Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=5e15260e409489b95d40175cd522daab
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Saturday, December 17, 2011
Canada Begins Hearings on Salmon Virus
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Canadian officials deny any cover-up of cases of infectious salmon anemia, a potentially lethal virus that conservationists have long feared could spread from farmed fish to wild salmon.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Defense bill nears passage in Congress (AP)
WASHINGTON ? A massive defense bill is on the brink of final passage after the Obama administration and Congress resolved a fierce struggle over the president's ability to prosecute terrorist suspects in the civilian justice system.
The House voted 283-136 for the $662 billion measure Wednesday night, a rare bipartisan vote the reflected the strong support for annual legislation that authorizes money for the men and women of the military as well as weapons systems and the millions of jobs they generate in lawmakers' districts.
The Senate was expected to clear the bill Thursday and send it to President Barack Obama.
The House vote came just hours after the administration abandoned a veto threat over provisions dealing with the handling of terrorism suspects.
Applying pressure on House and Senate negotiators working on the bill last week, Obama and senior members of his national security team, including Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, had sought modifications in the detainee provisions.
Negotiators announced the changes late Monday, clearing the way for White House acceptance.
In a statement, press secretary Jay Carney said the new bill "does not challenge the president's ability to collect intelligence, incapacitate dangerous terrorists and protect the American people."
Specifically, the bill would require that the military take custody of a suspect deemed to be a member of al-Qaida or its affiliates who is involved in plotting or committing attacks on the United States. There is an exemption for U.S. citizens.
House and Senate negotiators added language that says nothing in the bill will affect "existing criminal enforcement and national security authorities of the FBI or any other domestic law enforcement agency" with regard to a captured suspect "regardless of whether such ... person is held in military custody."
The bill also says the president can waive the provision based on national security.
"While we remain concerned about the uncertainty that this law will create for our counterterrorism professionals, the most recent changes give the president additional discretion in determining how the law will be implemented, consistent with our values and the rule of law, which are at the heart of our country's strength," Carney said.
Uncertainty was a major concern of FBI Director Robert Mueller, who expressed serious reservations about the detainee provisions.
Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mueller said a coordinated effort by the military, intelligence agencies and law enforcement has weakened al-Qaida and captured or killed many of its leaders, including Osama bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S.-born radical Islamic cleric. He suggested that the divisive provision in the bipartisan defense bill would deny that flexibility and prove impractical.
"The statute lacks clarity with regard to what happens at the time of arrest. It lacks clarity with regard to what happens if we had a case in Lackawanna, N.Y., and an arrest has to be made there and there's no military within several hundred miles," Mueller said. "What happens if we have ... a case that we're investigating on three individuals, two of whom are American citizens and would not go to military custody and the third is not an American citizen and could go to military custody?"
Unnerving many conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats, the legislation also would deny suspected terrorists, even U.S. citizens seized within the nation's borders, the right to trial and subject them to indefinite detention. House Republican leaders had to tamp down a small revolt among some rank-and-file who sought to delay a vote on the bill.
Some of the Republicans were concerned that the "president would use the military to round up American citizens," said Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., a member of the Armed Services panel.
The escalating fight over whether to treat suspects as prisoners of war or criminals has divided Democrats and Republicans, the Pentagon and Congress.
The administration insists that the military, law enforcement and intelligence officials need flexibility in the campaign against terrorism. Obama points to his administration's successes in killing bin Laden and al-Awlaki. Republicans counter that their efforts are necessary to respond to an evolving, post-Sept. 11 threat and that Obama has failed to produce a consistent policy on handling terror suspects.
Highlighting a period of austerity and a winding down of decade-old conflicts, the bill is $27 billion less than Obama requested and $43 billion less than Congress gave the Pentagon. The bill also authorizes money for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and national security programs in the Energy Department.
Frustrated with delays and cost overruns with the troubled F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft program, lawmakers planned to require the contractor, Lockheed Martin, to cover the expense of any extra costs on the next batch and future purchases of the aircraft. The Pentagon envisions buying 2,443 planes for the Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy, but the price could make it the most expensive program in military history ? $1 trillion.
The legislation freezes $700 million for Pakistan until the defense secretary provides Congress a report on how Islamabad is countering the threat of improvised explosive devices.
It would impose tough new penalties on Iran, targeting foreign financial institutions that do business with the country's central bank. The president could waive those penalties if he notifies Congress that it's in the interest of national security.
____
Associated Press writers Pete Yost and Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.
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UK crime reporter arrested in corruption inquiry
LONDON (AP) ? The former crime editor for the News of the World tabloid was arrested Thursday in Britain's phone hacking scandal, and authorities announced that CNN journalist Piers Morgan would appear before the U.K.'s media ethics inquiry.
Police investigating wrongdoing at the Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid did not release crime editor Lucy Panton's name, saying only that a 37-year-old female was arrested before dawn. But British media reported that Panton was the person arrested, a fact confirmed by a former News of the World employee to The Associated Press. She was later released on bail.
More than a dozen former journalists working for News of the World have been arrested in the phone hacking scandal that prompted Murdoch to shut down the tabloid in July and forced several senior Murdoch lieutenants to resign. There have also been about half a dozen other arrests in relation to corrupt payments made to police officers for news tips.
Prime Minister David Cameron set up the inquiry into British media ethics in the wake of the scandal.
Morgan, the former tabloid editor-turned-celebrity interviewer, replaced Larry King at CNN. He also edited the News of the World between 1994 and 1995 before moving over to the Daily Mirror. He can expect to be quizzed on allegations that he condoned phone hacking while working at the Mirror and that he personally listened in on illegally intercepted messages.
Morgan has denied ever knowingly running a story off of illegally intercepted phone messages. He is expected to testify next week, according to his publicist.
Panton, who is married to a Scotland Yard detective, had high-level contact with the London police force, meeting with then-Assistant Commissioner John Yates and her former boss, News of the World editor Colin Myler, for dinner in November 2009.
That was only a few months after Yates had decided not to reopen the police investigation into allegations of systematic phone hacking at the tabloid. Yates was one of two top Scotland Yard officers to quit over his failure to tackle the scandal years earlier.
Myler, whose career as editor also was cut short by the scandal, appeared Thursday before the judge-led inquiry. He was the first News of the World editor to testify before the inquiry, which has so far heard from celebrities, journalists and phone hacking victims.
Myler told the inquiry he had no reason to believe that phone hacking went beyond a single rogue when he took over at the paper in 2007. But he said by 2008, he had changed his mind.
Inquiry lawyer Robert Jay asked Myler why then he still suggested to Press Complaints Committee in 2009 that only one rogue reporter was to blame
"It might be said that you didn't give them quite a full and frank answer," Jay said.
Myler dodged the question, saying he had "no reason not to give them a full and frank answer." He was not pressed on the inconsistency.
He also wasn't quizzed about one of the most notorious incidents of his career, in which, as editor of the Sunday Mirror in 1993, he published hidden camera pictures of Princess Diana working out at a private gym.
The inquiry is charged with clearing the rot from Britain's scandal-tarred media industry, but its relaxed cross-examination is facing criticism.
"It's a bit like being slapped around with a wet fish," said Mark Stephens, a media lawyer who has worked for the AP in the past.
The media inquiry also heard from private investigator Derek Webb, who testified that he'd been hired by the News of the World to conduct surveillance on dozens of public figures ? mostly politicians and celebrities.
In a possible indication that the paper hoped to pass him off as a reporter, Webb said it had asked him to register as a journalist, not as a private investigator.
Webb acknowledged carrying out surveillance on lawyers for phone hacking victims on behalf of the News of the World ? one of his most controversial assignments. But he said he wasn't told about the details behind the mission and claimed he couldn't confirm allegations that he had followed the teenage daughter of a phone hacking victim's lawyer.
___
Associated Press writer Paisley Dodds contributed to this report.
___
Online:
Raphael G. Satter: http://twitter.com/razhael
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Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Occupy protests move to foreclosed homes
Police officers stand guard during a tour of foreclosed homes by Occupy Wall Street activist in the East New York neighborhood of the Brooklyn borough of New York, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011. Finding it increasingly difficult to camp in public spaces, Occupy protesters across the country are reclaiming foreclosed homes and boarded-up properties, signaling a tactical shift for the movement against wealth inequality. Groups in more than 25 cities held protests Tuesday on behalf of homeowners facing evictions.(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Police officers stand guard during a tour of foreclosed homes by Occupy Wall Street activist in the East New York neighborhood of the Brooklyn borough of New York, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011. Finding it increasingly difficult to camp in public spaces, Occupy protesters across the country are reclaiming foreclosed homes and boarded-up properties, signaling a tactical shift for the movement against wealth inequality. Groups in more than 25 cities held protests Tuesday on behalf of homeowners facing evictions.(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Homeowners and demonstrators gather in front of a home where the owner has been given an eviction notice in Portland, Ore., Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011. Following tactics by Occupy Wall Street demonstrators in Seattle, Portland and Oakland, protesters across the country are staging ?Occupy Homes? actions nationally to try to stop foreclosures. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)
In this photo shot Monday, Dec. 5, 2011, Occupy Seattle protester Ariel Bagby Bealer stands in front of a formerly boarded-up duplex members of the group have taken over in Seattle. Following tactics by Occupy Wall Street demonstrators in Seattle, Portland and Oakland, protesters across the country are staging "Occupy Homes" actions nationally to try to stop foreclosures. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
In this photo shot Monday, Dec. 5, 2011, the electric meters of a formerly boarded-up duplex are covered with graffiti from members of an Occupy Seattle group that took over the house in Seattle. Following tactics by Occupy Wall Street demonstrators in Seattle, Portland and Oakland, protesters across the country are staging "Occupy Homes" actions nationally to try to stop foreclosures. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Deb Austin, right, who has received an eviction notice, speaks in front of her house surrounded by other homeowners, neighbors and demonstrators in Portland, Ore., Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011. Following tactics by Occupy Wall Street demonstrators in Seattle, Portland and Oakland, protesters across the country are staging ?Occupy Homes? actions nationally to try to stop foreclosures. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)
SEATTLE (AP) ? The Occupy Wall Street protests are moving into the neighborhood. Finding it increasingly difficult to camp in public spaces, Occupy protesters across the country are reclaiming foreclosed homes and boarded-up properties, signaling a tactical shift for the movement against wealth inequality.
Groups in more than 25 cities held protests Tuesday on behalf of homeowners facing evictions.
In Atlanta, protesters held a boisterous rally at a county courthouse and used whistles and sirens to disrupt an auction of seized houses. In New York, they marched through a residential neighborhood in Brooklyn carrying signs that read "Foreclose on banks, not people." Southern California protesters rallied around a family of six that reclaimed the home they lost six months ago in foreclosure.
"It's pretty clear that the fight is against the banks, and the Occupy movement is about occupying spaces. So occupying a space that should belong to homeowners but belongs to the banks seems like the logical next step for the Occupy movement," said Jeff Ordower, one of the organizers of Occupy Homes.
The events reflect the protesters' lingering frustration over the housing crisis that has sent millions of homes into foreclosure after the burst of the housing bubble that helped cripple the country's economy. Nearly a quarter of all U.S. homeowners with mortgages are now underwater, representing nearly 11 million homes, according to CoreLogic, a real estate research firm.
Protesters say that banks and financial firms own abandoned foreclosed houses that could be housing people.
Seattle has become a leader in the anti-foreclosure movement as protesters took over a formerly boarded-up duplex last month. They painted the bare wood sidings with green, black and red paint, and strung up a banner that says "Occupy Everything - No Banks No Landlords."
While arrests have already been made in a couple of squatting cases in Seattle and Portland, it remains to be seen how authorities will react to this latest tactic.
In Portland, police spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson said he's aware that the movement called for people to occupy foreclosed homes, but said it's difficult to distinguish between the people who would squat in homes as a political statement and those that do it for shelter.
"The vacant property issue is of concern in cities nationwide," Simpson said. "We'll treat them all as trespassers."
In Seattle, protesters took over a boarded-up warehouse slated for demolition last weekend. In an announcement, the protesters said they planned to make the warehouse into a community center, and hosted a party the night they opened the building. Police moved in soon after, arresting 16 people in the process of clearing it out.
Seattle police spokesman Sgt. Sean Whitcomb said his department sees squatting in private properties as the same violation of trespassing Occupy Seattle made when it camped in a downtown park.
"It's no different than when people were trespassing (in the park)," Whitcomb said. "We went nights and days, letting people camp in the park. We relied on education and outreach, rather than enforcing the law to the letter."
Atlanta protesters took a more aggressive approach in trying to disrupt the home auction. The auction went on but the whistles and sirens made it difficult for the auctioneers to communicate, said Occupy Atlanta spokesman Tim Franzen.
"We don't know how many homes we saved for one more month during the holiday season," he said. "It was kind of a Christmas gift to the people."
In Riverside, Calif., Art de los Santos arrived in a U-Haul with assorted furniture and about three dozen supporters at his former three-bedroom, three bathroom home. He broke the lock and moved back in.
Reclaiming his old home is his last resort to get the attention of bank JP Morgan Chase after he applied three times for a loan modification to no avail.
"I'm getting down to my last option," he said. "Nothing seems to work. Maybe if I protest, it'll get their attention."
The home, which was foreclosed on, is sitting empty while he, his wife and four children, aged 11 to 7, are squeezed into an Orange County rental apartment. He's also renting a storage unit.
"It's sad because you have all these memories there," said the 46-year-old. "My kids were running around the neighborhood on their bikes. It's a nice little community."
Tom Kelly, spokesman for JPMorganChase, had no immediate knowledge of de los Santos' case and could not comment, but noted that he is trespassing.
New York protesters introduced members of a homeless family at the end of their rally and said they plan renovate and clean up the house so the family can live in a house they said had been abandoned by a bank.
In Portland, a press conference was held at the home of a woman facing foreclosure next March. She vowed to stay in her house until authorities take her out.
"We belong here," said Deb Austin, who said she fell behind in payments after a cancer diagnosis and after her husband lost her second job. "And we're not leaving."
___
Associated Press writers Nigel Duara in Portland, Ore., Cristina Silva in Las Vegas, Leonard Pallats in Atlanta, Deepti Hajela in New York, and Christina Hoag in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
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Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Michael Bisping doesn?t want to hear about Jason Miller?s stamina, ?Mayhem? just needs work on his game
Michael Bisping just wanted a little more credit following his win over Jason "Mayhem" Miller, so he scolded the media who were saying the American ran out of steam early in the fight.
"Did you see the pace of the fight? Did you see how many punches I was throwing? Any time I stop someone it's because they gassed. I guarantee Jason didn't gas. I guarantee Jason could've gone five rounds," said Bisping.
The Brit said he was the reason Miller was physically and mentally sapped by the middle of the third round.
"Guess what? You might have cardio but when someone's landing big body shots like I was ... kneeing you in the stomach and punching you repeatedly in the face, your cardio gets affected," Bisping said. "Even the best runner would gas. You get Lindford Christie in there and beat the [expletive] out of him, see how fast he runs the 100 meters."
Bisping believes Miller can compete in the UFC, but the 30-year-old MMA veteran needs a lot of work.
"I've got good takedown defense and he took me down. Against someone less experienced, he could've gotten a submission. He gave me a tough first round," Bisping said. "If I were him, I'd go train striking, keep his shape a little bit more when he's standing up and be a little more orthodox."
Because Miller was launching his head each time he threw an overhand right, it almost became a short night for Bisping. He got drilled in the first when the fighter's clashed heads.
"He was throwing it and really committing with his head. I could feel it instantly and a big lump on my head," Bisping said. "When I'm sparring I prefer a really good, high-level boxer. Someone who's really good and technical. I do great against those guys. Someone who's unorthodox, a beginner if you will ... they catch you with shots because they do stupid things that they're not supposed to do. They don't follow the guidelines."
Miller has survived solely on his grappling by fighting in Japan, Strikeforce and some of the minor leagues around the U.S. He definitely needs to dedicate himself to the stand-up game or his stay in the UFC could be very brief.
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Monday, December 5, 2011
Video: Six Figure Job Opportunies
Helping job-seekers find high-paying positions, with Marc Cenedella, The Ladders founder/CEO.
Related Links:
Business & financial news headlines from msnbc.com
Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/45527704/
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Sunday, December 4, 2011
Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish (ContributorNetwork)
COMMENTARY | Herman Cain addressed the public today about the future of his candidacy. I watched the live broadcast online from ABC. He withdrew from the campaign, saying he was "suspending" it. His speech was laden with buzzwords and cliches about believing in America, God, country and "we the people" in particular.
He called running for president a "dirty, dirty game." As someone alleged to prefer harassing and having affairs with dirty, dirty girls Cain might be in position to know. Throughout his speech he kept to his usual strategy regarding the dirty, dirty allegations against him of sexual misconduct: deny, deny, deny. What else can we expect from a man of the same party as Richard "I am not a crook" Nixon?
Cain broke down America into three groups: The media, politicians and "we the people." During his closing he repeatedly asked people to "look inside to see what they can do." If he came any closer to saying, "Ask not what your country can do for you" he'd have to become a Democrat and change his name to Kennedy.
He says he is now embarking on Plan B, centered around policies on a website called thecainsolutions.com, which has a placeholder page at the time of this writing. He said foreign policy should revolve around strength and clarity. He says the U.S. needs energy independence. Cain claimed to be "disappointed that things have come to this point."
Cain asserted Washington needs to change and that while he wanted to be the man to change it from the inside that he will work to change it from the outside. His idea of change still appears to be centered around the 999 plan. If that strategy were any more slanted toward the rich Cain could ski down it with helpless working-class people strapped to his feet.
Cain failed to take the honorable path. He should have apologized for his moral shortcomings and for shaming his party, and then stepped down gracefully. Instead he remains a curse on his party because he announced on camera that he plans to endorse another candidate soon.
If I were running as a Republican I would beg him not to endorse me. Who needs a recommendation from a perceived harassing, lying, and adulterous plutocrat?
I wish we could say a final goodbye to Herman Cain but, like a bad rash, he'll be back.
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