go terribly wrong and we're gonna end up in a hospital. I was literally up her sinus cavity. It was a very bonding moment. After that, you're friends for life."

"The Heat" opens June 28.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/melissa-mccarthy-ive-been-every-size-world-6C10435395

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Goodbye to the Crown Jewel of the Civil Rights Movement

Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders march on August 28, 1963 in Washington, D.C.

Photo by AFP/Getty Images

The Supreme Court struck down the crown jewel of the Civil Rights movement today. Section 5 was the most powerful tool in the movement?s arsenal. Although I?m a law professor and thus supposed to be opining on the court?s decision and Congress? potential response, I want to spend a little time mourning Section 5?s passing before hashing out the consequences.

To understand why Section 5 was special, you have to know a bit about its history. The brutal attacks on civil rights marchers crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge provided the push needed to pass the Voting Rights Act. When the Voting Rights Act passed in 1965, almost no African-Americans were registered to vote in the Deep South due to brutal repression and sickening legal chicanery. ?Civil rights litigators and the Department of Justice were doing their best to help. They filed lawsuit after lawsuit to make it possible for blacks to register. But every time a court deemed one discriminatory practice illegal, local officials would switch to another. Literacy tests, poll taxes, burdensome registration requirements?these techniques were all used to prevent African-Americans from voting. Southern voting registrars would even resign from their positions as soon as a lawsuit was on the cusp of succeeding, thereby sending the case back to square one. The Voting Rights Act aimed to change all of this.

Section 5 was the most important and imaginative provision in the law. It required certain states and jurisdictions, mostly in the South, to ask the federal government's permission before making any change?no matter how small?in the way they run elections. Until a rule was "precleared," it could not go into effect. This unusual provision solved the central problem of voting-rights enforcement during the civil rights era?keeping up with the increasingly creative strategies recalcitrant state and local governments used to disenfranchise voters. Section 5 shifted the burden of inertia, allowing the Department of Justice to get one step ahead of local officials.

It worked. It worked miraculously well, in fact. In a remarkably short period, African-American registration rates shot up. Section 5 mattered especially for the Deep South, where there were large concentrations of black voters. By the 1990s, these states were able to send a historic number of black representatives to Congress. ?But Section 5 didn?t just matter for the big-ticket races. For decades it provided strong protections for minority voters in local and state elections as well as federal ones. Based on those successes, Congress renewed Section 4?s ?coverage formula??the provision that determines which jurisdictions have to preclear changes and which don?t?again and again.

The last renewal in 2006 finally proved to be too much for the five conservative justices. Today?s opinion rebukes Congress for relying on 40-year-old data. Put more simply, the court took Congress to task for its failure to recognize that the South is no longer the South. Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the five-justice majority, insisted that the principles of federalism forbid Congress to require some states, and not others, to get pre-approval for potentially discriminatory election changes.

Roberts left open the possibility that Congress could make a different record and start over, thereby bringing Section 5 to life again. Almost no one thinks that?s going to happen. Section 5 is dead. Congress may or may not pass something in its place, but it will look nothing like what existed at 9:59 this morning, before the Court handed down its opinion. And part of me just wants to mourn that fact.

That might seem like an odd notion given that experts have long known that Section 5 was on its last legs. The process has been so drawn out, in fact, that it feels as if everything that can be said about Section 5?s demise has already been said. Every election law professor has had cynical discussions about whether Section 5 still matters. We?ve all offered learned opinions on the likelihood of future legislation and what shape it should take. ?

But still. Although we all knew this was coming, it nonetheless feels like a bit of a shock. Because Section 5 was special. No one?not even the majority today?denied that fact. ?It feels strange to treat this like any other Supreme Court decision.

If this were the usual case, I would be telling you that Section 5 was important for this and not that, that the court has to be right that the 1960s coverage formula couldn?t last forever, that Congress should have done more to fix what everyone knew would be a sticking point with the court. ?I would be giving you concrete examples of where Section 5?s absence will matter going forward. (The Texas attorney general would have beaten me to the punch by announcing two hours after the ruling was handed down that its voter ID law, blocked last year by Section 5, will go into effect immediately.) If this were the usual case, it wouldn?t bother me that this issue will be pushed off the front page tomorrow by the next round of Supreme Court blockbusters.

But for now?for just one moment?a bit of simple mourning is in order. I don?t want to end this column with a punch line or a what-comes-next paragraph. It seems disrespectful, somehow. People fought and died for this one. It made a difference?a huge difference?in the lives of a lot of people. That?s reason enough to mourn its passing.

Source: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2013/06/supreme_court_and_the_voting_rights_act_goodbye_to_section_5.html

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Supreme Court punts on affirmative-action case

The Supreme Court has surprised legal experts by declining to strike down the University of Texas' use of race in undergraduate admissions. On Monday, the justices sent the case back to a lower court for a rehearing, dodging a decision on whether affirmative-action policies at public colleges around the country are unconstitutional.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, the court's conservative-leaning swing vote, wrote the opinion for Fisher v. University of Texas, which was decided 7-1. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the court's liberal leader, dissented, arguing that the lower court's decision in favor of affirmative action should stand. Kennedy said the federal Fifth Circuit must rehear the case to decide whether UT "offered sufficient evidence to prove that its admissions program is narrowly tailored to obtain the educational benefits of diversity." The court also requires the lower court to decide whether the college could use any "race neutral" means of creating a diverse campus before resorting to affirmative action.

"Strict scrutiny imposes on the university the ultimate burden of demonstrating, before turning to racial classifications, that available, workable race-neutral alternatives do not suffice," the justices wrote.

The decision comes as a surprise, since during oral arguments in the case in October, many of the conservative-leaning justices seemed poised to issue a broader ruling invalidating the use of race in admissions. Kennedy has also frequently expressed skepticism of affirmative-action programs.

"Affirmative action lives to see another day," Adam Winkler, a constitutional law expert at UCLA, told Yahoo News. "The Supreme Court seemed prepared to strike a real blow against affirmative action back in October. But the Fisher case reaffirms [previous] Supreme Court cases that allow universities to take race into account."

Abigail Noel Fisher brought suit against the University of Texas after she was denied admission in 2008. UT automatically admits Texans who graduate in the top 10 percent of their high school classes, but fills its remaining seats by judging applicants on a combination of GPA, test scores, race and other factors. Fisher claimed she was discriminated against because she is white when she was denied admission. The college argued that Fisher's GPA and standardized test scores made her inadmissible regardless of her race and that using race as one factor in admission helps it maintain a diverse student body.

The Supreme Court established in 2003 in Grutter v. Bollinger that universities could use race as a factor in admissions as long as they did not use quotas (for example, that 10 percent of the class must be black). The justices said affirmative action was still necessary to counteract the effects of institutionalized racism that had prevented minorities from attending college in the past. The majority wrote that they believed that in 25 years, affirmative action would no longer be necessary and should be stopped. This "sunset" provision was skewered by the four dissenting justices.

The Fisher case was argued 10 months ago, and many legal experts were stumped as to why the justices were taking so long to release an opinion. The court has agreed to hear another case dealing with affirmative action next fall and may issue a broader decision then.

Justice Elena Kagan, a President Barack Obama appointee, recused herself from the case, most likely due to her work on it as solicitor general.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/supreme-court-punts-affirmative-action-case-141850745.html

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Why Immigration Reform Is The Panama Canal Treaty Redux (Powerlineblog)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/314654322?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Booker brings education ideas to NJ Senate race

LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. (AP) ? Newark Mayor Cory Booker has seen the urgent need to fix the city's failing public schools.

Now that he's a candidate for U.S. Senate, he sees the same urgency in urban areas throughout the state.

The Ivy League-educated mayor has clashed with the teachers unions for his support of merit pay and school vouchers. He tells The Associated Press he wants to create the same educational opportunities for all kids as he had.

But the New Jersey Education Association and American Federation of Teachers are staying neutral in the Democratic primary.

Their endorsement probably would have gone to either of two candidates who have been called stalwart supporters of public schools.

A fourth candidate, Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver, has opposed vouchers but angered the unions by posting pension and health benefits reform bills for a vote.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/booker-brings-education-ideas-nj-senate-race-182232693.html

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Microsoft and Oracle Team Up To Bring Java, Oracle Database, Linux and WebLogic Server To Azure And Windows Server

Ahead of their joint press conference later today, Microsoft and Oracle?announced a new partnership that will bring a number of Oracle products to Windows Server and the company's Azure cloud computing platform. These Oracle products include Java, Oracle Database and Oracle WebLogic Server.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/_4AvNyhUfR4/

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WSJ: Facebook Is Developing a Flipboard-Style News Reader

So long Google Reader, hello... Facebook? The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Zuckerberg and co are working on a service that "displays content from Facebook users and publishers in a new visual format tailored for mobile devices".

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/3JmrdgcRmBI/wsj-facebook-is-developing-a-flipboard-style-news-read-554189714

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