Donnerstag, 27. Dezember 2012

New laws at a glance: Eyedrops, brakes, Facebook

To raise money for its unemployment insurance fund, Georgia will start charging employers for the unemployment insurance tax on the first $9,500 in taxable wages earned by workers, an increase over the previous $8,500. The new law stretches forward the suspension of another unemployment insurance tax, though it allows the labor commissioner to impose it to help repay money borrowed from the federal government or if fund balances dip below $1 billion.

New Mexico will allow more frequent refills of prescription eye drops, such as those used by glaucoma patients. Under the law, insurance companies could not deny coverage for a refill requested by a patient within a certain amount of time 鈥?for instance, within 23 days for someone with a prescription for a 30 day supply of the eye drops. Supporters of the measure say some patients find it difficult to control how many drops they put onto their eye, causing individuals to prematurely run out of medication before an insurer will pay for a refill.

As 2013 begins, many states are enacting new laws dealing with gay rights, child safety, abortion, immigration and other perennial concerns. Some other topics states are dealing with in new laws:

Washington state is requiring manufacturers of brake pads to phase out the use of copper and other heavy metals as a way to prevent the metal from polluting waters and harming salmon. When brakes wear down, they release copper shavings onto roads that eventually wash into rivers. The first phase of the law takes effect Jan. 1, when manufacturers of friction brakes will be required to report the concentrations of heavy metals in their products.

EYEDROPS

California will start to hold party bus operators to the same standards as limousine drivers, making them legally responsible for drinking by underage passengers. The law is named for Brett Studebaker, a 19-year-old from San Mateo who died in 2010 after drinking on a party bus and crashing his own vehicle while driving home later.

Alaska becomes the 31st state to require insurance coverage for autism, with a law mandating coverage for the diagnosis, testing and treatment of autism spectrum disorders for children and young adults. Illinois, which previously approved autism insurance coverage, now also will require insurance companies to cover medical services related to autism.

UNEMPLOYMENT

ONLINE PRIVACY

BRAKE PADS

PARTY BUSES

California and Illinois are both making it illegal for employers to demand access to employees' social media accounts. Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed the law in August at the Illinois Institute of Technology, where several students lamented that online snooping by bosses has caused some to lose out on jobs and forced others to temporarily deactivate their profiles. In September, California Gov. Jerry Brown said the legislation will protect residents from "unwarranted invasions."

New laws at a glance: Eyedrops, brakes, Facebook

Pennsylvania will prohibit use of carbon monoxide chambers to destroy animals at shelters and will make it easier for shelters to get drugs for a more humane method. Activists say animals are often old, young, sick or hurt and not good candidates for gas chamber euthanasia. Some provisions are about to take effect, while others will be in place later in 2013.

AUTISM

ANIMAL WELFARE

Iran ex-president's family sues radical critic

Since Ahmadinejad's re-election in 2009, Rafsanjani's family has come under pressure from hard-liners. Rafsanjani supported Ahmadinejad's reformist challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi.

The latest salvo has rekindled the bitterness between backers of the current president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and moderates headed by the former leader, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, just six months ahead of the next presidential election.

"It is expected that the respected Special Clergy Court, should it finds these remarks a kind of encroachment on the position of others, will take legal action ... because no one has the right to attribute crimes to a defendant who has not been sentenced in a competent court," the family said in its letter.

In recent months, there are indications that the 78-year-old Rafsanjani, who favors a more moderate approach to the West, might try to make a political comeback.

In a speech broadcast on state radio, Rasai called one of the ex-president's sons, Mahdi Rafsanjani, a "corrupt monster who has always enjoyed ironclad immunity."

Rasai urged the judiciary to deal with him harshly, calling Rafsanjani and his relatives an "octopus family" that pressured judiciary and security bodies to free Mahdi.

Iran's judiciary rejected Rasai's statements, calling a large part of his remarks "sheer lies." In a statement, it said Rasai's remarks were "criminal" and must be dealt with by the court.

Iran ex-president's family sues radical critic

"Four children of Ayatollah Rafsanjani have registered their lawsuit against Rasai with the Special Clergy Court. I think Rasai will be summoned to the court within the next 10 days," said lawyer Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaei, according to the semiofficial ISNA news agency.

Mahdi Rafsanjani was released from Evin prison on bail earlier this month.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Four children of an influential ex-Iranian president are suing a radical lawmaker for describing his family as a corrupt "octopus," heating up a struggle between hard-liners and moderates simmering since a contested 2009 election.

Many analysts believe Ahmadinejad won the 2009 vote partly because he portrayed himself as a champion of the poor and called Rafsanjani a symbol of aristocracy. He also called Mousavi a protege of Rafsanjani.

Authorities arrested him in late September, a day after he returned to Iran from Britain, on charges of fomenting unrest in the aftermath of Iran's disputed 2009 presidential election. He has not been put on trial.

A lawyer filed the complaint for the family in the Special Clergy Court against the lawmaker, Hamid Rasai, an ally of Ahmadinejad. Rasai is also a cleric.

Several lawmakers responded Wednesday, claiming Rasai had parliamentary immunity. In the past, the judiciary has imprisoned lawmakers for making accusations against individuals who had not been convicted in court, saying parliamentary immunity doesn't allow a lawmaker to terrorize an innocent citizen.

Rafsanjani's youngest daughter, Faezeh, is serving a six-month sentence on charges of distributing propaganda against Iran's ruling system.

Rafsanjani's family provided a written response to Rasai, which was posted on Rafsanjani's website Wednesday.

Winter storms hit eastern U.S., snarl post-holiday travel

About 1,000 people spent the night on cots at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport after some 400 flights were canceled there on Tuesday due to weather, said Cynthia Vega, media relations manager at the airport.

Downed trees and power lines caused…

The wet and snowy conditions follow a major winter storm system that swept through the southern United States on Tuesday, spawning tornadoes in several states and causing the deaths of at least five people in weather-related road accidents.

Storm clouds are seen on the east…

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    Nearly 200,000 homes and businesses remained without electricity in Arkansas and Alabama on Wednesday.

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    Governor Phil Bryant declared a state of emergency in Mississippi, where a dozen counties reported damage and more than 25 people were injured on Tuesday.

    Downed trees and power lines along…

    A young man is loaded into an ambulance…

    On Wednesday morning, some 50 more flights were canceled, she said.

    WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (Reuters) - The severe winter weather that hit parts of the central and southern United States on Christmas Day moved eastward on Wednesday, causing flight delays and dangerous road conditions for holiday travelers in the Northeast and Ohio Valley.

    The National Weather Service issued blizzard and winter storm warnings in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, as well as much of the Northeast, and cautioned that the wintry weather would create "treacherous" driving conditions.

    "We were going to have dinner and see my 2-year-old niece," Mindy Bartscherer said of their thwarted plans for Wednesday night.

    "We're hoping to get passengers back on track," Vega said. "It's probably going to be a little hectic at the airport."

    Damage assessments were conducted in the 11 Alabama counties that reported varying degrees of property destruction from Tuesday's storms.

    Some flights headed for New York, Philadelphia and Newark, New Jersey, experienced delays averaging one to four hours due to the inclement weather, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

    A Texas man died after an accident involving a toppled tree in the road, and icy roads contributed to the deaths of four people in auto crashes in Oklahoma and Arkansas, according to police.

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    As of Wednesday morning, Bloomington, Indiana, already had nearly a foot of snow and Indianapolis had about seven inches, according to AccuWeather.com.

    More than six inches of snow might fall in those regions, while the area from western New York up into central Maine could get from 12 to 18 inches, the NWS said.

    She and her son Zachary Bartscherer, 24, a lobbyist from Washington D.C., had planned to visit family but instead waited forlornly in the baggage claim area for a ride back home. They expected to return to the airport early on Thursday to try again.

    All four runways at Philadelphia International Airport were open on Wednesday, but that didn't prevent cancellation of physical therapist Mindy Bartscherer's flight to Minneapolis.

    Twisters struck in Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana, flattening houses and causing injuries, according to the weather service. The storm also dumped record snowfalls in North Texas and Arkansas.

    The city of Mobile appeared to be hardest hit, with damage to as many as 100 structures, including the historic Trinity Episcopal Church, according to the Alabama Emergency Management Agency.

    (Reporting by Colleen Jenkins; Additional reporting by Corrie MacLaggan, Eileen O'Grady, Steve Olafson and Dave Warner; Editing by Paul Thomasch and Gunna Dickson)

    About 1,300 U.S. flights had been canceled on Wednesday, according to FlightAware.com. Several airlines waived ticket change fees for affected customers.

    Wed, Dec 26, 2012

  • Israel to build 942 more homes in east Jerusalem

    It withdrew settlers and soldiers from Gaza in 2005, but blocks most access to the territory and retains control over the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

    Israel bans Israeli journalists from entering the Gaza Strip, saying their presence in Gaza would pose a risk to their security.

    Also Tuesday, the Gaza Strip's ruling Hamas announced that Palestinian journalists there have been banned from working for Israeli media outlets.

    Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the new Israeli announcement was a "red line" that would block the chance for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in which a Palestinian state would be established alongside Israel.

    The newly-approved homes are among more than 5,000 new settler homes in east Jerusalem that Israel pressed ahead over the past week. Palestinians do not recognize Israel's 1967 annexation of the territory and say any Israeli construction there undermines their claims to it. The international community has not recognized Israel's 1967 annexation of east Jerusalem.

    Israeli media have no permanent correspondents in the Gaza Strip, but Israeli TV channels and newspapers often employ local Palestinian journalists as stringers. The Gaza journalists do not generally identify themselves to others as working for Israeli outlets because of a taboo against cooperating with Israel.

    Israel captured both areas and Gaza in 1967.

    The official statement from the Hamas Cabinet called Israeli outlets "hostile entity media institutions."

    A government planning committee on Monday moved the project to the advanced stage of asking contractors to submit bids to build them, the Interior Ministry said Tuesday. Once a bid is awarded, construction can begin on the project in the Gilo area, though it can take months, if not longer, to reach that point.

    The construction push in east Jerusalem has drawn international condemnation, as have plans to build thousands of more settler homes in the adjacent West Bank.

    The Palestinians have said they hope the upgraded status will allow them to return to the negotiating table with a stronger hand. Talks stalled four years ago, primarily over settlement construction.

    Israel to build 942 more homes in east Jerusalem

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a settlement construction push to punish the Palestinians after the United Nations recognized a de facto Palestinian state in east Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip last month. Israel says the Palestinians can achieve a state only through negotiations with the Israeli government, and regards the U.N. bid as a maneuver to sidestep talks.

    Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City, Gaza Strip contributed to this report.

    "The Palestinian Authority will take all the possible means available to respond to this," said Abu Rdeneh. The statement was posted on the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

    JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has advanced the process of building 942 more settler homes in east Jerusalem under a new fast-track plan to tighten its grip on the territory, which the Palestinians claim as the capital of a future state.

    An additional 300 units can be built after further planning, said attorney Daniel Seidemann, an expert on Jerusalem construction who sees the building as an obstacle to peacemaking. About 40,000 Israelis live in Gilo.

    ____

    "With God's help, we will continue to live and build in Jerusalem, which will remain united under Israeli sovereignty," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the campaign launch event of his Likud Party. "We will continue to strengthen the settlements." Israeli elections are set for Jan. 22.

    Kuwait used "excessive force" at demonstrations: rights group

    The momentum of the protests has slowed since the election, with the last rally on December 15 drawing several hundreds of people.

    Tens of thousands of Kuwaitis have taken to the streets over the past two months to protest changes to voting rules used in a parliamentary election on December 1 that they said would skew the outcome in favor of pro-government candidates.

    "They said that masked riot police used tear gas and sound bombs without warning to disperse demonstrations and beat protesters while arresting them for participating in 'unauthorized protests,'" the New York-based rights group said.

    The Interior Ministry justified the use of force on the grounds that protesters had blocked traffic, thrown stones at the police, and attacked them, HRW said. But participants said the demonstrations were largely peaceful.

    "Kuwait's rulers need to fully respect the right to assemble peacefully," Eric Goldstein, deputy Middle East director at HRW said in the statement issued from Beirut. "Declaring a gathering 'unauthorized' does not give police license to beat protesters."

    "The right to protest is enshrined in our constitution. However, protesters should be aware of both their rights and responsibilities under the law."

    Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, who used emergency powers to change the voting system, said on December 16 he supported freedom of expression and constructive criticism, but recent events had shown "aspects of chaos, breaching of the law and unguided political discourse".

    (Editing by Jon Boyle)

    "While police agents may have legitimate reasons to mask their identities in limited circumstances, such as when conducting surveillance, policing demonstrations is not one of them."

    Kuwait's Information Ministry, in reaction to the HRW statement, said authorities were required to maintain law and order when illegal marches and demonstrations took place.

    "Kuwait has witnessed several protests in 2012 where streets were blocked and riots took place at residential areas which endangered civilians and public properties," the ministry said.

    Kuwaiti protesters have been less radical in their demands than demonstrators in other Arab countries, calling for the reinstatement of the old voting system, action against corruption and for an elected government rather than one appointed by the prime minister, who is chosen by the emir.

    KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwaiti security forces appear to have used excessive force to disperse several largely peaceful street protests since October, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday, citing activists, protesters and witnesses.

    "The authorities should show they will not tolerate abuses by investigating all allegations of abuse by security forces and punishing those responsible for violating rights," Goldstein said. HRW also said Kuwait should increase the accountability of police by ending the use of masked anti-riot officers.

    Although Kuwait, an OPEC member state and ally of the United States, tolerates more dissent than other Gulf Arab countries, it has been enforcing a ban on public gatherings of more than 20 people without a permit.

    Kuwait used "excessive force" at demonstrations: rights group

    Firemen's killer left chilling note, deaths at 3

    Firemen's killer left chilling note, deaths at 3
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    Roger Vercruysse said Spengler loved his mother, Arline, who died in October after living with her son and daughter in the house in a neighborhood of seasonal and year-round homes across the road from a lakeshore popular with recreational boaters.

    Lake Rd. residents are evacuated…

    He declined to reveal the note's full content or say where it was found. He read only one chilling line: "I still have to get ready to see how much of the neighborhood I can burn down, and do what I like doing best, killing people."

    Police recovered a military-style .223-caliber semiautomatic Bushmaster rifle with flash suppression, the same make and caliber weapon used in the elementary school massacre in Newtown, Conn., that killed 26, including 20 young children, Pickering said.

    William Spengler, 62, who served 17 years in prison for manslaughter in the 1980 hammer slaying of his grandmother, set his house afire before dawn Christmas Eve before taking a revolver, a shotgun and a semiautomatic rifle to a sniper position outside, Police Chief Gerald Pickering said.

    "I could see the muzzle blasts comin' at me. ... I fired four shots at him. I thought he went down," the officer said.

    A Monroe County Sheriff's Department…

    Spengler had been charged with murder in his grandmother's death but pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter, apparently to spare his family a trial. After he was freed from prison, Spengler — a felon who wasn't allowed to possess weapons — had lived a quiet life on Lake Road on a narrow peninsula where Irondequoit Bay meets Lake Ontario.

    Esch reported from Albany. Associated Press writer Larry Neumeister in New York City also contributed to this report.

    "I'm not sure we'll ever know what was going through his mind," Pickering said.

    ___

    A next-door neighbor said Spengler hated his sister and they lived on opposite sides of the house.

    The first police officer who arrived chased and exchanged shots with Spengler, recounting it later over his police radio.

    They were immediately greeted by bullets from Spengler, who wore dark clothing. Volunteer firefighter and police Lt. Michael Chiapperini, 43, driving the truck, was killed by gunfire as the windshield before him was shattered. Also killed was Tomasz Kaczowka, 19, who worked as a 911 dispatcher.

    Pickering said it was unclear whether the person believed to be Spengler's sister died before or during the fire.

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    "He was equipped to go to war, kill innocent people," the chief said.

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    The death toll rose to three as police revealed that a body believed to be the killer's 67-year-old sister, Cheryl Spengler, was found in his fire-ravaged home.

    The chief said it was believed the firefighters were hit with shots from the rifle given the distance but the investigation was incomplete.

    Several firefighters went beneath the truck to shield themselves as an off-duty police officer who was passing by pulled his vehicle alongside the truck to try to shield them, authorities said.

    WEBSTER, N.Y. (AP) — An ex-con killed two firefighters with the same caliber and make military-style rifle used in the Connecticut school massacre after typing a note pledging to burn down his neighborhood and "do what I like doing best, killing people," police said Tuesday as another body, believed to be the gunman's missing sister, was found.

    Homes burn on Lake Road, Monday,…

    At another point, he said: "I don't know if I hit him or not. He's by a tree. ... He was movin' eastbound on the berm when I was firing shots." Pickering portrayed him as a hero who saved many lives.

    That ended when he left his burning home Monday morning, armed with his three weapons and a lot of ammunition.

    "It was a raging inferno in there," Pickering said.

    Authorities say he sprayed bullets at the first responders, killing two firefighters and injuring two others who remained hospitalized Tuesday in stable condition, awake and alert and expected to survive. He then killed himself as seven houses burned on a sliver of land along Lake Ontario.

    The two- to three-page typewritten rambling note left by Spengler did not reveal what set off the killer or provide a motive for the shootings, Pickering said. He called the attack a "clear ambush on first responders."

    The audio posted on the website RadioReference.com also has someone reporting "firefighters are down" and saying "got to be rifle or shotgun — high-powered ... semi or fully auto."

    As Pickering described it and as emergency radio communications on the scene showed, the heavily armed Spengler took a position behind a small hill by the house as four firefighters arrived after 5:30 a.m. to extinguish the fire: two on a fire truck; two in their own vehicles.

  • Charles Durning, Oscar-nominated king of the character actors, dies at 89 i

    The year after "Best Little Whorehouse," Durning received another Oscar nomination, for his portrayal of a bumbling Nazi officer in Mel Brooks' "To Be or Not to Be." He was also nominated for a Golden Globe as the harried police lieutenant in 1975's "Dog Day Afternoon."

    The younger Durning himself would barely survive World War II.

    Tragedy also stalked other members of his family. Durning was 12 when his father died, and five of his sisters lost their lives to smallpox and scarlet fever.

    Dozens of notable portrayals followed. He was the would-be suitor of Dustin Hoffman, posing as a female soap opera star in "Tootsie;" the infamous seller of frog legs in "The Muppet Movie;" and Chief Brandon in Warren Beatty's "Dick Tracy." He played Santa Claus in four different movies made for television and was the pope in the TV film "I Would be Called John: Pope John XXIII."

    Other films included "The Front Page," ''The Hindenburg," ''Breakheart Pass," ''North Dallas Forty," ''Starting Over," ''Tough Guys," ''Home for the Holidays," ''Spy Hard" and 'O Brother Where Art Thou?"

    In later years, he refused to discuss the military service for which he was awarded the Silver Star and three Purple Hearts.

    Although he portrayed everyone from blustery public officials to comic foils to put-upon everymen, Durning may be best remembered by movie audiences for his Oscar-nominated, over-the-top role as a comically corrupt governor in 1982's "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas."

    He would recall years later that he was hooked as soon as heard the audience laughing. He told the AP in 2008 that he had no plans to stop working.

    Many critics marveled that such a heavyset man could be so nimble in the film's show-stopping song-and-dance number, not realizing Durning had been a dance instructor early in his career. Indeed, he had met his first wife, Carol, when both worked at a dance studio.

    Durning's rugged early life provided ample material on which to base his later portrayals. He was born into an Irish family of 10 children in 1923, in Highland Falls, N.Y., a town near West Point. His father was unable to work, having lost a leg and been gassed during World War I, so his mother supported the family by washing the uniforms of West Point cadets.

    Charles Durning, Oscar-nominated king of the character actors, dies at 89 i

    Leaving home at 16, he worked in a munitions factory, on a slag heap and in a barbed-wire factory. When he finally found work as a burlesque theatre usher in Buffalo, N.Y., he studied the comedians' routines, and when one of them showed up too drunk to go on one night, he took his place.

    "Too many bad memories," he told an interviewer in 1997. "I don't want you to see me crying."

    Durning and his first wife had three children before divorcing in 1972. In 1974, he married his high school sweetheart, Mary Ann Amelio.

    He quickly made an impression on movie audiences the following year as the crooked cop stalking con men Paul Newman and Robert Redford in the Oscar-winning comedy "The Sting."

    "They're going to carry me out, if I go," he said.

    AP reporter Andrew Dalton contributed to this story.

    "I never turned down anything and never argued with any producer or director," Durning told The Associated Press in 2008, when he was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

    Durning's longtime agent and friend Judith Moss told The Associated Press that he died Monday of natural causes in his home in the borough of Manhattan.

    He is survived by his children, Michele, Douglas and Jeannine. The family planned to have a private family service and burial at Arlington National Cemetery.

    A high school counsellor told him he had no talent for art, languages or math and should learn office skills. But after seeing "King Kong" and some of James Cagney's films, Durning knew what he wanted to do.

    "If I'm not in a part, I drive my wife crazy," he acknowledged during a 1997 interview. "I'll go downstairs to get the mail, and when I come back I'll say, 'Any calls for me?'"

    LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Charles Durning, the two-time Oscar nominee who was dubbed the king of the character actors for his skill in playing everything from a Nazi colonel to the pope, died Monday at his home in New York City. He was 89.

    Durning had begun his career on stage, getting his first big break when theatrical producer Joseph Papp hired him for the New York Shakespeare Festival.

    Durning also did well in television as a featured performer as well as a guest star. He appeared in the short-lived series "The Cop and the Kid" (1975), "Eye to Eye" (1985) and "First Monday" (2002) as well as the four-season "Evening Shade" in the 1990s.

    He was among the first wave of U.S. soldiers to land at Normandy during the D-Day invasion and the only member of his Army unit to survive. He killed several Germans and was wounded in the leg. Later he was bayoneted by a young German soldier whom he killed with a rock. He was captured in the Battle of the Bulge and survived a massacre of prisoners.

    He won a Golden Globe as best supporting TV actor in 1991 for his portrayal of John "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald in the TV film "The Kennedys of Massachusetts" and a Tony in 1990 as Big Daddy in the Broadway revival of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."

    ___

    He went on to work regularly, if fairly anonymously, through the 1960s until his breakout role as a small town mayor in the Pulitzer- and Tony Award-winning play "That Championship Season" in 1972.

    Well-wishers console Conn. residents on Christmas

    "I guess my thought was if I could be here helping out maybe one person would be able to spend more time with their family or grieve in the way they needed to," said Leonard, who drove to Newtown from Gilbert, Ariz., to volunteer on Christmas morning. "I know they've been inundated with support and that's great, but it's always nice to have a present to open on Christmas Day."

    "You have to do something and you don't know what to do, you know? You really feel very helpless in this situation," she said Tuesday. "People have been wonderful to everybody in Newtown whether you were part of what happened or not. My thought is if we were all this nice to each other all the time maybe things like this wouldn't happen."

    Recalling the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, the Rev. Robert Weiss said: "The moment the first responder broke through the doors we knew good always overcomes evil."

    Associated Press writer Debbi Morello contributed to this report.

    A member of the Rutter family of…

    Portraits of slain students and…

    Police have yet to offer a possible motive for gunman Adam Lanza's rampage. The 20-year-old Newtown man, who lived at home, killed his mother in her bed before heading to the school and killing 20 children — all either 6 or 7 years— and six adults. He then killed himself.

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    At St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, attended by eight of the child victims of the massacre, the pastor told parishioners that "today is the day we begin everything all over again."

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    "It was such a mood of respectful silence," said Revie, who planned to leave the piano behind. "But yesterday being Christmas Eve and today being Christmas Day, I thought now it's time for some Christmas carols for the children."

    Members of the Rutter family of…

    Newtown officials plan to convert the countless mementos paying tribute to the 20 children and six adults into a memorial. Thousands of flowers, letters, signs, photos, candles, teddy bears and other items at sites around town will be turned into soil and blocks to be used in a memorial, The News Times in Danbury reports.

    Among a memorial to the Sandy Hook…

    "It's a nice thing that they can use us this way," Ted Latiak, a police detective from Greenwich, Conn., said Christmas morning, as he and a fellow detective, each working a half-day shift, came out of a store with bagels and coffee for other officers.

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    "We know Christmas in a way we never ever thought we would know it," he said. "We need a little Christmas and we've been given it."

    The mementos will stay up until after the New Year as residents and visitors pay their respects.

    Many town residents attended Christmas Eve services Monday evening and spent the morning at home with their families. Others attended church services in search of a new beginning.

    NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) — This Christmas was unlike any other in Newtown.

    Brunetti watched over 26 candles that had been lit at midnight, just before Christmas Day, in honor of those slain at Sandy Hook Elementary School. She and her husband, Bill, signed up for a three-hour shift and erected a tent to ensure that the candle flames never went out throughout the day.

    Some residents, like Joanne Brunetti, have found ways to console and help their grieving neighbors. Well-wishers from around the country are stopping by to do the same.

    Volunteers hung ornaments on a series of memorial Christmas trees Tuesday morning while police officers from around the state took extra shifts to direct traffic, patrol the town and give police here a break.

    Snow-covered stuffed animals with…

    At a town hall memorial, Faith Leonard waved to people driving by and handed out Christmas cookies, children's gifts and hugs to anyone who needed it.

    When a gunman wiped out nearly an entire first-grade class and killed students and adults in two other first-grade classrooms just 11 days before Christmas, it made it impossible for the holiday to be the same this year.

    Well-wishers console Conn. residents on Christmas
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    The expansive memorials throughout town have become gathering points for residents and visitors alike. A steady stream of residents, some in pajamas, relit candles that had been extinguished in an overnight snowstorm.

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    A light coating of snow blankets…

    Others took pictures, dropped off toys and fought back tears at a huge sidewalk memorial in the center of Newtown's Sandy Hook section that is filled with stuffed animals, poems, flowers, posters and cards. Snow covered a pile of teddy bears displayed in town.

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    Julian Revie played "Silent Night" on a piano on the sidewalk at the downtown memorial. Revie, from Ottawa, Canada, was in the area visiting at the time of the shootings. He canceled his plans to go to Australia, found a piano online and chose to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day playing for the people of Newtown.

  • Review: Hooper's 'Les Miserables' is relentless

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    Review: Hooper's 'Les Miserables' is relentless
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    This film image released by Universal…

    This film image released by Universal…

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    Tom Hooper's extravaganza, big-screen telling of the beloved musical "Les Miserables" is as relentlessly driven as the ruthless Inspector Javert himself. It simply will not let up until you've Felt Something — powerfully and repeatedly — until you've touched the grime and smelled the squalor and cried a few tears of your own.

    It is enormous and sprawling and not the slightest bit subtle. But at the same time it's hard not to admire the ambition that drives such an approach, as well as Hooper's efforts to combine a rousing, old-fashioned musical tale with contemporary and immediate aesthetics. There's a lot of hand-held camerawork here, a lot of rushing and swooping through the crowded, volatile slums of Victor Hugo's 19th-century France.

    This film image released by Universal…

    How you feel walking out of this film two and a half hours later will depend a great deal on what you brought into it going in. Maybe you listened to the soundtrack fanatically in high school and still know all the words to "On My Own." Perhaps you were thrilled to see the show on stage during a vacation to New York (and there's a nice little cameo from Colm Wilkinson, the original Jean Valjean from the London and Broadway productions). You will probably be in far better shape than someone coming into this cold.

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    That's definitely part of the fascination of this version of "Les Miserables": seeing how these A-list stars handle the demands of near-constant singing. Hugh Jackman, as the hero and former prisoner Jean Valjean, is a musical theatre veteran and seems totally in command (although the higher part of his register gets a bit nasal and strained). Amanda Seyfried, as Fantine's daughter, Cosette, whom Jean Valjean adopts, had already proven she can sing in "Mamma Mia!" but hits some freakishly high notes here — which isn't always a good thing. Eddie Redmayne is a lovely surprise as the love-struck revolutionary Marius. And of course, Samantha Barks gives an effortless performance as the lonely and doomed Eponine — everyone here is doomed, it's "Les Miserables" — a role she'd performed on the London stage.

    For the uninitiated, Javert hunts for Valjean against the backdrop of the Paris Uprising of 1832. Adorable street urchins, sassy prostitutes and virile subversives band together to build barricades, and to sing on top of them, until they are gunned down by French troops. The adorably smitten Cosette and Marius wonder whether they'll ever see each other again. Thieving innkeepers Monsieur and Madame Thenardier (Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter, garishly over-the-top even by the characters' standards) wonder when their next unsuspecting victim will come along. And Jean Valjean wonders whether he'll ever truly be free.

    Two years after the release of his inspiring, crowd-pleasing "The King's Speech," winner of four Academy Awards including best picture, Hooper has vastly expanded his scope but also jettisoned all remnants of restraint.

    This film image released by Universal…

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    But he also does something clever in asking his actors sing live on camera, rather than having them record their vocals in a booth somewhere as is the norm, and for shooting the big numbers in single takes. The intimacy can be uncomfortable at times and that closeness highlights self-indulgent tendencies, but the meaning behind lyrics which have become so well-known shines through anew. You'd probably heard "I Dreamed a Dream," the plaintive ballad of the doomed prostitute Fantine, sung countless times even before Susan Boyle unfortunately popularized it again in 2009. An emaciated and shorn Anne Hathaway finds fresh pain and regret in those words because her rendition is choked with sobs, because it's not perfect.

    This film image released by Universal…

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    This film image released by Universal…

    "Les Miserables," a Universal Pictures release, is rated PG-13 for suggestive and sexual material, violence and thematic elements. Running time: 158 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

    This film image released by Universal…

    Motion Picture Association of America rating definition for PG-13: Some material may be inappropriate for young children.

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    You may even cry when key characters die, even though you know full well what fate awaits them. There's no shame in that — we're all friends here.

    And then there's Russell Crowe as the obsessed lawman Javert, who has pursued Jean Valjean for decades for breaking his parole and insists he's still a dangerous man, despite the pious and prosperous life Valjean has forged. Although Crowe has sung in rock bands for years, he's vocally overmatched here, which strips the character of the menace that defines him. Seeing him sing opposite Jackman makes you wish you could watch these same actors having these same conversations with, like, actual words. But again, it's hard not to appreciate the effort, the risk it required to take on the role.

    This film image released by Universal…

  • Japan's Cabinet resigns to make way for new PM

    Japan's prime-minister-to-be Shinzo…

    "Our party leadership will undoubtedly have to deal with many issues," he said Tuesday.

    FILE - In this Dec. 7, 2012 file…

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    He has acknowledged, however, that the road ahead for Japan will be bumpy.

    He has already named a roster of top party executives that includes two women — more than previous LDP administrations — and is younger than earlier ones, with three of the four in their 50s. He was expected to name his Cabinet after the parliamentary vote.

    In announcing the resignations, the chief government spokesman said the incoming government will face many tough issues and said he hoped they would deal with them "appropriately."

    Japan's prime-minister-to-be Shinzo…

    Japan's prime-minister-to-be Shinzo…

    This time around, Abe has promised to make the economy his top priority and is expected to push for a 2 percent inflation target designed to fight a problem that was until recently relatively unique in the world — deflation, or continually dropping prices, which deadens economic activity. The Japanese economy has been stuck in deflation for two decades.

    Banri Kaieda, a former trade minister, vowed to keep the left-leaning Democratic Party of Japan from collapsing after its stinging defeat in the latest elections. Kaieda also said the party must continue to fight the conservatives.

    Abe has vowed to take bold measures to shore up the economy, deal with a swelling national debt and come up with a recovery plan following last year's devastating earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crises.

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    Besides generous promises to boost public-works spending — by as much as 10 trillion yen ($119 billion), according to party officials — Abe is pressuring the central bank to work more closely with the government to reach the inflation target.

    The LDP governed Japan for decades after it was founded in 1955. Before it was ousted, the LDP was hobbled by scandals and its own problems getting key legislation through a divided parliament.

    TOKYO (AP) — Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's Cabinet resigned Wednesday to clear the way for a vote in parliament to formally install the nation's new leader, Shinzo Abe, a conservative whose nationalist positions have in the past angered Japan's neighbors.

    Japan's Cabinet resigns to make way for new PM
    Related Content prevnext
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    The ousted Democrats, meanwhile, named a new party chief to replace Noda.

    "The Liberal Democratic Party has changed," he told a news conference Tuesday. "We are not the party we once were."

    According to media reports, he will give the finance portfolio to another former prime minister, Taro Aso. Fumio Kishida, who is an expert on issues relating to frictions on the southern island of Okinawa between residents and nearly 20,000 US troops based there, will likely become foreign minister, and the defense minister was expected to be Itsunori Onodera, who was in Abe's previous administration.

    Abe has also stressed his desire to make Japan a bigger player on the world stage, a stance that has resonated with many voters who are concerned that their nation is increasingly taking a back seat both economically and diplomatically to China. Abe has vowed to stand up to Beijing over an ongoing territorial dispute and strengthen Tokyo's security alliance with Washington.

    Capitalizing on the Democrats' failure to improve the economy and its perceived lack of strong leadership, Abe led the Liberal Democratic Party to victory in parliamentary elections Dec. 16. He was to be named prime minister later Wednesday. He was also prime minister in 2006-2007.

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    Noda's fall ends more than three years at the helm for the left-leaning Democratic Party of Japan and brings back the more conservative, pro-big business Liberal Democratic Party, which governed Japan for most of the post-World War II era until voters fed up with scandals and Japan's sagging economy tossed them out in 2009.

  • Mittwoch, 26. Dezember 2012

    U.S. moves to sell advanced spy drones to South Korea_5

    South Korea needs such systems to assume top responsibility for intelligence-gathering from the U.S.-led Combined Forces Command as scheduled in 2015, the security agency said in releasing a notice to U.S. lawmakers.

    Seoul has shown interest in the high-altitude, long-endurance Global Hawk platform for at least four years. The system, akin to Lockheed Martin Corp's U-2 spy plane, may be optimized to scan large areas for stationary and moving targets by day or night and despite cloud cover.

    The formal notification to Congress came less than two weeks after a North Korean space launch of a satellite atop a multi-stage rocket, a first for the reclusive state, widely seen as advancing its ballistic missile program.

    Seoul has requested a possible $1.2 billion sale of four Northrop Grumman Corp RQ-4 "Global Hawk" remotely piloted aircraft with enhanced surveillance capabilities, the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement dated on Monday and distributed on Tuesday.

    A White House statement denounced the December 12 launch as a "highly provocative act" that would bear consequences for violations of United Nations resolutions. The North is banned from testing missile or nuclear technology under international sanctions imposed after its 2006 and 2009 nuclear weapons tests.

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration formally proposed a controversial sale of advanced spy drones to help South Korea bear more of its defense from any attack by the heavily armed North.

    (Reporting by Jim Wolf; Editing by Sandra Maler)

    The Obama administration agreed earlier this year to let South Korea, a treaty ally, stretch the range of its ballistic missile systems to cover all of North Korea, going beyond the voluntary pact's 300 km (186 miles).

    "The proposed sale of the RQ-4 will maintain adequate intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities and will ensure the alliance is able to monitor and deter regional threats in 2015 and beyond," the notice said.

    If a sale takes place, it would be for the third generation of Global Hawk drones known as Block 30, the security agency's notice to Congress said.

    The Pentagon, in its fiscal 2013 budget request, proposed mothballing its own Block 30 Global Hawks and ending plans to buy more of that generation. Doing so would have no effect on the administration's plans to acquire other versions of the long-range drone.

    In October 2008, then-U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters that the United States was "very sympathetic" to South Korea's interest in Global Hawk. But he cited issues that had to be overcome because of the so-called Missile Technology Control Regime, or MTCR.

    Pact members, including the United States, agree to curb their exports of systems capable of carrying a 500-kilogram (1,102-pound) payload at least 300 kilometers (186 miles). The Global Hawk falls under a strong presumption against export under MTCR guidelines.

    South Korea's possible Global Hawk purchase would mark the system's first sale in the Asia-Pacific region. It has already been sold to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

    Arms-control advocates fear that this could fuel instability and stir regional arms-race dynamics as well as provide diplomatic cover for an expansion of such exports by Russia, China and others.

    The United States has agreed with Seoul to turn over the wartime command of Korean troops later this decade. Current arrangements grew from the U.S. role in the 1950-1953 Korean War that repelled a North Korean takeover of the South.

    The possible sale has been held up by discussions involving price, aircraft configuration and a go-slow on release of such technology subject to a voluntary 34-nation arms control pact.

    The congressional notification is required by U.S. law and does not mean that a deal has been concluded.

    The Defense Department began informally consulting Congress on the possible Global Hawk sale in the summer of 2011, only to withdraw it pending further work on the make-up of the proposed export to Seoul amid lawmakers' arms-control concerns.

    It transmits imagery and other data from 60,000 feet at near real-time speed, using electro-optical, infrared and radar-imaging sensors built by Raytheon Co.

    The notification to Congress did not mention that a U.S. government waiver for such an export would be required.

    The pact, established in 1987, has been credited with slowing the spread of ballistic missiles and other unmanned delivery systems that potentially could be used for chemical, biological and nuclear attacks.

    U.S. moves to sell advanced spy drones to South Korea

    Australia, Japan and Singapore each have shown interest in buying Global Hawk systems, Northrop Grumman officials have said. Company representatives had no comment on the Christmas holiday on the proposed sale to Seoul.

    Last Full Moon of 2012 Rises Friday_1

    Darker areas on the moon's surface, which the early astronomers called "seas," although we now know that they are dry and airless, form the face of a man, in our mind’s eye. Or, they may form a woman, or a rabbit, depending on your culture. These are very similar to the dusky markings which astronomers observe with telescopes on Mars and Mercury, also called albedo markings.If you try to sketch the markings you see on the moon, you will find, as experienced planetary observers do, that you can see much finer detail than the man in the moon. You should be able to see some of the smaller seas, such as the Mare Crisium, on the eastern limb of the moon, and one or two of the brighter craters, such as Tycho towards the southern limb.Once you have tried to sketch the moon with your naked eye, try observing it with a small binocular. You will be amazed at how much more detail you can see, and will begin to experience the wonder Galileo must have felt when he first turned his primitive telescopes on the moon. There really is another world out there.

    The man in the moon

    Last Full Moon of 2012 Rises Friday Related Content
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    This article was provided to SPACE.com by Starry Night Education, the leader in space science curriculum solutions. Follow Starry Night on Twitter @StarryNightEdu.

    Friday, Dec. 28, 2012, 5:21 a.m.…

    Even if you don't own a telescope, looking at the moon with the naked eye can show you the challenges faced by planetary observers.Earlier this week we saw Jupiter shining brightly alongside the moon. It would take a telescope magnifying about 40 times to make Jupiter appear as big as the moon does with the naked eye. When Mars was closest to Earth in 2003, it took a telescope magnifying 75 times to make Mars appear as big as the moon with the naked eye. At present Mars on the far side of the sun, and requires a telescope magnifying 430 times to make it appear as big as the moon does with the naked eye.So, if you want an observing challenge similar to trying to spot Jupiter's Great Red Spot or Mars' polar cap, try observing detail on the moon with your naked eye.

    The moon as a planet

    What most people see when they look at the moon is "the man in the moon." This is a pattern of light and dark caused by the albedo markings on the moon. “Albedo” is a measure of how much light gets reflected by an area on a planet.

    Moon size comparisonThe reason why the sun appears 30 times bigger than Venus is because the sun is very large. Its true diameter is more than 100 times that of Venus, or of Earth, for that matter, since Venus and Earth are about the same size. The moon appears 30 times bigger than Venus not because it is large, but because it is very close to us. The moon is 2,159 miles in diameter (3,475 kilometers), as compared to the Earth's 7,926 miles (12,756 km) and Venus' 7,521 miles (12,104 km).In other words, the moon is just slightly more than a quarter of the diameter of the Earth or Venus. Mercury is the planet closest in size to the moon at 3,032 miles in diameter (4,879 km), about 40 percent larger than our moon. One of the reasons that Pluto was demoted to "dwarf planet" status was its small diameter of only 1,485 miles (2,390 km), two-thirds of the diameter of our moon.Our moon is very large in proportion to its planet, Earth, more than any other moons in the solar system except for Pluto's moon Charon. But because other planets are much larger than Earth, several of their moons are much larger than ours, including three of Jupiter's moons (Io, Ganymede, and Callisto) and one of Saturn's (Titan). Of these, Ganymede is the largest at 3,270 miles (5,262 km), slightly larger than the planet Mercury.

    Telescope owners complain that the planets don't look any larger with a telescope than they do with the naked eye. That isn't true of course, because any telescope will magnify everything dozens or hundreds of times. But when something is as small as a planet, even a lot of magnification won't make it look very big. [Amazing Moon Photos of 2012]

    If you snap an amazing photo of the year's final full moon on Friday and would like to share it with SPACE.com for a potential story or gallery, submit photos and comments, including your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

    Full Moon: Why Does It Happen? How Does It Affect Us? | Video The Blue Moon and Full Moon of 2012 (Photos) Earth's Moon Phases, Monthly Lunar Cycles (Infographic) Copyright 2012 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    The last full moon of 2012 will rise into the night sky this week in a year-ending lunar treat.The full moon is actually an instantaneous event when the moon is exactly opposite the sun in the Earth's sky, and this month that occurs on Friday morning, Dec. 28, at 5:21 a.m. EST (1021 GMT). But, to the naked eye, the moon "looks" full for a couple of days on either side of that time, so the exact date doesn't matter.Many owners of new telescopes are disappointed when they look at the planets. At its largest, the planet Venus is just barely one arc minute in diameter, about 1/30th of the diameter of the sun or the moon, and all the other planets appear smaller than that.

  • Dienstag, 25. Dezember 2012

    Egypt constitution passes, economic crunch looms

    In a sign of the worsening economy, the number of people living on under $1 a day rose to 25 percent in 2011, up from 21.6 percent in 2009, according to government statistics released last month.

    At the height of the protests, the government called off its talks with the International Monetary Fund over a $4.8 billion loan which Morsi's government viewed as a way to attract much needed foreign investors, and deal with a high budget deficit.

    ______________

    There was one particularly nerve-rattling report in recent days that longtime Central Bank Governor Farouk Okdah had resigned. The report came on Saturday during the second and final round of voting on the constitutional referendum.

    In a bid to reach out to opposition, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood said he hoped the charter will be a "good omen" for Egyptians.

    "I asked around in many exchange places and can't find dollars anywhere," said Cairo resident Mahmoud Kamel after unsuccessfully visiting one exchange office. "I want to exchange money because I'm afraid the Egyptian pound will not have any value soon."

    He said Egypt "needs a strong, inclusive government to meet its many challenges."

    Official media quickly retracted the news after reporting it. The governor then turned up at a meeting of the government's economic team on Sunday in an apparent attempt to quell nervousness over the state of the economy.

    The dollar rush prompted the Central Bank of Egypt to issue a statement on Monday calling on banks not to listen to rumors circulating about the fiscal health of the nation.

    In the meantime, the traditionally toothless upper house, the Shura Council, will hold legislative power. But the chamber is overwhelmingly Islamist-dominated so any laws it passes could spark a backlash from the opposition. Many fear a legal crackdown on independent media, highly critical of Islamists.

    The battle over the constitution left Egypt deeply polarized at a time when the government is increasingly cash-strapped. Supporters of the charter campaigned for it on the grounds that it will lead to stability, improve the grip of Morsi and his allies on state institutions, restore investor confidence and bring back tourists.

    After a spate of resignations of senior aides and advisers during the constitutional crisis, Morsi appeared to have lost another member of his government late Tuesday night when his communications minister posted on his Twitter account that he was resigning.

    "This is not a constitution that will last for a long time," said Khaled Dawoud, a spokesman for the main opposition group, the National Salvation Front, vowing to fight for more freedoms, social and economic rights.

    "Let's all begin to build the renaissance of our country with free will, good intentions and strong determination, men, women, Muslims and Christians," Mohammed Badie said on his Twitter account.

    CAIRO (AP) -- The official approval of Egypt's disputed, Islamist-backed constitution Tuesday held out little hope of stabilizing the country after two years of turmoil and Islamist President Mohammed Morsi may now face a more immediate crisis with the economy falling deeper into distress.

    But the opposition said the passing of the document is was not the end of the political dispute. Critics fear the constitution will usher in Islamic law in Egypt and restrict personal freedoms.

    Mariam Rizk contributed to this report

    Morsi signed a decree Tuesday night that put the new constitution into effect after the election commission announced the official results of the referendum held over the past two weekends. It said the constitution has passed with a 63.8 percent "yes." Turnout of 32.9 percent of Egypt's nearly 52 million registered voters was lower than most other elections since the uprising nearly two years ago that ousted authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak

    The turmoil over the constitution sparked huge protests that turned deadly at times. For a moment, the tension looked like it was spiraling out of control and only added to an already weakened economy.

    "The instability of the foreign exchange rate is not at all detached from the political instability. It is a reflection and clear mirror to what is happening," said Haytham Abdel Fattah, head of the Treasury and International Markets Manager at Industrial Development Bank.

    "President Morsi, as the democratically elected leader of Egypt, has a special responsibility to move forward in a way that recognizes the urgent need to bridge divisions, build trust, and broaden support for the political process," said Patrick Ventrell, acting deputy spokesman. "We hope those Egyptians disappointed by the result will seek more and deeper engagement. "

    "We want stability and economic prosperity like everybody else. But we don't believe that the policies of Morsi and the Brotherhood will lead to more stability," he said.

    There were signs on Tuesday that some Egyptians were starting to hoard dollars for fear that the local currency could weaken significantly.

    "In times of change, politics are the driver of the economy and not the other way around," said Mourad Aly, a media adviser for the political arm of the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, the backbone of Morsi's presidency and the main group that backed the constitution.

    Major foreign currency earners, such as foreign direct investment and tourism, have dropped off because of political unrest and deterioration in security following Mubarak's ouster in February 2011.

    Egypt constitution passes, economic crunch looms

    Promises that the Islamist-drafted constitution would bring about the stability Egyptians crave were dismissed by economic experts who warned that without enough currency reserves, there is little to stop the pound from falling.

    The run on the dollar was fueled in part by a decree issued by Morsi late Monday banning people from leaving Egypt with more than $10,000 or its equivalent in other currencies.

    In a clear sign of anxiety over the economy, the turbulence of the past month and expected austerity measures ahead have some Egyptians hoarding dollars for fear the currency is about to take a significant turn for the weaker.

    The bank declared its commitment to guarantee all deposits in local and foreign currencies to banks in Egypt and said banks are "financially strong enough."

    The U.S. State Department bluntly told Morsi it was now time to make compromises, acknowledging deep concerns over the constitution.

    But there are already multiple fights on the horizon.

    Some currency exchanges in the upscale Cairo neighborhood of Zamalek ran out of dollars by midday and offered only euros — a rare occurrence. Some banks, too, said they had run out of cash dollars.

    In a sign that the new front for the opposition against Morsi's policies may be the economy, Dawoud said the Morsi administration was "confused" both on the political and economic fronts.

    Morsi is expected to call for a new election of parliament's lawmaking lower house within two months.

    Economic experts say that Egypt's current foreign reserves barely cover three months of imports, which is the IMF's minimum recommended coverage.

    Egypt's currency had been stable trading around 6 pounds to the dollar for the first half of the year. It has since slipped, especially in the past two months as political instability worsened. The dollar was selling Tuesday at 6.18.

    Rumors swirling around impending tax hikes, subsidy cuts and other bread-and-butter issues have heightened the public's concern. Around 40 percent of Egyptians live just at or below the poverty line of surviving on around $2 a day.

    Over the last two years, the country has lost more than half of its foreign currency reserves from $36 billion in 2010 to around $15 billion currently. The reserve level has been slightly propped up by some Qatari deposits in past months.

    The minister Hany Mahmoud said he "couldn't cope with the culture of government work, particular in the current conditions of the country." The resignation could not be immediately verified because it came so late at night.

    Lawmakers play waiting game with 'fiscal cliff' deadline in sight_1

    Though Republicans and Democrats have spent the better part of a year describing a plunge off the cliff as a looming catastrophe, the nation's capital showed no outward signs of worry, let alone impending calamity.

    "Nothing new, Merry Christmas," an aide to Boehner responded when asked if there was any movement on the fiscal cliff.

    So were all other federal government offices, with Obama having followed a tradition of declaring the Monday before a Tuesday Christmas a holiday for government employees, notwithstanding the approaching fiscal cliff.

    However, aides to the Republican leaders in Congress said there were no talks with Democrats on Monday and none scheduled after negotiations fell off track last week when Boehner failed to persuade House Republicans to accept tax increases on incomes of more than $1 million a year.

    Two bills in Congress could conceivably form the basis for a last-minute stopgap measure.

    "The withholding tables are sort of like an aircraft carrier, you can't turn the thing on a dime." he said.

    "We don't yet know what Senator Reid will bring to the floor. He is not negotiating with us and the president is out of town," said McConnell's spokesman, referring to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat. "So I just don't know what they're going to do over there," he said.

    SCALED-BACK EXPECTATIONS

    But a senior Obama administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said White House aides were talking with Senate Democratic staffers about the situation.

    "Next weekend is going to be a total, total debacle," he said. The IRS is unlikely to have enough time to revise its tables for withholding taxes.

    Lawmakers play waiting game with 'fiscal cliff' deadline in sight

    (Additonal reporting by Alina Selyukh, Patrick Temple-West and David Lawder and Mark Felsenthal in Honolulu; Editing by Alistair Bell, Fred Barbash, David Brunnstrom and Paul Simao)

    "We're now at a point where we're not going to get what we think is right for our economy and our country because we don't control government. So we've got to work within the system we have," she told MSNBC.

    If there is some last-minute legislation, Republicans and Democrats agreed on Sunday news shows that it will not be any sort of "grand bargain" encompassing taxes and spending cuts, but most likely a short-term deal putting everything off for a few weeks or months, thereby risking a negative market reaction.

    Expectations for some 11th-hour rescue focused largely on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, in part because he has performed the role of legislative wizard in previous stalemates.

    Analysts say Democrats might be able to get the backing of enough Republicans in both the House and Senate, especially if they are willing to raise the number to $500,000.

    Under that scenario, lawmakers might also put off spending cuts of $109 billion that would take effect from January and agree to Republican demands for cuts in entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, the government-run health insurance plans for seniors and the poor.

    A limited agreement would still need bipartisan support, as Obama has said he would veto a bill that does not raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans.

    However, with only a few work days left in Congress after Christmas, there is a good chance that no deal can be worked out and tax rates would then go up, at least briefly, until an agreement is reached in Washington.

    But McConnell, who is up for re-election in 2014, was shunning the role this year, his spokesman saying that it was now up to the Democrats in the Senate to make the next move.

    The White House has set up shop in Hawaii, where President Barack Obama is vacationing.

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With only a week left before a deadline for the United States to go over a "fiscal cliff," lawmakers played a waiting game on Monday in the hope that someone will produce a plan to avoid harsh budget cuts and higher taxes for most Americans from New Year's Day.

    On Monday, Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison urged fellow Republicans to be flexible.

    Two-day-old tweets on leadership websites told the story insofar as it was visible to the public.

    Reid's tweet said: "There will be very serious consequences for millions of families if Congress fails to act" on the cliff.

    Failure to work out tax rates in the coming days would cause chaos at the Internal Revenue Service, said analyst Chris Krueger of Guggenheim Securities.

    House Speaker John Boehner's referred everyone to McConnell. McConnell's tweet passed the responsibility along to Obama, saying it was a "moment that calls for presidential leadership."

    The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 51.76 points, or 0.39 percent, in Monday's shortened holiday session.

    The Capitol was deserted and the Treasury Department - which would have to do a lot of last-minute number-crunching with or without a deal - was closed.

    The next session of the Senate is set for Thursday, but the issues presented by across-the-board tax hikes and indiscriminate reductions in government spending, were not on the calendar.

    Last spring, Republicans in the House passed a measure that would extend Bush-era tax cuts for everyone, reflecting the party's deep reluctance to increase taxes.

    "We may go off the cliff on January 1, but we would correct that very quickly thereafter," Democratic Representative John Yarmuth told MSNBC.

    The prospects of the United States going over the fiscal cliff dampened enthusiasm on Wall Street for a "Santa rally" in the holiday season, when stocks traditionally rise.

    The Democratic-controlled Senate passed a bill in August, extending lower tax rates for everyone except the wealthiest Americans - a group defined at that point as households with a net income of $250,000 or above. Obama has since increased that to $400,000 a year, in an effort to win Republican support.

    The House has nothing on its schedule for the week, but members have been told they could be called back at 48 hours notice, making a Thursday return a theoretical possibility.

    Montag, 24. Dezember 2012

    Foxconn, Samsung face dilemma with plan to cut overtime at Chinese factories

    Foxconn, Samsung face dilemma with plan to cut overtime at Chinese factories

    IDG News Service - Assembly line workers are logging 12-hour days to churn out the latest handsets for Samsung Electronics at a factory in Huizhou, China.

    24-year-old Wang Hong Wei knows what it's like: He and about four to six others would collectively assemble 2,700 Samsung Galaxy S III phones each day at the factory run by HTNS Shenzhen Co. But they could never finish the job within normal working hours.

    "They told us we could complete it in ten hours, but ten hours was not enough," Wang said when interviewed in late November. "Every day we kept working, but we couldn't finish."

    Long working hours are often cited as one of the major labor law violations occurring at electronic manufacturers in China. But for many workers in the country, the excessive overtime is simply the norm, and even sought after. In exchange, employees receive higher salaries, and companies such as Samsung and Apple supplier Foxconn can ship out more product. But after facing increased scrutiny over working conditions in China, both Samsung and Foxconn have pledged to bring down workers' overtime hours over the next two years.

    By July 2013, Foxconn plans to limit the overtime at its factories to the Chinese legal limit of 36 hours per month. Samsung also plans to do the same by the end of 2014 for its supplier factories in the country.

    But meeting the goal will mean overcoming serious challenges, which if mishandled could lower the salaries for workers, many of whom are dependent on the extra wages to make a living.

    "It will definitely be bad for us if they cut overtime," said Li Xiaoan, a Foxconn worker. "Then our money will be less."

    At the Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou, China, workers are assembling Apple's iPhone 5. But already, employees such as Li said on Tuesday that demand for overtime hours at the factory has dried up.

    "It's the low season," he said, referring to how demand for shipments of the iPhone 5 has fallen. Now Li works only eight hours a day, and occasionally sees overtime hours and every now and then. During the next few months, he expects his monthly wage will be around 2000 yuan (US$318), a little above the 1800 yuan base wage.

    "When I first came here, I was making 3200 yuan, and working 10 hours each day, including two hours overtime," he said.

    Labor protection groups are also aware that many workers want to keep their overtime, even as the groups have continually criticized Foxconn and Samsung for the long working hours. "I remember one worker told me, don't report on the overtime. If you talk about overtime, the companies will cut it," said Li Qiang, the founder of New York-based China Labor Watch.

    Pope Benedict's Christmas call: Open the door to God

    Pope Benedict's Christmas call: Open the door to God
    To the sound of silver trumpets, Pope Benedict XVI entered St. Peter's Basilica Monday to celebrate Christmas Eve Mass and call for all people to make room for God in their heart.

    As he did in 2011, the pope, now 85, bent and waving slowly, arrived on a red rolling platform to negotiate the football-field length main nave of St. Peter's.

    Though his voice sounded thin, Benedict never hesitated as he led the prayers of the Christmas vigil to welcome the birth of the Christian savior.

    Thousands more watched the Mass on jumbo screens in St. Peter's Square. Cameras turned discreetly away to the choirs or the magnificent church when he had to negotiate steps to the altar.

    However soft his voice, Benedict's homily was a firm call for the world to open the door to God. He began with the Gospel lines about how Mary and Joseph could find no room In Bethlehem.

    "Even if he seems to knock at the door of our thinking," said Benedict, he is often "made superfluous" in our thoughts, feelings and desires. "We are so full of ourselves that there is no room left for God" or the poor or the stranger.

    Benedict called for prayer for "all who live and suffer in all the places where Christ lived," naming the Israelis and Palestinians, Lebanon, Iraq and Syria.

    He acknowledged that in history, people acting as if "God were their private property" have been violent, arrogant and intolerant in God's name, but religion is not at fault for violence in this world.

    "It is not true that denial of God would lead to peace. If God's light is extinguished, then human dignity is extinguished," he said. The birth of the Christ child introduces God's word to the world. "Christ is our peace and he proclaimed peace…"

    Two hours later, the pope gave his final benediction and, accompanied by a contingent of children bearing flowers, moved to a side altar where the figure of the Christ child was placed in a creche. A shy smile lit his face as he rode the platform back down the aisle.

    Shortly before the Christmas Eve Mass, the Vatican released the theme of the message Pope Benedict for the World Day of Peace: "Blessed are the peacemakers."

    Earlier in the afternoon, Benedict ushered in the start of the Christmas Eve celebrations by witnessing the ceremonial opening of the creche in the square and lighting a Christmas candle in the window of his apartment.

    An assistant held the match and steadied the glass-enclosed candle and then the pope blessed the crowd below, which had gathered for the unveiling of a Nativity scene in St. Peter's Square.

    Christmas season is an exhausting run for the 85-year old Benedict — the sixth-oldest pope since the 15th century.

    He had a few hours for a family dinner with his brother, the Rev. Georg Ratzinger, at the papal apartments before the evening Mass, according to Reuters.

    Christmas Day is his annual blessing Urbi et Orbi, (to the city and the world) and his Christmas message. On New Year's Eve there are prayers to thank God for his goodness in the passing year.

    Then New Year's Day he celebrates a special Mass and offers a prayer for world peace. That's when a global audience tunes in to the Vatican to see him lead the world's 1.2 billion Catholics in prayer and celebration.

    Concern about his health ramped up this fall when he surprised the world by appointing six new Cardinals, princes of the church who will one day elect his successor. Most Vatican-watchers expected it would be 2013 before more names were added to the College of Cardinals.

    As Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, he suffered a stroke while vacationing in the Alps which briefly affected his eyesight and weakened his heart. The Vatican said he suffered another mild stroke in May 2005 after being elected pope.

    While the pope conserves his physical strength, he has put new energy into making strategic use of modern media outreach.

    More than 2.2 million people — 1.3 million in English — now follow Benedict's personal Twitter account in eight languages. So far there have been 12 tweets — answering questions posed to him or drawing 140-characters of inspiration from his addresses.

    He wrote about concern for global poverty in an opinion piece for the British paper, the Financial Times, last week.

    The pope caused a minor media stir earlier this year over the third book in his best-selling series, Jesus of Nazareth. Critics zeroed in on fine points in The Infancy Narratives, such as whether the angels spoke or sang at the news of Christ's birth.

    Benedict writes that, "speech of angels is actually song, in which all the glory of the great joy that they proclaim becomes tangibly present." This puts the pope's stamp on the real presence of angels but not necessarily on the other well-known faces in the Christmas tableau — the Magi (the three kings).

    For those who celebrate Jan. 6, when Christians say the Magi reached Bethlehem with their gifts, Benedict calls them historical events with theological relevance, says, Mark Brumley, CEO of Ignatius Press, which publishes Benedict 's writings in English.

    But Benedict's defense of historical validity of the Christmas story in the Gospels is less important than his theology-for-the-common-Christian approach, says John Allen, Vatican expert for the National Catholic Reporter and author of a biography of Benedict.

    Allen quotes the pope in pointing out his chief aim is "to help people on their path toward and alongside Jesus."

    The Nativity scene in St. Peter's Square has already made headlines -- but not for religious reasons. It was donated to the Vatican after embarrassing leaked documents pointed out that the Holy See spent $717,000 for last year's creche.

    The 2012 creche, an elaborate miniature recreation of Bethlehem with tiny characters looking toward the glowing manger scene, was paid for with corporate and private donors who raised $110,000. The Vatican kicked in nearly $24,000 for labor and set-up costs.

    Last week, the pope pardoned his former butler who gave stolen documents about Vatican finances to an Italian journalist.

    Sonntag, 23. Dezember 2012

    Oregon Mall Shooting: Teenage Victim Saw Gunman, Thought It Was a Prank

    Oregon Mall Shooting: Teenage Victim Saw Gunman, Thought It Was a Prank
    A teenager who was shot in the torso during the Oregon mall shooting earlier this month caught a glimpse of the gunman, but said at first she thought it was a prank.

    "I didn't even realize to run until everybody was running. There was people screaming, so everybody was running," Kristina Shevchenko, 15, told ABC News affiliate KATU-TV in Portland.

    Kristina hid behind a pillar and was then shot as she ran into Macy's on the second floor of the Clackamas Town Center.

    "I did feel a huge amount of pressure and pain," she said. "You can't describe what it feels like."

    Kristina's friend and a Macy's employee walked her out of the mall, where she was put into a police car while waiting for paramedics.

    The teenager was released from the hospital earlier this week and is now able to do most activities on her own, she said.

    Jacob Tyler Roberts, 22, armed with a stolen AR-15 semi-automatic weapon, killed two people in the crowded Clackamas Town Center mall in suburban Portland on Dec. 11, according to the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office.

    His shooting victims were identified as Cindy Ann Yuille, 54, and Steven Mathew Forsyth, 45.

    Kristina was the only other person hit in the shooting, which also marked her second brush with death in recent months.

    On Aug. 5, Shevchenko was riding in a full-size Ford van driven by her sibling Emiliya Shevchenko, 27, and six other people in Vancouver, Wash., when a Ford Ranger veered into their lane and crashed into them head on, according to The Colombian.

    The impact killed the other driver, Alberto Perez Garcia, 25, and Emiliya Shevchenko had to be extricated from the van. Kristina survived the crash.

    Despite the hurdles, Kristina remained upbeat.

    "It's a miracle I am recovering as quick as I am from all my injuries," she told KATU. "A lot of people were praying and keeping me and my family in their thoughts. That does have a big impact."

    Battle Lines Drawn Over Stricter Gun Laws

    Battle Lines Drawn Over Stricter Gun Laws
    WASHINGTON—Congressional battle lines hardened Sunday over firearms restrictions, laying the foundation for what will likely be a fight over any proposed new gun laws.

    Speaking Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) said he owned an AR-15, an assault-style rifle, at his home and suggested that the solution isn't to take his firearm away but to provide better school security and focus more on mental health as a way to cut gun violence. "I don't suggest you take my right to buy an AR-15 away from me, because I don't think that it will work," he said.

    Since the American Revolution, when colonists went to war against Great Britain, the right to bear arms has been central to – and controversial in – American culture.

    View Interactive

    Take a look back over milestones in America's relationship with and regulation of firearms.

    Gun-control proposals, nonstarters in recent years, have drawn renewed interest in the aftermath of the Dec. 14 shootings in Newtown, Conn., where suspected gunman Adam Lanza killed 20 students and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Law-enforcement officials said he also killed his mother and himself. Authorities said a version of the AR-15 was one of the weapons used in the school assault.

    More

    Fear of New Restrictions Drives Crowds to Gun Shows
    The incident has sparked calls for a ban on assault weapons and ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 shots.

    The National Rifle Association entered the fray on Friday, calling for armed security at all of the nation's schools. Speaking Sunday on "Meet the Press," the organization's executive vice president, Wayne LaPierre, adamantly opposed new restrictions and faulted federal authorities for failing to adequately enforce existing ones. "One more law on top of 20,000 laws" already on the books would do no good, he said.

    Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.), appearing later on the same show, said the country can't reduce gun violence without considering access to firearms and ammunition. That would be "like trying to prevent lung cancer without talking about cigarettes," he said.

    Gun-control advocates, speaking in interviews, said President Barack Obama has authority to tighten access to certain guns and bolster the background-check system, even with no action from Congress.

    The White House took the first steps last week toward drawing up its list of proposed changes to gun laws. The White House has acknowledged it has options beyond congressional action but has declined to specify what those might be.

    Mr. Obama has administrative powers under a 1968 law to ban the import of certain assault weapons. In 1989, former President George H.W. Bush used that law in issuing an executive order to ban the importation of assault weapons not used for sport. His action was superseded by congressional passage of a 10-year ban on assault weapons in 1994.

    The importation of assault weapons could be "cut off tomorrow," said Kristen Rand, legislative director for the Violence Policy Center, which backs tighter gun controls. "We argue that is the single most important thing they could do under their administrative authority." Opponents of an importation ban say assault weapons are no more likely to be used in crimes than are other guns.

    Other steps Mr. Obama can take include bolstering the background-check system used in gun purchases by ordering that local law enforcement be notified when someone fails a background check.

    That action has found broad support before. A federal program created in the 1990s in Richmond, Va., became a model that was emulated by federal prosecutors elsewhere. Called Project Exile, the program toughened prosecutions of gun offenses and was widely credited with lowering Richmond's violent crime rate.

    Some state officials said they too would press for tougher regulations. Last week, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley said his administration would focus on restricting access to certain firearms. But with porous lines between the states, Mr. O'Malley, a Democrat, said federal action would be more effective.

    In his remarks Sunday, Mr. LaPierre reiterated the NRA's support for the Project Exile initiative, "where every time you catch a criminal with a gun … you prosecute them 100% of the time," he said.

    The NRA also supports efforts to speed records into the background-check system. After the April 2007 Virginia Tech shootings, it emerged that the mental-health records of the assailant, Seung-Hui Cho, hadn't been entered into the federal background-check system. The omission allowed Mr. Cho to pass background checks.

    With NRA support, Congress passed a law to strengthen the system by giving states financial incentives to send in records. In the 14 years the background-check system has operated, some 9,877 attempted gun purchases from federally licensed dealers have been stopped for mental-health reasons. More than one-third have come in the past two years, as states have increased their participation.

    Ladd Everitt, spokesman for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, said the administration could support the confirmation of a director for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and shift resources to the agency. The ATF, which has been embroiled in the fallout of an ill-fated federal gun-trafficking probe, has been without a confirmed director for six years and its budget has been relatively stagnant. At $1.15 billion, the 2012 budget was $39 million higher than the 2011 budget. The proposed budget request from the Justice Department for 2013 amounts to a $1.3 million increase.

    Dienstag, 18. Dezember 2012

    War crimes court acquits Congolese warlord

    THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Congolese warlord Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui was acquitted of all charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday, a blow for victims of Congo wars a decade ago.
    The verdict - only the second in the war crimes court's 10-year history, and its first acquittal - is a setback for the ICC's prosecutors who judges said had failed to link Ngudjolo to atrocities in northeastern Congo in 2003.
    The acquittal also raises doubts about the case against Ngudjolo's better-known co-accused, warlord Germain Katanga who is charged with similar crimes. Judges prolonged Katanga's trial last month, a move that some academics say could make it easier to get a conviction.
    The violence in northeastern Ituri district was a localized ethnic clash over land and resources, one of the myriad of conflicts which spun out of Congo's wider 1998-2003 war that sucked in multiple neighboring states.
    The conflict was not directly related to the current insurgency by M23 rebels in neighboring North Kivu province, but some of the fighters involved in this latest east Congo rebellion, notably M23 leader Bosco Ntaganda, were directly involved in the Ituri fighting.
    Ntaganda is also wanted by the ICC for war crimes relating to the 2003 Ituri events.
    Prosecutors said Ngudjolo directed fighters to block roads to and from the village of Bogoro in February 2003 in order to kill civilians attempting to flee and that civilians, including women and small children were burned alive inside their homes.
    Two hundred people were killed during and after the attack on the village when ethnic Lendu and Ngiti fighters allegedly destroyed the homes of the village's mainly Hema inhabitants.
    "It was a very concise incident," Nick Kaufmann, an international criminal lawyer, said.
    "The prosecution failed to investigate the chain of command adequately as far as the attack in Bogoro is concerned."
    The ICC judges stressed that atrocities had been committed during the conflict, but said the witnesses prosecutors had chosen to testify to Ngudjolo's involvement were not credible.
    "This does not in any way throw into question what befell the people of that area on that day," presiding judge Bruno Cotte said.
    Fatou Bensouda, who took over as the ICC's chief prosecutor this year, asked that judges keep Ngudjolo in detention pending an appeal.
    UNLIKELY TO BE OVERTURNED
    But legal experts said it was unlikely the acquittal would be overturned because new evidence cannot be introduced at appeal, and appeals courts rarely reassess the credibility of witnesses.
    "The acquittal of Ngudjolo leaves the victims of Bogoro and other massacres by his forces without justice for their suffering," said Géraldine Mattioli-Zeltner, international justice advocacy director at Human Rights Watch.
    "The ICC prosecutor needs to strengthen its investigations of those responsible for grave crimes in Ituri, including high-ranking officials in Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda who supported the armed groups fighting there."
    Judges last month split the cases against Katanga and Ndgujolo, postponing the verdict in the case against the better-known warlord until next year and giving prosecutors time to build a case centered around the claim that Katanga was part of a criminal plan to commit war crimes.
    That decision, which would allow Katanga to be convicted even if he had not committed or ordered war crimes, has been appealed by the defense and criticized by scholars and by dissenting judge Christine van den Wyngaert, who said the decision would cause Katanga "irreparable prejudice".
    Thomas Lubanga, the court's first convict, was sentenced to 14 years earlier this year for his role on another side that participated in the same conflict.
    "Lubanga was a Hema leader, and the acquittal of a Ngudjolo, a Lendu, just after the conviction of a Hema could exacerbate tension between the two ethnicities in Ituri," Jennifer Easterday of the Open Society Justice Initiative said.
    Judges will later today decide if Ngudjolo must be held in detention pending his appeal.

    Freitag, 2. März 2012

    IMI銀行リサーチ2011年2

    モンクレール ダウン ベストIMI銀行リサーチ2011年2月23日は、フィルムの調査結果を発表しました。調査では、映画館の入場料は1500円と1800円行く機会の一般的な増加に削減された両親は、約1/4に保つと言われていることを示し、少数派は、思考の周波数の大部分に従属して変更されていませんし、見つかったこの質問への答え。などの他、さらには存在しない場合は、そのような産経新聞の報道として、(あなたは、10%割引よりも、同じ景色を見ることができると、あなたの足TOHOシネマズ100倍の数を減らす東宝シネマコンプレックス、主要な子会社の%が、しかし、いくつかの施設で、千円1500千円 "18歳の1500円と1800円、年齢18年以上の全国の導入は、今年のしたことを発表しました"映画業界では4月から全面的にですが、解決されていない円は、本調査の人気のストーリーが発表されるのインパクトを最大化するために登って、ダウンロード販売などを表示するムービーの使用の有無や周波数のニュース"低価格がある場合は、スケールを。レポートは、映画以上頻繁に、一番下の行に移動します。出席周波数は、"私は、この事を選ん2011年3月2日、北米におけだ価格は1800である場合、それがまた開始されるため、 ↑増加しました。現在のムービーの入場で1500円に、26.0パーセントが残っている "、"性別による映画の大部分に到達するために、結果は55.4パーセントで変更できますが、違いはありませんありません、あなたはより多くのを感じる頻繁に、あっても "適度な効果"であれば、それは重篤な眼は、女性が若干、あるようです。任意の "我々は、これは近くに3月4日への翻訳であると信じて劇的な状況は"予期せぬ問題が期待できます。パフォーマンスの向上と変化の度合い、雲、価格がない場合、または全体として年齢層分類の率を下げるためにご希望される方は(年齢別、性別)の女性は入場料1500円1800日である場合があることは、映画よりも多くの男性です。 ↑興味深い傾向を識別することができます。全国の下落と映画館に行く回数を増やすために "金利"は高いですが、多くの人々は主に、男性と女性と若者向けの価格であれば、その起業家の意図シネマ "が見つかりました、若い人で、それは傘です。....ニンテンドー3DS、ニンテンド

    Montag, 27. Februar 2012

    2009年5月22日、四川省の臥龍自然保護区域NI

    モンクレール ダウン ベスト2009年5月22日、四川省の臥龍自然保護区域NIセットされていruの赤の等級外に掲示メRA NIの絶滅の危機の恐怖の種類NI指定されていruの野生のユキヒョウGA今年の1月NI続気、2月と3ヶ月NI MO WA KAっtaの書き込みされてい市販のTAことGA。成都ディナー新聞GA伝えTA。ユキヒョウの画像WA臥龍自然保護区の海のBa 4400メートル上の場所NIセットされ、TA赤外等級メRA NI、2月25日、3月16日、3月22日を投稿しての3日NI WA TAの里、NIレコードの複数のピースされていTA。 [その他の彼の写真]関係者WA記録されたTA場所や時間は、数個を超えるKAら、臥龍自然保護区域NI WA、特定の数の野生のユキヒョウのグループれ、GA生市TEいRUと推測で気RUとの広場をめざしショーしていRU 。 (回して条件コンパイル/ HA)[接続のメモ帳·<2008 NIューSU·動物コード10>猫の女性じゃNA KA TAっ!調査の違反いでフィードワシントンれtaのユキヒョウ - 新疆ウイジュエリーヒカル自治·ハイランドNIライブむ絶滅の危機の恐怖種ユキヒョウ、人々のLi NI今れRU - ガンは、州を説明·エベレsuのスイートで絶滅の危機恐怖種ユキヒョウ発見 - チベッスイート自治区世界最強のレベヒカルの激しい毒を!ヒロ東県、韶関市·恐怖竜絶滅の謎NI新しいが言っ老いも若きも(画像の画像。)ニュー​​スの爆発物。=真菌の大発健康GA卵WO公害市TA - - 中国NHK·WO歓迎のBSジョージア20周年にえ、 "なたTAジョージア州選挙"女性ブRAバイパー "発見の絶滅の危機の恐怖の種類保護BS20歳の名作セットとタイトル市、2月KA交通機関へにKAけ月て "武は一度見いTAという市販のファンをめざし市を上げて、その他の結果をめざし発表した。には、韓国ブームを巻気以来koの市TA冬のソナタGA、選択するための支持率の15%で(20375票)ばれTA。関連写真:その他2001年12月1日のPEヨNN寺desuオフュnnのNI RUの写真 "なたぶBS20歳の名作セットを選択にGA TAの総投票WA 160 533票。 "ソナ冬のタの後にNI続気、2府1 500万185票の" [韓国語]チェヨnnは流出源の総猫ッスイートユーザーNIフランスのDUI応 "(2009年5月6日)* [韓国]チャnnは··ナRA、四川省学校支援...音楽教室WOが設定され(2009年5月6日)[韓国] "チェ·ジウウの恋人"イ寺のヌク、今日(6)軍チーム(2009年5月6日)· [韓国語]東大寺キルソーョNN(2009年5月6日)ファ "気ミリアンペアづKAっTAとの間のグレードnnのnnはウォドNNと6ヶ"2010年10月ごみと他のグループGarbagen

    Montag, 13. Februar 2012

    12日、 "店長、店舗&quo

    モンクレール ダウン ベスト12日、 "店長、店舗"エヴァンゲリオンストア東京-01 "ミスター·サン(東京都渋谷区)と呼ばれるアニメシリーズの稲垣早紀さくらアーティストエヴァ公式ヒロイン"エヴァンゲリオン "鳥のアニメーションの模倣が任命されました。 300ファンや人々が並んで前に開いた、稲垣氏は、EVAの欲望は愛されるために!この日はまた特別な限定版です。関西に住んでいない、最終的に喜んでいた記者の予定とのインタビューで、今日来た: "私は考えました。稲垣氏は、製品をお勧めしますので、コーヒーのカラフルなカップです "と、私は、あなたが男性のカップルを購入することを選択し希望が、私はあなたが本当の人形や飛鳥図で狡猾な魅力の中心部にある製品を買いたい"私は、ギャップ(GAP)を埋めるためにしたいと思います。さくら美咲は開催された特別バレンタインデーイベントの一環として、稲垣氏と新世紀エヴァンゲリオン協力のイベントで稲垣ストアレジエヴァの写真機能、しようとします。稲垣氏は、購入、およびゲームのゲームの珍しい品物を獲得するために署名した購入より3000ドルプチチョコレートに基づいて過去に加えて。など、驚きを送信するためにボイスメール "この興奮は、それが困難である。こんにちは、サッキ、陳?あすか"奈良県警察はランク、アーンスト&ヤングに;優れた子宮ヴィレッジボイスあすかさん、稲垣の俳優の役割は、私は最高の突然と思います!私は本当に!と興奮にうれしく思います。 "店のスタッフのような優れたプロジェクトは、あなたのおもてなしの到着したいのですが、これが有効になっていると思います。Tsutawareこのエヴァを愛している"一見、顔やマネージャーに。さらに、氏稲垣は "?"あなたはバレンタインデーから必要なチョコレートの近くで聞いて、 "不幸な彼らはエヴァ(稲垣オフィス)キルギスタンは控えめなコメントが好きなので購入するつもりはない、"私は行きたいです。私たちは皆知っているように、彼女はエヴァの愛 "、と氏敦彦中田のコンビ尋ねた。"東 "を同じオフィスセックスラジオコメディで福田萌の才能を(それは福田氏もエヴァが大好きなので)"イェール大学に派遣された大学は、それは単に物事の配列ですので、 "エヴァは二人が大好きです。店では、DVDが新世紀エヴァンゲリオンNETA活動咲-Saki-稲垣さくら "、さらに昨年、サイト訪問酸単独稲垣に記録された(しない)をターゲットに〜あなたは9(3月14日にリリースされ、3990円になりますポスターやパネル)が表示されます。 (デジタルデイリーニュース)◇レース10マイルロードレース唐-chu

    Sonntag, 12. Februar 2012

    月上旬、 "NX50

    モンクレール ダウン ベスト月上旬、 "NX501"のホーンSDカーナビゲーションシステムがリリースされる予定です。価格はオープンですが、6万円の周りに買い物をすると予想されます。 6.2ワイドVGAディスプレイのタイプを装備[NX501]拡大画像や他の画像をSD 2DINカーナビゲーションシステム。 LEDバックライトディスプレイユニット。 "私は、それが可能なドリフトと同様にスマートフォンを操作するようにする便利な機能を感じる"ルテニウムマップ分誌100冊については、その後約80 000の情報、旅行ガイド、カーナビゲーションシステムを導くために使用することができます意味を記録したマップルナビゲーションアプリケーションと。脆弱性の31都道府県の主要な一部として、お土産やその他の情報ブースとappBlasterでの現在の場所に機能情報を導く、約120,000枚、写真のガイドから選択するの観光スポットを選択します。市内地図データは、335を含む分(360 000程度)、(約7.4億ドル)、検索するアドレス検索、電話番号検索(約220万ドル)、電荷(220万ドル)のフリー50音声検索、(2.2百万円)の単語の検索、施設名検索、周りにジャンル検索/(ジャンル数量:検索約800:約220万)、検索、地図、旅行情報の取得ドライブの上部からのコードに記載されていますAVオプションの使用を許可に加えて、関数として "CCA-750-専用500(別売)(8400円)、プレイがあなたのiPhone / iPodケーブルが直接接続されているMP3/WMA/MP4/DVD TVチューナー車の観察、小林隆の立ち上げ。2011年6月15日[問題](

    Samstag, 11. Februar 2012

    まゆは、革のiPhone 4種

    モンクレール ダウン ベストまゆは、革のiPhone 4種類のiPhone 4のダイヤモンドパイソンパネルの表salesのオンラインストアMAYUMI長谷川、オンラインストア、 "会社"テーブル "を介して、革は蛇を取った。価格は5800円です。 、画期的な億のインターネット検索を祝うために同じオンラインストアは、我々は4800円、通常価格より200円の割引を提供する。もとな● "Inotiaウり、このヘビ革、直接iPhoneの4本革シートの製品接着剤のオフの特別なタイプの接着剤の痕跡、はがすだけでなく、iPhone背面の4、しかし、体の片側をカバーするためには、カメラのレンズとなっており、ボタンのデザインが含まれていません。色は黒です。さらに、唯一のカバータイプの背面カバーを販売しています。購入価格の記念セー​​ルの価格は、4300ドル)(5300円[MYCOM誌は●マスター。この夏、ゲームの配