feral sashenka: June 2013

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Kerry pushing Israel, Palestinians to resume talks

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, with Frank Lowenstein, senior advisor to the secretary on Middle East issues, return their hotel just after 4 a.m. on Sunday, June 30, 2013 after finishing a meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu that took over six hours. After the marathon meeting, Kerry decided to get some air by walking to a park near the hotel where he is staying and the meeting was held. Kerry is shuttling between Palestinian and Israeli leaders in hopes of restarting peace talks. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

Escorted by security, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, walks with Frank Lowenstein, senior advisor to the secretary on Middle East issues, through the streets of Jerusalem just after 4 a.m. on Sunday, June 30, 2013 after finishing a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu that took over six hours. After the marathon meeting, Kerry decided to get some air by walking to a park near the hotel where he is staying and the meeting was held. Kerry is shuttling between Palestinian and Israeli leaders in hopes of restarting peace talks. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, center, returns to his room at the end of a long night just after 4 a.m. on Sunday, June 30, 2013 after finishing a meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu that took over six hours. Kerry is shuttling between Palestinian and Israeli leaders in hopes of restarting peace talks. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

Escorted by security, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, center, walks with Frank Lowenstein, senior advisor to the secretary on Middle East issues, as they return to their hotel just after 4 a.m. on Sunday, June 30, 2013 after finishing a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu that took over six hours. After the marathon meeting, Kerry decided to get some air by walking to a park near the hotel where he is staying and the meeting was held. Kerry is shuttling between Palestinian and Israeli leaders in hopes of restarting peace talks. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

JERUSALEM (AP) ? U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, engaged in breakneck shuttle diplomacy to coax Israel and the Palestinians back into peace talks, is flying to the West Bank on Sunday to have a third meeting in as many days with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

U.S., Israeli and Palestinian officials have declined to disclose details of the past three days of closed-door meetings, but Kerry's decision to fly from Jerusalem to Ramallah, West Bank, to see Abbas again before he leaves the region was an indication that the secretary believes there is a chance of bringing the two sides together.

"Working hard" is all Kerry would say when a reporter asked him at a photo-op whether progress was being made.

Despite the lack of readouts, there are several clues that the meetings have been more than routine chats.

Most of Kerry's meetings have lasted at least two hours and several of them were much longer. His initial dinner meeting Thursday night with Netanyahu was clocked at four, and the one Saturday night in a hotel suite with the Israeli prime minister and his advisers lasted more than six hours.

After the meeting broke up past 3 a.m., Kerry took a pre-dawn stroll in Jerusalem with senior advisers. Kerry, the sleeves on his white shirt rolled up his arms, walked with a security escort to a park near the hotel, gesturing and talking with his top advisers on the Mideast peace process.

There were still more hints that Kerry's discussions might be gaining traction.

Legal, military and other officials accompanied Netanyahu at the meeting, perhaps an indication that discussions had reached a more detailed level.

Kerry canceled a visit to Abu Dhabi on his two-week swing through Asia and the Mideast because of his extended discussions on the Mideast peace process in Jerusalem and Amman, Jordan.

And just the sheer number of meetings since Thursday ? three with Netanyahu and soon-to-be three with Abbas ? could indicate that the two sides are at least interested in trying to find a way back to the negotiating table.

A senior U.S. State Department official said Kerry would travel to Ramallah on Sunday to meet Abbas. The U.S. official was not authorized to discuss the negotiations by name and requested anonymity.

The meeting, however, will further squeeze Kerry's itinerary. He's scheduled to be at a Southeast Asia security conference on Monday and Tuesday in Brunei ? some 5,400 miles from Israel. On the sidelines of the conference, Kerry is to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in an exchange that likely will focus on National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden. Kerry also is to have a trilateral discussion with Japanese and South Korean officials that likely will include the topic of North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

For now, however, Kerry has his head in the Middle East. Except for quick flights to meetings in Amman, Kerry mostly has been holed up on the upper floors of a hotel near Jerusalem's Old City engaged in deep, serious conversations about the decades-old conflict. On other floors, the hotel has been hosting large family gatherings, and noisy children in party clothes have been running up and down the hallways, oblivious to Kerry's presence.

There is deep skepticism that Kerry can get the two sides to agree on a two-state solution. It's something that has eluded presidents and diplomats for years. But the flurry of meetings has heightened expectations that the two sides can be persuaded to restart talks, which broke down in 2008, at the least.

So far, there have been no public signs that the two sides are narrowing their differences.

In the past, Abbas has said he won't negotiate unless Israel stops building settlements on war-won lands or accepts its 1967 lines ? before the capture of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in a Mideast war that year ? as a starting point for border talks. The Palestinians claim all three areas for their future state.

Netanyahu has rejected the Palestinian demands, saying there should be no pre-conditions for talks.

Abbas made significant progress with Netanyahu's predecessor, Ehud Olmert, in talks in 2007 and 2008, but believes there is little point in negotiating with the current Israeli leader.

Netanyahu has adopted much tougher starting positions than Olmert, refusing to recognize Israel's pre-1967 frontier as a baseline for border talks and saying east Jerusalem, the Palestinians' hoped-for capital, is off the table. Abbas and his aides suspect Netanyahu wants to resume talks for the sake of negotiating and creating a diplomatic shield for Israel, not in order to reach an agreement.

Abbas has much to lose domestically if he drops his demands that Netanyahu either freeze settlement building or recognize the 1967 frontier as a starting point before talks can resume. Netanyahu has rejected both demands. A majority of Palestinians, disappointed after 20 years of fruitless negotiations with Israel, opposes a return to talks on Netanyahu's terms.

While details of the ongoing discussions have remained closely held, it has not quelled speculation. Midday Saturday, news reports said a four-way meeting was going to be held in coming days with the U.S. Jordan, Israel and the Palestinians at the table.

"They're saying a four-way summit, did you hear that?" Netanyahu asked Kerry during a photo-op before his latest meeting with Kerry.

"I did," Kerry replied.

There is speculation that talks are going well and that they're headed nowhere.

Asked if the two sides were close to resuming negotiations, Israeli Cabinet Minister Gilad Erdan told Channel 2 TV: "Regrettably, so far, no."

___

Associated Press writer Karin Laub in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-06-30-Kerry/id-4d07de965a2f4be199d07a833f481b26

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Saturday, June 29, 2013

9 GIFs That Make Perpetual Motion Machines a Reality

Just imagine what it would be like if we could generate free energy. No need to worry about pollution, or fuel, or effort, or anything. It's no wonder so many people have tried their hands at building perpetual motion machines. And thanks to the magic of GIFs, none of them ever has to fail.

News Summary: Gas pipeline to go through Greece

GASSING UP: A new pipeline to bring gas to Europe from the Caspian Sea will go through Greece and then undersea to Italy.

PIPE DREAMS: BP, the main developer of the huge Shah Deniz gas field in the Caspian Sea, said the project was awarded to the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline. The other contender, the Nabucco West, would have run across Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria.

GETTING AROUND RUSSIA: The EU and the U.S. support building connections to Azerbaijan's gas as a way to reduce Europe's dependence on Russian gas.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/news-summary-gas-pipeline-greece-150613268.html

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EU budget, banking deals boost leaders' summit

BRUSSELS (AP) ? Hard-fought deals on the European Union budget and funding future bank bailouts gave EU leaders a boost going into a summit Thursday, injecting fresh credibility into their efforts to end a spiral of financial and economic troubles.

But other challenges await the 27 EU leaders, who will hold talks in Brussels through Friday.

Unemployment is at a record high across the bloc, particularly for the young, who have been disproportionately punished by years of crisis and recession. But Germany, Europe's reluctant paymaster, has again dashed hopes of investing any new money to ease the problem.

"I wish this to be a summit to tackle youth unemployment, a summit for growth and jobs," said French President Francois Hollande. "Frankly, that is what Europeans expect."

The EU leaders will take stock of progress on the bloc's financial and economic policies just hours after two breakthrough agreements.

Early Thursday, the heads of the European Commission and European Parliament overcame months of divisions over a new seven-year, 960 billion euro ($1.3 trillion) budget that will finance EU projects through 2020.

The agreement was rapidly backed by Parliament's main caucus leaders, setting the stage for a swift approval vote next week. The budget includes the first cuts to EU spending in history, coming at a time when many of the bloc's countries are in recession and struggling to reduce their own national debt.

The budget determines what the EU can spend on common infrastructure like railway or road projects, farming subsidies and aid to poor countries. It's separate from national budgets ? and much smaller. All 27 EU nations together form the world's biggest economy, worth some 13 trillion euros a year.

Crucially, the EU budget also includes money for the employment measures that EU leaders will be debating at this week's summit. No budget agreement would have meant no money for those projects.

Youth unemployment has topped 50 percent in some of southern Europe's crisis-hit economies such as Spain and Greece and affects almost one in four youths across the EU.

The leaders' flagship policy is a pledge made last year to spend 6 billion euros fighting youth unemployment, starting in 2014. Half of that money, however, is only being repackaged from other existing budget projects.

"That is not an absolutely impressive figure, but it's a start," acknowledged Luxembourg's prime minister, Jean-Claude Juncker.

Mark Rutte of the Netherlands added "the couple of billions can be useful ? if you combine it with the necessary reforms."

The bloc's biggest economy, Germany, acknowledges the severity of the problem, but again made it clear before the summit that EU funds won't be increased. Berlin argues the main responsibility lies with member states, saying they have to reform their economies to encourage growth.

"The German government insists that the problems Europe and the eurozone have be tackled at the root and solved step by step," Chancellor Angela Merkel told the German Parliament ahead of the summit.

She added that Germany was ready to set up a fund helping its peers in the 17-nation eurozone if they firmly commit to bold reforms restoring their nations' competitiveness. She gave no figure for the fund, but hinted that the scope would be small.

With significant stimulus policies off the table, leaders were instead touting a previously agreed capital increase for the European Investment Bank, which should boost lending to small and medium-sized companies in crisis-hit nations and foster job creation.

Thursday's deal on the budget came only hours after EU finance ministers reached a deal determining who will take losses on future bank bailouts, so that taxpayers don't have to. That is a key step toward establishing a so-called banking union for Europe, aimed at restoring stability after a tumultuous few years that have dragged down the global economy.

The set of rules determines the order in which investors and creditors will have to take losses when a bank is restructured or shut down, with a taxpayer-funded bailout being only a limited last resort.

A year ago, EU leaders pledged to tackle the eurozone's financial crisis by introducing a banking union. That would hand the supervision and rescue of banks to European institutions rather than leaving weaker member states to fend for themselves.

The project has stalled on many fronts, notably because richer countries fear they might have to pay for the banking woes of weaker countries. But Thursday's breakthrough offered new hope by establishing clear rules.

Following the 2008-2009 financial crisis, countries like Ireland, Britain and Germany each had to pump dozens of billions of fresh capital into ailing banks to avoid the financial system from collapsing.

To avoid that happening again, the new rules foresee for banks' creditors and shareholders to be the first to take losses. But if that isn't enough to prop up the lender, small companies and ordinary savers holding uninsured deposits worth more than 100,000 euros ($132,000) will also take a hit, officials said.

Those forced losses will go as high as 8 percent of a bank's total liabilities, only then would national governments kick in and top it up with a bailout possibly worth another 5 percent of the liabilities.

___

Raf Casert and Sylvain Plazy in Brussels and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

___

Follow Juergen Baetz on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/jbaetz

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/eu-budget-banking-deals-boost-leaders-summit-130845841.html

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Obama pledges to help Africa, pays tribute to Mandela

By Mark Felsenthal and Jeff Mason

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama paid tribute to anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela as he flew to South Africa on Friday but played down expectations of a meeting with the ailing black leader during an Africa tour promoting democracy and food security.

White House officials hope Obama's three-nation tour of Africa - his first substantial visit to the continent since taking office in 2009 - will compensate for what some view as years of neglect by America's first black president.

The health of Mandela, the 94-year-old former South African president clinging to life in a Pretoria hospital, dominated Obama's day even before he arrived in Johannesburg.

"I don't need a photo op," Obama told reporters aboard Air Force One after leaving Senegal. "The last thing I want to do is to be in any way obtrusive at a time when the family is concerned with Nelson Mandela's condition."

Mandela's ex-wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, said his condition had improved in the past few days.

Nearly 1,000 trade unionists, Muslim activists and South African Communist Party members marched through the capital to the U.S. Embassy, where they burned an American flag and called Obama's foreign policy "arrogant and oppressive.

Muslim activists held prayers in a car park outside the embassy. Leader Imam Sayeed Mohammed told the group: "We hope that Mandela feels better and that Obama can learn from him."

MANDELA A "PERSONAL HERO"

Obama sees Mandela, also known as Madiba, as a hero. Whether they are able to meet or not, officials said his trip would serve largely as a tribute to the anti-apartheid leader.

Like Mandela, Obama has received the Nobel Peace Prize and both men were the first black presidents of their nations.

Air Force One departed Senegal's coastal capital, Dakar, just before 1100 GMT (0700 ET) and was due to arrive in South Africa around eight hours later. On Friday evening, Obama has no public events scheduled and could go to the hospital then.

"When we get there, we'll gauge the situation," Obama told reporters.

Obama was scheduled to visit Robben Island, where Mandela spent years in prison under South Africa's former white minority regime.

He told reporters his message in South Africa would draw from the lessons of Mandela's life.

"If we focus on what Africa as a continent can do together and what these countries can do when they're unified, as opposed to when they're divided by tribe or race or religion, then Africa's rise will continue," Obama said.

White House officials said Obama would hold a "town hall" on Saturday with youth leaders in Soweto, the Johannesburg township known for 1976 student protests against apartheid.

He will discuss a new exchange program for African students with U.S. colleges and universities. The event will include youth in Uganda, Nigeria and Kenya participating through video conference, and will be televised in those countries, White House officials said.

JAB AT CHINA

Obama's only previous visit to the African continent was a one-day stopover in Ghana at the beginning of his first term.

While acknowledging that Obama has not spent as much time in Africa as people hoped, the White House is eager to highlight what it has done, in part to end unflattering comparisons to accomplishments of predecessors George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

"Given the budget constraints, for us to try to get the kind of money that President Bush was able to get out of the Republican House for massively scaled new foreign aid programs is very difficult," Obama said.

Obama and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives have fought bitterly over government spending. U.S. foreign aid is a perennial target for lawmakers who want more budget cuts.

Before departing Senegal, Obama met farmers and local entrepreneurs to discuss new technologies helping to raise agricultural output in West Africa, one of the world's most under-developed and drought-prone regions. The technical aid in the U.S. government's "Feed the Future" program leverages money from the private sector and aid groups to help small farmers.

Obama said he would announce an initiative to use the same strategies for the power sector, a model he said makes the most of the shrinking U.S. foreign aid budget.

"I think everything we do is designed to make sure that Africa is not viewed as a dependent, as a charity case, but is instead viewed as a partner," he said.

Obama acknowledged that China, Brazil, India and other countries have been increasingly active in Africa and said the United States risks being left behind. But he said the U.S. approach to development is preferred by African leaders.

"They recognize that China's primary interest is being able to obtain access for natural resources in Africa to feed the manufacturers in export-driven policies of the Chinese economy," Obama said.

"Oftentimes that leaves Africa as simply an exporter of raw goods" as opposed to creating long-term jobs, he said.

(Writing by Daniel Flynn, Jeff Mason, Roberta Rampton; Editing by Doina Chiacu)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-heads-south-africa-mandela-mind-020643222.html

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Friday, June 28, 2013

Friend: Trayvon Martin encounter racially charged

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) ? George Zimmerman's defense attorney insisted during several testy exchanges with an important prosecution witness Thursday that Trayvon Martin injected race into a confrontation with the neighborhood watch volunteer and insinuated the young woman was not believable because of inconsistencies in her story.

However, 19-year-old Rachel Jeantel stood firm in her testimony about the night Zimmerman shot the unarmed black 17-year-old after a fight that Jeantel said she overheard while on the phone with Martin. Jeantel has said Martin told her he was being followed by a "creepy-ass cracker" ? implying Martin was being followed by a white man because of his race.

Zimmerman identifies as Hispanic. Race has permeated nationwide discussions of the case since the February 2012 shooting, which prompted nationwide protests and claims from critics that police took too long to arrest Zimmerman.

The neighborhood watch volunteer has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and says he acted in self-defense.

Defense attorney Don West also zeroed in on slight differences among three different accounts of what happened before Martin's killing, in an apparent effort to discredit her. Jeantel has described what she heard over the phone in a deposition; a letter to Martin's mother; and an interview with the Martin family attorney. Among the differences highlighted by West:

? In some accounts, she said race was an issue but not in others.

? Jeantel testified Wednesday that her friend's last words were "Get off! Get off!" before Martin's phone went silent. But on Thursday, under cross-examination, she conceded that she hadn't mentioned that in her account of what happened to Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton. She had left out some details to spare Fulton's feelings, and also because neither Fulton nor the Martin family attorney asked her directly about them, Jeantel said.

? After Martin asks why he is being followed, Zimmerman responds, "What are you doing around here?" in one account by Jeantel. In another account, according to West, she says Zimmerman said, "What are you talking about?"

Zimmerman, 29, could get life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder. Zimmerman followed Martin in his truck and called a police dispatch number before he and the teen got into a fight. Zimmerman has said he opened fire only after the teenager jumped him and began slamming his head against the concrete sidewalk. Zimmerman has denied the confrontation had anything to do with race, as Martin's family and their supporters have claimed.

Jeantel testified Thursday that she thought race was an issue because Martin told her he was being followed by a white man.

But West responded, "It was racial because Trayvon put race in this?"

She answered no.

After the court session was over for the day, when explaining how Martin's parents didn't want race injected into the trial, Martin family attorney Daryl Parks said, "Some young people loosely use language they probably shouldn't use."

"It's just slang they use," he said.

The exchanges between Jeantel and West got testier as the day progressed.

At one point, West suggested that though Martin told her he was by his father's fiancee's house while Zimmerman was following him, that she doesn't know that for sure.

"Why he need to lie about that, sir?" Jeantel asked West.

"Maybe if he decided to assault George Zimmerman, he didn't want you to know about it," West replied.

"That's real retarded, sir," she said. "That's real retarded to do that, sir."

When asked by West if she had previously told investigators that she heard what sounded like somebody being hit at the end of her call with Martin, Jeantel said, "Trayvon got hit."

"You don't know that? Do you? You don't know that Trayvon got hit," West answered angrily. "You don't know that Trayvon didn't at that moment take his fists and drive them into George Zimmerman's face."

Later in the morning, West accused Jeantel of not calling police after Martin's phone went dead because she thought it was a fight he had provoked.

"That's why you weren't worried. That's why you didn't do anything because Trayvon Martin started the fight, and you knew that," West said.

"No sir!" Jeantel said. "I don't know what you're talking about."

At one point, West handed her a letter she had written with the help of a friend to Martin's mother explaining what happened. She looked at it but then said she couldn't read cursive handwriting. Jeantel later explained she is of Haitian descent and grew up speaking Creole and Spanish.

Thursday's testimony began with a more subdued tone that it did a day earlier, when Jeantel frequently bristled at West's questions and she at one point told him to move on to the next question: "You can go. You can go."

West took note of her calmer demeanor in the morning. She answered many of West's early questions by repeating "yes, sir," almost in a whisper.

"You feeling OK today? You seem different than yesterday," West said.

"I got some sleep," she answered.

After Jeantel left the witness stand, a mobile phone manager testified about Martin's cell phone records and a former neighbor of Zimmerman testified she heard yelps for help outside her townhome on the night Martin was shot. Jenna Lauer said she couldn't tell who was screaming.

"They were being hurt," Lauer said, describing the person screaming.

Before court recessed for the day, defense attorney Mark O'Mara asked another former neighbor to recreate for jurors how she reacted when she heard what turned out to be a gunshot and ran out of her town-house to see what was going on. The request had Selma Mora in the unusual position of standing up from the witness stand and pretending to be in her kitchen in front of the judge's bench.

___

Follow Kyle Hightower on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KHightower

Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/friend-trayvon-martin-encounter-racially-charged-134457254.html

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Hell Baby Trailer: Watch Now!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/06/hell-baby-trailer-watch-now/

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Thursday, June 27, 2013

Stocks rise even as US economic growth slows

NEW YORK (AP) ? U.S. stock indexes moved higher in early trading Wednesday, despite news that the U.S. economy has been growing more slowly than first estimated.

In early trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 116 points, or 0.8 percent, to 14,879. The Standard & Poor's 500 was up 14, or 0.9 percent, to 1,602.

The gains were broad. All 10 industry sectors in the S&P 500 were up, led by health care and bank stocks.

The government reported Wednesday that the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 1.8 percent in the first three months of the year, significantly lower than the previous estimate of 2.4 percent. The Commerce Department said that consumers spent less than previously estimated, a troubling development in a country where consumer spending makes up more than 70 percent of the economy.

Investors, however, might have been pushing the market higher because they decided that they pushed it too low last week, a sentiment that investors credited for Tuesday's stock gains. Or they may have decided that the slower-growing economy will influence the Federal Reserve to delay any plans to pull back on stimulus measures. Those measures, which include buying bonds to push investors into stocks, and keeping interest rates low to spur borrowing, are meant to prop up the economy.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke set off a stock market plunge a week ago when he said the Fed could rein in the bond-buying program starting as early as this year. It wasn't that investors were surprised that the Fed will pull back on its stimulus programs: Most everyone expects that to happen eventually. It was more that they were worried that the Fed might pull out too soon, before the stock market could stand on its own without the Fed propping it up.

Other Fed officials have also scrambled to reassure investors that the central bank won't pull out of stimulus measures until it's sure the economy can handle it. Dallas Fed president Richard Fisher and Richmond Fed president Jeff Lacker are both scheduled to testify at a hearing with the U.S. House's banking committee Wednesday morning. While the Fed isn't the topic ? how to prevent bank bailouts is ? either could take the opportunity to speak on where they think Fed policy should go.

U.S government bonds rallied early Wednesday, sending yields lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, a benchmark for many kinds of loans, fell to 2.53 percent from 2.61 percent late Tuesday. The yield has risen sharply over the last week as traders sold bonds in anticipation of the Fed winding down its bond-buying program. It was 2.19 percent June 18, the day before the Fed outlined its plans.

The price of gold fell sharply. Gold for August delivery fell $36, or 2.8 percent, to $1,239 an ounce. Crude oil slipped 27 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $95.08 a barrel.

At 1.8 percent, the country's economic growth for 2013 would be less than 2010 or 2012, and in line with 2011. And while investors are glad for growth ? after all, the U.S. economy shrank in 2008 and 2009 ? most say they'd like to see an annual rate of 3 or 4 percent before they can feel comfortable about the pace of the economic recovery.

In other stock trading, the Nasdaq composite index was up 29 points, or 0.9 percent, to 3,377.

Among companies making big moves:

?Fertilizer maker Mosaic fell after Citigroup analysts downgraded the stock to "Neutral" from "Buy," citing a hold-up in the company's stock buybacks and questions over demand for fertilizer. The stock fell $1.91, or 3.4 percent, to $54.

?Gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson fell, even after reporting that its profits doubled, as quarterly revenue missed analysts' forecasts. The stock fell 23 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $9.76.

?General Mills, whose products include Cheerios and Nature Valley granola bars, fell after reporting earnings predictions that came in slightly below analysts' estimates. The stock fell 49 cents, or 1 percent, to $47.84.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stocks-rise-even-us-economic-growth-slows-142834763.html

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Devo drummer Alan Myers dies of brain cancer

Alan Myers, the former longtime drummer for the band Devo, best known for "Whip It," has died after a battle with brain cancer. He was 58.

Myers died Monday in Los Angeles, where he lived, Devo spokesman Michael Pilmer said Wednesday.

Myers was the band's drummer from 1976 to 1985 during Devo's heyday. The group was formed in Akron, Ohio, in the early 1970s by Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale, and introduced themselves to the world in 1977 by making a frenetic version of the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction."

Casale told The Associated Press on Wednesday that without Myers, Devo never would have reached the heights it did, calling him the best drummer he has ever played with.

"We were mostly in basements and garages writing songs. It was Alan that brought everything to life," Casale said. "That was the catalyst where everything clicked."

He called Myers "the human metronome."

"People watching him thought we were using a drum machine," Casale said. "Nobody had ever drummed like that."

Casale described meeting and playing with Myers for the first time in 1976. After their first session ended, Casale ? who had been facing away from Myers ? turned around to see the drummer standing on one leg with his eyes closed, practicing the meditative Chinese martial art of Tai Chi.

"I thought, 'Man, this guy really is Devo. He fits right in,'" Casale said, adding that Tai Chi was one of the drummer's greatest passions. "Some bands would be doing drugs and drinking. Alan would find quiet places backstage and do a full session of Tai Chi."

Devo is short for devolution, the idea that man was devolving into its monkey state.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/devo-drummer-alan-myers-dies-brain-cancer-181800119.html

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Liam Neeson to Earn $20 Million for Taken 3!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/06/liam-neeson-to-earn-20-dollars-million-for-taken-3/

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Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Texas Senator Filibusters Abortion Bill (ABC News)

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The Social Business: Below the Buzzwords -- Free workshop tickets ...

?Becoming a social business isn?t about ?being transparent?. It?s about creating a company that can afford to be transparent.? - SideraWorks

The #BIF9 Summit is less than three months away and we are busily preparing our post-Summit workshop, in partnership with SideraWorks. We?ve all heard the term ?social business? floating around. But, the truth is that it?s much more than a buzzword. Do you want to dig into how people are actually embedding the shared values of collaboration, information sharing, and active engagement into the internal operations and culture of their organization? Purchase a standard registration to #BIF9 now and the next 20 people will be sent a code to get a free ticket to the workshop.

During The Social Business: Below the Buzzwords, Amber Naslund and Matt Ridings from SideraWorks are going to get us up to speed on the latest about social business and then lead us in a workshop to swap real world experiences, strategies and tactics from applying those principles. But, to make this as interesting as possible, we want to connect unusual suspects from across sectors and silos. BIF will send the next 20 people who purchase a standard registration to the #BIF9 Summit a code to get a free ticket to the workshop. We look forward to seeing you there!

Jessica Wallner

June 25, 2013

Source: http://www.businessinnovationfactory.com/weblog/social-business-below-buzzwords-free-workshop-tickets-bif9-registration-0

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By taking in Snowden, Ecuador would defy US again

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ? President Rafael Correa of Ecuador embraces his role as a thorn in Washington's side, railing against U.S. imperialism in speeches and giving WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange refuge in his nation's embassy in London.

But nothing Correa has done to rankle the United States is likely to infuriate as much as granting the asylum being sought by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, who faces espionage charges back home after revealing details of two highly secret surveillance programs.

WikiLeaks, which has been assisting Snowden, said Sunday that he formally requested asylum from Ecuador. Ecuador's foreign minister confirmed receiving the request, and analysts said the precedent set by Assange's case suggested Correa would honor it.

Snowden flew from Hong Kong to Moscow on Sunday, and Aeroflot confirmed that he was booked to fly to Cuba on Monday. The reports said he was then booked on a flight to Venezuela, another South American country whose government has touchy relations with Washington.

Both Cuba and Venezuela previously had been rumored as possible destinations for Snowden, although they now appeared more likely to be only transit points on the way to Ecuador.

"Correa may find it hard to resist the temptation to get increased attention and seize this opportunity to provoke and defy the U.S.," said Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue think tank. "Correa is confrontational and relishes fights. Should he ultimately grant Snowden asylum, one hopes that Correa has thought through the likely consequences of such a decision."

Taking in Snowden certainly would increase Correa's popularity among those who see him as a champion of open information, help him counter criticism of a new media law that some call an assault on freedom of speech in Ecuador and cement his name as a leading voice of opposition to U.S. foreign policy.

But it could threaten preferential access to U.S. markets for Ecuadorean goods under the U.S. Andean Trade Preference Act, and strain already shaky ties between two nations that only last year re-established full diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level.

Some 45 percent of Ecuadorean exports went to the United States last year, accounting for about 400,000 jobs in the small nation.

Giving Snowden asylum for leaking secret information would be "irresponsible," former Ecuadorean diplomat Mauricio Gandara said.

"It would be an illegal act, because what he has done is a crime in both the United States and Ecuador," said Gandara, who was Ecuador's ambassador in London. "It is a confrontation with the people and government of the United States and both (political) parties. It is an unnecessary conflict."

Ecuadorean analyst Grace Jaramillo said Washington takes the Snowden case more seriously than Assange's because it involves an internal leak of intelligence activities that otherwise operate in total secrecy.

"The United States will keep pushing until the end for Snowden to be handed over, and could even resort to commercial sanctions or direct intervention if the case becomes difficult," Jaramillo said.

Yet, granting him safe passage and refuge has appeal for Ecuador as well as Cuba and Venezuela, which have all been criticized for rules limiting independent media.

"This is a case in which I think the U.S. does not look all that good," said David Smilde, a Venezuela expert at the University of Georgia.

"I think it's quite useful for either Venezuela or Ecuador to grant a person like this asylum, because it allows them to sort of deflect attention towards the United States and the United States' own shortcomings," Smilde said.

The Cuban state controls all TV, radio and newspapers. Venezuela has done things like forcing TV stations off the air by not renewing licenses and detaining people for tweets deemed destabilizing. Ecuador's media law, approved last week, establishes official media overseers, imposes sanctions for besmirching personal reputations and limits private ownership to a third of radio and TV licenses.

But Cuba and Venezuela are both in the midst of quiet thaws in long-chilly ties with the United States, and taking in Snowden would likely damage those efforts.

Last week, Cuba and the United States held talks on restarting direct mail service, and announced that a separate sit-down to discuss immigration issues will be held in Washington on July 17.

Diplomats and officials from both countries also report far greater cooperation in behind-the-scenes dealings, including during a brief incident involving a Florida couple who sought asylum in Cuba after kidnapping their own children. Cuba worked with U.S. officials to quickly send the couple back to face justice.

Philip Peters, a longtime Cuba analyst, said allowing Snowden to pass through Cuban territory would not necessarily doom rapprochement, though he acknowledged the fallout would be unpredictable.

"My guess is that it would be a blip, because Cuba, by allowing him to pass through Cuban territory, is hardly embracing his actions, or sheltering him or giving him asylum," Peters said.

It's the same story for Venezuela, which earlier this month agreed to high-level negotiations on restoring ambassadorial relations and easing more than a decade of sour ties. That announcement came after a meeting in Guatemala between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua.

Caracas has huge commercial dealings with the United States, which remains the No. 1 buyer of Venezuela's oil.

"It's much better for President Nicolas Maduro that (Snowden) is not going to Venezuela," said Gregory Weeks, a political scientist specializing in Latin America at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. "It's something that Maduro really doesn't want to have to deal with, whereas Correa, he's already in it (by giving Assange asylum). So of all the places to go, Ecuador is logical."

Being placed on the international stage by Snowden's asylum bid drew mixed reactions from Ecuadoreans.

"People who steal information or any other thing should face the consequences, and Ecuador shouldn't get involved," said Maria Jimenez, a 42-year-old homemaker.

Jorge Rojas Cruzatti, a 34-year-old web designer, disagreed.

"I'm proud of my country ... and more than pride, I'm glad that human rights are being protected," he said. "Other countries wouldn't dare grant this type of support to citizens who are helping protect freedom of expression."

___

Associated Press writers Gonzalo Solano in Quito, Ecuador; Paul Haven in Havana; Vivian Sequera in Bogota, Colombia; and Luis Andres Henao in Santiago, Chile, contributed to this report.

___

Peter Orsi on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Peter_Orsi

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/taking-snowden-ecuador-defy-us-again-090726069.html

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Compulsory insurance products and you - Vanguard News

By ROSEMARY ONUOHA

The National Insurance Commission, NAICOM, in 2010 came up with the Market Development and Restructuring Initiative, MDRI, as part of efforts to boost insurance penetration in the country. Part of the objectives of the MDRI is to enforce the compulsory insurance under the Insurance Act of 2003. But so far, greater number of the general public is yet to buy into the initiative.

The reason is not farfetched.? The Nigerian public to a very large extent has a negative perception about insurance. Although the sector is changing for the better, it has not been easy to convince Nigerians.

Unfortunately though, this poor perception is negatively affecting the growth of the sector, it is high time Nigerians began to see insurance in a new light.

*Pensioners queuing for verification

Oftentimes, Nigerians say that there is no value attached to insurance, but the truth is that insurance offers a lot of value.

Take for instance, people think that putting on the seat belt in a car is to prevent law enforcement agents from arresting them, whereas the purpose is to save lives.

There is no gainsaying the obvious that the loss of confidence from the general public in the insurance sector is as a result of indiscipline.

Insurance operators on their part, know that indiscipline and unprofessionalism have impacted negatively on their businesses over the years, as such, are employing all positive means to? win back the confidence of the general public.

An insurance practitioner once said ?We insurance practitioners are not disciplined professionals and as long as we remain indisciplined, some of those practices that we come out and criticise openly and go back to? privately will continue.?

The compulsory insurances
Compulsory insurances are those classes of insurance made compulsory by law, with the objective of providing protection to third parties and the general public.? The following types of insurance are compulsory in Nigeria:

. Builders Liability ? under the Insurance Act 2003/under the Lagos State Building Control Law 2010
. Construction All Risks
. Occupiers Liability ? under the Insurance Act 2003 and Lagos State Law
. Employers Liability ? (Group Life) ? under the Pension Reform Act 2004
. Healthcare Professional Indemnity ? under the NHIS Act 1999
. Motor Third Party Liability ? under the Insurance Act 2003

Builders Liability Insurance
This type of insurance requires that all owners or contractors of buildings under construction (more than 2 floors), must purchase to provide compensation in event of bodily injury, death and property damage to workers at construction sites and affected members of the public in the event of collapse of the building and other construction risks. The penalty for non-compliance is N250, 000 plus three years imprisonment. Record of conviction, sealing-off and demolition of the building are the penalties provided under the federal and Lagos State laws.

Occupiers Liability Insurance
This type of insurance requires that all owners or occupiers of public buildings, whether private or public, to provide under the National Insurance Act 2003 and the Lagos State Building Control Law 2010. A ?public building? is any building that is not 100 per cent used by the owner for residential purposes. Public buildings include tenement houses, hostels, residential buildings occupied by tenants, lodgers or licensees, and any other building to which members of the public enter and exit for the purpose of educational, recreational or medical services (e.g. schools, cinemas, hospitals, malls, petrol stations, etc).

Occupiers Liability Insurance provides compensation in events of bodily injury, death and property damage to the business users and members of the public in the event of building collapse, fire, earthquakes, storm or flood. The penalty for non-compliance is N100, 000 plus one year imprisonment, and sealing-off or demolition of the building under the federal and the Lagos State laws.

Employer?s Liability (Group Life) Insurance
This type of insurance requires that all employers of labour with more than four employees are required to have under the Pension Reform Act 2004. The law requires the employers have insurance that will provide for compensation in the event of death, disappearance, disability, or critical illness suffered by staff while in service and to subsidize pension provision in the event of mental or physical disability.

This law applies to both public and private sector employees. This means that employees (and their families) have the right to demand compensation and payment from their employers in the event of injury or death. The penalty for non-compliance with this law is N250,000, record of conviction, and in addition the place of business may be sealed up.

Healthcare Professional Indemnity Insurance
This type of insurance requires that all licensed health care providers and medical practitioners (such as doctors, nurses, pharmacists, etc) are required to have under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) 1999. The law? have insurance that will protect their patients in case of accidents or fatalities (death) resulting from professional negligence.

This type of insurance provides compensation to patients and their relatives in the event of involuntary murder, disability, shock and injury suffered by patients as a result of the negligence of Health Care Providers. The penalty for non-compliance with this law is a possible revocation of licence by the National Health Insurance Council, a record of conviction, and sealing-off of the premises.

Third Party Motor Liability Insurance
This is the minimum insurance that all owners and drivers of motor vehicles, motorcycles and special type vehicles plying the Nigerian roads are required to have under the National Insurance Act 2003. The third party motor liability insures the motor vehicle against liability as to death, bodily injury or damage to property of a third parties arising from the use of the vehicle. The penalty for non-compliance is a fine of up to N250,000 plus one year imprisonment.

Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/06/compulsory-insurance-products-and-you/

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Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Helping RNA escape from cells' recycling process could make it easier to shut off disease-causing genes

June 24, 2013 ? Nanoparticles that deliver short strands of RNA offer a way to treat cancer and other diseases by shutting off malfunctioning genes. Although this approach has shown some promise, scientists are still not sure exactly what happens to the nanoparticles once they get inside their target cells.

A new study from MIT sheds light on the nanoparticles' fate and suggests new ways to maximize delivery of the RNA strands they are carrying, known as short interfering RNA (siRNA).

"We've been able to develop nanoparticles that can deliver payloads into cells, but we didn't really understand how they do it," says Daniel Anderson, the Samuel Goldblith Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT. "Once you know how it works, there's potential that you can tinker with the system and make it work better."

Anderson, a member of MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and MIT's Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, is the leader of a research team that set out to examine how the nanoparticles and their drug payloads are processed at a cellular and subcellular level. Their findings appear in the June 23 issue of Nature Biotechnology. Robert Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT, is also an author of the paper.

One RNA-delivery approach that has shown particular promise is packaging the strands with a lipidlike material; similar particles are now in clinical development for liver cancer and other diseases.

Through a process called RNA interference, siRNA targets messenger RNA (mRNA), which carries genetic instructions from a cell's DNA to the rest of the cell. When siRNA binds to mRNA, the message carried by that mRNA is destroyed. Exploiting that process could allow scientists to turn off genes that allow cancer cells to grow unchecked.

Scientists already knew that siRNA-carrying nanoparticles enter cells through a process, called endocytosis, by which cells engulf large molecules. The MIT team found that once the nanoparticles enter cells they become trapped in bubbles known as endocytic vesicles. This prevents most of the siRNA from reaching its target mRNA, which is located in the cell's cytosol (the main body of the cell).

This happens even with the most effective siRNA delivery materials, suggesting that there is a lot of room to improve the delivery rate, Anderson says.

"We believe that these particles can be made more efficient. They're already very efficient, to the point where micrograms of drug per kilogram of animal can work, but these types of studies give us clues as to how to improve performance," Anderson says.

Molecular traffic jam

The researchers found that once cells absorb the lipid-RNA nanoparticles, they are broken down within about an hour and excreted from the cells.

They also identified a protein called Niemann Pick type C1 (NPC1) as one of the major factors in the nanoparticle-recycling process. Without this protein, the particles could not be excreted from the cells, giving the siRNA more time to reach its targets. "In the absence of the NPC1, there's a traffic jam, and siRNA gets more time to escape from that traffic jam because there is a backlog," says Gaurav Sahay, an MIT postdoc and lead author of the Nature Biotechnology paper.

In studies of cells grown in the lab without NPC1, the researchers found that the level of gene silencing achieved with RNA interference was 10 to 15 times greater than that in normal cells.

Lack of NPC1 also causes a rare lysosomal storage disorder that is usually fatal in childhood. The findings suggest that patients with this disorder might benefit greatly from potential RNA interference therapy delivered by this type of nanoparticle, the researchers say. They are now planning to study the effects of knocking out the NPC1 gene on siRNA delivery in animals, with an eye toward testing possible siRNA treatments for the disorder.

The researchers are also looking for other factors involved in nanoparticle recycling that could make good targets for possibly slowing down or blocking the recycling process, which they believe could help make RNA interference drugs much more potent. Possible ways to do that could include giving a drug that interferes with nanoparticle recycling, or creating nanoparticle materials that can more effectively evade the recycling process.

The research was funded by Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/7V-2JNR49qM/130624144824.htm

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Ecuador says Snowden seeking asylum there

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) ? Ecuador is analyzing an asylum request from National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, wanted for revealed classified U.S. secrets, an Ecuadorian minister said Monday.

"We are analyzing it with a lot of responsibility," Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino told reporters through a translator at a hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam.

He says the asylum request "has to do with freedom of expression and with the security of citizens around the world."

Patino spoke briefly to reporters on his way to a meeting with Vietnam's foreign minister. He did not say how long it would take Ecuador to decide.

Snowden was on a flight from Hong Kong that arrived in Moscow Sunday and was booked on a flight to Cuba Monday, the Russian news agencies ITAR-Tass and Interfax reported, citing unnamed airline officials.

Anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks said Snowden was bound for Ecuador "via a safe route for the purposes of asylum, and is being escorted by diplomats and legal advisers from WikiLeaks." The organization's founder Julian Assange, was granted asylum by Ecuador last year and has been staying at the country's embassy in the United Kingdom.

The Russian reports said a plane carrying him arrived in Moscow on Sunday and he was booked on a flight to Cuba on Monday. The reports cited unnamed airline officials and said he intended to travel from Cuba to Caracas, Venezuela. There was also speculation that he might try to reach Ecuador.

"There are some governments that act more upon their own interests, but we do not," Patino said when asked if he was concerned about potentially damaging Ecuador's relationship with the United States. "We act upon our principles."

"We take care of human rights of the people," he added.

Patino will hold a news conference Monday evening in Hanoi.

Snowden had been in hiding in Hong Kong for several weeks after he revealed information on the highly classified spy programs. WikiLeaks said it was providing legal help to Snowden at his request and that he was being escorted by diplomats and legal advisers from the group.

Assange has spent a year inside the Ecuadorean Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden to face questioning about sex crime allegations. He told the Sydney Morning Herald that his organization is in a position to help because it has expertise in international asylum and extradition law.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ecuador-says-snowden-seeking-asylum-170413690.html

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Foster Parenting Adventures: CD's pre-school celebrates her adoption

CD has been in an extraordinary daycare/preschool since she was 18 months old, about 3 weeks after she joined our family. ?Back in those days, CD had many fears. ?This preschool has worked with children in foster care before as they are licensed to accept the funding from the state source that pays for children in foster care to go to daycare. ?They supported her when she had intense separation anxiety. ?They held her and soothed her when an unfamiliar adult would enter the room and she would panic. ?They understood that CD had a tendency to choose one attachment figure at a time and if that teacher was going to be absent, they alerted us so we could choose to keep her home as she would not handle the day well.

CD has thrived in this school. ?She is no longer afraid in school at all. ?She has generalized those feelings of safety and security to the whole school, all the teachers and all the adults that enter the building. ?Her social skills are extraordinary. ?It has been her home away from home.

On Thursday, when I came to pick CD up from school, I found an extraordinary booklet that the school staff had put together. ?In it were notes from all of her teachers and good wishes from the rest of the staff. ?The children in her class each added their handprints to a page and signed their names. ?There were quotes about how it is love that makes a family scattered throughout. ?It was beautiful. ?I was so moved. ?I have since covered every page in plastic so that it can be kept intact for as long as possible.

On Thursday, CD's teacher told me that they would like to do something with the class in honor of CD's adoption day on Monday (today). ?I thought it was a wonderful idea. ?CD and I stopped at a bakery this morning to pick up rainbow sprinkle cookies for the class

and my family donated this book to the school in honor of CD's adoption:

Parr's Family Book introduces preschoolers to the notion that families are created in different ways. ?Some are big, some are small, all love to hug and kiss you. ?Some families look like each other, some have two moms, some have two dads, some look like their dog and some families adopt children. . . .

I also loaned the class this book, which is my favorite book for CD introducing her to adoption:

Most adoption books I have found are about infancy adoption, international adoption or have strong religious language. ?Others talk around adoption by not using the word or explaining how it works with human beings as they focus on something like a duck being part of a family of dogs. ?This book explains in all in concrete, preschool age appropriate language. ?It is the truth, it is upbeat and it is all about love. ?The preschool director and CD's teacher were thrilled that I brought the book in as they believe, as I do, that her classmates (none of whom are adopted) could only benefit by being introduced to the idea that families come together in all different ways.

This is how the world changes. ?This is how people in the minority become accepted rather than stigmatized. ?It is one child at a time, one teacher at a time and one family at a time.

I am so grateful to CD's school. ?Their support these last three years will forever be appreciated by our family.

Source: http://fosterparentingadventures.blogspot.com/2013/06/cds-pre-school-celebrates-her-adoption.html

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Monday, June 24, 2013

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German minister seeks answers from UK over spying 'catastrophe'

By Michael Nienaber

BERLIN (Reuters) - Britain's European partners will seek urgent clarification from London about whether a British spy agency has tapped international telephone and Internet traffic on a massive scale, Germany's justice minister said on Saturday.

Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger said a report in Britain's Guardian newspaper read like the plot of a horror film and, if confirmed as true, would be a "catastrophe".

In its latest article based on information from Edward Snowden, a former contractor for the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), the Guardian reported a project codenamed "Tempora" under which Britain's eavesdropping agency can tap into and store huge volumes of data from fiber-optic cables.

Tempora has been running for about 18 months and allows the Government Communications Headquarters agency (GCHQ) to access the data and keep it for 30 days, the paper said, adding that much information was shared with the NSA.

"If these accusations are correct, this would be a catastrophe," Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger said in a statement emailed to Reuters.

"The accusations against Great Britain sound like a Hollywood nightmare. The European institutions should seek straight away to clarify the situation."

With a few months to go before federal elections, the minister's comments are likely to please Germans who are highly sensitive to government monitoring, having lived through the Stasi secret police in communist East Germany and with lingering memories of the Gestapo under the Nazis.

"The accusations make it sound as if George Orwell's surveillance society has become reality in Great Britain," the parliamentary floor leader of the opposition Social Democrats, Thomas Oppermann, was quoted as saying in a newspaper.

Orwell's novel "1984" envisioned a futuristic security state where "Big Brother" spied on the intimate details of people's lives.

"This is unbearable," Oppermann told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. "The government must clarify these accusations and act against a total surveillance of German citizens."

Earlier this month, in response to questions about the secret U.S. data-monitoring program Prism, also exposed by Snowden, British Foreign Secretary William Hague told parliament that GCHQ always adhered to British law when processing data gained from eavesdropping.

He would not confirm or deny any details of UK-U.S. intelligence sharing, saying that to do so could help Britain's enemies.

News of Prism outraged Germans, with one politician likening U.S. tactics to those of the Stasi, and the issue overshadowed a visit by U.S. President Barack Obama to Berlin last week.

(Writing by Sarah Marsh; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/german-minister-seeks-answers-uk-over-spying-catastrophe-152419146.html

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