Stones to play long-awaited Glastonbury gig

PILTON, England (AP) ? This could be the last time, as Mick Jagger once sang. For the Rolling Stones, it's definitely a first.

The veteran rock rabble-rousers play Britain's Glastonbury Festival on Saturday, their debut appearance at the country's most prestigious rock music event.

Many of the 135,000 festival ticket-holders are expected to cram the space in front of the Pyramid Stage for the gig.

Jagger wouldn't reveal details of the set list in a pre-show BBC radio interview, saying "it's nice to have a bit of a surprise."

Jagger, who turns 70 in July, also gave no clue about whether the band he started with Keith Richards in 1962 will ever call it quits. He said, "I've no idea," before telling an interviewer that he'd probably continue as long as he was wanted.

The band recently played a string of North American dates on its "50 and Counting" tour and is due to play two concerts in London's Hyde Park next month.

The Stones turned down offers to play Glastonbury for years, but appear to have embraced the down-to-earth spirit of the festival, held on a farm in southwest England. On Saturday Jagger tweeted a picture of himself outside a yurt, a Mongolian-style felt tent where he reportedly spent the night.

Guitarist Richards said the band was "destined to play Glastonbury."

"I look upon it as a culmination of our British heritage really," he said. "It had to be done and it's going to be done, and we'll see what happens, you know."

The Glastonbury Festival was founded by Michael Eavis in 1970 on his Worthy Farm near Pilton, 120 miles (193 kilometers) southwest of London. It is famous for its eclectic lineup ? and the mud that overwhelms the site in rainy years.

Other performers on Saturday include Elvis Costello and Primal Scream.

But for many festivalgoers, the Stones were the main event.

?"I know the festival organizers have been trying to get hold of them for a long time, so there will be a brilliant atmosphere," said Adam Robinson, 25. "I predict there will be a massive sing-a-long."

The three-day festival wraps up Sunday with a headlining set from Mumford & Sons.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-06-29-Britain-Rolling%20Stones/id-8bc1be21862844539128b7b7ed9b642c

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Do the Bride a Favor Gives Delightful Wedding D?cor Ideas

San Diego, CA (PRWEB) June 29, 2013

Wedding d?cor is quickly becoming one of the top ways of making a wedding stand out from the crowd. Many brides are ditching the regular d?cor of flowers and lace and opting for bold, bright colors, or incorporating everyday items into centerpieces. On June 26, 2013, The Huffington Post published an article entitled ?Wedding Ideas for Modern Brides?, and Do the Bride a Favor is taking this article as inspiration to discuss the newest trends in wedding d?cor.

Brides are beginning to incorporate local flavor into their d?cor. Native plants and flowers add a rustic, casual tone to weddings. Some brides are even using succulents or cacti in their receptions. Fruit and herbs also make wonderful centerpieces and tablescapes - and can be used as favors as well.

For a more formal feel, incorporating dark, rich colors with a hint of gold or silver will take any reception up a notch in terms of style and formality.

For a home-spun feel, opt for fabric d?cor and fabric flowers. Many online retailers are offering fabric flower bouquets and custom pennant banners. These fabric flowers can also be used as place cards, or to decorate gifts for guests such as different flavors of sugar free candy or local honey.

To incorporate a theme into the wedding d?cor, pick a few aspects to weave the theme into, and stick to it. Going overboard on theme items in the d?cor can make any wedding look tacky. Opt for subtle hints of the chosen theme.

Most importantly, wedding d?cor should be fun and should reflect the personality of both the bride and groom.

Do the Bride a Favor gives d?cor advice that every bride can use, including using local flowers, herbs, and fruit, incorporating fabrics into wedding d?cor, and how to keep a theme tasteful.

About Do the Bride a Favor:
Do the Bride a Favor is a website dedicated to bringing brides and party planners favor ideas, candy inspiration, and advice on throwing one-of-a-kind parties and events.

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013-best-wedding-decor/07-reception-decoration/prweb10887091.htm

Source: http://www.streetinsider.com/Press+Releases/Do+the+Bride+a+Favor+Gives+Delightful+Wedding+D%C3%A9cor+Ideas/8461578.html

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Finding The Right Hotel For Your Trip - ArticleSnatch.com

If you are planning a short trip or an extended vacation, finding the right hotel is part of the planning process. You will need a place to stay on your trip, even if you plan to mainly only sleep there. The type of accommodations you look for will depend on personal preference. The first step is to find the place you want to stay at during your trip. Knowing how to find a facility to stay in will help you locate the right one.

Online

One place to look for a hotel is online. The Internet provides an easy way to locate accommodations for your trip. You have the ability to see the location, read reviews, and find out what each facility offers. The Internet also allows you to look for accommodations anywhere in the world from the comfort of your home. You are able to compare rates and amenities of each location. Many sites offer the ability to find the least expensive location and the best deal on booking rooms for your stay.

Phone Book

If you are planning a trip close to home, you can look in area phone books for a list of accommodations. This provides you with a list of all facilities in the area. You will find contact information for the locations, including phone numbers. By contacting the facility, you will be able to find out rates and services offered at the location.

Rooms

As you look for a facility to stay in, you will have options on the type of room you get. Depending on how many are traveling with you, your room may have one or two beds. Some rooms have two beds and a pull out couch for extra sleeping space. The type of room you need may help you decide on the facility you book for your trip.

Different Types

You will find several types of facilities available for your trip. There are budget motels and luxury locations available. Rustic locations and resorts are also options when looking for a place to stay. You will find bed and breakfast facilities and historic inns available in many areas as well. Choosing which type is right for you will depend on what kind of trip you are taking.

Whether your trip is for a weekend, a week, or an extended stay, finding a hotel that meets your needs is important. You want to be comfortable on your trip. Your accommodations should be close to the things you want to see and places you will visit. How much time you plan to spend in your room will make a difference on the type of facility you choose. From budget to luxury, you will be able to find the right accommodations for your situation when you know where to look.

Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Finding-The-Right-Hotel-For-Your-Trip/5193064

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NASA launches satellite to study how sun's atmosphere is energized

June 28, 2013 ? NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) spacecraft launched Thursday at 7:27 p.m. PDT (10:27 p.m. EDT) from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The mission to study the solar atmosphere was placed in orbit by an Orbital Sciences Corporation Pegasus XL rocket.

"We are thrilled to add IRIS to the suite of NASA missions studying the sun," said John Grunsfeld, NASA's associate administrator for science in Washington. "IRIS will help scientists understand the mysterious and energetic interface between the surface and corona of the sun."

IRIS is a NASA Explorer Mission to observe how solar material moves, gathers energy and heats up as it travels through a little-understood region in the sun's lower atmosphere. This interface region between the sun's photosphere and corona powers its dynamic million-degree atmosphere and drives the solar wind. The interface region also is where most of the sun's ultraviolet emission is generated. These emissions impact the near-Earth space environment and Earth's climate.

The Pegasus XL carrying IRIS was deployed from an Orbital L-1011 carrier aircraft over the Pacific Ocean at an altitude of 39,000 feet, off the central coast of California about 100 miles northwest of Vandenberg. The rocket placed IRIS into a sun-synchronous polar orbit that will allow it to make almost continuous solar observations during its two-year mission.

The L-1011 took off from Vandenberg at 6:30 p.m. PDT and flew to the drop point over the Pacific Ocean, where the aircraft released the Pegasus XL from beneath its belly. The first stage ignited five seconds later to carry IRIS into space. IRIS successfully separated from the third stage of the Pegasus rocket at 7:40 p.m. At 8:05 p.m., the IRIS team confirmed the spacecraft had successfully deployed its solar arrays, has power and has acquired the sun, indications that all systems are operating as expected.

"Congratulations to the entire team on the successful development and deployment of the IRIS mission," said IRIS project manager Gary Kushner of the Lockheed Martin Solar and Atmospheric Laboratory in Palo Alto, Calif. "Now that IRIS is in orbit, we can begin our 30-day engineering checkout followed by a 30-day science checkout and calibration period."

IRIS is expected to start science observations upon completion of its 60-day commissioning phase. During this phase the team will check image quality and perform calibrations and other tests to ensure a successful mission.

NASA's Explorer Program at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., provides overall management of the IRIS mission. The principal investigator institution is Lockheed Martin Space Systems Advanced Technology Center. NASA's Ames Research Center will perform ground commanding and flight operations and receive science data and spacecraft telemetry.

The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory designed the IRIS telescope. The Norwegian Space Centre and NASA's Near Earth Network provide the ground stations using antennas at Svalbard, Norway; Fairbanks, Alaska; McMurdo, Antarctica; and Wallops Island, Va. NASA's Launch Services Program at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is responsible for the launch service procurement, including managing the launch and countdown. Orbital Sciences Corporation provided the L-1011 aircraft and Pegasus XL launch system.

For more information about the IRIS mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/iris

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/-bOp3UEUoGk/130628144808.htm

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Syrian rebels capture major checkpoint in south

BEIRUT (AP) ? Rebels captured a major army post in the southern city of Daraa Friday after nearly two weeks of intense fighting, as battles raged between troops and opposition forces in the province that borders Jordan, activists said.

Daraa, the provincial capital of a region that carries the same name, is the birthplace of the uprising against President Bashar Assad that started 27 months ago. Rebels hope to one day launch an offensive from the area to take the capital, Damascus.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of activists around the country, said Islamic militants led by members of the al-Qaida affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, or the Nusra Front, captured the checkpoint after a two-week siege.

It said rebels blew up a car bomb Thursday killing and wounding a number of soldiers then stormed the post, made up of two of the highest buildings in the city.

"This post is very important because it overlooks old Daraa," said Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads The Observatory. He added that the capture opens the way for rebels to take the southern neighborhood of Manshiyeh that is close to the Jordanian border.

An amateur video posted by activists showed rebels blowing up one of the two buildings after putting explosives inside it.

"This is considered the most dangerous and powerful post in Daraa and the whole province," said a man whose voice could be heard in the video as smoke billowed from the building.

Another video showed four militants carrying Nusra Front black flag standing in front of the building saying it will be blown up, apparently to prevent the regime from using it in case its forces capture it again.

The videos appeared genuine and were consistent with other AP reporting of the events.

Earlier, the Observatory said intense shelling by Syrian government troops on the village of Karak in Daraa province killed at least 10 women and girls overnight.

Buoyed by an influx of fighters from the Lebanese militia Hezbollah and other foreign Shiite Muslim militants, the Syrian regime has grabbed the initiative in the more than 2-year-old conflict in recent weeks, capturing a strategic town near the border with Lebanon and squeezing rebel positions around the capital, Damascus.

It said two women were killed when a shell hit the home of a local rebel commander. The women killed were his mother and aunt, the Observatory said.

A video posted on an Daraa activist's Facebook page showed the bodies of the women and children allegedly killed in the shelling lying wrapped in blankets. Another video from the village showed residents carrying other wounded into vehicles as women and children wailed.

The videos appeared genuine and were consistent with other AP reporting of the events.

The United Nations has estimated that more than 6,000 children are among the some 93,000 people killed in Syria's more than 2-year-old conflict, which started with largely peaceful protests against the rule of President Bashar Assad. The uprising escalated into an armed rebellion in response to a brutal government crackdown on the protest movement.

In recent weeks, government troops have gone on the offensive against rebel-held areas to try to cut the opposition's supply lines and secure Damascus and the corridor running to the Mediterranean coast, which is the heartland of the president's Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Regime forces have also made inroads in the south. Syria's state news agency said Friday government troops were chasing "terrorist cells" in the city of Daraa as well as the surrounding countryside, including along the border with Jordan. It did not mention Karak.

SANA said 18 opposition fighters including Jordanians, a Saudi and a Chechen, were killed and weapons were seized. It did not refer to civilian casualties.

State-owned Al-Ikhbariya TV also reported that government forces seized a truck loaded with weapons and ammunition in the central Homs province apparently destined for rebel fighters. The truck included with anti-tank missiles, machine guns, shoulder propelled grenades and communication devices, the station said.

The United States and its allies recently said they will help arm the rebels amid reports that Washington's Gulf allies have already sent much-coveted anti-tank missiles to select groups of fighters. The U.S. is still trying to sort out which rebels exactly will be given weapons and how, fearing that advanced arms may fall in the hands of Islamic extremists in the rebel ranks.

Meanwhile, the Observatory said a rare attack in Damascus's Old City Thursday was caused by an explosive device planted near a Shiite charity organization. The attack, which killed four people, was first believed to be a suicide attack near a church.

State media showed pictures of the body of the suspected suicide bomber in the ancient quarter. Residents had disagreed on the target of the attack but a government official also said a bomber wearing an explosive belt blew himself up near the Greek Orthodox Church.

Abdul-Rahman, the director of the Observatory, said investigation by activists on the ground indicated that a device was planted near the Shiite charity, and it blew up when this man was walking past. The Observatory originally reported that the explosion was caused by a suicide bomber. The church and charity are only around two dozen meters (yards) apart.

The conflict has increasingly taken on sectarian overtones. The rebels fighting to remove Assad are largely Sunnis, and have been joined by foreign fighters from other Muslim countries. The regime of Assad is led by the president's Alawite sect and his forces have been joined by fighters from Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah militant group, a factor that has helped fan the sectarian nature of the conflict.

In an apparent snub to the targeting of a religious institution, The main opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition, said in a statement Friday that it "rejects" actions that violate the unity of Syrians and fuels sectarian strife, blaming the regime for attempting to incite it.

"The unfortunate practices of various individuals do not reflect the true values of the revolution," the statement said. "The Syrian Coalition reiterates that those who commit crimes and infringe on international conventions will be identified, pursued and brought to justice."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-rebels-capture-major-checkpoint-south-181915493.html

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Alaska volcano spews five-mile-high ash plume

Alaska volcano: Located almost 600 miles southwest of Anchorage, Pavlof Volcano let loose its most powerful eruption since becoming active in mid-May.?

By Yereth Rosen,?Reuters / June 26, 2013

Space station astronauts captured this picture of Pavlof Volcano on Saturday.

Courtesy of the ISS Expedition 36 crew / NASA

Enlarge

An Alaska volcano spewing ash and lava for the past six weeks erupted with new intensity early on Tuesday, belching a plume of cinders 5 miles (8 km) into sky and onto a nearby town and disrupting local flights, officials said.

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The eruptions from Pavlof Volcano, on the Alaska Peninsula 590 miles (950 km) southwest of Anchorage, were its most powerful since its current eruptive phase began with low-level rumblings in mid-May, according to scientists at the federal-state Alaska Volcano Observatory.

The latest series of more powerful ash-producing blasts from the crater of the 8,261-foot (2,518-meter) volcano started late on Monday and continued overnight into Tuesday, scientists said.

"For some reason we can't explain, it picked up in intensity and vigor," said Tina Neal, an observatory geologist.

While the ash plume has so far remained too low in the sky to affect jetliner traffic, topping out at an altitude of 28,000 feet, smaller planes had to fly around it, officials said. Anchorage-based PenAir canceled one flight and re-routed others, said Missy Roberts, a company vice president.

Ash has dusted King Cove, a town of about 900 people located 30 miles southwest of Pavlof, the Alaska Volcano Observatory reported.

The National Weather Service issued an ash advisory for the region, warning of breathing problems for people with respiratory ailments and potential damage to exposed electronic equipment.

A second Alaska Peninsula volcano continued a low-intensity eruption, the observatory said. Ash from Veniaminof Volcano, 485 miles (780 km) southwest of Anchorage, has been limited to the area around its 8,225-foot (2,507-meter) summit, the observatory said.

The eruptions at Pavlof and Veniaminof are unrelated, scientists say.

A third, more remote, Alaska volcano remained restless but was not currently spouting lava or ash, the observatory said. Cleveland Volcano, 940 miles (1,512 km) southwest of Anchorage, began an on-and-off eruptive phase in mid-2011 but has not produced an explosive eruption since May 6, according to the observatory.

(Editing by Steve Gorman and David Brunnstrom)

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/BcqHONaCNTU/Alaska-volcano-spews-five-mile-high-ash-plume

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Jarrett, Braxton among 2014 NEA Jazz Masters

FILE - This undated file photo provided by ECM Records shows pianist Keith Jarrett. The NEA announced Thursday, June 27, 2013, that its 2014 Jazz Masters, the nation's highest jazz honor, will go to pianist Keith Jarrett, saxophonist-composer Anthony Braxton, bassist-educator Richard Davis, and educator Jamey Aebersold. Jarrett was cited by the NEA for his work in both the jazz and classical fields. (AP Photo/EMC Records, Jimmy Katz)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Pianist Keith Jarrett says "only music excites me, and awards and ceremonies do not." But the pianist says he feels honored to receive the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Award, joining many past recipients who've influenced him.

The NEA announced Thursday that its 2014 Jazz Masters ? the nation's highest jazz honor ? also include avant-garde saxophonist-composer Anthony Braxton, bassist-educator Richard Davis, and educator Jamey Aebersold.

Jarrett was cited by the NEA for his work in both the jazz and classical fields. His latest release, "Somewhere," marks the 30th anniversary of his trio with bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Jack DeJohnette. His recording of J.S. Bach's "Six Sonatas for Violin and Keyboard" with violinist Michelle Makarski is due out in September.

___

Online:

www.arts.gov/honors/jazz

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jarrett-braxton-among-2014-nea-jazz-masters-184947735.html

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Egyptian clerics warn of 'civil war' ahead of mass protests

As Egypt approaches a weekend of confrontation, the divide between those who love and those who despise President Mohammed Morsi and his pro-Islamist government is wider than ever. NBC's Charlene Gubash reports.

By Charlene Gubash and Alastair Jamieson, NBC News

Egypt risks sliding into civil war, the country?s leading religious authority warned Friday, as the nation braced itself for mass nationwide protests.

Organizers of ?June 30? demonstrations -- which mark one year since Islamist President Mohammed Morsi's election -- claim they have the backing of an estimated 15 million Egyptians who want him to resign.

?Only God knows what will happen [on Sunday],? said Gamal Abdul Aziz, a pro-Morsi car mechanic in Madba?a, a blue-collar district in Cairo.

NBC News

Gamal Abdul Aziz, left, a pro-Morsi car mechanic, argues with anti-Morsi computer science student Mohamed Abdul Munim, right, while being interviewed this week.

Building on discontent about a range of social and economic issues, Morsi?s opponents hope to force early presidential elections.

His supporters, meanwhile, have promised they will also take to the streets to defend the Muslim Brotherhood-backed government.

?Vigilance is required to ensure we do not slide into civil war,? clerics of the Al-Azhar institute said in a statement broadly supportive of Morsi, Reuters reported.

It blamed ?criminal gangs? who besieged mosques for street violence which the Brotherhood said has killed five of its supporters in a week.

There were ominous signs on Friday. A Health Ministry source told Reuters that at least 36 people were wounded when hundreds scuffled outside a local office of the Muslim Brotherhood.

A Reuters reporter saw about a dozen men break off from an anti-Morsi march on the seafront to throw rocks at the building's guards. They responded and bricks and bottles flew. Gunshots were also heard.

In an example of just how polarized the debate over Egypt?s future has become, Aziz and his family became embroiled in a shouting match with a nearby resident, anti-Morsi computer science student Mohamed Abdul Munim, 23, while being interviewed this week.

Amr Nabil / AP

Egyptian drivers wait outside in long lines at a gasoline station in Cairo on Tuesday.

The argument, which took place after NBC News filmed a political discussion between the two, ended when Munim stormed off.

The dispute and recent violence -- one man was shot dead and four wounded in an attack on a Muslim Brotherhood office on Thursday -- was an ill omen for Sunday?s marches that will be held a year to the day after Morsi became Egypt's first freely elected leader.

The country's powerful army, which helped protesters topple Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian regime in 2011, has reinforced its presence in cities like Cairo and Port Said.

Munim said he believed ?most? of Egypt?s registered 50 million voters will be out on the streets, supporting one side or the other.

?We are sure that we will go out and get beaten up by the [Muslim] Brotherhood [but] we are going out despite this," he said. ?There is no security, there is economic collapse, the electricity cuts off and everybody is suffering. They will say Morsi is not at fault, but electricity didn?t cut off when the military governed.?

Aziz, meanwhile, said his life had improved under Morsi, and accused the mostly-secular opposition of ?waging a war against Islam.?

?Can you build a house in a day? No, it takes time. What can a president do in one year when a country is in ruins? The old [Mubarak] regime stole the country and left it destroyed.?

In a sign of the nervousness many felt, Egyptians were stocking up on food, fuel, water and cash in the days leading up the protests.

The Daily Show's Jon Stewart took his satire to Cairo Friday, appearing on a show hosted by the man known as "Egypt's Jon Stewart" and who has faced investigation for insulting the country's president and Islam. "If your regime is not strong enough to handle a joke then you don't have a regime," said Stewart. TODAY's Jenna Wolfe reports.

Morsi?s supporters claim the demonstration? organized?by an opposition umbrella group named "Tamarod," meaning "Rebel"?? is setting the stage for a repeat of the 2011 Arab Spring revolution.

Mahmoud Badr, a 28-year-old journalist and founder of the Tamarod movement, dismissed a televised speech by Morsi on Wednesday night in which the president appealed for calm.

"Our demand was early presidential elections and since that was not addressed anywhere in the speech then our response will be on the streets on [Sunday]," he told the?English-language Egypt Independent news site.?

The U.S.?Embassy announced Tuesday it would be closing its doors for the day of the demonstrations, but added that ?potentially violent protest activity may occur before June 30,? and urged U.S. citizens to ?maintain a low profile? from Friday onwards.

Underscoring fears of violence, defenders of Morsi on Tuesday revealed plans to form vigilante groups to protect public buildings from opposition demonstrations, the Egypt Independent reported, quoting Safwat Abdel Ghany, a member of Islamic umbrella organization Jama'a al-Islamiya.?

?If chaos sweeps across the country, Islamist groups will secure state institutions and vital facilities against robbery by thugs and advocates of violence," he was quoted as saying.

Members of Tamarod were so confident that they?would force Morsi from power that the organization set out a constitutional ?road map? that it said would take Egypt forward without a president until new elections.

Eric Trager, fellow at the Washington Institute think tank, said this week that battle lines were drawn between ?an enraged opposition? and ?an utterly incapable, confrontational ruling party that now counts some of Egypt's most violent political elements as its core supporters.?

?Rising food prices, hours-long fuel lines, and multiple-times-daily electricity cuts -- all worsening amidst a typically scorching Egyptian summer -- have set many Egyptians on edge, with clashes between Brotherhood and anti-Brotherhood activists now a common feature of Egyptian political life," he said.

?Whatever happens on [Sunday], it can't end well,? he added.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Related:

This story was originally published on Fri Jun 28, 2013 5:30 AM EDT

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A woman for the Governor?s Mansion (Offthekuff)

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Reader recommendation: Wolf Hall

Monitor readers share their favorite book picks.

Hillary Mantel's award-winning novel on Thomas Cromwell, Wolf Hall, gives a more sympathetic rendition of Thomas (not Oliver) Cromwell, chief advisor to King Henry VIII, than most historians accord him. The book is written in excellent prose, built on modern and early English languages. It flags a little at the end but is an excellent read. Mantel's second book of this trilogy "Bring up the Bodies," won the Booker prize but I have not read it yet.

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Vows wait, but gay pairs cheer Supreme Court moves

Joe Mac smiles while talking with people in the Castro neighborhood in San Francisco, Wednesday, June 26, 2013. In a major victory for gay rights, the Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down a provision of a federal law denying federal benefits to married gay couples and cleared the way for the resumption of same-sex marriage in California. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Joe Mac smiles while talking with people in the Castro neighborhood in San Francisco, Wednesday, June 26, 2013. In a major victory for gay rights, the Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down a provision of a federal law denying federal benefits to married gay couples and cleared the way for the resumption of same-sex marriage in California. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

A rainbow flag flies in front of the Castro Theater in San Francisco, Wednesday, June 26, 2013. In a major victory for gay rights, the Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down a provision of a federal law denying federal benefits to married gay couples and cleared the way for the resumption of same-sex marriage in California. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Cissie Bonini holds up a rainbow flag as she waves to cars driving by in the Castro neighborhood in San Francisco, Wednesday, June 26, 2013. In a major victory for gay rights, the Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down a provision of a federal law denying federal benefits to married gay couples and cleared the way for the resumption of same-sex marriage in California. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

People crowd Castro St. to celebrate the U. S. Supreme Court's rulings on Prop. 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act in San Francisco on Wednesday, June 26, 2013. In a major victory for gay rights, the Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down a provision of a federal law denying federal benefits to married gay couples and cleared the way for the resumption of same-sex marriage in California. (AP Photo/Mathew Sumner)

Larry Pascua carries a rainbow flag at a celebration for the U. S. Supreme Court's rulings on Prop. 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act in the Castro District in San Francisco, on Wednesday, June 26, 2013. In a major victory for gay rights, the Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down a provision of a federal law denying federal benefits to married gay couples and cleared the way for the resumption of same-sex marriage in California. (AP Photo/Mathew Sumner)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Backed by rainbow flags and confetti, thousands celebrated in California's streets after U.S. Supreme court rulings brought major advances for gay marriage proponents in the state and across the country.

Though wedding bells may be weeks away, same-sex couples and their supporters filled city blocks of San Francisco and West Hollywood on Wednesday night to savor the long awaited decisions as thumping music resounded.

"Today the words emblazoned across the Supreme Court ring true: equal justice under law," said Paul Katami, one of the plaintiffs who challenged California's gay marriage ban, as he celebrated in West Hollywood.

In one of two 5-4 rulings, the high court cleared the way for gay marriages to resume in California, holding that the coalition of religious conservative groups that qualified a voter-approved ban for the ballot did not have the authority to defend it after state officials refused. The justices thus let stand a San Francisco trial court's ruling in August 2010 that overturned the ban.

In the other, the court wiped away part of a federal anti-gay marriage law, the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, putting legally married gay couples on equal federal footing with all other married Americans, allowing them to receive the same tax, health and pension benefits.

The court sidestepped the larger question of whether banning gay marriage is unconstitutional, and states other than California and the 12 others where gay couples already have the right to wed were left to hash out the issue within their borders.

As the sun set on San Francisco, a crowd surged from hundreds to several thousand in the city's Castro neighborhood, with rainbow flags and confetti filling the air.

James Reynolds, 45, was among the revelers, saying he had been married to his partner of 23 years several times, including once in California.

"It's been taken away from us," Reynolds said as he stood in a crosswalk near the barrier blocking off the street for the celebration. "But we'll be married again."

In Southern California, an all-day celebration in West Hollywood grew to hundreds by night, including many gay couples dressed in red, white and blue and one sign that read "Today we are American."

Brendan Banfield, 46, stood on the very spot under a tree in West Hollywood Park where in 2008 he married his partner Charles, becoming one of an estimated 18,000 couples that got married during the four-and-a-half months when gay marriage was legal in California.

"I want to cry," Banfield said. "It's been a long journey. I'm grateful I'm alive to see it."

It remained unclear, however, when California's gay marriages might start again. Backers of the ban known as Proposition 8 have 25 days to ask the Supreme Court to reconsider. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also must lift a hold it placed on the lower court order before the state can be free to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Still, state officials moved quickly. Gov. Jerry Brown said he had directed the California Department of Public Health to start issuing licenses as soon as the hold is lifted, and state Attorney General Kamala Harris went even further, publicly urging the appellate court to act ahead of the final word from the Supreme Court.

In the DOMA decision, Justice Anthony Kennedy, joined by the four liberal justices, said the purpose of the federal law was to impose a disadvantage and "a stigma upon all who enter into same-sex marriages."

Justice Antonin Scalia issued a pungent dissent, predicting that the ruling would be used to upend state restrictions on marriage, reading aloud in a packed courtroom that included two couples who sued for the right to marry in California.

"It takes real cheek for today's majority to assure us, as it is going out the door, that a constitutional requirement to give formal recognition to same-sex marriage is not at issue here," Scalia read.

President Barack Obama praised the ruling, labeling DOMA "discrimination enshrined in law."

"It treated loving, committed gay and lesbian couples as a separate and lesser class of people," Obama said in a statement. "The Supreme Court has righted that wrong, and our country is better off for it."

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said he was disappointed in the outcome case and hoped states continue to define marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

Without offering any specifics about their next move, lawyers for Proposition 8 sponsors insisted state officials remained obligated by the California Constitution to enforce the ban, and that the ruling only legalized marriage for the two couples who sued to overturn it.

"What was sought in this lawsuit was a 50-state mandate or to establish there is a fundamental right to same-sex marriage, which the Supreme Court did not rule today," said Austin Nimiocks, senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom.

California's same-sex marriage California has been in overdrive since then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom began issuing marriage licenses to gay couples in 2004. Resulting lawsuits spurred the California Supreme Court to overturn the state's man-woman marriage laws in 2008.

But opponents responded by qualifying Proposition 8 for the ballot, and it passed with 52 percent of the vote.

Katami, the Proposition 8 co-plaintiff, said he and longtime partner Jeff Zarrillo were seeking status only a legal wedding could provide.

"There was something about that word marriage and what it meant," Katami said. "Something about the celebration and the right, the language and the association across the globe that comes with the word marriage."

___

AP writers Mihir Zaveri in San Francisco and Sarah Parvini in West Hollywood contributed to this story.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-06-27-Gay%20Marriage/id-1053fe314be4404d884c37e89a85441d

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Tour? Battles Legal Expert Over George Zimmerman's Racism ...

During a segment on MSNBC?s The Cycle on Wednesday, host Tour? and legal analyst Lisa Bloom engaged in a tense exchange. Tour? interrupted Bloom after she failed to attribute racial motives to the language George Zimmerman used when assessing the threat he thought Trayvon Martin posed before shooting him. Bloom accused Tour? of drawing inferences from Zimmerman?s statements and ascribing motives to him that cannot be gleaned just from the recorded phone calls alone.

Bloom was asked to react to testimony given by a friend of Trayvon Martin?s who said that the late Florida teen had referred to Zimmerman as a ?crazy ass cracker? moments before he was shot. Reporter Luke Russert noted that this is the only confirmed instance where a racial epithet was used before Martin was shot.

Bloom noted that Zimmerman used profane language when describing Martin to a 911 dispatcher and later with police. She did, however, note that the language Zimmerman used was not ?racially insensitive.?

?Whoa,? Tour? interrupted. ?There was a trifecta of stereotypes used against Trayvon Martin in the initial phone call, so let?s not go too far there.?

?What are you referring to?? Bloom asked.

Tour? said that Zimmerman saying ?they always get away? and believing that Martin was carrying a gun suggests that the accused assailant was buying into racial stereotypes. Tour? said that Zimmerman was ?criminalizing black men? in those comments and fueled the perception that this was a ?radicalized situation.?

?First of all, some of what you said is not what George Zimmerman said on that recorded phone call,? Bloom said. ?Some of that is inferences that we?re drawing.?

Watch the clip below via MSNBC:

> >Follow Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) on Twitter

Source: http://www.mediaite.com/tv/toure-battles-legal-expert-over-george-zimmermans-racism-some-of-that-is-inference/

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$839M inmate medical complex dedicated in Calif.

STOCKTON, Calif. (AP) ? California prison officials dedicated an $839 million inmate medical complex Tuesday even as they face a new round of court-imposed mandates that are complicating efforts to run one of the nation's largest penal systems.

On Monday, a health threat posed by a potentially lethal airborne fungus prompted a federal judge to order as many as 3,250 inmates transferred immediately from two Central Valley prisons. That ruling followed another last week that ordered the state to release an additional 10,000 inmates statewide by the end of the year.

The developments revolve around a long-running court battle over the level of health care delivered to California inmates, which federal judges maintain still does not meet constitutional standards, despite billions of taxpayer dollars spent to improve conditions.

Corrections Secretary Jeffrey Beard scoffed at that assessment as he dedicated the California Correctional Health Care Facility in Stockton, saying it probably is the nation's most state-of-the-art prison medical facility: "Is that deliberate indifference?" he asked the crowd, referring to the language of the federal judges.

Beard told the assembled employees and dignitaries that the judges are not taking into account all the improvements the state has made since a special judicial panel first ordered it to trim prison crowding in 2009 as the best way to improve conditions for sick and mentally ill inmates. The state plans to make the same argument to the U.S. Supreme Court later this year as it appeals the three-judge panel's ruling, with the new Stockton facility a prime example of strides it has made.

"It makes our case that we think we are providing a constitutional level of care today," Beard said in an interview before the dedication. "I realize there is a difference of opinion on that."

Indeed, the three judges accuse Gov. Jerry Brown's administration of trying to circumvent their repeated orders that the state reduce prison crowding. They are threatening to cite the Democratic governor for contempt if he does not immediately begin complying, but the administration plans to seek a stay that would postpone their early release order.

The prison system's years of delays in protecting inmates from the fungal infection known as valley fever is further evidence that the state cannot be trusted to properly care for inmates without federal supervision, U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson wrote in his order Monday.

Henderson, of San Francisco, is one of the three judges. He separately ordered the state to begin transferring inmates out of Avenal and Pleasant Valley state prisons within seven days if they are particularly vulnerable to valley fever, and gave the state 90 days to complete the transfers. He left it to corrections officials to determine where the inmates should go.

The two prisons are about 10 miles apart and 175 miles southeast of San Francisco, in the San Joaquin Valley.

The fungal infection originates in the valley's soil. About half of the infections produce no symptoms, while most of the rest can produce mild to severe flu-like symptoms. In a few cases, the infection can spread from the lungs to the brain, bones, skin or eyes, causing blindness, skin abscesses, lung failure and occasionally death.

Evacuees will include most of the two prisons' black, Filipino and medically at-risk inmates because they are considered the most vulnerable to health problems from the fungus.

Beard told The Associated Press that the order could exacerbate violence between race-based prison gangs elsewhere in California. He said the state had been awaiting the results of a U.S. Centers for Disease Control study on the outbreak before deciding how to respond. He said no decision has been made on whether to appeal Henderson's order.

The early release and valley fever orders come while the state is still struggling to adjust to a 2011 law that is sentencing thousands of lower-level offenders to county jails instead of state prisons, among other changes.

"So you know it really is making things very complex and difficult, and of course my concern is it could eventually cause some adverse effect in some other institution, some unintended effect, and we certainly don't want to see that happen," Beard said.

He then accompanied dignitaries and the media on a tour of the Stockton complex that forms the core of a multibillion-dollar plan to bring inmate medical and mental health treatment to constitutional standards.

The institution is an odd hybrid between a traditional prison and modern hospital.

A lethal electric fence topped with concertina wire and gun towers surrounds a central medical and mental health facility that includes a library and education center.

Inmate patients can watch television while they receive hours of kidney dialysis treatment or while sitting in plastic chairs that are bolted to the floor. Skylights provide natural light at nurses' stations and a neighboring desk reserved for prison guards.

Cells are built with room for hospital beds, and have oxygen and vacuum hookups along with nurses' call buttons. But the toilets and sinks are standard stainless-steel prison units, and the fixtures are designed to deter suicides.

The facility stands in sharp contrast to conditions that corrections experts described nearly a decade ago at other prisons. They found examining rooms with no sinks, employees who had to walk through sewage puddles or shower rooms to examine inmates, and doctors seeing patients in open areas with no privacy.

But it is far less than what then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed five years ago in cooperation with J. Clark Kelso, the federal court-appointed official who controls prison medical care. The Republican governor had asked state lawmakers to approve $6 billion to build six or seven prison medical and mental health centers to care for 10,000 inmates.

Kelso and prison officials have since agreed to transfer the sickest inmates to the centrally located Stockton facility, with moderately ill inmates going to medical facilities in 11 of the state's 33 adult prisons. The remaining 22 prisons have basic medical facilities for short-term care.

By year's end, the 54 buildings clustered at the site of an old juvenile prison will treat 1,720 patients who need long-term care. By next spring, the state plans to complete the neighboring $173 million DeWitt Correctional Annex, which will provide treatment for 1,133 seriously mentally ill inmates.

___

Associated Press writer Paul Elias in San Francisco contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/839m-inmate-medical-complex-dedicated-calif-232954707.html

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Putin rules out handing Snowden over to United States

By Alexei Anishchuk and Thomas Grove

MOSCOW/NAANTALI, Finland (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin confirmed on Tuesday a former U.S. spy agency contractor sought by the United States was in the transit area of a Moscow airport but ruled out handing him to Washington, dismissing U.S. criticisms as "ravings and rubbish".

In his first public comments since Edward Snowden flew in on Sunday, Putin appeared to make light of the diplomatic uproar over the fugitive, whose flight from U.S. authorities is becoming a growing embarrassment for President Barack Obama. Asked by a journalist about the affair, he smiled fleetingly.

"I myself would prefer not to deal with these issues. It's like shearing a piglet: there's a lot of squealing, but there's little wool," Putin told a news conference in Finland.

Snowden, who worked as a systems administrator at a U.S. National Security Agency facility in Hawaii, is facing espionage charges from the United States after leaking details about secret U.S. surveillance programs to the news media.

Putin's refusal to hand back Snowden risked deepening a rift with the United States that has also drawn in China and threatens relations between countries that may be essential in settling global conflicts including the Syrian war.

Republican lawmakers in Washington on Tuesday seized on the Snowden saga to portray Obama as an ineffective foreign leader.

Washington has gone to great lengths to try to ensure Snowden has nowhere to go to seek refuge. But Putin said Russia had no extradition treaty with the United States and suggested Moscow would expel Snowden only if he were a criminal.

"He has not crossed the state's border, and therefore does not need a visa. And any accusations against Russia (of aiding him) are ravings and rubbish," Putin said in the garden of a presidential residence, with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto beside him.

Shortly after Putin's comments, the White House once again urged Russia to immediately expel Snowden and said Moscow had a "clear legal basis" to do so because of his revoked passport and the outstanding charges against him.

"Accordingly, we are asking the Russian government to take action to expel Mr. Snowden without delay and to build upon the strong law enforcement cooperation we have had, particularly since the Boston Marathon bombing," said White House National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden.

Hayden said the United States agreed with Putin's comment in Finland that it did not want the incident to negatively impact U.S.-Russia relations, but members of the U.S. Congress denounced Putin's stance and said it would have an inevitable impact.

"It should cause a profound reevaluation on our relationship with Russia and with Vladimir Putin, something that a lot of us have been saying for a long time," Senator John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential contender, told reporters.

Hours earlier, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had cautiously questioned the Russian approach.

"It is accurate there is not an extradition treaty between Russia and the United States, but there are standards of behavior between sovereign nations," Kerry said, in Jeddah.

Republican critics of the president said the Snowden furor was a sign of Obama's weakness and declining international stature, and Russia was taking advantage of the United States.

"They know that he's weak. They know that he's so fearful about getting involved in balance-of-power foreign affairs and they're playing on it, and they're enjoying it very, very much," said Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah.

Snowden has applied for asylum in Ecuador but Quito has said it is still considering the application and the United States is trying to persuade the governments of countries where he might head to hand him over. His plans remain unclear.

FREE TO LEAVE

Putin said the 30-year-old Snowden was in the transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport and, not having gone through passport control, was free to leave.

"The sooner he chooses his final destination, the better it would be for us and for himself," Putin said.

Russian law requires travelers who spend more than 24 hours in the airport's transit area - as Snowden has done - to get a transit visa. It was unclear whether Snowden had sought or received a transit visa.

There has been speculation in the Russian media that Snowden may be talking to the FSB, the Russian security service, and could be involved in a prisoner swap. Putin said Russian security agencies "never worked with ... Snowden and are not working with him today".

The U.S. State Department said diplomats and Justice Department officials were talking to Russia, suggesting they sought a deal to secure his return to face espionage charges.

"We've asked the Russian government to consider all potential options to expel him to return to the United States, and we're going to continue those discussions in law enforcement and diplomatic channels," State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell told reporters.

U.S. officials have said intelligence agencies are concerned they do not know how much sensitive material Snowden has and that he may have taken more documents than initially estimated which could get into the hands of foreign intelligence.

Snowden left Hong Kong for Moscow on Sunday, and the WikiLeaks anti-secrecy group said he was headed for Ecuador and is traveling on a refugee document of passage provided by Ecuador.

Journalists camped out at the airport have not spotted him inside, or leaving, the transit area. He has not registered at a hotel in the transit zone, hotel sources say.

A receptionist at the Capsule Hotel "Air Express", a complex of 47 basic rooms furnished predominantly with grey carpets and grey walls, said Snowden had turned up on Sunday, looked at the price list and then left.

U.S. officials admonished Beijing and Moscow on Monday for allowing Snowden to escape their clutches but the United States' partners on the U.N. Security Council, already at odds with Washington over the conflict in Syria, hit back indignantly.

"The United States' criticism of China's central government is baseless. China absolutely cannot accept it," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in Beijing, also dismissing U.S. criticism of Hong Kong, a Chinese territory, for letting Snowden leave.

GLOBAL FALLOUT

Putin also praised WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is also a fugitive from U.S. justice, and questioned whether he or Snowden should be treated as criminals.

"Ask yourself: should such people be handed over to be imprisoned or not?" said Putin, who last week was smarting at being isolated over Syria at a summit of the G8 industrial powers and sees Washington as an overzealous global policeman.

Advisers to Assange declined to comment on the situation.

Fallout from a protracted wrangle over Snowden could be far-reaching, as Russia, the United States and China hold veto powers at the U.N. Security Council and their broad agreement could be vital to any settlement in Syria.

International mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said on Tuesday he was pessimistic an international conference on Syria could take place in July as hoped and urged Russia and the United States to help contain a conflict which has killed almost 100,000 people.

Talks between the United States and Russia to set up a Syrian peace conference produced no deal on Tuesday, with the powers on either side of the two-year civil war failing to agree when it should be held or who would be invited.

(Additional reporting Gabriela Baczynska and Lidia Kelly in Moscow, Alexandra Valencia in Quito, Mark Felsenthal, Paul Eckert, Rachelle Younglai, Laura MacInnis, Mark Hosenball and Patricia Zengerle in Washington and Katya Golubkova in Havana; Writing by Elizabeth Piper, Timothy Heritage and John Whitesides; Editing by Karey Van Hall and Tim Dobbyn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-presses-russia-mystery-over-snowden-deepens-015914306.html

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Rover Explores Chile Desert to Aid Mars Life Hunt

A solar-powered rover is searching for microbes beneath the parched surface of Chile's Atacama Desert, on a mission that could aid the Mars life hunt down the road.

The four-wheeled rover, named Zoe, began a two-week field campaign in the Atacama on June 17. Its work could help NASA decide how best to equip its next Mars rover, which is set to launch toward the Red Planet in 2020, scientists say.

"Scientifically, the study helps us understand how life survives in extreme environments with implications to both Earth and Mars," said David Wettergreen, research professor in Carnegie Mellon?s Robotics Institute and principal investigator for the Life in the Atacama project. "Technologically, we are learning about the mechanisms and the algorithms that will enable us to explore the subsurface of other planets." [The Search for Life on Mars (A Photo Timeline)]

Drilling deep

Two NASA rovers ? Opportunity and its bigger, younger cousin Curiosity ? are currently active on the surface of Mars. While both are investigating the Red Planet's past and present ability to host life, neither robot was designed to hunt for evidence of microbes.

But future rovers may well do so, and Zoe ? which measures 9 feet long by 6 feet wide (2.7 by 1.8 meters) ? could help scientists and engineers map out an action plan.

Zoe is part of a NASA astrobiology mission that's led by Carnegie Mellon University and the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute and supported by a $3 million grant from the space agency.

NASA often tests its rovers in the bone-dry Atacama, which is perhaps the best Mars analog here on Earth. Zoe has been there before, back in 2005. This time around, though, it has an extra tool ? a 3.3-foot (1 m) drill made by Honeybee Robotics to hunt for subsurface life.

Zoe is also outfitted with a soil-analyzing instrument called the Mars Microbeam Raman Spectrometer, which could be part of a future Red Planet rover.

Understanding whether or not there could be life underneath the Martian surface depends on a variety of factors, and the Atacama offers "one of the Earth?s harshest climates" for such a study, said planetary geologist Nathalie Cabrol, senior research scientist at the SETI Institute's Carl Sagan Center and the science lead for the Life in the Atacama project.

Zoe is expected to cover 19 to 31 miles (30 to 50 kilometers) during its two-week field campaign and perform one or two drilling operations every day, researchers said.

Independent robot

The current mission started in 2012, when the team went to the Atacama without the robot. Researchers drilled numerous holes and took various measurements, such as hydrogen abundance to quantify moisture and soil composition.

The scientists detected microorganisms in the Atacama ? and now those findings will be compared with what Zoe can do on its own.

"Zoe is more autonomous that previous rovers and able to operate for days, finding its way from one goal to the next and automatically detecting features of interest that it should examine along the way," said Wettergreen, adding that the robot will work completely independently for several days at a time.

Zoe will have to follow a set of pre-determined instructions about the area to cover and the data to collect each day, taking a break at night and automatically resuming work at dawn. This will allow the researchers to verify whether Zoe is indeed ready to be left all alone, Wettergreen said.

"The greatest challenge is in the integration of robot, mechanisms, instrument and software," he said. "Each piece may individually work, but to have everything cooperating and functioning unaided in the field requires significant effort and continuous refinement and improvement."

Follow Katia Moskvitch on Twitter. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on SPACE.com.

Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rover-explores-chile-desert-aid-mars-life-hunt-122127386.html

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Report: Qatar's emir plans to step down for son

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) ? Qatar's ruler said Monday he plans to transfer power to his 33-year-old son, the Gulf nation's crown prince, a report said, in what would mark a rare transition of authority in a region where most leaders remain until death.

The report by Qatar-based Al-Jazeera gave no other details, including whether health issues of the 61-year emir, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, played a role in the decision. The network was founded by Qatar's government and closely reflects its views on internal issues.

Such a transfer will jolt the ruling fraternity across the Western-backed Gulf Arab states by ushering a new generation into leadership ranks dominated by old guard figures, such as the 90-year-old King Abdullah in Saudi Arabia.

It also appears to signal a pro-active response to the Arab Spring upheavals ? and their emphasis on giving voice to the region's youth. Under Hamad, Qatar, a small Gulf nation with a population of around 17 million ? only around 225,000 of whom are citizens ? has used its vast energy riches to catapult itself into one of the world's most politically ambitious countries. It has served as a powerful player in the Middle East, including key support for rebels in Libya last year and now in Syria and for the Muslim Brotherhood, which rose to political dominance in Egypt.

No major policy shifts are expected when Hamad steps down. The British-educated crown prince, Sheik Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, has been closely involved in all key decisions in recent years and the emir is likely to play important roles from the wings.

"The emir may be giving up power formally, but he is not giving up his oversight," said Christopher Davidson, an expert in Gulf Affairs at Britain's Durham University.

Qatar's reach is further extended by its global investment strategies ? ranging from sports clubs such as football's Paris Saint-Germain to aid for debt-burdened Greece and Italy ? and its role as mediator in conflicts such as Sudan's Darfur region and regional disputes including Palestinian political rifts. Qatar this week hosted a Syrian opposition conference attended by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and is the venue for possible U.S.-led peace talks with Afghanistan's Taliban.

Such a power transfer would become the first major shift of rule among the Western-allied Gulf Arab states since a contentious transition in Kuwait in early 2006.

"This is message to the rest of the region that Qatar is not just a outside player in the Arab Spring but is ready to make room for changes as well," said Mustafa Alani, a regional analyst with the Gulf Research Center in Geneva.

Qatar has made no official statements, including statements on the speculation that the emir is ailing. The emir is expected to make a nationwide address Tuesday.

While no immediate policy changes would be expected under the crown prince, a possible transition could include the departure of Sheik Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, the country's highly influential prime minister and foreign minister. He has played a central role in expanding Qatar's international clout since 1995, when the emir took power in a bloodless coup against his father. His resignation would allow the crown prince to immediately put his stamp on key positions in the government.

The crown prince, too, has been active in pushing high-profile initiatives by Qatar, including winning the rights to host the 2022 World Cup and leading Doha's unsuccessful effort for the 2020 Olympics. Doha has expressed interest in seeking the 2024 Games.

Sheik Tamim became the next in line to rule in 2003 after his older brother stepped aside.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/report-qatars-emir-plans-step-down-son-164226028.html

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Is Nuwave Oven A Scam - ArticleSnatch.com

Mankind began with an open fire and ultimately evolved different ways to generate heat. It is used in place of a regular blender and incorporates different size canisters, two blades, and two storage lids. Of course there are many tools which simply making cooking more pleasurable like palm peelers, cookie presses, and a culinary torch.

The Pro design deviates from the usual nuwave oven because it contains an extender ring to have an even bigger inside cooking room, a selected locking machine and digital adjustments for precise cooking times. Therefore I conclude that secura infrared halogen turbo oven can be an advanced part of cooking device. If you have often to boil water, along with the kettle could be the best option through the top to cook.

This is both practical and effective devices that could be accustomed to boil water rapidly. These are some ways to take your normal sandwiches and spice them approximately get away from that food rut! Look over this information for why you ought to use infrared oven cooking.

Here are some from the reasons why this brand is worth purchasing. The Health and Wellness club recommends it for health's sake. It also sports ths principles of living green.

A Digital Meat Thermometer: Digital meat thermometers are an indispensable tool in relation to grilling steaks, ribs, or another meats. The rays that come while using infrared radiate the heat directed at the food just much like the restaurants utilize warming lights to prepare their foods. This issue is seen in the policies from the company.

Due towards the flow of hot air, food cooks uniformly, thus doing away with all the problem to be burnt at the top or uncooked in the center. Its laxan dome is durable and dishwasher-safe. These are only a few with the many different forms of ovens it is possible to have on your own countertop.

How often times have you stood in your kitchen and wondered that which you were going to produce for dinner? Multiple accessories are available for the NuWave which make excellent additions to any kitchen. However, shapes that are three-dimensional can take advantage of perfect heating with infrared ovens. %anchor_text.

Simply put, cooking means application of heat to food. Considering them involves trying to find generators who have overhead valves, which have been proven to keep going longer, being less noisy and much easier to operate. The food even tastes better.

About the Author:
Greetings! I am Allyn Seagle although it is not the name on my birth certificate.
My husband does not like it the way I do however exactly what I truly like doing is jogging and I would never ever give it up. Iowa has actually constantly been my living location. I am a bookkeeper.Friends call her Detra. Her day task is a workplace manager.

Playing lacross is things she loves many. Puerto Rico is where her house is.

If you want to read more in regards to Nuwave Oven Accessories (additional reading) review http://eon.businesswire.com/news/eon/20130607005867/en/nuwave-oven-reviews

Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Is-Nuwave-Oven-A-Scam/5124645

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Paula Deen re-scheduled for 'Today' on Wednesday

NEW YORK (AP) ? Paula Deen will appear on NBC's "Today" show on Wednesday, according to host Matt Lauer.

Lauer's announcement came Monday, three days after the celebrity cook abruptly canceled on the morning show, where she was scheduled to answer questions about her past use of racial slurs.

Lauer said Deen "told us she will be here this time."

While questioned last month in a discrimination lawsuit, the 66-year-old Food Network star admitted to using the N-word in the past, but she insisted she and her family do not tolerate prejudice.

Deen issued videotaped apologies Friday afternoon seeking forgiveness from fans and critics.

But hours later, the Food Network announced it wouldn't renew her contract when it ends this month.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/paula-deen-scheduled-today-wednesday-144355008.html

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When AIDS viruses are transmitted despite treatment

June 24, 2013 ? While antiretroviral drugs offer an efficient means of preventing the replication of HIV in the blood, shedding of HIV may occur in semen, so that other persons can become infected during unprotected sexual intercourse. This occurs in particular if the male genital tract also has other viral infections.

That is the conclusion reached by a scientist who is supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).

In principle, modern combination therapies are very effective at keeping AIDS causative agents in check. The treatment usually leads to a situation in which there is no longer any evidence of Human-Immunodeficiency Viruses (HIV) in the body. In this way, the drugs can also reduce the disease transmission rate to just one tenth. So why do new infections occur despite treatment?

Sperm containing a cocktail of viruses

The answer, according to findings recently published by the Swiss researcher Sara Gianella Weibel and her American colleagues, is that other viruses also play a role. Working at the University of California in San Diego, the SNSF-funded scientist studied the semen of 114 HIV-infected men undergoing treatment who have sex with men. She found that the seminal fluid of 11 of the men contained a considerable quantity of HI viruses, even though the viral load of the blood of all of the men was very low. In eight of these 11 cases, Gianella Weibel also found evidence of various forms of herpes.

Locally activated immune system

Some of these herpes viruses, such as cytomegalovirus, often remain unnoticed. However, if the viruses infect the male genital tract, they locally activate the immune system. As a result, there is a build-up of immune cells, including those in which HIV replicate, in the genital area. "Our data suggests that we must also direct our focus towards other viruses, if we really want to interrupt the transmission of AIDS," explains Gianella Weibel.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/18ConyVEw8g/130624075731.htm

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Berlusconi faces verdict in sex-for-hire trial

TV crews and media work outside Milan's court, Italy, Monday, June 24, 2013. Former Premier Silvio Berlusconi faces a verdict in his sensational sex-for-hire trial, charges that could bring an end to his two-decade political career. Berlusconi is charged with paying an under-age Moroccan teen for sex and then trying to cover it up with phone calls to Milan police officials when she was picked up for alleged theft. Berlusconi and the woman deny having had sex with each other. A court is expected to deliver a verdict Monday. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

TV crews and media work outside Milan's court, Italy, Monday, June 24, 2013. Former Premier Silvio Berlusconi faces a verdict in his sensational sex-for-hire trial, charges that could bring an end to his two-decade political career. Berlusconi is charged with paying an under-age Moroccan teen for sex and then trying to cover it up with phone calls to Milan police officials when she was picked up for alleged theft. Berlusconi and the woman deny having had sex with each other. A court is expected to deliver a verdict Monday. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

FILE - In this Friday, May 11, 2012 file photo, Italian former premier Silvio Berlusconi grimaces as he attends the funeral service of Italian entrepreneur Giampiero Cantoni in Milan. Former Premier Silvio Berlusconi faces a verdict in his sensational sex-for-hire trial, charges that could bring an end to his two-decade political career. Berlusconi is charged with paying an under-age Moroccan teen for sex and then trying to cover it up with phone calls to Milan police officials when she was picked up for alleged theft. Berlusconi and the woman deny having had sex with each other. A court is expected to deliver a verdict Monday, June 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)

Carabinieri patrol outside the courtroom in Milan, Italy, Monday, June 24, 2013. Former Premier Silvio Berlusconi faces a verdict in his sensational sex-for-hire trial, charges that could bring an end to his two-decade political career. Berlusconi is charged with paying an under-age Moroccan teen for sex and then trying to cover it up with phone calls to Milan police officials when she was picked up for alleged theft. Berlusconi and the woman deny having had sex with each other. A court is expected to deliver a verdict Monday. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

FILE -- In this Sept. 27 2012 file photo, former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi attends the presentation of a book in Rome. Former Premier Silvio Berlusconi faces a verdict in his sensational sex-for-hire trial, charges that could bring an end to his two-decade political career. Berlusconi is charged with paying an under-age Moroccan teen for sex and then trying to cover it up with phone calls to Milan police officials when she was picked up for alleged theft. Berlusconi and the woman deny having had sex with each other. A court is expected to deliver a verdict Monday, June 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

FILE - In this Thursday, April 4, 2013 file photo a tear rolls down the cheek of Karima el-Mahroug, also known as Ruby, a Moroccan woman at the center of former Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial, as she reads a statement to reporters during a protest outside the court house, in Milan, Italy. Former Premier Silvio Berlusconi faces a verdict in his sensational sex-for-hire trial, charges that could bring an end to his two-decade political career. Berlusconi is charged with paying an under-age Moroccan teen for sex and then trying to cover it up with phone calls to Milan police officials when she was picked up for alleged theft. Berlusconi and the woman deny having had sex with each other. A court is expected to deliver a verdict Monday, June 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, file)

MILAN (AP) ? A Milan court was considering Silvio Berlusconi's fate in his sex-for-hire trial Monday, with the former Italian premier risking an end to his two-decade political career and a prison term if found guilty.

Berlusconi, 76, is charged with paying an underage Moroccan teen for sex and then trying to cover it up with phone calls to Milan police officials when she was picked up for alleged theft. Berlusconi and the woman deny having had sex with each other.

Prosecutors are seeking a six-year jail term and a lifetime ban from politics for Berlusconi. Even if he is convicted, there are two more levels of appeal before the sentence would become final. The process can take months.

Berlusconi holds no official post in the current Italian government, but remains influential in the uneasy cross-party coalition that emerged after inconclusive February elections.

The charges against the billionaire media mogul stem from his infamous "bunga bunga" parties in 2010 at his mansion near Milan, where he wined and dined beautiful young women while he was premier. He says the dinner parties were elegant soirees; prosecutors say they were sex-fueled parties that women were paid to attend.

Neither Berlusconi nor the woman at the center of the case, Karima el-Mahroug, better known by her nickname Ruby, have testified in this trial. El-Mahroug was called by the defense but failed to show on a couple of occasions, delaying the trial. Berlusconi's team eventually dropped her from the witness list.

El-Mahroug did testify in the separate trial of three Berlusconi aides charged with procuring prostitutes for the parties. She told that court that Berlusconi's disco featured aspiring showgirls dressed as sexy nuns and nurses performing striptease acts, and that one woman even dressed up as President Barack Obama.

Berlusconi was not in court on Monday as the three female judges began deliberating his fate at 9:45 a.m. Outside the courthouse a few people held signs supporting prosecutors, including one reading: "Justice, Legality and Dignity." A pair of Berlusconi supporters was also there.

Asked if Berlusconi was optimistic, defense attorney Piero Longo said outside the courthouse that he was a "realist." Longo turned sarcastic when asked if the Milan courts were biased against his client: "No, Berlusconi has always been treated with great kindness and care in Milan. Having a trial in Milan for Berlusconi is a privilege."

Berlusconi frequently has railed against Milan prosecutors and judges, accusing them of mounting politically motivated cases against him.

El-Mahroug, now 20, said in the other trial that she attended about a half-dozen parties at Berlusconi's villa, and that after each, Berlusconi handed her an envelope with up to 3,000 euros ($3,900). She said she later received 30,000 euros cash from the then-premier paid through an intermediary ? money that she told Berlusconi she wanted to use to open a beauty salon, despite having no formal training.

She was 17 at the time of the alleged encounters but passed herself off as being 24. She also claimed she was related to then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Berlusconi's lawyers argued that he ? thinking el-Mahroug was indeed Mubarak's niece ? called police after she was detained in a bid to avoid a diplomatic incident.

El-Mahroug denied that Berlusconi had ever given her 5 million euros ($6.43 million). She said she told acquaintances and even her father that she was going to receive such a large sum "as a boast," but that it was a lie to make her seem more important.

The verdict garnered intense international media attention with half a dozen TV satellite trucks taking positions outside the courthouse. The verdict comes on the heels of Berlusconi's tax-fraud conviction, which along with a four-year prison sentence and five-year ban on public office, have been upheld on a first appeal.

The tax-fraud case is heading to Italy's highest court for a final appeal after Berlusconi's defense failed to derail it last week at the constitutional court.

Berlusconi, who has been tried numerous times relating to his business dealings, has been convicted in other cases at the trial level. But those convictions have always either been overturned on appeal or the statute of limitations ran out before Italy's high court could have its say.

The sex-for-hire case is the first involving his personal conduct.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-06-24-Italy-Berlusconi%20Trial/id-a603a10a70194efaa573d12a23f8a317

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