tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58617135150354744842024-03-13T05:20:46.703-07:00Espaciosdelmaestrazgo NewsPasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comBlogger381125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861713515035474484.post-76504653920051143502013-03-02T16:10:00.001-08:002013-03-02T16:10:12.864-08:00No. 10 Louisville beats No. 12 Syracuse 58-53<br /><p class="first">SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — When <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362262147696_2">Louisville</span> coach Rick Pitino threw off his coat, it was game-on.</p><br /><p>Miffed by two straight fouls against Luke Hancock when the 10th-ranked <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362262147696_3">Cardinals</span> trailed No. 12 <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362262147696_1">Syracuse</span> by a point with time running out, Pitino stomped on the sidelines as he altered his courtside wardrobe and his team responded with a late spurt for a 58-53 victory Saturday, silencing another huge Carrier Dome crowd.</p><br /><p>"We had a couple of real tough calls go against us and veteran teams don't let it bother you," Pitino said. "They dig in. It bothered me, but it didn't bother the players."</p><br /><p>Cool under fire despite the two quick fouls, Hancock hit a 3-pointer from the left corner to break a 48-all tie with 50 seconds left as <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362262147696_4">the Cardinals</span> exacted a measure of revenge for a loss to the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362262147696_9">Orange</span> earlier this season.</p><br /><p>"It's big," said Hancock, who hit 4 of 5 from behind the arc for all of his points in the game. "This was like a tournament game. It was that kind of atmosphere. This prepares us well. It definitely gives us confidence going into the end of the season. We want to win out the rest of our games and this was another step."</p><br /><p>It was the third straight loss for Syracuse (22-7, 10-6 Big East), which was humbled 57-46 in a loss to No. 7 Georgetown a week ago before a record Carrier Dome crowd of 35,012. That snapped the Orange's 38-game home winning streak, and they were beaten again, 74-71, at No. 22 Marquette on Monday night to drop into a tie in the Big East with Notre Dame behind the league-leading Hoyas, Louisville and Marquette.</p><br /><p>Louisville (24-5, 12-4) snapped a three-game losing streak against Syracuse, and the Cardinals did it before a stunned crowd of 31,173. The victory moved Louisville into a tie with Marquette (21-7, 12-4), which beat Notre Dame, one-half game behind the Hoyas (22-4, 12-3), who played later Saturday.</p><br /><p>Russ Smith led Louisville with 18 points and <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362262147696_6">Gorgui Dieng</span> finished with 11 points and 14 rebounds as the Cardinals overcame a poor offensive performance by point guard Peyton Siva. Siva failed to score, missing eight 3-pointers, but had four assists and no turnovers.</p><br /><p>C.J. Fair had 19 points to lead the Orange, <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362262147696_8">James Southerland</span> added 13 and point guard Michael Carter-Williams 11.</p><br /><p>Syracuse, which trailed 23-19 at halftime, its fewest points in a first half this season, outrebounded Louisville 41-36 but was victimized by eight 3s and shot poorly again (20 of 56 for 35.7 percent). Senior guard <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362262147696_5">Brandon Triche</span>, one of the heroes in the win over Louisville in mid-January with 23 points, had just eight on this day, going 2 for 11 from the field and missing all three of his tries from long range. Syracuse's starting guards finished 5 of 21 overall and 1 of 7 on 3-pointers, while Triche had a game-high seven turnovers.</p><br /><p>"We can't have him (Triche) play this way," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. "He works his tail off. He's a good teammate. He wants to win, but I don't like the way he's playing right now. I don't like the way we're playing. We need to get something offensively."</p><br /><p>After Hancock swished a straight-on 3 for Louisville, Fair hit a spinning layup as Dieng fouled him but missed the free throw and Syracuse trailed 41-40 with 7:34 to go.</p><br /><p>Louisville began to press and the strategy paid off with two straight turnovers. Southerland lost the ball off the dribble and Triche mishandled an inbounds pass. The Cardinals took advantage as Dieng sank two free throws and Hancock hit a 3 from the wing for a 47-40 lead at 5:35, the biggest edge by either team in the game.</p><br /><p>Carter-Williams scored six straight points in a span of just over a minute to rally the Orange, hitting four free throws and a shot off the glass as Syracuse trailed 47-46 with 4:27 left. Fair's baseline jumper gave Syracuse the lead and Smith's free throw tied it at 48-all with 1:39 to go.</p><br /><p>After Triche missed a baseline layup against Dieng, Hancock stole Triche's ensuing inbounds pass and Hancock drained his fourth 3 off a slick pass to the corner from Smith to break the tie. Smith then hit two free throws and Triche's turnover sealed the Orange's fate as the Cardinals hit 7 of 8 free throws in the final seconds.</p><br /><p>"We had the lead. We just lost it at the end," Southerland said. "We just have to have the mentality that when we have the ball, we're not going to lose it. Unfortunately, we had some tough turnovers at the end of the game that definitely changed the outcome.</p><br /><p>"We just have to forget about this game and move forward. This is stuff teams go through. The best thing about it is it's better to go through it now than in the tournament because you only have one chance then."</p><br /><p>Syracuse beat Louisville 70-68 in mid-January in the final seconds when Carter-Williams stole a pass at the top of the key and raced the length of the court, slamming home a two-hander that Dieng couldn't contest and landing hard on his back underneath the backboard. A record crowd of 22,814 at the KFC Yum! Center saw Syracuse beat a No. 1 team for fourth time, and the Cardinals are still the only top-ranked team to lose at home this season.</p><br /><p>The Louisville players said they weren't thinking revenge. They're just happy to be playing at a high level after their fifth straight win.</p><br /><p>"It wasn't a revenge game. We did what we were supposed to do," Dieng said. "Anyone can beat anybody in the Big East. We need to win all the games (left) and do what we're supposed to do, and the rest is going to take care of itself."</p><br /><p>Syracuse, which trailed 23-19 after a poor first half, briefly found a way to foil Dieng, <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362262147696_7">Louisville</span>'s shot-blocking defensive ace, early in the second half. Carter-Williams fed Rakeem Christmas for a slam dunk and less than a minute later Southerland slammed another home to complete a three-way passing play in the lane with Christmas and Triche to move Syracuse within 28-27.</p><br /><p>With Dieng on the bench, Southerland, who had just one basket in the first half, then drained a 3 from the top of the arc to give Syracuse just its second lead of the game. It was short-lived as Kevin Ware hit a 3 from the top of the key 24 seconds later.</p><br /><p>"It's March," Ware said. "Tournament time is right around the corner. We told ourselves yesterday every game is like an NCAA game. We don't want to lose. We want to keep this win streak going."</p><br />Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861713515035474484.post-32823165788676192002013-03-02T16:06:00.001-08:002013-03-02T16:06:15.667-08:00U.S. evolves on same-sex marriage<br /><!--startclickprintexclude--><br /><br /><br /><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt"><div class="cnn_strylctcntr"><br /><p><strong>STORY HIGHLIGHTS</strong></p><br /><ul class="cnn_bulletbin cnnStryHghLght"><!--google_ad_section_start--><li>The president and the nation have shifted perspectives on same-sex marriage</li><br /><li>Supreme Court ruling on California's same-sex marriage ban a critical test</li><br /><li>Growing public support for gay marriage give proponents hope for change</li><br /><!--google_ad_section_end--><br /></ul></div></div><br /><!--endclickprintexclude--><!--google_ad_section_start--><!--startclickprintinclude--><br /><p><strong>Washington (CNN)</strong> -- The nation's growing acceptance of same-sex marriage has happened in slow and painstaking moves, eventually building into a momentum that is sweeping even the most unlikely of converts.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph2">Even though he said in 2008 that he could only support civil unions for same-sex couples, President Barack Obama nonetheless enjoyed strong support among the gay community. He disappointed many with his conspicuously subdued first-term response to the same-sex marriage debate.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph3">Last year, after Vice President Joe Biden announced his support, the president then said his position had evolved and he, too, supported same-sex marriage.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph4">So it was no small matter when on Thursday the Obama administration formally expressed its support of same-sex marriage in a court brief weighing in on California's Proposition 8, which bans same-sex weddings. The administration's effort was matched by at least 100 high-profile Republicans — some of whom in elections past depended on gay marriage as a wedge issue guaranteed to rally the base — who signed onto a brief supporting gay couples to legally wed.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph5">Obama on same-sex marriage: Everyone is equal</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph6">Then there are the polls that show that an increasing number of Americans now support same-sex marriage. These polls show that nearly half of the nation's Catholics and white, mainstream Protestants and more than half of the nation's women, liberals and political moderates all support same-sex marriage.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph7">According to Pew Research Center polling, 48% of Americans support same-sex marriage with 43% opposed. Back in 2001, 57% opposed same-sex marriage while 35% supported it.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph8">In last year's presidential election, same-sex marriage scarcely raised a ripple. That sea change is not lost on the president.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph9">"The same evolution I've gone through is the same evolution the country as a whole has gone through," Obama told reporters on Friday.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph10">Craig Rimmerman, professor of public policy and political science at Hobart and William Smith colleges says there is history at work here and the administration is wise to get on the right side.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph11">"There is no doubt that President Obama's shifting position on Proposition 8 and same-sex marriage more broadly is due to his desire to situate himself on the right side of history with respect to the fight over same-sex marriage," said Rimmerman, author of "From Identity to Politics: The Lesbian and Gay Movements in the United States."</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph12">"I also think that broader changes in public opinion showing greater support for same-sex marriage, especially among young people, but in the country at large as well, has created a cultural context for Obama to alter his views."</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph13">For years, Obama had frustrated many in the gay community by not offering full-throated support of same-sex marriage. However, the president's revelation last year that conversations with his daughters and friends led him to change his mind gave many in that community hope.</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph14">Last year, the Obama administration criticized a measure in North Carolina that banned same-sex marriage and made civil unions illegal. The president took the same position on a similar Minnesota proposal.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph15">Obama administration officials point to what they see as the administration's biggest accomplishment in the gay rights cause: repealing "don't ask, don't tell," the military's ban on openly gay and lesbian members serving in the forces.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph16">Then there was the president's inaugural address which placed the gay community's struggle for equality alongside similar civil rights fights by women and African-Americans.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph17">"Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law, for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal, as well," Obama said in his address after being sworn in.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph18">In offering its support and asserting in the brief that "prejudice may not be the basis for differential treatment under the law," the Obama administration is setting up a high stakes political and constitutional showdown at the U.S. Supreme Court over a fast-evolving and contentious issue.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph19">The justices will hear California's Proposition 8 case in March. That case and another appeal over the federal Defense of Marriage Act will produce blockbuster rulings from the justices in coming months.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph20">Beyond the legal wranglings there is a strong social and historic component, one that has helped open the way for the administration to push what could prove to be a social issue that defines Obama's second term legacy, Rimmerman said.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph21">The nation is redefining itself on this issue, as well.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph22">Pew survey: Changing attitudes on gay marriage</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph23">The changes are due, in part, to generational shifts. Younger people show a higher level of support than their older peers, according to Pew polling "Millennials are almost twice as likely as the Silent Generation to support same-sex marriage."</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph24">"As people have grown up with people having the right to marry the generational momentum has been very, very strong," said Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, a gay rights organization.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph25">That is not to say that there isn't still opposition.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph26">Pew polling found that most Republicans and conservatives remain opposed to same-sex marriage. In 2001, 21% of Republicans were supportive; in 2012 that number nudged slightly to 25%.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph27">Conservative groups expressed dismay at the administration's same-sex marriage support.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph28">"President Obama, who was against same-sex 'marriage' before he was for it, and his administration, which said the Defense of Marriage Act was constitutional before they said it was unconstitutional, has now flip-flopped again on the issue of same-sex 'marriage,' putting allegiance to extreme liberal social policies ahead of constitutional principle," Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said in a statement.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph29">But there are signs of movement even among some high profile Republican leaders</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph30">Top Republicans sign brief supporting same-sex marriage</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph31">The Republican-penned friend of the court brief, which is designed to influence conservative justices on the high court, includes a number of top officials from the George W. Bush administration, Mitt Romney's former campaign manager and former GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph32">It is also at odds with the Republican Party's platform, which opposes same-sex marriage and defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph33">Still, with White House and high-profile Republican support, legal and legislative victories in a number of states and polls that show an increasing number of Americans support same sex-marriage, proponents feel that the winds of history are with them.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph34">"What we've seen is accelerating and irrefutable momentum as Americans have come to understand who gay people are and why marriage matters," Wolfson said. "We now have a solid national majority and growing support across every demographic. We have leaders across the spectrum, including Republicans, all saying it's time to end marriage discrimination."</p><br /><p class="cnn_strycbftrtxt">CNN's Peter Hamby, Ashley Killough and Bill Mears contributed to this report. </p><br /><!--endclickprintinclude--><!--google_ad_section_end--><br /><!--no partner--><br /><br /><br />Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861713515035474484.post-28760556008311633322013-03-02T16:04:00.001-08:002013-03-02T16:04:12.388-08:00Red light camera firm admits it likely bribed Chicago official<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p>Chicago's embattled red light camera firm went to City Hall on Friday in its latest effort to come clean, acknowledging for the first time that its entire program here was likely built on a $2 million bribery scheme.</p><br /><p>By its sheer size, the alleged plot would rank among the largest in the annals of Chicago corruption.</p><br /><p>An internal probe of Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. and a parallel investigation by the city's inspector general — prompted by reports in the Chicago Tribune — have cost the company its largest North American contract and all of its top executives.</p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p>On Friday the company announced the resignations of its president, its chief financial officer and its top lawyer. The head of Redflex's Australian parent company conducted town hall meetings at the headquarters of its Phoenix-based subsidiary to tell employees there was wrongdoing in the Chicago contract and that sweeping reforms were being instituted to win back the company's reputation.</p><br /><p>In separate, private briefings with the city inspector general and with Mayor Rahm Emanuel's top lawyer, Redflex attorneys acknowledged it's likely true that company officials intended to bribe a Chicago city official and that they also plied him with expenses-paid vacations.</p><br /><p>The company's outside investigator, former city Inspector General David Hoffman, found that Redflex paid $2.03 million to a Chicago consultant in a highly suspicious arrangement likely intended to funnel some of the money to the former city transportation official who oversaw the company contract, according to sources familiar with the investigation and the Friday briefings to city officials.</p><br /><p>The arrangement between the city official, the consultant and Redflex — first disclosed by a company whistle-blower — will likely be considered bribery by law enforcement authorities, Hoffman found.</p><br /><p>Without subpoena power, it was not possible to check personal financial records of the city official or the consultant, who refused to cooperate, according to the sources familiar with Hoffman's findings. But Hoffman, a former federal prosecutor, said that under applicable law, authorities could consider the arrangement to be bribery even if the payments were not made, the sources said.</p><br /><p>The bulk of the consultant's fees — $1.57 million — were paid during a four-year period beginning in 2007, the years the program really expanded in Chicago, Hoffman found.</p><br /><p>In addition, the city transportation official was treated to 17 trips, including airfare, hotels, rental cars, golf outings and meals, the sources said. Most of those expenses were paid by the company's former executive vice president, Hoffman found. That official was fired late last month and blamed by the company for much of the Chicago problem.</p><br /><p>But Hoffman found that Redflex's president also had knowledge of the arrangement that would have made any reasonable person highly suspicious that it was a bribery scheme, the sources said.</p><br /><p>Hoffman also found that Redflex did not disclose its knowledge about the improper arrangement to City Hall until confronted by the Tribune in October. Even then, Hoffman found, company officials lied to Emanuel's administration about the extent of the wrongdoing.</p><br /><p>Redflex's Australian parent company was expected to post a summation of Hoffman's findings in a Monday filing with the Australian Securities Exchange that will include the resignations announced to employees Friday.</p><br /><p>"Today's announcement of executive changes follows the conclusion of our investigation in Chicago and marks the dividing line between the past and where this company is headed," Robert DeVincenzi, president and CEO of Redflex Holdings Ltd. said in a statement to the newspaper. "This day, and each day going forward, we intend to be a constructive force in our industry, promoting high ethical standards and serving the public interest."</p><br /><p>The company will also announce reforms including installing new requirements to put all company employees through anti-bribery and anti-corruption training, hiring a new director of compliance to ensure employees adhere to company policies, and establishing a 24-hour whistle-blower hotline.</p><br /><p>The actions mark the latest changes in the company's evolving accounts of the scandal.</p><br /><p>Officials at the firm had repeatedly dismissed allegations of bribery in the Chicago contract since they were made in a 2010 internal complaint obtained last year by the Tribune. In October the Tribune disclosed the whistle-blower letter by a company executive and first brought to light the questionable relationship between former city official John Bills and the Redflex consultant, Marty O'Malley, who are longtime friends from the South Side.</p><br /><p>Bills and O'Malley have acknowledged their friendship but denied anything improper about their handling of the Redflex contract.</p><br /><p>"Totally false, but I appreciate you calling me," Bills told the Tribune on Friday when informed of the Hoffman findings. O'Malley did not return calls.</p><br /><p>In the four-month investigation, Hoffman and his team conducted 58 interviews and reviewed more than 37,000 company documents including email traffic among company officials, sources said. Hoffman concluded that company officials used poor judgment and a serious lack of diligence in investigating the allegations contained in the whistle-blower memo.</p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861713515035474484.post-20091094708267921942013-03-01T16:10:00.001-08:002013-03-01T16:10:12.630-08:00AP source: Flacco agrees to Ravens deal<br /><p class="first">A person with knowledge of the deal tells The Associated Press that <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362182228232_3">Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco</span> has agreed on a new contract with the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362182228232_1">Baltimore Ravens</span>.</p><br /><p><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362182228232_2">Flacco</span> played out his <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362182228232_4">rookie contract</span> last season for $6.76 million and led Baltimore to the NFL championship. He cashed in Friday with the new deal, although terms were not immediately available.</p><br /><p>The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement has not officially been announced.</p><br /><p>Fox Sports first reported the new deal.</p><br /><p>The 28-year-old Flacco is the only quarterback to win a postseason game in each of his first five pro seasons. He had a spectacular playoffs and Super Bowl this year, throwing for 11 touchdowns with no interceptions.</p><br /><p>He also holds the record for playoff road wins with six.</p><br />Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861713515035474484.post-90402759377615693612013-03-01T16:06:00.001-08:002013-03-01T16:06:14.015-08:00Syria war is everybody's problem<br /><!--startclickprintexclude--><br /><br /><div class="cnn_stryimg640caption" readability="8"><p>Syrians search for survivors and bodies after the Syrian regime attacked the city of Aleppo with missiles on February 23.</p></div><br /><br /><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt"><div class="cnn_strylctcntr"><br /><p><strong>STORY HIGHLIGHTS</strong></p><br /><ul class="cnn_bulletbin cnnStryHghLght"><!--google_ad_section_start--><li>Frida Ghitis: We are standing by as Syria rips itself apart, thinking it's not our problem</li><br /><li>Beyond the tragedy in human terms, she says, the war damages global stability</li><br /><li>Ghitis: Syria getting more and more radical, jeopardizing forces of democracy</li><br /><li>Ghitis: Peace counts on moderates, whom we must back with diplomacy, training arms</li><br /><!--google_ad_section_end--><br /></ul></div></div><br /><!--endclickprintexclude--><!--google_ad_section_start--><!--startclickprintinclude--><br /><p class="cnnEditorialNote"><em><strong>Editor's note:</strong> Frida Ghitis is a world affairs columnist for The Miami Herald and World Politics Review. A former CNN producer and correspondent, she is the author of "The End of Revolution: A Changing World in the Age of Live Television." Follow her on Twitter: @FridaGColumns</em></p><br /><p><strong>(CNN)</strong> -- Last week, a huge explosion rocked the Syrian capital of Damascus, killing more than 50 people and injuring hundreds. The victims of the blast in a busy downtown street were mostly civilians, including schoolchildren. Each side in the Syrian civil war blamed the other.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph3">In the northern city of Aleppo, about 58 people -- 36 of them children -- died in a missile attack last week. Washington condemned the regime of Bashar al-Assad; the world looked at the awful images and moved on.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph5">Syria is ripping itself to pieces. The extent of human suffering is beyond comprehension. That alone should be reason enough to encourage a determined effort to bring this conflict to a quick resolution. But if humanitarian reasons were not enough, the international community -- including the U.S. and its allies -- should weigh the potential implications of allowing this calamity to continue.</p><br /><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt"><div class="cnn_strylctcntr cnn_strylccimg214"><br /><img src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/111012033349-frida-ghitis-left-tease.jpg" alt="Frida Ghitis" border="0" class="box-image" height="122" width="214"/><p>Frida Ghitis</p><br /></div></div><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph7">We've all heard the argument: It's not our problem. We're not the world's policeman. We would only make it worse.</p><br /><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph9">This is not a plea to send American or European troops to fight in this conflict. Nobody wants that.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph11">But before we allow this mostly hands-off approach to continue, we would do well to consider the potential toll of continuing with a failed policy, one that has focused in vain over the past two years searching for a diplomatic solution.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph13">U. S. Secretary of State John Kerry has just announced that the U.S. will provide an additional $60 million in non-lethal assistance to the opposition. He has hinted that President Obama, after rejecting suggestions from the CIA and previous Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to arm Syrian rebels, might be ready to change course. And not a day too soon.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph15">The war is taking longer than anyone expected. The longer it lasts, the more Syria is radicalized and the region is destabilized.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph17">If you think the Syrian war is the concern of Syrians alone, think about other countries that have torn themselves apart over a long time. Consider Lebanon, Afghanistan or Somalia; each with unique circumstances, but with one thing in common: Their wars created enormous suffering at home, and the destructiveness eventually spilled beyond their borders. All of those wars triggered lengthy, costly refugee crises. They all spawned international terrorism and eventually direct international -- including U.S. -- intervention.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph19">The uprising against al-Assad started two years ago in the spirit of what was then referred to -- without a hint of irony -- as the Arab Spring. Young Syrians marched, chanting for freedom and democracy. The ideals of equality, rule of law and human rights wafted in the air.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph21">Al-Assad responded to peaceful protests with gunfire. Syrians started dying by the hundreds each day. Gradually the nonviolent protesters started fighting back. Members of the Syrian army started defecting.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph23">The opposition's Free Syrian Army came together. Factions within the Syrian opposition took up arms and the political contest became a brutal civil war. The death toll has climbed to as many as 90,000, according to Kerry. About 2 million people have left their homes, and the killing continues with no end in sight.</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph25">In fairness to Washington, Europe and the rest of the international community, there were never easy choices in this war. Opposition leaders bickered, and their clashing views scared away would-be supporters. Western nations rejected the idea of arming the opposition, saying Syria already has too many weapons. They were also concerned about who would control the weaponry, including an existing arsenal of chemical and biological weapons, after al-Assad's fall.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph27">These are all legitimate concerns. But inaction is producing the worst possible outcome.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph29">The moderates, whose views most closely align with the West, are losing out to the better-armed Islamists and, especially, to the extremists. Moderates are losing the ideological debate and the battle for the future character of a Syria after al-Assad.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph31">Radical Islamist groups have taken the lead. Young people are losing faith in moderation, lured by disciplined, devout extremists. Reporters on the ground have seen young democracy advocates turn into fervent supporters of dangerous groups such as the Nusra Front, which has scored impressive victories.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph33">The U.S. State Department recently listed the Nusra Front, which has close ties to al Qaeda in Iraq and a strong anti-Western ideology, as a terrorist organization.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph35">Meantime, countries bordering Syria are experiencing repercussions. And these are likely to become more dangerous.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph37">Jordan, an important American ally, is struggling with a flood of refugees, as many as 10,000 each week since the start of the year. The government estimates 380,000 Syrians are in Jordan, a country whose government is under pressure from its own restive population and still dealing with huge refugee populations from other wars.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph39">Turkey is also burdened with hundreds of thousands of refugees and occasional Syrian fire. Israel has warned about chemical weapons transfers from al-Assad to Hezbollah in Lebanon and may have already fired on a Syrian convoy attempting the move.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph41">Lebanon, always perched precariously on the edge of crisis, lives with growing fears that Syria's war will enter its borders. Despite denials, there is evidence that Lebanon's Hezbollah, a close ally of al-Assad and of Iran, has joined the fighting on the side of the Syrian president. The Free Syrian Army has threatened to attack Hezbollah in Lebanon if it doesn't leave Syria.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph43">The possible outcomes in Syria include the emergence of a failed state, stirring unrest throughout the region. If al-Assad wins, Syria will become an even more repressive country.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph45">Al-Assad's survival would fortify Iran and Hezbollah and other anti-Western forces. If the extremists inside the opposition win, Syria could see factional fighting for many years, followed by anti-democratic, anti-Western policies.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph47">The only good outcome is victory for the opposition's moderate forces. They may not be easy to identify with complete certainty. But to the extent that it is possible, these forces need Western support.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph48">They need training, funding, careful arming and strong political and diplomatic backing. The people of Syria should know that support for human rights, democracy and pluralism will lead toward a peaceful, prosperous future.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph50">Democratic nations should not avert their eyes from the killings in Syria which are, after all, a warning to the world.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph52"><i>Follow us on Twitter </i><i>@CNNOpinion.</i></p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph53"><i>Join us on </i><i>Facebook/CNNOpinion.</i></p><br /><p class="cnn_strycbftrtxt">The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Frida Ghitis.</p><br /><!--endclickprintinclude--><!--google_ad_section_end--><br /><!--no partner--><br /><br /><br />Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861713515035474484.post-20153332610381250182013-03-01T16:04:00.001-08:002013-03-01T16:04:13.310-08:00New budget crisis begins after Washington fiscal talks fail<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p>The U.S. government stumbled headlong on Friday toward wide-ranging spending cuts that threaten to hinder the economic recovery, after President Barack Obama and congressional leaders failed to find an alternative budget plan.</p><br /><p>Put in place during a bout of deficit-reduction fever in 2011, the automatic cuts can only be halted by agreement between Congress and the White House</p><br /><p>"This is not going to be an apocalypse,” Obama told reporters at the White House Friday. "It's just dumb. And it's going to hurt. It's going to hurt individual people, and it's going to hurt the economy overall."</p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p>A deal proved elusive in talks at the White House on Friday as expected, meaning that government agencies will now begin to hack a total of $85 billion from their budgets between Saturday and October 1. Financial markets in New York shrugged off the stalemate in Washington.</p><br /><p>Democrats predict the cuts, known as "sequestration," could soon cause air traffic delays, furloughs for hundreds of thousands of federal employees and disruption to education.</p><br /><p>While the International Monetary Fund warned that the belt tightening could slow U.S. economic growth by at least 0.5 of a percentage point this year, that is not a huge drag on an economy that is picking up steam.</p><br /><p>Obama was resigned to government budgets shrinking.</p><br /><p>"Even with these cuts in place, folks all across this country will work hard to make sure that we keep the recovery going, but Washington sure isn't making it easy," he said after meeting Republican and Democratic congressional leaders.</p><br /><p>At the heart of Washington's persistent fiscal crises is disagreement over how to slash the budget deficit and the $16 trillion national debt, bloated over the years by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and government stimulus for the ailing economy.</p><br /><p>Obama wants to close the fiscal gap with spending cuts and tax hikes, but Republicans don't want to concede again on taxes after doing so in negotiations over the "fiscal cliff" at the New Year.</p><br /><p>"The discussion about revenue, in my view, is over. It's about taking on the spending problem," House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said on leaving the meeting.</p><br /><p>The billions of dollars in cuts that go into effect on Saturday will probably be phased in over the coming weeks and months. Agencies from the Pentagon to the Department of Education have begun making plans to notify employees who will have to take unpaid days off.</p><br /><p>Administration officials say the cutbacks in staffing will affect everything from air-traffic control to border security, preventive health screenings and prosecution of criminal cases. The automatic cuts were harsh by design, meant to force Republicans and Democrats into a bigger budget deal that reduces deficit spending.</p><br /><p>No matter how Obama and Congress resolve the 2013 battle, this round of automatic spending cuts is only one of a decade's worth of annual cuts totaling $1.2 trillion mandated by the sequestration law.</p><br /><p>Given the current absence of a deal, Obama is required to issue an order to federal agencies by midnight to reduce their budgets. The White House budget office must send a report to Congress detailing the spending cuts.</p><br /><p>The Justice Department has already sent notices of furloughs that will begin April 21 at the earliest to some 115,000 workers, including at the Federal Bureau of Investigation.</p><br /><p>Unlike previous fiscal dramas, the sequestration fight is not rattling Wall Street.</p><br /><p>U.S. stocks rose moderately on Friday, with the Dow Industrials closing up 35 points, as data showed manufacturing expanded at its fastest pace in 20 months in February. Despite being up more than 7 percent this year, and near a record high, the discord in Washington has not prompted traders to cash in gains.</p><br /><p>"Most of us believe that sequestration is not something that will make us fall off the cliff, since the cuts will be worked in relatively slowly," said Bill Stone, chief investment strategist at PNC Wealth Management in Philadelphia.<strong/></p><br /><p><strong>Poll shows GOP beraing blame</strong></p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861713515035474484.post-90860078452132471812013-02-28T16:12:00.001-08:002013-02-28T16:12:24.728-08:00Wall Street ends flat after late fade; S&P up for fourth month<p class="first">NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks ended flat on Thursday, giving up modest gains late in the session, denying the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362088146478_1">Dow</span> a chance to inch closer to all-time highs.</p><br /><p> The S&P 500 still managed to close out February with a fourth straight month of gains. <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362088146478_2">JC Penney Co Inc</span> <jcp.n> was the day's biggest loser, falling 17 percent to $17.57 after the department store operator reported a steep drop in sales.</jcp.n></p><br /><p> The U.S. economy grew slightly in the fourth quarter, a turnaround from an earlier estimate showing contraction, and a drop in new claims for unemployment benefits last week added to a batch of data suggesting the economy continues its sluggish improvement.</p><br /><p> The Dow was within striking distance of its record high after a year-to-date advance of more than 7 percent. The Dow's record closing high, set on October 9, 2007, stands at 14,164.53, while the Dow's intraday record high, set on October 11, 2007, stands at 14,198.10.</p><br /><p> The Dow Jones Transportation Average <.djt>, seen as a bet on future growth, is up 12.9 percent this year, and the 20-stock index hit a record intraday high earlier on Thursday.</.djt></p><br /><p> "To push through to new highs, you would have to see consistent positive economic data in the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362088146478_3">U.S.</span> and have Europe stabilize - those are two pretty big requirements," said Jeff Morris, head of U.S. equities at Standard Life Investments in Boston.</p><br /><p> "It wouldn't surprise me to see us bounce around as we have the past couple of weeks," Morris added.</p><br /><p> Volume was low for most of the session until quarterly index-rebalancing activity hit the tape at the very close of trading.</p><br /><p> After a strong January with gains of more than 5 percent, both the Dow and the S&P 500 found gains tougher to come by in February. Minutes from the Federal Reserve's January meeting sparked concerns that the central bank may pull back on its stimulus measures sooner than expected, while looming U.S. budget cuts and turbulent Italian elections tempered investors' aggressiveness.</p><br /><p> But concerns about Fed policy were eased by testimony from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke before a congressional committee earlier this week, as he defended the policy of buying bonds to keep interest rates low to boost growth, despite worries some have about possible inflation.</p><br /><p> The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> shed 20.88 points, or 0.15 percent, to 14,054.49 at the close. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> lost 1.31 points, or 0.09 percent, to 1,514.68. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> fell 2.07 points, or 0.07 percent, to end at 3,160.19.</.ixic></.spx></.dji></p><br /><p> For the month, the Dow rose 1.4 percent, the S&P 500 gained 1.1 percent and the Nasdaq advanced 0.6 percent.</p><br /><p> <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362088146478_4">Limited Brands</span> <ltd.n> and Netflix <nflx.o> ranked among the best-performing consumer stocks. Shares of Limited Brands, the parent of retailers Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works, gained 2.3 percent to $45.52. The stock of video streaming service Netflix climbed 2 percent to $$188.08.</nflx.o></ltd.n></p><br /><p> In contrast, shares of Groupon Inc <grpn.o> fell on weak revenue, with the daily deals company's tumbling 24.3 percent to $4.53.</grpn.o></p><br /><p> Cablevision <cvc.n> slumped 9.6 percent to $13.99 after the cable provider took a $100 million hit on costs related to Superstorm Sandy and posted deeper video customer losses than expected.</cvc.n></p><br /><p> On a positive note, Mylan Inc <myl.o> gained 3.6 percent to $29.61 after the generic drugmaker posted a 25 percent rise in fourth-quarter profit and said it will buy a unit of India's Strides Arcolab Ltd.</myl.o></p><br /><p> Investors were keeping an eye on the debate in Washington over U.S. government budget cuts that will take effect starting Friday if lawmakers fail to reach agreement on spending and taxes. President Barack Obama and Republican congressional leaders arranged last-ditch talks to prevent the cuts, but expectations were low that any deal would emerge.</p><br /><p> Volume was modest with about 6.81 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE MKT and Nasdaq, slightly above the daily average of 6.46 billion.</p><br /><p> Advancing stocks slightly outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 1,518 to 1,446. On the Nasdaq, the decliners had a slight edge, with 1,247 shares falling and 1,201 stocks rising.</p><br /><p> (Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Jan Paschal)</p><br /><br />Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861713515035474484.post-77081030480954186312013-02-28T16:10:00.001-08:002013-02-28T16:10:24.318-08:00AP Source: Salary cap increases to $123 million<br /><p class="first">An NFL Players Association official familiar with the league's <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362096127489_2">salary-cap</span> negotiations tells The Associated Press the figure for the 2013 season will rise to $123 million from $120.6 million in 2012.</p><br /><p>The official spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Thursday because no <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362096127489_3">formal announcement</span> had been made.</p><br /><p>The increase is a result of greater-than-expected revenues last season — primarily from <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362096127489_1">NFL Properties</span> — and a jump in projected league revenues, according to the official.</p><br /><p>The league and the union work together to establish a cap number, based on parameters established under their collective bargaining agreement. The current 10-year CBA was signed in August 2011, ending the owners' lockout of the players.</p><br />Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861713515035474484.post-1115580015141857022013-02-28T16:06:00.001-08:002013-02-28T16:06:39.432-08:00Syria war is everybody's problem<br /><!--startclickprintexclude--><br /><br /><br /><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt"><div class="cnn_strylctcntr"><br /><p><strong>STORY HIGHLIGHTS</strong></p><br /><ul class="cnn_bulletbin cnnStryHghLght"><!--google_ad_section_start--><li><b>NEW:</b> France considers sending Syrian rebels night-vision gear and body armor, a source says</li><br /><li>Britain's foreign secretary says the UK will announce new aid soon</li><br /><li>The statements after European Union loosens restrictions to allow nonlethal aid to rebels</li><br /><li>The U.S. will also send non-lethal aid to rebels for first time, plus $60 million in administrative aid</li><br /><!--google_ad_section_end--><br /></ul></div></div><br /><!--endclickprintexclude--><!--google_ad_section_start--><!--startclickprintinclude--><br /><p><strong>Rome (CNN)</strong> -- The United States stepped further into Syria's civil war Thursday, promising rebel fighters food and medical supplies -- but not weapons -- for the first time in the two-year conflict that has claimed more than 60,000 lives and laid waste to large portions of the country.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph2">Meanwhile, European nations began to explore ways to strengthen rebel fighters that stop short of arming them after a European Council decision allowing such aid to flow to Syria.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph3">U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the aid would help fighters in the high-stakes effort to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a conflict that has already spawned an enormous humanitarian crisis as refugees flee the fighting.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph4">The ongoing fighting also poses the persistent threat of widening into a destabilizing regional crisis,<strong> </strong>including concerns that Hezbollah, Iran or others could gain control in Damascus after al-Assad's government falls.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph5">"The United States' decision to take further steps now is the result of the continued brutality of a superior armed force propped up by foreign fighters from Iran and Hezbollah, all of which threatens to destroy Syria," Kerry said after meeting opposition leaders in Rome.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph6">Kerry didn't say how much that aid would be worth, but did announce that the United States would separately give $60 million to local groups working with the Syrian National Council to provide political administration and basic services in rebel-controlled areas of Syria.</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph7">READ: U.S. weighing nonlethal aid to Syrian opposition</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph8">That's on top of $50 million in similar aid the United States has previously pledged to the council, as well as $385 million in humanitarian assistance, Kerry said.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph9">"This funding will allow the opposition to reach out and help the local councils to be able to rebuild in their liberated areas of Syria so that they can provide basic services to people who so often lack access today to medical care, to food, to sanitation," he said.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph10"><strong>Islamist Influence</strong></p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph11">That aid is partly an effort to hem in radical Islamist groups vying for influence in Syria after the fall of al-Assad, a senior State Department official told CNN.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph12">"If the Syrian opposition coalition can't touch, improve and heal the lives of Syrians in those places that have been freed, then extremists will step in and do it," the official said.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph13">Sheikh Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, president of the Syrian National Council, said concerns about Islamist influence had been overstated.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph14">"We stand against every radical belief that aims to target Syria's diverse social and religious fabric," he said.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph15">READ: Inside Syria: Exclusive look at pro-Assad Christian militia</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph16">U.S. officials hope the aid will help the coalition show what it can do and encourage al-Assad supporters to "peel away from him" and help end the fighting, the official said.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph17">The opposition council will decide where the money goes, Kerry said.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph18">But the United States will send technical advisers through its partners to the group's Cairo headquarters to make sure the aid is being used properly, the senior State Department official said.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph19"><strong>Additional aid possible</strong></p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph20">The European Council carved out an exception in its sanctions against Syria on Thursday to allow for the transfer of nonlethal equipment and technical assistance for civilian protection only.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph21">The council didn't specify what kind of equipment could be involved.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph22">British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Friday on Twitter that his country would be pledging new aid because "we cannot stand still while the crisis worsens and thousands of lives are at stake."</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph23">A diplomatic official at the French Foreign Ministry told CNN that France is studying the possibility of supplying night-vision equipment or body armor.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph24">"It is in the scope of the amendment," the official said.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph25">In the United States, President Barack Obama is thinking about training rebels and equipping them with defensive gear such as night-vision goggles, body armor and military vehicles, according to sources familiar with the discussions.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph26">The training would help rebels decide how to use their resources, strategize and maybe train a police force to take over after al-Assad's fall, one of the sources said.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph27">READ: Syrian army in Homs is showing strains of war</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph28">Kerry did not announce that sort of aid Thursday, but said the United States and other countries backing the rebels would "continue to consult with each other on an urgent basis."</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph29">An official who briefed reporters said the opposition has raised a lot of needs in the Rome meetings and the administration will continue to "keep those under review."</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph30">"We will do this with vetted individuals, vetted units, so it has to be done carefully and appropriately," the official said.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph31"><strong>Humanitarian crisis</strong></p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph32">The conflict began with demands for political reform after the Arab Spring movement that swept the Middle East and Africa, but descended into a brutal civil war when the al-Assad regime began a brutal crackdown on demonstrators.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph33">At least 60,000 people have died since the fighting began in March 2011, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said in early January.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph34">Another 940,000 had fled the country as of Tuesday, while more than one in 10 of Syria's 20 million residents have been forced to move elsewhere inside the country because of the fighting, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph35">The situation is nearing crisis proportions, with the dramatic influx of refugees threatening to break the ability of host nations to provide for their needs, Assistant High Commissioner Erika Feller told the U.N. Human Rights Council on Tuesday</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph36">"The host states, including Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, Egypt and the North African countries, have been exemplary in their different ways, but we fear the pressure will start to overwhelm their capacities," she told the council, according to a text of her remarks posted on the United Nations website.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph37">Al-Khatib said it's time for the fighting to stop.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph38">"I ask Bashar al-Assad for once, just once, to behave as a human being," he said. "Enough massacres, enough killings. Enough of your bloodshed and enough torture. I urge you to make a rational decision once in your life and end the killings."</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph39">READ: Syrian war is everybody's problem</p><br /><p class="cnn_strycbftrtxt">Jill Dougherty reported from Rome, and Michael Pearson reported and wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh and Elise Labott also contributed to this report.</p><br /><!--endclickprintinclude--><!--google_ad_section_end--><br /><!--no partner--><br /><br /><br />Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861713515035474484.post-35621674528481626932013-02-28T16:04:00.001-08:002013-02-28T16:04:33.726-08:00Groupon founder Andrew Mason fired; shares jump<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Groupon on Thursday ousted its CEO, company co-founder Andrew Mason, replacing him with two current directors amid increasing heat about the deal site's disappointing financial performance. <p>In a letter to employees, Mason said he was fired, with a playful and self-deprecating addition: "If you're wondering why ... you haven't been paying attention."</p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> "From controversial metrics in our (initial public offering) to two quarters of missing our own expectations and a stock price that's hovering around one quarter of our listing price, the events of the last year and a half speak for themselves," Mason continued. "As CEO, I am accountable."<p>As far back as November, Groupon and Mason were forced to respond publicly to a report that he would lose his job. Reports surfaced at the time that Groupon's board was considering replacing Mason with a more experienced CEO to lead the Chicago-based daily deal company's turnaround. </p><p>The board said it's searching for a permanent replacement. For now, Executive Chairman Eric Lefkofsky -- an original investor -- and Vice Chairman Ted Leonsis will share the task. </p><p>The company said its earnings expectations for the first quarter and full year outlined on Wednesday remain unchanged. </p><p>Investors appear to applaud Mason's departure, driving shares up in after-hours trading after a brutal regular session in which the stock lost a quarter of its value. Shares had plummeted in continuing fallout from a weaker than expected earnings report and forecast on Wednesday. The stock jumped 8 percent after hours on the news and was at $4.70, up nearly 4 percent, at 5:26 p.m.</p><p>Mason, a 32-year-old Northwestern University graduate, has come under fire for a series of missteps including controversy during its IPO and not finding a quick enough solution for its financial struggles.</p><p>Arvind Bhatia, a senior research analyst at Sterne Agee who recently upgraded Groupon to a "buy" with a $9 price target, said he expected Mason to have a few more quarters to prove himself, but the plummeting stock price likely forced the board to make a move. </p><p>"I think the reaction to the stock pushed them over the edge," Bhatia said. "It was basically saying that the market is not giving Andrew a vote of confidence, and I think the board took that message seriously." </p><p>Groupon, which was founded in 2008, was once a red-hot company that sparked a number of deal site competitors by marketing discounts on local services such as spas and restaurants to millions of online subscribers. </p><p>It turned down a nearly $6 billion buyout offer by Google in 2010 that at the time was thought to undervalue the company. A year later, it ended its first day as a public company worth $16 billion. </p><p>But it has lost about three-quarters of its value since it went public. On Thursday, its market capitalization was less than $3 billion, according to Capital IQ.</p><p>The scrutiny of Groupon was tremendous, given the "high-flying" nature of the company and the culture created and fostered by Mason, observers said. </p><p>That culture turned from a lovable quirk to a major liability as the company ran into controversy over its poorly received Super Bowl ads two years ago and a series of missteps before its IPO. Then, within months of its public debut, it disclosed an accounting flaw that forced it to restate financial results. </p><p>The larger question surrounding Groupon -- the long-term viability of its basic business model -- remains. The company has been expanding offerings beyond its core daily deals, where growth has slumped. </p><p>On Wednesday, the company posted a fourth-quarter net loss of $81.1 million, or 12 cents a share, missing Wall Street's expectations for a profit. Revenue for the quarter was up 30 percent, in line with analysts' views.</p><p>Groupon also warned Wednesday that its turnaround would take time, suggesting it will likely cut employees and overall expenses. </p><p><em>Tribune reporter Robert Channick contributed. </em></p><p><img src="http://media.ycharts.com/charts/e1aa52cbedd0d32c69647f4f4dddea95.png" alt="GRPN Chart"/> <br /></p><p>GRPN data by YCharts</p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861713515035474484.post-2238430132164540402013-02-27T16:10:00.001-08:002013-02-27T16:10:21.617-08:00AP Source: 49ers to send Smith to KC<br /><p class="first">SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362009367608_1">Alex Smith</span> quietly stayed behind the scenes after losing his job and watched from the sideline as <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362009367608_2">San Francisco</span> returned to the Super Bowl for the first time in 18 years. Yet the No. 1 overall draft pick from 2005 did make one thing known: The veteran quarterback still considers himself a starter.</p><br /><p>And he hoped to get that chance again. Now, he appears to have it.</p><br /><p>The <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362009367608_7">Kansas City Chiefs</span> have agreed to acquire Smith from the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362009367608_3">49ers</span> in the first major acquisition since Andy Reid took over as the team's new coach in early January, a person with knowledge of the trade told The Associated Press on Wednesday.</p><br /><p>The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal cannot become official until March 12, when the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362009367608_9">NFL</span>'s new business year begins. Another person familiar with the swap said the 49ers will get a second-round pick in April's draft, No. 34 overall, and a conditional pick in the 2014 draft.</p><br /><p>After spending his first eight up-and-down years with the 49ers, Smith will get a welcome new start. The Chiefs will get the proven play-caller they hope can help turn things around under a new coach much the way Smith did under <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362009367608_5">Jim Harbaugh</span> in <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362009367608_4">San Francisco</span>.</p><br /><p>"You never know when your opportunity's going to come," Smith said late in the season. "The good ones are ready when they do come."</p><br /><p>The Chiefs have gone this route before, acquiring Joe Montana from the 49ers nearly 20 years ago, in April 1993, after he won four Super Bowls but gave way to Steve Young — San Francisco's quarterback of the future.</p><br /><p>Not so different from Smith's situation last season behind second-year QB <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362009367608_6">Colin Kaepernick</span>.</p><br /><p>Moving Smith was hardly unexpected. He realized it once <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362009367608_8">Kaepernick</span> emerged as a capable starter over the season's final two months, and Smith all but said goodbye with his first pro team when he played briefly in the regular-season finale against Arizona to cheers of "Let's Go, Alex!" and "Alex! Alex!" from the Candlestick Park crowd.</p><br /><p>With Smith now headed for Kansas City, Matt Cassel is likely headed out of town. And Reid will enter his first draft as Chiefs coach in April no longer needing to search for a quarterback.</p><br /><p>The Chiefs' problems at quarterback are the single biggest reason they went 2-14 last season and secured the No. 1 pick in the draft for the first time in franchise history.</p><br /><p>It's been a long-running problem for a franchise that has tried Steve Bono and Elvis Grbac (two more one-time 49ers), and more recently Damon Huard, Tyler Thigpen and Tyler Palko at quarterback. And then there's Cassel.</p><br /><p>He was acquired by recently fired general manager Scott Pioli, and has two years left on a $63 million, six-year deal. He will likely be cut once Smith is acquired.</p><br /><p>Cassel was benched last season in favor of Brady Quinn, who also is a free agent after going 1-7 as the starter.</p><br /><p>If Smith can bring the steady form that defined his last two years, the Chiefs might be able to establish a much-needed consistency under center. They also found themselves a team-first player who led the 49ers through workouts during the 2011 lockout.</p><br /><p>Under the three-year contract he signed last March, Smith is guaranteed $8.5 million in base salary for the 2013 season.</p><br /><p>Smith thrived under 49ers coach and former NFL quarterback Harbaugh in one-plus season as the starter. Then, just like that, it all changed after he sustained a concussion.</p><br /><p>Last week at the NFL combine, Harbaugh praised Smith and reiterated just how strong San Francisco was with Colin Kaepernick as the starter and someone with Smith's credentials at backup.</p><br /><p>Yet everyone knew it was likely the 49ers would do their best to improve Smith's situation considering all he did for the franchise for nearly the past decade.</p><br /><p>"Alex is really playing the best football of his career the last two years," Harbaugh said. "We think we got the best quarterback situation in the National Football League, feel strongly about that. Again, that'll be a process that plays out. Alex Smith continuing to be a 49er or if a trade occurs in the next weeks or months. Those are the two possibilities, most likely possibilities."</p><br /><p>Smith acknowledged when he lost the job to Kaepernick back in November that he had done nothing wrong but get hurt. Not only had he completed 26 of his previous 28 passes — 18 of 19 for 232 yards and three touchdowns without an interception and a 157.1 passer rating in a Monday Night Football win at Arizona on Oct. 29 — Smith had just earned NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors after that victory in the desert.</p><br /><p>He then sustained a concussion in the second quarter of a 24-24 tie against St. Louis on Nov. 11 — saying later he threw a touchdown pass with blurry vision. Smith sat out the next game as Kaepernick dazzled in his debut as an NFL starter, beating the Bears handily at home on Monday Night Football.</p><br /><p>After that, Harbaugh vowed to stick with the "hot hand," as he regularly put it, while complicating matters by still referring to Smith as a starter.</p><br /><p>Smith's most poignant response to the situation was, "I feel like the only thing I did to lose my job was get a concussion."</p><br /><p>Kaepernick led the 49ers to the NFC championship and a 34-31 loss to Baltimore in the Super Bowl in his second season. Now the 49ers are looking for his backup.</p><br /><p>The 28-year-old Smith struggled for most of his career in San Francisco, plagued as much by coaching and constant coordinator changes as by his own indecisiveness. But when Harbaugh became coach in January 2011, Smith blossomed under the former QB's guidance. He was among the league leaders in passer rating (104.1) with a 70.2 completion percentage when he got hurt last season.</p><br /><p>Fox Sports first reported the deal Wednesday.</p><br /><p>___</p><br /><p>AP Pro Football Writer Barry Wilner and AP Sports Writer Dave Skretta contributed to this story.</p><br />Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861713515035474484.post-45653682630335408012013-02-27T16:06:00.001-08:002013-02-27T16:06:24.828-08:00Why Italians keep voting for Berlusconi<br /><!--startclickprintexclude--><br /><div class="cnnExplainer cnn_html_slideshow"><br /><div class="cnnstrylccimg640"><div class="cnn_stryichgfull" readability="18"><div class="cnn_stryichgflg" readability="31"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p>Photos: Berlusconi through the years</p><br /><p>Berlusconi through the years</p><br /><p>Berlusconi through the years</p><br /><p>Berlusconi through the years</p><br /><p>Berlusconi through the years</p><br /><p>Berlusconi through the years</p><br /><p>Berlusconi through the years</p><br /><p>Berlusconi through the years</p><br /><p>Berlusconi through the years</p><br /><p>Berlusconi through the years</p><br /><p>Berlusconi through the years</p><br /><p>Berlusconi through the years</p><br /><p>Berlusconi through the years</p><br /></div></div></div><br /><br /><div><br /><p><span><<</span></p><br /><p><span><</span></p><br /><div class="articleGalleryNavContainer"><br /><p><br /><br /><span>1</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>2</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>3</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>4</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>5</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>6</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>7</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>8</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>9</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>10</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>11</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>12</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>13</span><br /></p><br /></div><br /><p><span>></span></p><br /><p><span>>></span></p><br /><br /></div><br /></div><br /><br /><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt"><div class="cnn_strylctcntr"><br /><p><strong>STORY HIGHLIGHTS</strong></p><br /><ul class="cnn_bulletbin cnnStryHghLght"><!--google_ad_section_start--><li>Scandal-plagued three time ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi finished second in Italy's election</li><br /><li>Italians and non-Italians have very different views of Berlusconi, argues journalist Bill Emmott</li><br /><li>For all his faults, Emmott says Berlusconi did better than most at listening to his voters</li><br /><!--google_ad_section_end--><br /></ul></div></div><br /><!--endclickprintexclude--><!--google_ad_section_start--><!--startclickprintinclude--><br /><p class="cnnEditorialNote"><em><strong>Editor's note:</strong> Bill Emmott is a British journalist and was the editor of The Economist from 1993 to 2006. His book "Good Italy, Bad Italy" was published in English in 2012, and he is the narrator of "Girlfriend in a Coma," a new documentary about Italy's current crisis.</em></p><br /><p><strong>(CNN)</strong> -- On the subject of Silvio Berlusconi Italians and non-Italians are, to paraphrase George Bernard-Shaw's famous quip about Britain and America, divided by a common political language.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph2">We think we share the view that in a political world dominated by mass communications, there is little room for forgiveness about scandals, or other personal failures, or a poor record in office. Yet on those grounds, Berlusconi should have died a political death long ago, rather than coming a very close second in this week's Italian elections.</p><br /><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt"><div class="cnn_strylctcntr cnn_strylccimg214"><br /><img src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130218132738-bill-emmott-left-tease.jpg" alt="Bill Emmott" border="0" class="box-image" height="122" width="214"/><p>Bill Emmott</p><br /></div></div><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph3">Foreigners, perhaps, will always remain baffled by Berlusconi's success in continuing to attract voters. But Italians, horrified by him though plenty of them are, tend to be a lot less surprised. That is because they think of him in context, rather than in isolation. In Italian politics, the context is all.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph4">What this means, and what it meant for Berlusconi's remarkable feat in nearly doubling his share of the vote between his opinion poll ratings in November 2012 and the election itself, can be laid out in the following evidently misleading indicators:</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph5"><strong>He makes unbelievable promises.</strong> In part this is true: one of Berlusconi's traits is his willingness to say one thing today and the opposite tomorrow, to attract attention from different groups or on different occasions, totally without shame. Italians know this, and those who support him tend to see it as an endearing part of his character, part of his desire to entertain and to please. But also it is misleading: the key promise he made during the 2013 election campaign was entirely believable -- that he would cut or even abolish a dreaded property tax, known by its Italian initials as IMU.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph6"><strong>His record makes him untrustworthy.</strong> Yes, on overall economic policy. But not on taxes. He has promised to cut them before, and has delivered on at least some of those promises. The promise to cut IMU was made in an incredibly artful way, as he wrote to voters saying he would pay them back for the tax from his own pocket, which very few will have believed. But that did not matter: it drew attention to the proposal in an eye-catching way, and reinforced the only important point -- that he would cut the tax.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph7">Opinion: Italy's election leaves country, and eurozone, on financial high-wire</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph8"><strong>He is irresponsible. </strong>Yes, but so is almost everyone to the cynical Italian political mind. His plan for how to finance this tax cut had as many holes in it as a sieve, but that did not really matter. It would have to be financed by taxes on other people, or cuts in spending on other things. Fine, said his voters: at least this awful tax will go. In offering a relentless focus on that tax, he showed that he was listening to the pain of his voters and taking them seriously, rather than talking down to them like most other parties.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph9"><strong>His trials and sex scandals make him a national shame.</strong> Not really, though at times his behavior has stretched even the Italian tolerance. But the context is important: plenty of people think the justice system works disastrously badly in Italy, so if Berlusconi is caught up in it -- like so many others -- then so what? And his sex scandals are really part of his own marketing plan: he cavorts with scantily clad young women in order to make himself look glamorous, young, entertaining and happy. Moreover, his antics with women act as a distraction from his other weaknesses, like a kind of tranquillizer for those who might otherwise get angry with him. A lot of Italians, especially young women, hate him for this. But enough either don't care or are sympathetic enough to him to mean that this does not harm him fatally in political terms.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph10"><strong>His opponents are more statesmanlike and responsible.</strong> Yes, that is true of Mario Monti, the caretaker prime minister for the past year who then decided to run in the elections with a centrist list of candidates. But it is not particularly true of his big opponents -- including the left-wing Democratic Party, which has its own scandals, its own selfish interests and, during the election campaign, its own evidence of the abuse of political power in the case of Italy's third-largest (and oldest) bank, Monte dei Paschi di Siena, whose business was allegedly run and distorted in the interests of local Democratic Party politicians in that area. So the PD (by its Italian initials) is also viewed as selfish by the public, neutralizing Berlusconi's disadvantage on that measure. Since both the PD leader, Pier Luigi Bersani, and Monti are dull, leaden communicators who failed to offer any positive, hopeful message for their voters, the way was opened for Berlusconi.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph11">News: Italy seeks way out of political chaos</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph12"><strong>Only one party in the election really stood for change: the Five Star Movement of Beppe Grillo.</strong> This meant that Berlusconi's old-fashioned, tax-cutting message, geared towards preserving his own political power, had plenty of space in which to operate. And although Berlusconi did not stand for change, he was at least cheerful, smiling and entertaining.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph13"><strong>Politics is now all about personalities, as was shown by the rise of Grillo, but he and Berlusconi are opposites in this regard. </strong>It is true that the discrediting of traditional political parties, combined with the preeminence of television, has given personalities a huge advantage in Italian politics, even if neither the PD nor Monti seemed able to grasp this. Personalities and even personal stories breed attention and loyalty, even if from different groups. One of the last Italian politicians to understand and exploit this was, unfortunately, Benito Mussolini.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph14"><strong>Oh, and did I forget to mention that Berlusconi owns Italy's three main commercial TV channels and its biggest advertising sales agency, and has billions of euros in cash to hand around to supporters and allies?</strong> Well, that isn't a misleading indicator. But it is a reason, perhaps too obvious to dwell upon, for Berlusconi's continuing success at the ripe old age of 76.</p><br /><p class="cnn_strycbftrtxt">The opinions expressed in this commentary are strictly those of Bill Emmott.</p><br /><!--endclickprintinclude--><!--google_ad_section_end--><br /><!--no partner--><br /><br /><br />Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861713515035474484.post-85532402276482214012013-02-27T16:04:00.001-08:002013-02-27T16:04:35.083-08:00White House, Republicans dig in ahead of budget talks<p>Speaker of the House John Boehner tells Scott Pelley in a "CBS Evening News" interview that a budget deal is now out of his hands.</p><div id="story-body-text" readability="93.5565834104"><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p>WASHINGTON—<br /> <br /> <br /> </p><br /> <br /> <br /> Positions hardened on Wednesday between President Barack Obama and Republican congressional leaders over the budget crisis even as they arranged to hold last-ditch talks to prevent harsh automatic spending cuts beginning this week.<p>Looking resigned to the $85-billion in "sequestration" cuts starting on Friday, government agencies began reducing costs and spelling out to employees how furloughs will work.</p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Expectations were low that a White House meeting on Friday between Obama and congressional leaders, including Republican foes, would produce any deal to avoid the cuts.<p>Public services across the country - from air traffic control to food safety inspections and education - might be disrupted if the cuts go ahead.</p><p>Put into law in 2011 as part of an earlier fiscal crisis, sequestration is unloved by both parties because of the economic pain it will cause, but the politicians cannot agree how to stop it.</p><p>A deal in Congress on less drastic spending cuts, perhaps with tax increases too, is needed by Friday to halt the sequestration reductions which are split between social programs cherished by Democrats and defense spending championed by Republicans.</p><p>Obama stuck by his demand that Republicans accept tax increases in the form of eliminating tax loopholes enjoyed mostly by the wealthy as part of a balanced approach to avoiding sequestration.</p><p>"There is no alternative in the president's mind to balance," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.</p><p>Obama wants to end tax breaks for oil and gas companies and the lower "carried interest" tax rate enjoyed by hedge funds.</p><p>But Republicans who reluctantly agreed to raise income tax rates on the rich to avert the "fiscal cliff" crisis in December are in no mood for that.</p><p>"One thing Americans simply will not accept is another tax increase to replace spending reductions we already agreed to," said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.</p><p>In one of the first concrete effects of the cuts, the administration took the unusual step of freeing several hundred detained illegal immigrants because of the cost of holding them.</p><p>Republicans described that move by Immigration and Customs Enforcement as a political stunt aimed at scaring them into agreeing to end the sequestration on Obama's terms.</p><p>Carney denied the White House had ordered the release.</p><p>Friday's White House meeting will include McConnell and the other key congressional leaders: Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, House of Representatives Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, and House Speaker John Boehner, the top U.S. Republican.</p><p>'BELATED FARCE'?</p><p>But the chances of success were not high.</p><p>One congressional Republican aide criticized the White House for calling the meeting for the day the cuts were coming into effect. "Either someone needs to buy the White House a calendar, or this is just a - belated - farce. They ought to at least pretend to try."</p><p>Unlike during other fiscal fights in Congress, the stock market is taking the sequestration impasse calmly.</p></div>Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861713515035474484.post-20800762116269376792013-02-27T16:02:00.001-08:002013-02-27T16:02:20.576-08:00Iran upbeat on nuclear talks, West still wary<br /><p class="first">ALMATY (Reuters) - <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361994252510_1">Iran</span> was upbeat on Wednesday after talks with world powers about its nuclear work ended with an agreement to meet again, but Western officials said it had yet to take concrete steps to ease their fears about its atomic ambitions.</p><br /><p> Rapid progress was unlikely with Iran's presidential election, due in June, raising domestic political tensions, diplomats and analysts had said ahead of the February 26-27 meeting in the Kazakh city of <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361994252510_2">Almaty</span>, the first in eight months.</p><br /><p> The United States, China, France, Russia, Britain and Germany offered modest sanctions relief in return for Iran curbing its most sensitive nuclear work but made clear that they expected no immediate breakthrough.</p><br /><p> In an attempt to make their proposals more palatable to Iran, the six powers appeared to have softened previous demands somewhat, for example regarding their requirement that the Islamic state ship out its stockpile of higher-grade uranium.</p><br /><p> Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said the powers had tried to "get closer to our viewpoint", which he said was positive.</p><br /><p> In Paris, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry commented that the talks had been "useful" and that a serious engagement by Iran could lead to a comprehensive deal in a decade-old dispute that has threatened to trigger a new Middle East war.</p><br /><p> Iran's foreign minister said in Vienna he was "very confident" an agreement could be reached and Jalili, the chief negotiator, said he believed the Almaty meeting could be a "turning point".</p><br /><p> However, one diplomat said Iranian officials at the negotiations appeared to be suggesting that they were opening new avenues, but it was not clear if this was really the case.</p><br /><p> Iran expert Dina Esfandiary of the International Institute for Strategic Studies said: "Everyone is saying Iran was more positive and portrayed the talks as a win."</p><br /><p> "I reckon the reason for that is that they are saving face internally while buying time with the West until after the elections," she said.</p><br /><p> The two sides agreed to hold expert-level talks in Istanbul on March 18 to discuss the powers' proposals, and return to Almaty for political discussions on April 5-6, when <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361994252510_3">Western diplomats</span> made clear they wanted to see a substantive response from Iran.</p><br /><p> "Iran knows what it needs to do, the president has made clear his determination to implement his policy that Iran will not have a <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361994252510_5">nuclear weapon</span>," Kerry said.</p><br /><p> A senior U.S. official in Almaty said, "What we care about at the end is concrete results."</p><br /><p> ISRAELI WARNING</p><br /><p> Israel, assumed to be the Middle East's only nuclear-armed power, was watching the talks closely. It has strongly hinted it might attack Iran if diplomacy and sanctions fail to ensure that it cannot build a nuclear weapon. Iran denies any such aim.</p><br /><p> Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said economic sanctions were failing and urged the international community to threaten Iran with military action.</p><br /><p> Western officials said the offer presented by the six powers included an easing of a ban on trade in gold and other precious metals, and a relaxation of an import embargo on Iranian petrochemical products. They gave no further details.</p><br /><p> In exchange, a senior U.S. official said, Iran would among other things have to suspend uranium enrichment to a fissile concentration of 20 percent at its Fordow underground facility and "constrain the ability to quickly resume operations there".</p><br /><p> The official did not describe what was being asked of Iran as a "shutdown" of the plant as Western diplomats had said in previous meetings with Iran last year.</p><br /><p> Iran says it has a sovereign right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes, and wants to fuel nuclear power plants so that it can export more oil.</p><br /><p> But 20-percent purity is far higher than that needed for <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361994252510_4">nuclear power</span>, and rings alarm bells abroad because it is only a short technical step away from weapons-grade uranium. Iran says it produces higher-grade uranium to fuel a research reactor.</p><br /><p> Iran's growing stockpile of 20-percent-enriched uranium is already more than half-way to a "red line" that Israel has made clear it would consider sufficient for a bomb.</p><br /><p> In Vienna on Wednesday, a senior U.N. nuclear agency official told diplomats in a closed-door briefing that Iran was technically ready to sharply increase this higher-grade enrichment, two Western diplomats said.</p><br /><p> "Iran can triple 20 percent production in the blink of an eye," one of the diplomats said.</p><br /><p> The U.S. official in Almaty said the powers' latest proposal would "significantly restrict the accumulation of near-20-percent enriched uranium in Iran, while enabling the Iranians to produce sufficient fuel" for their Tehran medical reactor.</p><br /><p> This appeared to be a softening of a previous demand that Iran ship out its stockpile of higher-grade enriched uranium, which it says it needs to produce medical isotopes.</p><br /><p> Iran has often indicated that 20-percent enrichment could be up for negotiation if it received the fuel from abroad instead.</p><br /><p> Jalili suggested Iran could discuss the issue, although he appeared to rule out shutting down Fordow. He said the powers had not made that specific demand.</p><br /><p> The Iranian rial, which has lost more than half its foreign exchange value in the last year as sanctions bite, rose some 2 percent on Wednesday, currency tracking websites reported.</p><br /><p> (Additional reporting by Fredrik Dahl and Yeganeh Torbati in Almaty, Georgina Prodhan in Vienna, Zahra Hosseinian in Zurich, Gabriela Baczynska in Moscow, Dan Williams in Jerusalem and Marcus George in Dubai; Writing by Timothy Heritage and Fredrik Dahl; Editing by Louise Ireland)</p><br /><br />Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861713515035474484.post-38531171419658715352013-02-26T16:12:00.001-08:002013-02-26T16:12:10.696-08:00Wall Street rebounds on Bernanke comments, data<p class="first">NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rebounded from their worst decline since November on Tuesday after <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361915126336_2">Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke</span> defended the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361915126336_3">Fed</span>'s bond-buying stimulus and sales of new homes hit a 4 1/2-year high.</p><br /><p> The S&P 500 had climbed 6 percent for the year and came within reach of all-time highs before the minutes from the Fed's January meeting were released last Wednesday. Since then, the benchmark S&P 500 has fallen 1 percent.</p><br /><p> <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361915126336_1">Bernanke</span>, in testimony on Tuesday before the Senate Banking Committee, strongly defended the Fed's bond-buying stimulus program and quieted rumblings that the central bank may pull back from its stimulative policy measures, which were sparked by the release of the Fed minutes last week.</p><br /><p> Bernanke's comments helped ease investors' concerns about a stalemate in Italy after a general election failed to give any party a parliamentary majority, posing the threat of prolonged instability and financial crisis in Europe, and sending the S&P 500 to its worst decline since November 7 in Monday's session.</p><br /><p> Bernanke "certainly said everything the market needed to feel in order to get comfortable again," said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Capital in Jersey City, New Jersey.</p><br /><p> "The fear is we were going to see a rollover, and the first shot over the bow was what we saw out of Italy yesterday with the elections," Kenny said. "When it came to U.S. markets, we saw some of that bleeding stop because our focus shifted from the Italian political circus to Ben Bernanke."</p><br /><p> Gains in homebuilders and other consumer stocks, following strong economic data, lifted the S&P 500, and a 5.7 percent jump in Home Depot <hd.n> to $67.56 boosted the Dow industrials. The PHLX housing sector index <.hgx> rose 3.2 percent.</.hgx></hd.n></p><br /><p> Economic reports that showed strength in housing and consumer confidence also supported stocks. U.S. home prices rose more than expected in December, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index. Consumer confidence rebounded in February, jumping more than expected, and new-home sales rose to their highest in 4-1/2 years in January.</p><br /><p> However, the central bank chairman also urged lawmakers to avoid sharp spending cuts set to go into effect on Friday, which he warned could combine with earlier tax increases to create a "significant headwind" for the economic recovery.</p><br /><p> The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> gained 115.96 points, or 0.84 percent, to 13,900.13 at the close. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> rose 9.09 points, or 0.61 percent, to 1,496.94. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> advanced 13.40 points, or 0.43 percent, to close at 3,129.65.</.ixic></.spx></.dji></p><br /><p> Despite the bounce, the S&P 500 was unable to move back above 1,500, a closely watched level that was technical support until recently, but could now serve as a resistance point.</p><br /><p> The CBOE Volatility Index <.vix> or the VIX, a barometer of investor anxiety, dropped 11.2 percent, a day after surging 34 percent, its biggest percentage jump since August 18, 2011.</.vix></p><br /><p> The uncertainty caused by the Italian elections continued to weigh on stocks in Europe. The FTSEurofirst-300 index of top European shares <.fteu3> closed down 1.4 percent. The benchmark Italian index <.ftmib> tumbled 4.9 percent.</.ftmib></.fteu3></p><br /><p> Home Depot <hd.n> gave the biggest boost to the Dow and provided one of the biggest lifts to the S&P 500 after the world's largest home improvement chain reported adjusted earnings and sales that beat expectations.</hd.n></p><br /><p> Macy's <m.n> shares gained 2.8 percent to $39.59 after the department-store chain stated it expects full-year earnings to be above analysts' forecasts because of strong holiday sales.</m.n></p><br /><p> Volume was active with about 7.08 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE MKT and Nasdaq, above the daily average of 6.48 billion.</p><br /><p> Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a ratio of about 2 to 1, while on the Nasdaq, three stocks rose for every two that fell.</p><br /><p> (Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Jan Paschal; Editing by Jan Paschal)</p><br /><br />Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861713515035474484.post-38586174059458604482013-02-26T16:10:00.001-08:002013-02-26T16:10:15.193-08:00Experts: Pistorius violated basic firearms rules<br /><p class="first">JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Even if <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361901847556_1">Oscar Pistorius</span> is acquitted of murder, firearms and legal experts in <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361901847556_2">South Africa</span> believe that, by his own account, the star athlete violated basic gun-handling regulations and exposed himself to a homicide charge by shooting into a <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361901847556_7">closed door</span> without knowing who was behind it.</p><br /><p>Particularly jarring for firearms instructors and <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361901847556_9">legal experts</span> is that <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361901847556_5">Pistorius</span> testified that he shot at a closed toilet door, fearing but not knowing for certain that a nighttime intruder was on the other side. Instead of an intruder, Pistorius' girlfriend <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361901847556_4">Reeva Steenkamp</span> was in the toilet cubicle. Struck by three of four shots that Pistorius fired from a 9 mm pistol, she died within minutes. Prosecutors charged Pistorius with premeditated murder, saying the shooting followed an argument between the two. Pistorius said it was an accident.</p><br /><p>South Africa has stringent laws regulating the use of lethal force for self-protection. In order to get a permit to own a firearm, applicants must not only know those rules but must demonstrate proficiency with the weapon and knowledge of its safe handling, making it far tougher to legally own a gun in South Africa than many other countries where a mere background check suffices.</p><br /><p>Pistorius took such a competency test for his 9 mm pistol and passed it, according to the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361901847556_8">South African Police Service</span>'s National Firearms Center. Pistorius' license for the 9 mm pistol was issued in September 2010. The Olympic athlete and Paralympic medalist should have known that firing blindly, instead of at a clearly identified target, violates basic gun-handling rules, firearms and legal experts said.</p><br /><p>"You can't shoot through a closed door," said Andre Pretorius, president of the Professional Firearm Trainers Council, a regulatory body for South African firearms instructors. "People who own guns and have been through the training, they know that shooting through a door is not going to go through <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361901847556_6">South African</span> law as an accident."</p><br /><p>"There is no situation in South Africa that allows a person to shoot at a threat that is not identified," Pretorius added. "Firing multiple shots, it makes it that much worse. ...It could have been a minor — a 15-year-old kid, a 12-year-old kid — breaking in to get food."</p><br /><p>The Pistorius family, through <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361901847556_3">Arnold Pistorius</span>, uncle of the runner, has said it is confident that the evidence will prove that Steenkamp's death in the predawn hours of Feb. 14 was "a terrible and tragic accident."</p><br /><p>In an affidavit to the magistrate who last Friday freed him on bail, Pistorius said he believed an intruder or intruders had gotten into his US$560,000 (€430,000) two-story house, in a guarded and gated community with walls topped by electrified fencing east of the capital, Pretoria, and were inside the toilet cubicle in his bathroom. Believing he and Steenkamp "would be in grave danger" if they came out, "I fired shots at the toilet door" with the pistol that he slept with under his bed, he testified.</p><br /><p>Criminal law experts said that even if the prosecution fails to prove premeditated murder, firing several shots through a closed door could bring a conviction for the lesser but still serious charge of culpable homicide, a South African equivalent of manslaughter covering unintentional deaths through negligence.</p><br /><p>Johannesburg attorney Martin Hood, who specializes in firearm law, said South African legislation allows gun owners to use lethal force only if they believe they are facing an immediate, serious and direct attack or threat of attack that could either be deadly or cause grievous injury.</p><br /><p>According to Pistorius' own sworn statement read in court, he "did not meet those criteria," said Hood, who is also the spokesman for the South African Gun Owners' Association.</p><br /><p>"If he fired through a closed door, there was no threat to him. It's as simple as that," he added. "He can't prove an attack on his life ... In my opinion, at the very least, he is guilty of culpable homicide."</p><br /><p>The Associated Press emailed a request for comment to Vuma, a South African reputation management firm hired by the Pistorius family to handle media questions about the shooting.</p><br /><p>The firm replied: "Due to the legal sensitivities around the matter, we cannot at this stage answer any of your questions as it might have legal implications for a case that still has to be tried in a court of law." Vuma said on Monday it referred the AP's questions to Pistorius' legal team, which by Tuesday had not replied.</p><br /><p>Culpable homicide covers unintentional deaths ranging from accidents with no negligence, like a motorist whose brakes fail, killing another road user, "to where it verges on murder or where it almost becomes intentional," said Hood. Sentences — ranging from fines to prison — are left to courts to determine and are not set by fixed guidelines.</p><br /><p>The tough standards for legally acquiring a gun were instituted in part because of a wave of weapons purchases after the end of racist white rule in 1994, said Rick De Caris, a former legal director in the South African police. Under South Africa's white-minority apartheid regime, gun owners often learned how to handle firearms during military service. Many of the new gun owners had little or no firearms training, which brought tragic results, De Caris said.</p><br /><p>"People were literally shooting themselves when cleaning a firearm," said De Caris, who helped draft the Firearms Control Act of 2000.</p><br /><p>Prospective gun owners must now take written exams that include questions on the law, have to show they can safely handle and shoot a gun and are required to hit a target the size of a glossy magazine in 10 of 10 shots from seven meters (23 feet), said Pretorius of the Professional Firearm Trainers Council.</p><br /><p>In his affidavit, Pistorius said he wasn't wearing his prosthetic limbs "and felt extremely vulnerable" after hearing noise from the toilet.</p><br /><p>"I grabbed my 9 mm pistol from underneath my bed. On my way to the bathroom, I screamed words to the effect for him/them to get out of my house and for Reeva to phone the police. It was pitch-dark in the bedroom and I thought Reeva was in bed," he testified.</p><br /><p>Legal experts said they are puzzled why Pistorius apparently didn't first fire a warning shot to show the supposed intruder he was armed. Also unanswered is why, after he heard noise in his bathroom that includes the toilet cubicle, Pistorius still went toward the bathroom — toward the perceived danger — rather than retreat back into his bedroom.</p><br /><p>"He should have tried to get out of the situation," said Hood, the attorney.</p><br />Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861713515035474484.post-36878959585167577452013-02-26T16:06:00.001-08:002013-02-26T16:06:15.990-08:00Benedict: Pope aware of his flaws?<br /><!--startclickprintexclude--><br /><br /><div class="cnn_stryimg640caption" readability="8"><p>Pope Benedict XVI delivers his last Angelus Blessing to thousands of pilgrims gathered in Saint Peter's Square on February 24.</p></div><br /><br /><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt"><div class="cnn_strylctcntr"><br /><p><strong>STORY HIGHLIGHTS</strong></p><br /><ul class="cnn_bulletbin cnnStryHghLght"><!--google_ad_section_start--><li>Sister Mary Ann Walsh: Pope Benedict acknowledged that he made mistakes</li><br /><li>Walsh: In firestorm over scholarly quotes about Islam, he went to great lengths to atone</li><br /><li>Walsh: Similarly, he quickly reversed a decision that had angered Jews and repaired ties</li><br /><li>Even his stepping down is a nod to his humanity and his love of the church, she says</li><br /><!--google_ad_section_end--><br /></ul></div></div><br /><!--endclickprintexclude--><!--google_ad_section_start--><!--startclickprintinclude--><br /><p class="cnnEditorialNote"><em><strong>Editor's note:</strong> Sister Mary Ann Walsh is director of media relations for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and a member of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Northeast Regional Community. She is a former foreign correspondent at Catholic News Service (CNS) in Rome and the editor of "John Paul II: A Light for the World," "Benedict XVI: Essays and Reflections on his Papacy," and "From Pope John Paul II to Benedict XVI." </em></p><br /><p><strong>(CNN)</strong> -- One of the Bible's paradoxical statements comes from St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians: "Power is made perfect in infirmity."</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph2">The poetic statement proclaims that when we are weak, we are strong. Pope Benedict XVI's stepping down from what many consider one of the most powerful positions in the world proves it. In a position associated with infallibility -- though that refers to formal proclamations on faith and morals -- the pope declares his weakness.</p><br /><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt"><div class="cnn_strylctcntr cnn_strylccimg214"><br /><img src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130225155656-sister-mary-ann-walsh-left-tease.jpg" alt="Sister Mary Ann Walsh" border="0" class="box-image" height="122" width="214"/><p>Sister Mary Ann Walsh</p><br /></div></div><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph3">His acceptance of frailty speaks realistically about humanity: We grow old, weaken, and eventually die. A job, even one guided by the Holy Spirit, as we Roman Catholics believe, can become too much for us.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph4">Acceptance of human frailty has marked this papacy. We all make mistakes, but the pope makes them on a huge stage.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph5">He was barely into his papacy, for example, when he visited Regensburg, Germany, where he once taught theology. Like many a professor, he offered a provocative statement to get the conversation going. To introduce the theme of his lecture, the pope quoted from an account of a dialogue between the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an unnamed Muslim scholar, sometime near the end of the 14th century -- a quote that was misinterpreted by some as a condemnation of Mohammed and Islam.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph6">Opinion: 'Gay lobby' behind pope's resignation? Not likely</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph7">Twice, the pope emphasized that he was quoting someone else's words. Unfortunately, the statement about Islam was taken as insult, not a discussion opener, and sparked rage throughout the Muslim world.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph8">The startled pope had to explain himself. He apologized and traveled two months later to Istanbul's Blue Mosque, where he stood shoeless in prayer beside the Grand Mufti of Istanbul. Later he hosted Muslim leaders at the Vatican at the start of a Catholic-Muslim forum for dialogue. It was a human moment -- a mistake, an apology and atonement -- all round.</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph9">A similar controversy erupted when he tried to bring the schismatic Society of St. Pius X back into the Roman Catholic fold.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph10">In a grand gesture toward reconciliation, he lifted the excommunication of four of its bishops, unaware that one, Richard Williamson, was a Holocaust denier. This outraged many Jews. Subsequently the Vatican said the bishop had not been vetted, and in a bow to modernity said officials at least should have looked him up on the Internet.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph11">In humble response, Benedict reiterated his condemnation of anti-Semitism and told Williamson that he must recant his Holocaust views to be fully reinstated. Again, his admission of a mistake and an effort to mend fences.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph12">News: Scandal threatens to overshadow pope's final days</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph13">Pope Benedict XVI came from a Catholic Bavarian town. Childhood family jaunts included trips to the shrine of the Black Madonna, Our Lady of Altotting. He entered the seminary at the age of 13. He became a priest, scholar and theologian. He lived his life in service to the church. Even in resigning from the papacy, he embraces the monastic life to pray for a church he has ever loved.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph14">With hindsight, his visit to the tomb of 13th century Pope Celestine V, a Benedictine monk who resigned from the papacy eight centuries before, becomes poignant.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph15">In 2009, on a visit to Aquila, Italy, Benedict left at Celestine's tomb the pallium, a stole-like vestment that signifies episcopal authority, that Benedict had worn for his installation as pope. The gesture takes on more meaning as the monkish Benedict steps down.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph16">We expect the pope to be perfect. Catholics hold him to be the vicar of Christ on earth. He stands as a spiritual leader for much of the world. Statesmen visit him from around the globe. He lives among splendid architecture, in the shadow of the domed St. Peter's Basilica. All testify to an almost surreal omnipotence.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph17">Complete coverage of the pope's resignation</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph18">In this world, however, walked a vulnerable, human person. And in a paradox of life, his most human moment -- giving up the power of office -- may prove to be his most potent, delivering a message that, as St. Paul noted many centuries ago, "Power is made perfect in infirmity."</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph20"><i>Follow </i><i>@CNNOpinion on Twitter.</i></p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph21"><i>Join us at Facebook/CNNOpinion.</i></p><br /><p class="cnn_strycbftrtxt">The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Mary Ann Walsh.</p><br /><!--endclickprintinclude--><!--google_ad_section_end--><br /><!--no partner--><br /><br /><br />Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861713515035474484.post-43686921569531677022013-02-26T16:04:00.001-08:002013-02-26T16:04:14.241-08:00Winter storm: Lake, McHenry could see 10 inches of snow<p>Chicago's midday full weather forecast. (WGN - Chicago)</p><div id="story-body-text" readability="150.689001009"><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p>A winter storm warning for up 6 to 10 inches of snow was issued for Lake and McHenry Counties, and a winter weather advisory for other Chicago-area counties has been extended into Wednesday as a strong storm made travel hazardous and grounding hundreds of flights.</p><br /><p>The National Weather Service expected the heaviest snow to fall this afternoon, but some heavy snow is expected to fall into the early evening, with accumulations of up to 10 inches in north suburbs by daybreak, according to the winter storm warning for Lake and McHenry counties. An advisory issued late this afternoon for Cook, DuPage, Kane and other northern Illinois counties called for up to 7 inches by late evening. Winds gusting at 35 to 40 mph will reduce visibility and glaze roads, the weather service warned in the advisory.</p><br /><p>"Snowfall rates in excess of an inch per hour could occur at times, along with wind whipped snow resulting in temporary white out conditions with near zero visibility at times in open areas," according to the advisory. "This will likely be a heavy wet snow sometimes referred to as heart attack snow."</p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p>By a little before 5:30 p.m., the weather service was reporting these snowfall accumulations: 6.4 inches in Northbrook; 5.2 inches in Streamwrood; and 4.5 inches in Winnetka.</p><br /><p>Earlier, about 4:30 p.m., the weather service had reported these snowfall accumulations: 5.5 inches in northwest suburban Bull Valley, 5 inches in north suburban Lake Bluff, 4.9 inches in northwest suburban Elk Grove Village, 4 inches in northwest suburban South Elgin and Schaumburg, 3.3 inches in west suburban Winfield, 1.8 inches in north suburban Morton Grove, and 1.5 inches at Midway International Airport and southwest suburban Romeoville.</p><br /><p>About 600 flights have been canceled at O'Hare International Airport and about 170 at Midway, according to FlightStats, which gathers data from airports and airlines. There were about 734 flights delayed at O'Hare and 118 at Midway.</p><br /><p>On the roads, spinouts have been reported on interstates 90, 94 and 55, according to the Illinois State Police.</p><br /><p>The Illinois State Police Chicago District has instituted its emergency snow plan. In an accident where there are no injuries and the cars are driveable, the drivers should exchange information at a safe place and file accident reports with the state police within 10 days.</p><br /><p>Chicago's Streets and Sanitation Department has deployed its entire fleet of 284 plows. Drivers will plow the main roads, such as Lake Shore Drive, through the evening rush hour. As the snow begins to taper off, the plows will clear residential roads, said department spokeswoman Anne Sheahan.</p><br /><p>Extra plows are being deployed to the 2ndCongressional District to help residents get to their polling places for today's primary election, Sheahan said.</p><br /><p>Road conditions were treacherous throughout the southwest suburbs, especially along Interstates 55 and 80 in Will County, police and fire officials said.</p><br /><p>Several vehicles have slipped into ditches along I-55 near Plainfield, especially near U.S. Route 30, said Jon Stratton, a deputy chief with the Plainfield Fire Protection District. "On I-55, there are vehicles everywhere in the ditch," Stratton said. "Visibility is going down and roads are getting all snow covered, so it's going to be an interesting day."</p><br /><p>The most serious accident in the area so far today occurred when an SUV slid under a semi's trailer on the Route 30 overpass over I-55, Stratton said.</p><br /><p>Firefighters extricated the woman who was driving the SUV, and she was taken by ambulance to Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, Stratton said. The woman was conscious and stable when removed from the SUV, he said.</p><br /><p>A school bus carrying about 35 elementary students collided with a plow truck in Plainfield around 4 p.m., but no injuries were reported, officials said.</p><br /><p>In fact, the students from Plainfield's Central Elementary School seemed to be more excited by the firefighters and police officers who responded than startled by the crash, said Stratton.</p><br /><p>"They were all happy to see us, waving out the windows," he said.</p><br /><p>The crash occurred near the intersection of Mill Street and Plainfield Naperville Road, Stratton said. The bus suffered minor damage to its front-end but appeared to be drivable, Stratton said. The plow truck, a pickup, was operated by a private company or contractor, he said.</p><br /><p>A school official came to the scene after the collision to help check on the students, Stratton said.</p><br /><p>Stratton also said road conditions have gradually improved in the Plainfield area as the afternoon has gone on. Most primary roads are in good shape, he said, but many secondary roads are still snow-covered.</p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </div>Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861713515035474484.post-82679091501210136912013-02-26T16:02:00.001-08:002013-02-26T16:02:20.227-08:00Italy parties seek way out of election stalemate<br /><p class="first">ROME (Reuters) - <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361912891526_2">Italy</span>'s stunned <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361912891526_6">political parties</span> searched for a way forward on Tuesday after an inconclusive election gave none of them a parliamentary majority and threatened prolonged instability and a renewal of the European financial crisis.</p><br /><p> The results, notably the dramatic surge of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement of comic <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361912891526_1">Beppe Grillo</span>, left the center-left bloc with a majority in the lower house but without the numbers to control the upper chamber, the Senate.</p><br /><p> Financial markets fell sharply at the prospect of a stalemate that reawakened memories of the crisis that pushed Italy's borrowing costs toward unsustainably high levels and brought the euro zone to the brink of collapse in 2011.</p><br /><p> "The winner is: Ingovernability," ran the headline in Rome newspaper Il Messaggero, reflecting the deadlock the country will have to confront in the next few weeks as sworn enemies are forced to work together to form a <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361912891526_9">government</span>.</p><br /><p> Ratings agency Standard & Poor's said on Tuesday that policy choices of the next Italian government would be crucial for the country's creditworthiness, underlining the need for a coalition that can agree on new reforms.</p><br /><p> <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361912891526_4">Pier Luigi Bersani</span>, head of the center-left Democratic Party (PD), has the difficult task of trying to agree a "grand coalition" with former <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361912891526_5">prime minister Silvio Berlusconi</span>, the man he blames for ruining Italy, or striking a deal with Grillo, a completely unknown quantity in conventional politics.</p><br /><p> The alternative is new elections either immediately or within a few months, although both <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361912891526_7">Berlusconi</span> and Bersani have indicated that they want to avoid a return to the polls if possible: "Italy cannot be ungoverned and we have to reflect," Berlusconi said in an interview on his own television station.</p><br /><p> For his part, Grillo, whose movement won the most votes of any single party, has indicated that he believes the next government will last no more than six months.</p><br /><p> "They won't be able to govern," he told reporters on Tuesday. "Whether I'm there or not, they won't be able govern."</p><br /><p> He said he would work with anyone who supported his policy proposals, which range from anti-corruption measures to green-tinted energy measures but rejected suggestions of entering a formal coalition: "It's not time to talk of alliances... the system has already fallen," he said.</p><br /><p> The election, a massive rejection of the austerity policies applied by Prime Minister <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361912891526_3">Mario Monti</span> with the backing of international leaders from U.S. President Barack Obama to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, caused consternation across Europe.</p><br /><p> German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble put a brave face on it, saying "that's democracy".</p><br /><p> Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo was more pessimistic.</p><br /><p> "This is a jump to nowhere that does not bode well either for Italy or <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361912891526_8">Europe</span>," he said.</p><br /><p> A long recession and growing disillusionment with mainstream parties and tax-raising austerity fed a bitter public mood and contributed to the massive rejection of Monti, whose centrist coalition was relegated to the sidelines.</p><br /><p> Projections by the Italian center for Electoral Studies showed that the center-left will have 121 seats in the Senate, against 117 for the center-right alliance of Berlusconi's PDL and the regionalist Northern League. Grillo would take 54.</p><br /><p> That leaves no party with the majority in a chamber which a government must control to pass legislation.</p><br /><p> "THE BELL IS RINGING"</p><br /><p> On a visit to Germany, President Giorgio Napolitano said he would not comment until the parties had consulted with each other and Bersani called on Berlusconi and Grillo to "assume their responsibilities" to ensure Italy could have a government.</p><br /><p> He warned that the election showed austerity policies alone were no answer to the economic crisis and said the result carried implications beyond Italy.</p><br /><p> "The bell is ringing for Europe as well," he said in his first public comments since the election.</p><br /><p> He said he would present a limited number of reform proposals to parliament, focusing on jobs, institutional reform and European policy.</p><br /><p> However forming an alliance may be long and difficult and could test the sometimes fragile internal unity of the mainstream parties.</p><br /><p> "The idea of a majority without Grillo is unthinkable. I don't know if anyone in the PD is considering it but I'm against it," said Matteo Orfini, a member of Bersani's PD secretariat.</p><br /><p> "The idea of a PD-PDL government, even if it's backed by Monti, doesn't make any sense," he said.</p><br /><p> For his part, Berlusconi won a boost when his Northern League ally Roberto Maroni won the election to become regional president of Lombardy, Italy's economic heartland and one of the richest and most productive areas of Europe.</p><br /><p> For Italian business, with an illustrious history of export success, the election result brought dismay that there would be no quick change to what they see as a regulatory sclerosis that has kept the economy virtually stagnant for a decade.</p><br /><p> "This is probably the worst possible scenario," said Francesco Divella, whose family began selling pasta under its eponymous brand in 1890 in the southern region of Puglia.</p><br /><p> Berlusconi's campaign, mixing sweeping tax cut pledges with relentless attacks on Monti and Merkel, echoed many of the themes pushed by Grillo and underlined the increasingly angry mood of the Italian electorate.</p><br /><p> But even if the next government turns away from the tax hikes and spending cuts brought in by Monti, it will struggle to revive an economy that has scarcely grown in two decades.</p><br /><p> Monti was widely credited with tightening Italy's public finances and restoring its international credibility after the scandal-plagued Berlusconi, who is currently on trial for having sex with an under-age prostitute.</p><br /><p> However, Monti struggled to pass the kind of structural reforms needed to improve competitiveness and lay the foundations for a return to economic growth. A weak center-left government may not find it any easier.</p><br /><p> The view from some voters, weary of the mainstream parties, was unrepentant: "It's good," said Roger Manica, 28, a security guard in Rome, who voted for the center-left PD.</p><br /><p> "Next time I'll vote 5-Star. I like that they are changing things, even if it means uncertainty. Uncertainty doesn't matter to me, for me what's important is a good person who gets things done," he said. "Look how well they've done."</p><br /><p> (Additional reporting by Barry Moody, Gavin Jones, Lisa Jucca, Steven Jewkes, Steve Scherer, Catherine Hornby and Massimiliano Di Giorgio, Annika Breidthardt in Berlin. Writing by Philip Pullella and James Mackenzie; Editing by Peter Graff)</p><br /><br />Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861713515035474484.post-45779235085540481302013-02-25T16:12:00.001-08:002013-02-25T16:12:10.629-08:00Wall Street trips and falls on cloudy Italian election<p class="first">NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks on Monday suffered their biggest drop since November after a strong showing in Italian elections by groups opposed to the country's economic reforms triggered worry that <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361828948357_3">Europe</span>'s debt problems could once again destabilize the global economy.</p><br /><p> The decline marks the biggest percentage drop for the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 Index since November7, and drove the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361828948357_4">S&P</span> down to its lowest close since January 18. The CBOE Volatility Index <.vix> or VIX, <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361828948357_1">Wall Street</span>'s favorite barometer of fear, surged 34 percent, its biggest jump since August 18, 2011.</.vix></p><br /><p> Selling accelerated late in the trading session after the S&P 500 fell below the 1,500 level, which has acted as a significant support point. Monday marked the S&P's first close under 1,500 since February 4.</p><br /><p> <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361828948357_2">Italy</span>'s center-left coalition holds a slim lead over former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's center-right bloc in the election for the lower house of parliament, three TV projections indicated. But any government must also command a majority in the Senate, a race that is decided by region.</p><br /><p> The resulting gridlock in parliament could lead to new elections and cast into doubt Italy's ability to pay down its debt.</p><br /><p> "Europe hasn't gone away as an issue, it is going to hang around, and it is rearing its ugly head today," said Stephen Massocca, managing director of Wedbush Morgan in San Francisco.</p><br /><p> "If someone gets elected who is simply not going to play by the rules, what are they going to do? It puts them in a real quandary here because their financial support, their monetary support is all stipulated by the fact that these austerity programs are going to be in place."</p><br /><p> Earlier polls pointing to a center-left victory boosted stocks in Milan and other European markets, and also helped lift the S&P 500 to a session high of 1,525.84 on optimism that Italy would continue down its austerity path.</p><br /><p> After a strong start to the year, equities have retreated more recently. The S&P 500's slight fall last week was its first weekly drop after a seven-week string of gains.</p><br /><p> In Monday's volatile session, banks and other financial stocks were among the worst performers on worries about the sector's exposure to Italy's massive debt. The KBW Bank Index <.bkx> fell 2.7 percent.</.bkx></p><br /><p> The CBOE Volatility Index <.vix> ended at 18.99, up 34.02 percent.</.vix></p><br /><p> The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> dropped 216.40 points, or 1.55 percent, to 13,784.17 at the close. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> lost 27.75 points, or 1.83 percent, to 1,487.85. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> fell 45.57 points, or 1.44 percent, to 3,116.25.</.ixic></.spx></.dji></p><br /><p> Although the overall market lost ground on Monday, there were a few bright spots.</p><br /><p> Barnes & Noble Inc <bks.n> shares shot up 11.5 percent to $15.06 after the bookseller's chairman offered to buy its declining retail business.</bks.n></p><br /><p> Amgen Inc shares climbed 3.1 percent to $89.55, after rival Affymax issued a voluntary recall of its only drug, an anemia treatment that competes with Amgen's top-selling red blood cell booster, Epogen. Affymax shares lost 85.4 percent to $2.42.</p><br /><p> The FTSEurofirst-300 index of top European shares <.fteu3> edged up 0.04 percent and Italy's main FTSE MIB <.ftmib> ended up 0.7 percent after earlier gaining nearly 4 percent.</.ftmib></.fteu3></p><br /><p> Political uncertainty on the home front, though, is also on Wall Street's mind.</p><br /><p> U.S. equities will face a test with the looming debate over so-called sequestration - U.S. government budget cuts that will take effect starting on Friday if lawmakers fail to reach an agreement over spending and taxes. The White House issued warnings about the harm the cuts are likely to inflict on the economy if enacted.</p><br /><p> "Sitting out there is the one-thousand-pound gorilla - the sequester issue - and certainly nothing is happening there," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Group in Bedford Hills, New York.</p><br /><p> Lowe's Companies Inc <low.n> lost 4.8 percent to $35.86 after the home improvement retailer posted fourth-quarter earnings.</low.n></p><br /><p> With 83 percent of the S&P 500 companies having reported results so far, 69 percent beat profit expectations, compared with a 62 percent average since 1994 and 65 percent over the past four quarters, according to Thomson Reuters data.</p><br /><p> Fourth-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are estimated to have risen 6 percent, according to the data, above a 1.9 percent forecast at the start of the earnings season.</p><br /><p> Volume was active with about 7.27 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE MKT and Nasdaq, above the daily average of 6.46 billion.</p><br /><p> Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones on both the NYSE and the Nasdaq by a ratio of about 4 to 1.</p><br /><p> (Editing by Kenneth Barry, Nick Zieminski and Jan Paschal)</p><br /><br />Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861713515035474484.post-71880230012970630212013-02-25T16:06:00.001-08:002013-02-25T16:06:14.197-08:00Iran plans own response to 'Argo'<br /><!--startclickprintexclude--><br /><br /><div class="cnn_stryimg640caption" readability="7"><p>(File photo) Argo tells the story of a rescue of U.S. diplomats from revolutionary Iran.</p></div><br /><br /><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt"><div class="cnn_strylctcntr"><br /><p><strong>STORY HIGHLIGHTS</strong></p><br /><ul class="cnn_bulletbin cnnStryHghLght"><!--google_ad_section_start--><li>Ben Affleck's "Argo" tells the story of a dramatic rescue of U.S. diplomats from revolutionary Iran</li><br /><li>Iranian state media criticize the movie as "replete with historical inaccuracies and distortions"</li><br /><li>Iran's Art Bureau says it will fund its own film about the handing over of 20 U.S. hostages</li><br /><!--google_ad_section_end--><br /></ul></div></div><br /><!--endclickprintexclude--><!--google_ad_section_start--><!--startclickprintinclude--><br /><p><strong>(CNN)</strong> -- Ben Affleck has more than just a couple of Golden Globes to add to his resume.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph2">His movie "Argo," about the suspenseful rescue of U.S. diplomats during the Iran hostage crisis, has also achieved the unusual honor of prompting Tehran to produce its own cinematic response.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph3">Opinion: Latino should have played lead in 'Argo'</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph4">"Argo" was named best drama movie during the Golden Globes ceremony on Sunday night in Los Angeles, and Affleck won the award for best director, a category for which he was passed over in the recent Oscar nominations.</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph5">But his efforts to recreate on screen the drama of the secret operation by the CIA and Canada to extract six U.S. embassy workers from revolutionary Iran in 1980 haven't been overlooked by Tehran's Art Bureau.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph6">'Argo' recognizes forgotten heroes of Iran hostage saga</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph7">It plans to fund a movie entitled "The General Staff," about 20 American hostages who were handed over to the United States by Iranian revolutionaries, according to a report last week by Mehr News, the official Iranian agency.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph8">"This film, which will be a big production, should be an appropriate response to the ahistoric film 'Argo,'" said Ataollah Salmanian, the director of the Iranian film, according to Mehr.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph9">"Argo" claims to be based on a true story rather than to constitute a scrupulous retelling of exactly what took place, and its deviations from reality have been documented.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph10">But Iranian authorities have taken offense at the film's portrayal of the country and its people. "Argo" was officially viewed as "anti-Iranian" following its U.S. release last year, Mehr reported.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph11">Iran's state-run broadcaster Press TV detailed its objections to the film in an online article on Sunday.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph12">"The Iranophobic American movie attempts to describe Iranians as overemotional, irrational, insane, and diabolical while at the same, the CIA agents are represented as heroically patriotic," it complained.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph13">In the movie, in which Affleck plays the lead role, the CIA operation is shown outwitting Iranian authorities through an elaborate plan based on pretending that the U.S. diplomats fleeing the country were part of team scouting locations for an outlandish science-fiction film.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph14">But according to Press TV, the film is "a far cry from a balanced narration" and is "replete with historical inaccuracies and distortions."</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph15">On the other hand, "The General Staff," set to begin shooting next year, will be based on eyewitness accounts, Salmanian said.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph16">The Art Bureau, which is to provide the financing, is affiliated with the Islamic Ideology Dissemination Organization, according to Mehr.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph17">Press TV cited Salmanian as saying that his film would depict "the historical event unlike the American version which lacks a proper view of the story."</p><br /><p class="cnn_strycbftrtxt">CNN's Samira Said contributed to this report.</p><br /><!--endclickprintinclude--><!--google_ad_section_end--><br /><!--no partner--><br /><br /><br />Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861713515035474484.post-80764117181567825792013-02-25T16:04:00.001-08:002013-02-25T16:04:16.582-08:00Woman freed after conviction in son's death tossed<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p>Nicole Harris, who has been locked up since the 2005 death of her son, walked out of an Illinois prison today after an appeals court threw out her murder conviction.</p><br /><p>Harris emerged from Dwight Correctional Center in front of a gathering of news crews after being reunited with her other son.</p><br /><p>"I'm just overwhelmed and I'm thankful that's it's going to be over and I just want to be home with my son," Harris told the assembled media.</p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p>"I'm just ready to get on with my life and hold my son."</p><br /><p>The Chicago woman was 23 when a jury found her guilty of killing her 4-year-old son Jaquari in their Northwest Side apartment following her confession to authorities. But Harris has long maintained that her confession was false and the result of threats and manipulation by police.</p><br /><p>She said today that she was able to make it through the past seven years knowing that "I'm innocent and the truth will come out."</p><br /><p>"It was like at some point I just knew this isn't it, that this was not my final destination."</p><br /><p>In a 90-page ruling last October that vacated her conviction, the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said there were "many reasons" to question her confession.</p><br /><p>The appeal judges also ruled that Diante, then 5, should have been allowed to testify.</p><br /><p>Now 14, Diante was the first person to meet Harris when she was released into an outer room of the prison at about 11:30 a.m. today. Diante walked in bearing a balloon that read, "It's your Day" and a teddy bear. Harris threw her arms around him, wept softly and kissed him.</p><br /><p>When asked later what it was like to see her son at that time, she said, "There are no words."</p><br /><p>At exactly noon, a prison official told Harris she was "free to go." She clutched hands with a close friend and walked out of the prison. She had been told to get her things together around 8:30 a.m. this morning, she told the media, and said that, at that time, "I was beyond anxious."</p><br /><p>Jaquari had been found dead with an elastic bedsheet cord wrapped around his neck. Diante had told authorities that he was alone with Jaquari when he saw him wrap the cord around his neck while playing.</p><br /><p>Prosecutors, who argued that Diante also said he was asleep when Jaquari died, accused Harris of strangling Jaquari with the cord because she was angry he would not stop crying.</p><br /><p>Harris' release, which the state argued against, is not the end of legal battle. The state has appealed the October ruling, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case. In addition, Cook County prosecutors could still move to retry her. A representative from the state's attorney's office said no decision on a retrial has been made.</p><br /><p>For now, Harris said, "I just want to enjoy life."</p><br /><p>"I'm just glad to be free. I'm just glad to be free."</p><br /><p><strong>deldeib@tribune.com<br/></strong></p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861713515035474484.post-81855289786798020242013-02-25T16:02:00.001-08:002013-02-25T16:02:19.641-08:00Huge protest vote pushes Italy towards deadlock<br /><p class="first">ROME (Reuters) - A huge protest vote by Italians enraged by economic hardship and <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361825896141_8">political corruption</span> pushed the country towards deadlock after an election on Monday, with voting projections showing no coalition strong enough to form a government.</p><br /><p> With more than two thirds of the vote counted, the projections suggested the center left could have a slim lead in the race for the lower house of parliament.</p><br /><p> But no party or likely coalition appeared likely to be able to form a majority in the upper house or <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361825896141_7">Senate</span>, creating a deadlocked parliament - the opposite of the stable result that <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361825896141_4">Italy</span> desperately needs to tackle a deep recession, rising unemployment and a massive public debt.</p><br /><p> Such an outcome has the potential to revive fears over the euro zone debt crisis, with prospects of a long period of uncertainty in the zone's third largest economy.</p><br /><p> Italian financial markets took fright after rising earlier on hopes for a stable and strong center-left led government, probably backed by outgoing technocrat premier <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361825896141_3">Mario Monti</span>.</p><br /><p> The projected result was a stunning success for Genoese comic <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361825896141_1">Beppe Grillo</span>, leader of the populist 5-Star Movement, who toured the country in his first national election campaign hurling obscenity-laced insults against a discredited political class.</p><br /><p> With vague election promises and a team of almost totally unknown candidates, the shaggy haired comedian channeled pure public anger against what many see as a sclerotic and useless political system.</p><br /><p> The likely result was also a humiliating slap in the face for colorless center-left leader <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361825896141_5">Pier Luigi Bersani</span>, who appeared to have thrown away a 10-point opinion poll lead less than two months ago against <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361825896141_2">Silvio Berlusconi</span>'s center right.</p><br /><p> Berlusconi, 76, who staged an extraordinary comeback from sex and corruption scandals since diving into the campaign in December, appeared to be leading in the Senate race, but Grillo's projected bloc of Senators would leave him well short of a majority.</p><br /><p> Projections gave Bersani's center-left alliance a lead of less than one percentage point in the lower house. If confirmed, that would be enough to control the chamber because of election laws that guarantee a 54 percent majority to the party with the largest share of the vote.</p><br /><p> In the Senate the picture was different. The latest projection from RAI state television showed Berlusconi's bloc winning 112 Senate seats, the center-left 105 and Grillo 64, with Monti languishing on only 20 after a failed campaign which never took off. The Senate majority is 158.</p><br /><p> Berlusconi, a master politician and communicator, wooed voters with a blitz of television appearances and promises to refund a hated housing tax despite accusations from opponents that this was an impossible vote buying trick.</p><br /><p> Grillo has attacked all sides in the campaign and ruled out a formal alliance with any group although it was not immediately known how he would react to his stunning success or how his supporters would behave in parliament.</p><br /><p> DANGER OF NEW ELECTION</p><br /><p> A bitter campaign, fought largely over economic issues, made some investors fear a return of the kind of debt crisis that took the euro zone close to disaster and brought the technocrat Monti to office, replacing Berlusconi, in 2011.</p><br /><p> The projected results showed more than half of Italians had voted for the anti-euro platforms of Berlusconi and Grillo.</p><br /><p> Officials from both center and left warned that the looming deadlock could make Italy ungovernable and force new elections.</p><br /><p> A center-left government either alone or ruling with Monti had been seen by investors as the best guarantee of measures to combat a deep recession and stagnant growth in <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361825896141_6">Italy</span>, which is pivotal to stability in the currency union.</p><br /><p> The benchmark spread between Italian 10-year bonds and their German equivalent widened from below 260 basis points to above 300 and the Italian share index lost all its previous gains after projections of the Senate result.</p><br /><p> "These projections suggest that we are heading for an ungovernable situation", said <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361825896141_9">Mario Secchi</span>, a candidate for Monti's centrist movement.</p><br /><p> Stefano Fassina, chief economic official for Bersani's center-left, said: "The scenario from the projections we have seen so far suggests there will be no stable government and we would need to return to the polls."</p><br /><p> If the results are confirmed the only possibility looks like a "grand coalition" combining right and left, like the one Monti led for a year. But politicians said before the vote this could not work for long and would struggle to work decisively.</p><br /><p> Monti helped save Italy from a debt crisis when Rome's borrowing costs were spiraling out of control, but few Italians now see him as the savior of the country, in its longest recession for 20 years.</p><br /><p> Grillo's movement rode a huge wave of voter anger about both the pain of Monti's austerity program and a string of political and corporate scandals. It had particular appeal for a frustrated younger generation shut out of full-time jobs.</p><br /><p> "I'm sick of the scandals and the stealing," said Paolo Gentile, a 49-year-old Rome lawyer who voted for 5-Star.</p><br /><p> "We need some young, new people in parliament, not the old parties that are totally discredited."</p><br /><p> Berlusconi, a billionaire media tycoon, exploited anger against Monti's austerity program, accusing him of being a puppet of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, but in many areas Grillo was a bigger beneficiary of public discontent.</p><br /><p> Italy desperately needs a strong, reform-minded government to revive growth after two decades of stagnation and address problems ranging from record youth unemployment to a dysfunctional justice system and a bloated public sector.</p><br /><p> Italians wrung their hands at prospects of an inconclusive result that will mean more delays to these reforms.</p><br /><p> "It's a classic result. Typically Italian. It means the country is not united. It is an expression of a country that does not work. I knew this would happen," said 36-year-old Rome office worker Roberta Federica.</p><br /><p> Another office worker, Elisabetta Carlotta, 46, shook her head in disbelief. "We can't go on like this," she said.</p><br /><p> (Additional reporting by Stefano Bernabei, Steve Scherer, Gavin Jones, Naomi O'Leary and Giuseppe Fonte in Rome and Lisa Jucca in Milan; Writing by Barry Moody; Editing by Peter Graff)</p><br /><br />Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861713515035474484.post-45371265438052033272013-02-24T16:12:00.001-08:002013-02-24T16:12:10.470-08:00Investors face another Washington deadline<p class="first">NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors face another Washington-imposed deadline on <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361716207137_3">government spending</span> cuts next week, but it's not generating the same level of fear as two months ago when the "fiscal cliff" loomed large.</p><br /><p> Investors in sectors most likely to be affected by the cuts, like defense, seem untroubled that the budget talks could send stocks tumbling.</p><br /><p> Talks on the U.S. budget crisis began again this week leading up to the March 1 deadline for the so-called sequestration when $85 billion in automatic federal spending cuts are scheduled to take effect.</p><br /><p> "It's at this point a political hot button in <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361716207137_4">Washington</span> but a very low level investor concern," said Fred Dickson, chief market strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co. in Lake Oswego, Oregon. The fight pits <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361716207137_1">President Barack Obama</span> and fellow Democrats against congressional Republicans.</p><br /><p> Stocks rallied in early January after a compromise temporarily avoided the fiscal cliff, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index <.spx> has risen 6.3 percent since the start of the year.</.spx></p><br /><p> But the benchmark index lost steam this week, posting its first week of losses since the start of the year. Minutes on Wednesday from the last Federal Reserve meeting, which suggested the central bank may slow or stop its stimulus policy sooner than expected, provided the catalyst.</p><br /><p> National elections in Italy on Sunday and Monday could also add to <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361716207137_6">investor concern</span>. Most investors expect a government headed by Pier Luigi Bersani to win and continue with reforms to tackle Italy's debt problems. However, a resurgence by former leader <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361716207137_5">Silvio Berlusconi</span> has raised doubts.</p><br /><p> "Europe has been in the last six months less of a topic for the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361716207137_2">stock market</span>, but the problems haven't gone away. This may bring back investor attention to that," said Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.</p><br /><p> OPTIONS BULLS TARGET GAINS</p><br /><p> The spending cuts, if they go ahead, could hit the defense industry particularly hard.</p><br /><p> Yet in the options market, bulls were targeting gains in Lockheed Martin Corp <lmt.n>, the Pentagon's biggest supplier.</lmt.n></p><br /><p> Calls on the stock far outpaced puts, suggesting that many investors anticipate the stock to move higher. Overall options volume on the stock was 2.8 times the daily average with 17,000 calls and 3,360 puts traded, according to options analytics firm Trade Alert.</p><br /><p> "The upside call buying in Lockheed solidifies the idea that option investors are not pricing in a lot of downside risk in most defense stocks from the likely impact of sequestration," said Jared Woodard, a founder of research and advisory firm condoroptions.com in Forest, Virginia.</p><br /><p> The stock ended up 0.6 percent at $88.12 on Friday.</p><br /><p> If lawmakers fail to reach an agreement on reducing the U.S. budget deficit in the next few days, a sequester would include significant cuts in defense spending. Companies such as General Dynamics Corp <gd.n> and Smith & Wesson Holding Corp <swhc.o> could be affected.</swhc.o></gd.n></p><br /><p> General Dynamics Corp shares rose 1.2 percent to $67.32 and Smith & Wesson added 4.6 percent to $9.18 on Friday.</p><br /><p> EYES ON GDP DATA, APPLE</p><br /><p> The latest data on fourth-quarter U.S. gross domestic product is expected on Thursday, and some analysts predict an upward revision following trade data that showed America's deficit shrank in December to its narrowest in nearly three years.</p><br /><p> U.S. GDP unexpectedly contracted in the fourth quarter, according to an earlier government estimate, but analysts said there was no reason for panic, given that consumer spending and business investment picked up.</p><br /><p> Investors will be looking for any hints of changes in the Fed's policy of monetary easing when Fed Chairman Ben Bernake speaks before congressional committees on Tuesday and Wednesday.</p><br /><p> Shares of Apple will be watched closely next week when the company's annual stockholders' meeting is held.</p><br /><p> On Friday, a U.S. judge handed outspoken hedge fund manager David Einhorn a victory in his battle with the iPhone maker, blocking the company from moving forward with a shareholder vote on a controversial proposal to limit the company's ability to issue preferred stock.</p><br /><p> (Additional reporting by Doris Frankel; Editing by Kenneth Barry)</p><br /><br />Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861713515035474484.post-25717597301012357972013-02-24T16:10:00.001-08:002013-02-24T16:10:12.313-08:00Johnson wins 2nd Daytona 500; Patrick finishes 8th<br /><p class="first">DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A big first for <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361749267256_1">Danica Patrick</span>, but an even bigger second for <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361749267256_4">Jimmie Johnson</span>.</p><br /><p>Patrick made history up front at the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361749267256_2">Daytona 500</span> Sunday, only to see Johnson make a late push ahead of her and reclaim his spot at the top of his sport.</p><br /><p>It was the second Daytona 500 victory for Johnson, a five-time <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361749267256_3">NASCAR</span> champion who first won "The Great American Race" in 2006.</p><br /><p>"There is no other way to start the season than to win the Daytona 500. I'm a very lucky man to have won it twice," said Johnson, who won in his 400th career start. "I'm very honored to be on that trophy with all the greats that have ever been in our sport."</p><br /><p>It comes a year after Johnson completed only one lap in the race because of a wreck that also collected Patrick, and just three months after Johnson lost his bid for a sixth Sprint Cup title to go two years without a championship after winning five straight.</p><br /><p>Patrick, the first woman to win the pole, also became the first woman to lead the race. She was running third on the last lap, but faded to eighth at the finish and admitted she'll replay it over in her mind.</p><br /><p>"I would imagine pretty much anyone would be kicking themselves about what they coulda, shoulda have done to give themselves an opportunity to win," she said. "I think that's what I was feeling today, was uncertainty as to how I was going to accomplish that."</p><br /><p>There were several multi-car crashes during the race, none approaching the magnitude of the wreck that injured more than two dozen fans a day earlier in the second-tier Nationwide Series race on the same track. <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361749267256_9">Daytona International Speedway</span> workers were up until 2 a.m repairing the fence that was damaged in the accident, and track officials offered Sunday morning to move any fans who felt uneasy sitting too close to the track.</p><br /><p>Several drivers said the accident and concern for the fans stuck with them overnight and into Sunday morning, and Johnson was quick to send his thoughts in Victory Lane.</p><br /><p>"Me personally, I was just really waiting to get the news on how everybody was, how all the fans were overnight, just hoping that things were going to improve ... was not really ready to proceed until you had some confirmation that things were looking more positive," said <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361749267256_7">Dale Earnhardt</span> Jr., who was involved in Saturday's accident but refocused and finished second to Johnson, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate.</p><br /><p>The race itself, the debut for NASCAR's new Gen-6 car, was quite similar to all the other Cup races during Speedweeks in that the cars seemed to line up in a single-file parade along the top groove of the track. It made the 55th running of the Daytona 500 relatively uneventful.</p><br /><p>When the race was on the line, Johnson took off.</p><br /><p>The driver known as "Five-Time" raced past defending NASCAR champion <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361749267256_8">Brad Keselowski</span> on the final restart and pulled out to a sizable lead that nobody challenged over the final six laps.</p><br /><p>"We have a hard time finishing these races. Boy, to run 1-2, man, what a day," said Rick Hendrick, team owner for both Johnson and Earnhardt.</p><br /><p>Mark Martin was third in a <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361749267256_5">Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota</span>. Keselowski, who overcame two accidents earlier in the race, wound up fourth in Penske Racing's new Ford. Ryan Newman was fifth in a Chevy for Stewart-Haas Racing and was followed by Roush-Fenway Racing's Greg Biffle, who was second on the last lap but was shuffled back with Patrick to finish sixth.</p><br /><p>Regan Smith was seventh for Phoenix Racing, while Patrick, Michael McDowell and JJ Yeley rounded out the top 10.</p><br /><p>Patrick was clearly disappointed with her finish, even though she ran inside the top-10 the entire race. When the race was on the line, though, she was schooled by Earnhardt, who made his move for the win.</p><br /><p>Still, Patrick became the first woman in history to lead laps in the 500 when she passed <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361749267256_6">Michael Waltrip</span> on a restart on Lap 90. She stayed on the point for two laps, then was shuffled back to third. She ended up leading five laps, another groundbreaking moment for Patrick, who in 2005 as a rookie became the first woman to lead the Indianapolis 500.</p><br /><p>Janet Guthrie was the first woman to lead laps at NASCAR's top Cup Series, in 1977 at Ontario, where she led five laps under caution.</p><br /><p>"Dale did a nice job and showed what happens when you plan it out, you drop back and get that momentum. You are able to go to the front," Patrick said. "I think he taught me something. I'm sure I'll watch the race and there will be other scenarios I see that can teach me, too."</p><br /><p>Earnhardt was impressed, nonetheless.</p><br /><p>"She's going to make a lot of history all year long. It's going to be a lot of fun to watch her progress," said Earnhardt Jr. "Every time I've seen her in a pretty hectic situation, she always really remained calm. She's got a great level head. She's a racer. She knows what's coming. She's smart about her decisions. She knew what to do today as far as track position and not taking risks. I enjoy racing with her."</p><br /><p>The field was weakened by an early nine-car accident that knocked out race favorite Kevin Harvick and sentimental favorite Tony Stewart.</p><br /><p>Harvick had won two support races coming into the 500 to cement himself as the driver to beat, but the accident sent him home with a 42nd place finish.</p><br /><p>Stewart, meanwhile, dropped to 0-for-15 in one of the few races the three-time NASCAR champion has never won.</p><br /><p>"If I didn't tell you I was heartbroken and disappointed, I'd be lying to you," Stewart said.</p><br /><p>That accident also took former winner Jamie McMurray, his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, and Kasey Kahne out of contention.</p><br /><p>The next accident — involving nine cars — came 105 laps later and brought a thankful end to Speedweeks for Carl Edwards. He was caught in his fifth accident since testing last month, and this wreck collected six other Ford drivers.</p><br /><p>The field suddenly had six Toyota drivers at the front as Joe Gibbs Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing drivers took control of the race. But JGR's day blew up — literally — when the team was running 1-2-3 with Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch setting the pace.</p><br /><p>Kenseth, who led a race-high 86 laps, went to pit road first with a transmission issue, and Busch was right behind him with a blown engine. Busch was already in street clothes watching as Hamlin led the field.</p><br /><p>"It's a little devastating when you are running 1-2-3 like that," Busch said.</p><br />Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.com