tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9979345245565274922024-03-12T18:59:55.334-07:00Al Jimzeera NewsPasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comBlogger370125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997934524556527492.post-24930019482346234172013-03-02T10:06:00.001-08:002013-03-02T10:06:15.581-08:00U.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-997934524556527492.post-68125340383389451392013-03-02T10:04:00.001-08:002013-03-02T10:04:13.754-08:00Man slain on way to dialysis treatment: police<p>WGN-TV: Man fatally shot while waiting for ride to dialysis treatment.</p><div id="story-body-text" readability="92.0751445087"><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p>A 72-year-old man was shot and killed in his gangway on the Far South Side early Saturday morning as he left a home for dialysis treatment.</p><br /><p>The man's grandson was inside and heard the shots that killed his grandfather, who was identified by family and the Cook County medical examiner's office as William Strickland, of the 400 block of East 95th Street.</p><br /><p>The man was shot about 3:30 a.m. and pronounced dead about 4 a.m., according to authorities.</p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p>The motive appears to be robbery, police said, but detectives are still investigating.</p><br /><p>Detectives remained at the scene, across from Chicago State University, into the morning.</p><br /><p>Police taped off the northeast corner of 95th Street and Eberhart Avenue, surrounding the two houses between which the man was killed.</p><br /><p>Neighbors said Strickland had lived in the neighborhood for more than 30 years. He was described as friendly and willing to lend a helping hand, neighbors and friends said.</p><br /><p>"He was just there for us," said Theolene Shears, 84, who has lived in the area since 1965. "He was a very nice neighbor. We couldn't ask for a better neighbor."</p><br /><p>Shears said she was inside her home when she heard the shots.</p><br /><p>"All I heard was three shots. Bang, bang, bang," she said.</p><br /><p>Strickland, who went to dialysis three times a week, had been undergoing treatment for about five years, Shears said.</p><br /><p>"He seemed to be very happy about it. The way he talked it was like a little social club," Shears said, adding that he eased her own concerns about potentially having to receive treatment.</p><br /><p>He preferred to go early on Saturdays to get it out of the way, she said.</p><br /><p>Strickland leaves behind a daughter, three grandchildren and a pet Chihuahua, said Shears.</p><br /><p>"He was a good man," said Joshua Miles, 14, a friend of the family "He would help you out if you needed help."</p><br /><p>"He always kept you laughing," he said.</p><br /><p><em><strong>pnickeas@tribune.com</strong></em><br/><em><strong>Twitter: @peternickeas</strong></em></p><br /><p><em><strong>nnix@tribune.com</strong></em><br/><em><strong>Twitter: @nsnix87.com</strong></em></p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </div>Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997934524556527492.post-66113921531695729462013-03-01T10:12:00.001-08:002013-03-01T10:12:08.617-08:00Strong data lifts Wall Street, trumps sequester fears<p class="first">NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks edged higher on Friday as strong economic figures more than offset growth concerns out of China and Europe and as <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362160926034_4">investors</span> shrugged off expected across-the-board U.S. goverment spending cuts.</p><br /><p> Stocks opened sharply lower as Asian factories slowed and European output fell, but most of the losses disappeared after a report showed U.S. manufacturing activity expanded last month at its fastest clip in 20 months.</p><br /><p> U.S. consumer confidence also rose in February as Americans turned more optimistic about the job market.</p><br /><p> With government budget cuts set to begin on Friday, <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362160926034_1">President Barack Obama</span> blamed Republicans for failure to reach a compromise to avert the cuts, known as sequester. Investors, who have had plenty of time to prepare, appeared not too worried about the immediate impact.</p><br /><p> "Despite the headlines, the drama and the finger pointing, the U.S. economy can still expand and as long as you see expansion, (equity) markets can go higher," said <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362160926034_3">Quincy Krosby</span>, market strategist at Prudential Financial in Newark, New Jersey.</p><br /><p> Krosby said the market was also looking ahead to next week's government payrolls report. A stronger jobs market points to stronger <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362160926034_2">consumer spending</span>, an important component for economic growth. Separately, a government report on Friday said consumer spending rose in January as Americans spent more on services.</p><br /><p> The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> rose 38.09 points or 0.27 percent, to 14,092.58, the S&P 500 <.spx> gained 3.4 points or 0.22 percent, to 1,518.08 and the Nasdaq Composite <.ixic> added 7.68 points or 0.24 percent, to 3,167.87.</.ixic></.spx></.dji></p><br /><p> For the week so far, the Dow is up 0.7 percent while the Nasdaq and S&P are up 0.2 percent.</p><br /><p> Equities continue to attract investors in an environment of low interest rates due to an accommodative monetary policy. The Dow is less than 1 percent away from its all-time intraday high of 14,198.10. Declines have been shallow and short-lived, with investors jumping in to buy on dips.</p><br /><p> Intuitive Surgical <isrg.o> jumped 8.3 percent to $552.18 after Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Jeremy Feffer upgraded the stock, saying the more than 11 percent slide in the stock on Thursday was a gross overreaction to a news report.</isrg.o></p><br /><p> Groupon Inc <grpn.o> surged 9 percent to $4.94 a day after the online coupon company fired its chief executive officer in the wake of weak quarterly results.</grpn.o></p><br /><p> Gap Inc <gps.n> rose 2.7 percent to $33.81 after reporting fourth-quarter earnings that beat expectations and boosting its dividend by 20 percent, while Salesforce.com Inc <crm.n> posted sales that beat forecasts, sending shares up 7.2 percent to $181.41.</crm.n></gps.n></p><br /><p> Chesapeake Energy Corp <chk.n> fell 1.7 percent to $19.81 after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission escalated its investigation into the company and its Chief Executive Aubrey McClendon for a controversial perk that granted him a share in each of the natural gas producer's wells.</chk.n></p><br /><p> (Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Kenneth Barry)</p><br /><br />Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997934524556527492.post-87018086964011577292013-03-01T10:10:00.001-08:002013-03-01T10:10:17.238-08:00McIlroy walks off course at Honda Classic<br /><p class="first">PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362157026615_1">Rory McIlroy</span> abruptly walked off the course Friday at the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362157026615_3">Honda Classic</span>, telling reporters who followed him to his car he's "not in a good place mentally." An hour later, he attributed his withdrawal to a sore wisdom tooth.</p><br /><p>It raised serious questions about golf's No. 1 player with the Masters just more than a month away.</p><br /><p>McIlroy already was 7-over par through eight holes of the second round when he hit his second shot into the water on the par-5 18th at <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362157026615_2">PGA National</span>. He shook hands with Ernie Els and Mark Wilson and was headed to the parking lot before they even finished the hole.</p><br /><p>"There's not really much I can say, guys," McIlroy told three reporters before he drove away. "I'm not in a good place mentally, you know?"</p><br /><p>He said there was nothing wrong physically. When asked about his swing, the 23-year-old from Northern Ireland replied, "Yeah, I really don't know what's going on."</p><br /><p>About an hour after he left, McIlroy released a statement that pinned his withdrawal on dental problems.</p><br /><p>"I have been suffering with a sore wisdom tooth, which is due to come out in the near future," McIlroy said. "It began bothering me again last night, so I relieved it with Advil. It was very painful again this morning, and I was simply unable to concentrate. It was really bothering me and had begun to affect my playing partners."</p><br /><p>He was seen eating a sandwich on the 18th fairway.</p><br /><p>McIlroy apologized to the tournament, saying he had every intention of defending his title at the Honda Classic. He mentioned the wisdom tooth on Twitter and said he was "gutted."</p><br /><p>McIlroy, coming off a year in which he won a second major in record fashion, already set himself up for scrutiny when he left Titleist to sign an equipment deal with Nike that was said to be worth upward of $20 million a year.</p><br /><p>Nike introduced him with blaring music and a laser show in Abu Dhabi, but it's been all downhill from there.</p><br /><p>McIlroy missed the cut in the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship with rounds of 75-75. He took a four-week break, and then was eliminated in the opening round of the Match Play Championship to Shane Lowry in one of the most poorly played matches of the round.</p><br /><p>McIlroy played 36 holes with Tiger Woods at The Medalist on Sunday and said Tuesday it was no time to panic.</p><br /><p>"Even though my results haven't revealed it, I really felt like I was rounding a corner," McIlroy said. "This is one of my favorite tournaments of the year and I regret having to make the decision to withdraw, but it was one I had to make."</p><br /><p>It looked more like McIlroy was sinking than rounding the corner, not difficult to do on a course with so many water hazards. And he found plenty of them.</p><br /><p>McIlroy, who opened with a 70, hit two poor chips that led to double bogey on No. 11, and a wild tee shot to the right led to a bogey on the 13th. His round really unraveled on the par-4 16th, when he hit his tee shot to the right and into the water, took a penalty drop, and then came up short of the green and into the water again. He made a 6-foot putt for a triple bogey.</p><br /><p>He three-putted from 40 feet, running his first putt about 10 feet by the hole, for a bogey to go 7 over. And then came the approach that found water for the third time of his short day on the 18th.</p><br /><p>McIlroy is scheduled to play next week in the Cadillac Championship at Doral, which has no cut, and then the Houston Open. But on the first day of March, he has completed only four rounds of competition.</p><br /><p>It was the second straight year one of golf's biggest stars failed to finish a tournament on the Florida swing. Woods withdrew after 11 holes on the final round at Doral last year because of tightness in his Achilles tendon, raising questions about the seriousness of his recurring leg injuries. He won Bay Hill two weeks later.</p><br /><p>McIlroy at least drove off from PGA National without a helicopter camera following him.</p><br />Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997934524556527492.post-11912787244745506722013-03-01T10:06:00.001-08:002013-03-01T10:06:15.264-08:00Syria 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-997934524556527492.post-8901556913509424072013-03-01T10:04:00.001-08:002013-03-01T10:04:17.436-08:00Latest autopsy reveals no new details in lottery winner's death<p>The body of poisoned lottery winner, Urooj Khan, is exhumed at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago on Friday, Jan. 18, 2013. (John J. Kim, Chicago Tribune)</p><div id="story-body-text" readability="230.116972477"><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p>Cook County Chief Medical Examiner Stephen J. Cina said today that the exhumation and autopsy of Urooj Khan’s body revealed nothing new to help Chicago police in the investigation of the million-dollar lottery winner’s cyanide poisoning death last summer.</p><br /><p>At a press conference at the medical examiner’s West Side office, Cina said the body was badly decomposed and the autopsy could not confirm how the cyanide entered his body.</p><br /><p>Cina said no cyanide was detectable in Khan’s body tissues or in the “small amount” of contents in the stomach because of the advanced decomposition.</p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p>"Cyanide has a short half-life and may be lost over the postmortem period unless tissues are adequately preserved," he said. "In this case, due to advance putrefaction of the tissues, no cyanide was detectable in the tissues or small amounts of gastric content recovered following exhumation of the body."</p><br /><p>The medical examiner said pathologists could not tell what Khan had last eaten, saying there was only “residue” left in the stomach.</p><br /><p>"I can't say whether it (cyanide) was ingested or not," Cina said.</p><br /><p>The autopsy did reveal 75 percent blockage in one of Khan’s coronary arteries, but the medical examiner still ruled that Khan died of cyanide toxicity -- with heart disease as a "contributing factor." The manner of death was homicide, he said.</p><br /><p>"Since cyanide affects oxygen utilization in the tissues, it follows logically that a natural disease process that already limits blood flow to the heart could render an individual particularly susceptible to death due to this toxin," Cina said.</p><br /><p>Cina said he was limited in what he could tell reporters because of the "ongoing police investigation." </p><p>When a reporter asked if Khan could have died of a heart attack, Cina said, "As a pathologist you have to look at the totality of the evidence. And I don't see how I can ignore a lethal level of cyanide in the blood."</p><p>Authorities hoped to shed light on the mystery after unearthing Khan’s body at a Far North Side cemetery on Jan. 18 and performing an autopsy on the remains that same day. </p><p>After the approximately two-hour autopsy, Cina said the body was in an advanced state of decomposition but that doctors were able to gather samples for toxicological testing. The body was reburied three days later at Rosehill Cemetery.</p><p>As the Tribune first revealed earlier in January, the medical examiner's office initially ruled that Khan, 46, died July 20 from hardening of the arteries after no signs of trauma were found on the body and a preliminary blood test didn't raise any questions. But the investigation was reopened about a week later after Khan’s brother, ImTiaz, raised concerns that Khan may have been poisoned. </p><p>In an interview last month with the Tribune, Imtiaz Khan said he was visiting his brother’s grave site about a week after his death with the medical examiner’s office returned his call.</p><p>"I said, 'No, my brother cannot die like this. He was so healthy. I have suspicions about this. It cannot be natural. Please go and look into more details about it,' " Khan said. "I'm looking at the grave. I said, 'He should not be here. Absolutely not. He cannot die like that.' " </p><p>Chicago police were notified in September after tests showed cyanide in Khan’s blood. By late November, more comprehensive tests showed lethal levels of the toxic chemical, leading the medical examiner's office to declare his death a homicide. </p><p>Khan had won the scratch-off lottery prize a few weeks before his death, but he didn't survive long enough to collect the winnings -- a lump-sum payment of about $425,000 after taxes. </p><p>At the time of the autopsy in January, Cina said Khan had been buried in a wood box with a plastic foam covering wrapped in a shroud. The box sat in a concrete vault. </p><p>Following Muslim tradition, Khan’s body was not embalmed, contributing to its decomposition, Cina said. Still, the medical examiner's team was able to take samples from major organs during the autopsy for toxicological analysis, he said. </p><p>"Generally, embalming preserves tissues better. It makes it easier to see things," Cina said. "However ... additives in the embalming fluid can confuse some of the toxicological analysis." </p><p>The team also recovered contents in Khan’s stomach, according to Cina. That could be helpful to determine whether cyanide had been in his food. Hair and fingernail samples also were gathered for testing, he said. </p><p>Authorities also collected a sample of the dirt surrounding the vault, because tiny organisms living in the soil can produce cyanide at low levels. Cina wanted to test it in case questions arose about whether the dirt could influence the laboratory findings on Khan’s body. </p><p>Cina's team did not smell cyanide during Friday's autopsy, but the medical examiner said that it likely wouldn't be possible to detect the bitter-almond scent of the chemical because of the decomposition. </p><p>In court papers, Cina said it was necessary to perform a full autopsy to "further confirm the results of the blood analysis as well as to rule out any other natural causes that might have contributed to or caused Mr. Khan’s death." </p><p>Khan’s widow, Shabana Ansari, who has hired a criminal defense lawyer, told the Tribune in January that she had been questioned for more than four hours by detectives and answered all their questions. She said the detectives had asked her about the ingredients she used to prepare the final meal that her husband ate. </p><p>The Tribune also has reported that Ansari's father, Fareedun, who also lives in the family home, had owed more than $120,000 in back taxes, leading the Internal Revenue Service to place liens on Khan’s West Rogers Park residence. </p><p>According to court records obtained by the Tribune, Imtiaz Khan has squabbled with Shabana Ansari over the lottery winnings in probate court. The brother raised concern that because Khan left no will, Khan’s daughter from a previous marriage, Jasmeen, 17, would not get "her fair share" of her father's estate. The couple did not have any children together. </p><p>An attorney for Ansari in the probate case said the money was all accounted for and the estate was in the process of being divided up by the court. Under state law, the estate typically would be split evenly between the spouse and Khan’s only child, he said. </p><p>Fareedun and Shabana Ansari have denied involvement in Khan’s death and neither has been accused of a crime.</p><p>But last month, Ansari’s lawyer contended that weeks before his death, Khan had inked a deal with a business partner to ensure that his share of several dry cleaning stores went to his wife in the event of his death. </p><p>The business contract means that Ansari owns half the dry cleaning operation and its real estate, valued at more than $1 million, instead of those assets being divided among heirs in probate court, according to Ansari's lawyer, Al-Haroon Husain. The lawyer acknowledged he expects the dispute over the assets to be fought in court. </p><p>"It's a bit unusual," Husain said of the contract. "I just think he wanted to make sure his wife had a business and had attachment to the commercial property if something happened to him." Although a motive has not been determined, police have not ruled out that Khan was killed because of his lottery win, a law enforcement source has told the Tribune. </p><p>In addition, a real estate agreement Khan signed with his wife in 2007 entitles her to sole ownership of their West Rogers Park home, which is valued at almost half a million dollars, Husain said. </p><p>Kahn’s sister, Meraj Khan, told the Tribune her suspicions of Ansari's motives intensified after learning of the business agreement. </p><p>"Things are getting more clear about why my brother is gone," the sister said. "Out of nowhere she's the beneficiary for ... the business?"</p><br /><p>jmeisner@tribune.com</p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </div>Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997934524556527492.post-16757032932404197962013-02-28T10:12:00.001-08:002013-02-28T10:12:13.876-08:00Wall Street drifts after two-day run, Dow record in sight<p class="first">NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks edged higher on Thursday with investors hard-pressed to lift indexes to multi-year highs despite strong economic data.</p><br /><p> The U.S. economy ticked up in the fourth quarter, reversing an earlier estimate showing contraction, and a drop in new claims for unemployment benefits last week added to a string of data that suggests the economy improved early this year.</p><br /><p> Still, the positive revision to GDP data was expected and the claims continue a trend that is baked into prices. The market lacks catalysts as it digests its recent move higher, according to <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362071046499_1">Kevin Caron</span>, market strategist at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co in Florham Park, New Jersey, where he helps oversee $120 billion in assets under management.</p><br /><p> "That's why I think you're seeing a fairly listless trading environment today," Caron said.</p><br /><p> The <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362071046499_2">Dow</span> was within striking distance of a record high after a more than 7 percent year-to-date run. The Dow transports index <.djt>, seen as a bet on future growth, is up almost 13 percent this year and hit a record intraday high Thursday before turning slightly negative.</.djt></p><br /><p> The <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362071046499_3">Dow Jones industrial average</span> <.dji> rose 14.79 points or 0.11 percent, to 14,090.16, the S&P 500 <.spx> gained 3.12 points or 0.21 percent, to 1,519.11 and the Nasdaq Composite <.ixic> added 9.13 points or 0.29 percent, to 3,171.39.</.ixic></.spx></.dji></p><br /><p> The Dow's intraday record, set October 11, 2007, stands at 14,198.10.</p><br /><p> The S&P 500 has gained more than 2 percent in the past three sessions.</p><br /><p> Equity markets suffered steep losses earlier in the week on concerns over the impact of an Italian election on the European economy, but bounced back on strong data and recent comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that showed continued support for the Fed's economic stimulus policy.</p><br /><p> J.C. Penney Co Inc <jcp.n> slumped 17.9 percent to $17.38 after the department store reported a steep drop in sales on Wednesday. Groupon Inc <grpn.o> also slumped on weak revenue, with the stock off 20 percent at $4.76.</grpn.o></jcp.n></p><br /><p> Cablevision <cvc.n> shares tumbled nearly 10 percent 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> Mylan Inc <myl.o> shares were on track to close at their highest ever 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. Shares were last up 3.8 percent at $29.66.</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> With 93 percent of the S&P 500 companies having reported results so far, 69.5 percent have beaten 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 6.2 percent, according to the data, above a 1.9 percent forecast at the start of the earnings season.</p><br /><p> (Reporting by Rodrigo Campos, additional reporting by Ryan Vlastelica; Editing by Nick Zieminski)</p><br /><br />Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997934524556527492.post-61895951605978176812013-02-28T10:10:00.001-08:002013-02-28T10:10:17.419-08:00Rodman tells Kim Jong Un he has 'friend for life'<br /><p class="first">SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Ex-NBA star <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362074767996_2">Dennis Rodman</span> hung out Thursday with <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362074767996_3">North Korea</span>'s <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362074767996_1">Kim Jong Un</span> on the third day of his improbable journey with VICE to <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362074767996_4">Pyongyang</span>, watching the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362074767996_6">Harlem Globetrotters</span> with the leader and later dining on sushi and drinking with him at his palace.</p><br /><p>"You have a friend for life," Rodman told Kim before a crowd of thousands at a gymnasium where they sat side by side, chatting as they watched players from North Korea and the U.S. play, <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362074767996_8">Alex Detrick</span>, a spokesman for the New York-based <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362074767996_7">VICE</span> media company, told The Associated Press.</p><br /><p>Rodman arrived in Pyongyang on Monday with three members of the professional Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, VICE correspondent Ryan Duffy and a production crew to shoot an episode on North Korea for a new weekly HBO series.</p><br /><p>The unlikely encounter makes Rodman the most high-profile American to meet Kim since the young <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362074767996_5">North Korean leader</span> took power in December 2011, and takes place against a backdrop of tension between Washington and Pyongyang. North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test just two weeks ago, making clear the provocative act was a warning to the United States to drop what it considers a "hostile" policy toward the North.</p><br /><p>Kim, a diehard basketball fan, told the former Chicago Bulls star he hoped the visit would break the ice between the United States and North Korea, VICE founder <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362074767996_9">Shane Smith</span> said.</p><br /><p>Dressed in a blue Mao suit, Kim laughed and slapped his hands on the table before him during the game as he sat nearly knee to knee with Rodman. Rodman, the man who once turned up in a wedding dress to promote his autobiography, wore a dark suit and dark sunglasses, but still had on his nose rings and other piercings. A can of Coca-Cola sat on the table before him in photos shared with AP by VICE.</p><br /><p>"The crowd was really engaged, laughed at all of the Globetrotters antics, and actually got super loud towards the end as the score got close," said Duffy, who suited up for the game in a blue uniform emblazoned with "United States of America. "Most fun I've had in a while."</p><br /><p>Kim and Rodman chatted in English, but Kim primarily spoke in Korean through a translator, Smith said after speaking to the VICE crew in Pyongyang.</p><br /><p>"They bonded during the game," Smith said by telephone from New York after speaking to the crew. "They were both enjoying the crazy shots, and the Harlem Globetrotters were putting on quite a show."</p><br /><p>The surprise visit by the flamboyant Hall of Famer known as "The Worm" makes him an unlikely ambassador at a time when North Koreans are girding for battle with the U.S. Just last week, Kim guided frontline troops in military exercises.</p><br /><p>North Korea and the U.S. fought on opposite sides of the three-year Korean War, which ended in a truce in 1953. The foes never signed a peace treaty, and do not have diplomatic relations.</p><br /><p>Thursday's game ended in a 110-110 draw, with two Americans playing on each team alongside North Koreans, Detrick said. The Xinhua News Agency first reported on the game, citing witnesses who attended.</p><br /><p>After the game, Rodman addressed Kim in a speech before a crowd of tens of thousands of North Koreans, telling him, "You have a friend for life," Detrick said.</p><br /><p>At a lavish dinner at Kim's palace, the leader plied the group with food and drinks as the group made round after round of toasts.</p><br /><p>"Dinner was an epic feast. Felt like about 10 courses in total," Duffy said in an email to AP. "I'd say the winners were the smoked turkey and sushi, though we had the Pyongyang cold noodles earlier in the trip and that's been the runaway favorite so far."</p><br /><p>Duffy said he invited Kim to visit the United States, a proposal met with hearty laughter from the North Korean leader.</p><br /><p>"Um ... so Kim Jong Un just got the (hash)VICEonHBO crew wasted ... no really, that happened," VICE producer Jason Mojica wrote on Twitter.</p><br /><p>Rodman's trip is the second attention-grabbing U.S. visit this year to North Korea. Google's executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, made a four-day trip in January to Pyongyang, but did not meet the North Korean leader.</p><br /><p>Extending an invitation to a man known as much for his piercings, tattoos and bad behavior as for his basketball may seem inexplicable. But Kim is known to love the NBA, and has promoted sports since becoming leader.</p><br /><p>"We knew that he's a big lover of basketball, especially the Bulls, and it was our intention going in that we would have a good-will mission of something that's fun," Smith said. "A lot of times, things just are serious and everybody's so concerned with geopolitics that we forget just to be human beings."</p><br /><p>Rodman's agent, Darren Prince, said Rodman wasn't concerned about criticism about making a visit to an enemy nation.</p><br /><p>"Dennis called me last night and said it's been a great experience and he made this trip out of the love of the USA ," he said. "It's all about peace and love."</p><br /><p>___</p><br /><p>Associated Press NBA writer Brian Mahoney contributed to this report from New York. Follow AP's Korea bureau chief Jean Lee at twitter.com/newsjean.</p><br />Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997934524556527492.post-67668573843954796992013-02-28T10:06:00.001-08:002013-02-28T10:06:18.673-08:00Syria 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> United States will give food and medical aid to rebel fighters for the first time</li><br /><li><b>NEW:</b> It's not clear how much that aid is worth, but $60 million will go to opposition council</li><br /><li><b>NEW:</b> "Behave as a human being," opposition leader urges Syrian president</li><br /><li>U.S. officials are considering more nonlethal military 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 nearly 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">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_storypgraph3">The ongoing fighting also poses the persistent threat of widening into a destabilizing regional crisis.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph4">"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_storypgraph5">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_storypgraph6">READ: U.S. weighing nonlethal aid to Syrian opposition</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph7">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_storypgraph8">"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_storypgraph9"><strong>Islamist Influence</strong></p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph10">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_storypgraph11">"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_storypgraph12">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_storypgraph13">"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_storypgraph14">READ: Inside Syria: Exclusive look at pro-Assad Christian militia</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph15">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_storypgraph16">The opposition council will decide where the money goes, Kerry said.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph17">But the United States will send technical advisers through its partners to the group's Cairo headquarters to make sure it's being used properly, the senior State Department official said.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph18"><strong>Additional aid possible</strong></p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph19">In addition to the decision to give rebel fighters food and medical supplies, 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_storypgraph20">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_storypgraph21">READ: Syrian army in Homs is showing strains of war</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph22">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_storypgraph23">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_storypgraph24">"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_storypgraph25"><strong>Humanitarian crisis</strong></p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph26">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_storypgraph27">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_storypgraph28">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 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph29">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_storypgraph30">"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_storypgraph31">Al-Khatib said it's time for the fighting to stop.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph32">"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_storypgraph33">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 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-997934524556527492.post-33456504905143004202013-02-28T10:04:00.001-08:002013-02-28T10:04:12.977-08:00Pope leaves Vatican before abdication<p>Pope Benedict XVI gives final farewell at Vatican. (WGN - Chicago)</p><div id="story-body-text" readability="120.247945868"><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br/>VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict left the Vatican on Thursday after pledging unconditional obedience to whoever succeeds him to guide the Roman Catholic Church at one of the most crisis-ridden periods in its 2,000-year history.<p>The first pope in six centuries to step down, Benedict flew off in a white Italian air force helicopter for the papal summer villa south of the capital where he took up temporary residence.</p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Bells rang out from St Peter's Basilica and churches all over Rome as the helicopter circled Vatican City and flew over the Colosseum and other landmarks to give the pontiff one last view of the city where he is also bishop.<p>"As you know, today is different to previous ones," he told an emotional, cheering crowd in the small town of Castel Gandolfo in his last public remarks as pope.</p><p>"I will only be the supreme pontiff of the Catholic Church until 8 p.m and then no longer. I will simply be a pilgrim who is starting the last phase of his pilgrimage on this earth."</p><p>He turned and went inside the villa, never to be seen again as pope.</p><p>In an emotional farewell to cardinals on Thursday morning in the Vatican's frescoed Sala Clementina, Benedict appeared to send a strong message to the top echelons of the Church as well as the faithful to remain united behind his successor, whoever he is.</p><p>"I will continue to be close to you in prayer, especially in the next few days, so that you are fully accepting of the action of the Holy Spirit in the election of the new pope," he said. "May the Lord show you what he wants. Among you there is the future pope, to whom I today declare my unconditional reverence and obedience."</p><p>The pledge, made ahead of the closed-doors conclave where cardinals will elect his successor, was significant because for the first time in history, there will be a reigning pope and a former pope living side by side in the Vatican.</p><p>Some Church scholars worry that if the next pope undoes some of Benedict's policies while his predecessor is still alive, Benedict could act as a lightning rod for conservatives and polarize the 1.2 billion-member Church.</p><p>Before boarding the helicopter, Pope Benedict said goodbye to monsignors, nuns, Vatican staff and Swiss guards in the San Damaso courtyard of the Holy See's apostolic palace. Many of his staff had tears in their eyes as the helicopter left.</p><p>As the helicopter took off, he sent his last message on Twitter: "Thank you for your love and support. May you always experience the joy that comes from putting Christ at the centre of your lives".</p><p>Benedict will spend the first few months of his retirement in the papal summer residence, Castel Gandolfo, a complex of villas boasting lush gardens, a farm and stunning views over Lake Albano in the volcanic crater below the town.</p><p>At 8 p.m. (1900 GMT/2 p.m. ET) the papacy will be officially vacant and two Swiss Guards that ceremonially watch over the summer villa will march away and not return until the new pope takes possession of the hilltop residence.</p><p>Benedict will stay until April when renovations are completed on a convent in the Vatican that will be his new home.</p><p>PAPAL PROBLEMS</p><p>With the election of the next pope taking place in the wake of sexual abuse scandals, leaks of his private papers by his butler, falling membership and demands for a greater role for women, many in the Church believe it would benefit from a fresh face from a non-European country.</p><p>A number of cardinals from the developing world, including Ghanaian Peter Turkson and Antonio Tagle of the Philippines are two names often mentioned as leading candidates from the developing world who listen more.</p><p>"At the past two conclaves, the cardinals elected the smartest man in the room. Now, it may be time to choose a man who will listen to all the other smart people in the Church," said Father Tom Resse, a historian and senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University.</p></div>Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997934524556527492.post-37289175343377339222013-02-28T10:02:00.001-08:002013-02-28T10:02:21.570-08:00U.S. to give Syrian rebels medical, food aid, not arms<br /><p class="first">ROME (Reuters) - The <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362074054960_2">United States</span> said on Thursday it will for the first time give non-lethal aid to <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362074054960_5">Syrian rebels</span> and more than double its aid to <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362074054960_3">Syria</span>'s civilian opposition, disappointing opponents of President <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362074054960_4">Bashar al-Assad</span> clamoring for Western weapons.</p><br /><p> The United States cast the aid as a way to bolster the rebels' popular support. It will include medical supplies, food for rebel fighters and $60 million to help the civil opposition provide basic services like security, education and sanitation.</p><br /><p> U.S. Secretary of State <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362074054960_1">John Kerry</span> announced the new steps after a meeting of 11 mostly European and Arab nations within the "Friends of Syria" group.</p><br /><p> The aid did not appear to entirely satisfy the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362074054960_8">Syrian National Council opposition</span>, a fractious Cairo-based group that has struggled to gain traction inside Syria, especially among disparate rebel forces.</p><br /><p> "Many sides ... focus (more) on the length of the rebel fighter's beard than they do on the blood of the children being killed," Syrian National Coalition President Moaz Alkhatib said at an appearance with Kerry and Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi.</p><br /><p> TALKS ON PRIME MINISTER POSTPONED</p><br /><p> In what analysts described as a sign of disappointment, Syria's political opposition has postponed talks to choose the leader of a provisional government, two opposition sources told Reuters in Beirut.</p><br /><p> Opposition leaders hoped a Saturday meeting in Istanbul would elect a prime minister to operate in rebel-controlled areas of Syria, threatened by a slide into chaos as the conflict between Assad's forces and insurgents nears its second anniversary.</p><br /><p> While one source said the meeting might happen later in the week, a second source said it had been put off because the three most likely candidates for prime minister had reservations about taking the role without more concrete international support.</p><br /><p> "The opposition has been increasingly signaling that it is tired of waiting and no one serious will agree to be head of a government without real political and logistical support," said Syrian political commentator Hassan Bali, who lives in Germany.</p><br /><p> Bali said the United States and other members of the core "Friends of Syria" nations appeared intent "on raising the ante against Assad but are not sure how."</p><br /><p> A final communique said participants would "coordinate their efforts closely so as to best empower the Syrian people and support the Supreme Military Command of the (rebel) Free Syrian Army in its efforts to help them exercise self-defense".</p><br /><p> More than 70,000 Syrians have been killed in a fierce conflict that began with peaceful anti-Assad protests nearly two years ago. Some 860,000 have fled abroad and several million are displaced within the country or need humanitarian assistance.</p><br /><p> The United States has given $385 million in humanitarian aid but U.S. <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362074054960_9">President Barack Obama</span> has so far refused to give arms, arguing it is difficult to prevent them from falling into the hands of militants who could use them on Western targets.</p><br /><p> On Thursday, however, Kerry said the United States would for the first time provide assistance - in the form of medical supplies and the standard U.S. military ration known as Meals Ready to Eat, or MREs - to the fighters.</p><br /><p> A U.S. official told reporters it would give the aid only to carefully vetted fighters, adding the United States was worried that "extremists" opposed to democracy, human rights and tolerance were gaining ground in the country.</p><br /><p> "Those members of the opposition who support our shared values ... need to set an example of a Syria where daily life is governed neither by the brutality of the Assad regime nor by the agenda of al Qaeda affiliated extremists," the official said.</p><br /><p> If sending non-lethal assistance goes smoothly, it could conceivably offer a model for providing weaponry should Obama ultimately decide to do so.</p><br /><p> The continued U.S. refusal to send weapons may compound the frustration that prompted the coalition to say last week it would shun the Rome talks. It attended only under U.S. pressure.</p><br /><p> Many in the coalition say Western reluctance to arm rebels only plays into the hands of Islamist militants now widely seen as the most effective forces in the struggle to topple Assad.</p><br /><p> However, a European diplomat held out the possibility of Western military support, saying the coalition and its Western and Arab backers would meet in Istanbul next week to discuss military and humanitarian support to the insurgents.</p><br /><p> With fighting raging on largely sectarian lines, <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362074054960_6">French President Francois Hollande</span> said at a Moscow summit that new partners were needed to broker talks on ending the crisis, winning guarded support from <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362074054960_7">Russian President Vladimir Putin</span>.</p><br /><p> "We think that this dialogue must find a new form so that it speaks to all parties," said Hollande, giving few details of his proposal.</p><br /><p> Putin said Russia - one of Assad's staunchest allies - would look at Hollande's proposal, "which I think we could consider with all our partners and try to carry out."</p><br /><p> REBELS WANT ANTI-TANK, ANTI-AIRCRAFT ARMS</p><br /><p> Russia has said Assad's departure must not be a precondition for talks and a political solution, while the West has sided with Syria's opposition in demanding his removal from power.</p><br /><p> Kerry's offer of medical aid and food rations fell far short of rebel demands for sophisticated anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons to help turn the tables against Assad's mostly Russian-supplied forces.</p><br /><p> It also stopped short of providing other forms of non-lethal assistance such as bullet-proof vests, armored personnel vehicles and military training to the insurgents.</p><br /><p> Last week the European Union opened the way for direct aid to Syrian rebels, but did not lift an arms embargo on Syria.</p><br /><p> Kerry said the U.S. role should not be judged in isolation but in the context of what other nations will do.</p><br /><p> "What we are doing ... is part of a whole," he said. "I am absolutely confident ... that the totality of this effort is going to have an impact of the ability of the Syrian opposition to accomplish its goals."</p><br /><p> (Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Roger Atwood)</p><br /><br />Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997934524556527492.post-80022782421586449812013-02-27T10:12:00.001-08:002013-02-27T10:12:09.273-08:00S&P 500 rises more than 1 percentLOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the original "Star Wars" trilogy, was briefly hospitalized due to her bipolar disorder, the actress' spokeswoman said on Tuesday after video emerged of Fisher giving an unusual stage performance. The video came from a show Fisher gave aboard a cruise ship in the Caribbean last week, according to celebrity website TMZ, which posted the clip. The clip shows Fisher, 56, singing "Skylark" and "Bridge Over Troubled Waters," at times appearing to struggle to remember the lyrics. ...Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997934524556527492.post-2083094563010884712013-02-27T10:06:00.001-08:002013-02-27T10:06:14.348-08:00Benedict: 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-997934524556527492.post-32645406710309791532013-02-27T10:04:00.001-08:002013-02-27T10:04:14.377-08:00Obama to meet with leaders over $85B in sequestration cuts<br /> <br /> <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p class="small">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><br /><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /><br /> <br /> <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <span class="toolSet" readability="-23"><br /> <br /> <br /> <div class="byline" readability="9"><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <span class="byline bordered"/><br /> <br /><br /> <br /> <span class="titleline">Tribune staff and wire report</span><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p class="date"><span class="timeString">11:43 a.m. CST</span><span class="dateTimeSeparator">, </span><span class="dateString">February 27, 2013</span></p><br /> <br /> <br /> </div><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </span><br /> <br /> <br /> <div id="story-body-text" readability="78.9904671115"><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p>WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama will meet with top congressional leaders on Friday to discuss the deep, automatic government spending cuts slated to go into effect that day, congressional aides said.</p><br /><p>Known as the sequester or sequestration, the cuts amount indiscriminate across-the-board reductions in federal spending totalling $85 billion. Some 750,000 jobs could be lost, and many government services disrupted.</p><br /><p>Talks to avert the cuts have been all but non-existent between leaders and the White House. Mostly lawmakers are now focused on ways to rearrange the way the cuts will fall across defense and domestic accounts.</p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p>Obama is set to meet with Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, Democratic Senate Majority leader Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader.</p><br /><p>"The meeting Friday is an opportunity for us to visit with the president about how we can all keep our commitment to reduce Washington spending," McConnell said in a statement.</p><br /><p>"We can either secure those reductions more intelligently, or we can do it the president's way with across-the board cuts. But one thing Americans simply will not accept is another tax increase to replace spending reductions we already agreed to," he said.</p><br /><p>Republicans on Capitol Hill immediately questioned Obama's intent.</p><br /><p>"If the president is serious about stopping the sequester, why did he schedule a meeting on Tuesday for Friday when the sequester hits at midnight on Thursday?” asked a Republican congressional aide who was not authorized to talk about the private meeting. "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><br /><p>Transportation secretary Ray LaHood told White House reporters last week that proposed cuts to eht U.S. Federal Aviation Administration would lead to delayed flights, shuttered control towers, and irate travelers.</p><br /><p><em>Reuters and Lisa Mascaro, the Los Angeles Times<br/></em></p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </div><br /> Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997934524556527492.post-27254700467644686072013-02-27T10:02:00.001-08:002013-02-27T10:02:10.090-08:00Iran upbeat on nuclear talks, West still wary<br /><p class="first">ALMATY (Reuters) - <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361985189956_1">Iran</span> was upbeat on Wednesday after talks with world powers about its nuclear work ended with an agreement to meet again, but <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361985189956_2">Western officials</span> said it had yet to take concrete steps to ease their fears of a secret weapons program.</p><br /><p> The United States, China, France, Russia, Britain and Germany offered to ease sanctions slightly in return for Iran curbing its most sensitive work, but had made clear they expected no breakthrough in the talks in Kazakhstan, the first in eight months.</p><br /><p> U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said 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" a deal could be reached and its chief negotiator said he believed the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361985189956_3">Almaty</span> meeting could be a "turning point".</p><br /><p> The two sides agreed to hold expert-level talks in Istanbul on March 18 to discuss the offer, and return to Almaty for political discussions on April 5-6, when Western diplomats made clear they wanted to see substantive movement by 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_1361985189956_5">nuclear weapon</span>," Kerry said in Paris.</p><br /><p> A senior U.S. official in Almaty added: "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> This appeared to be a softening of a previous demand that Iran ship out its entire stockpile of higher-grade enriched uranium, which it says it needs to produce medical isotopes.</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_1361985189956_4">nuclear power</span>, and rings alarm bells abroad because it is only a short technical step away from weapons-grade.</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> ELECTION LOOMING</p><br /><p> The U.S. official said the 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> Iran had previously indicated that 20-percent enrichment was up for negotiation if it received the fuel from abroad instead.</p><br /><p> Chief negotiator Saeed 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> Western officials were aware that the closeness of Iran's presidential election in June is raising political tensions in Tehran and made rapid progress unlikely.</p><br /><p> One diplomat in Almaty said the Iranians appeared to be suggesting at the negotiations that they were opening new avenues, but that it was not clear if this was really the case.</p><br /><p> "Everyone is saying Iran was more positive and portrayed the talks as a win," said Iran expert Dina Esfandiary of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. "I reckon the reason for that is that they are saving face internally while buying time with the West until after the elections."</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 web sites reported.</p><br /><p> (Additional reporting by Fredrik Dahl 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 Kevin Liffey)</p><br /><br />Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997934524556527492.post-1127299337765079292013-02-26T10:12:00.001-08:002013-02-26T10:12:08.855-08:00Dow, S&P rise as Bernanke defends policy, warns on cuts<p class="first">NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks mostly rose on Tuesday after <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361899626975_2">Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke</span> defended the Fed's bond-buying stimulus before Congress, but warned forced spending cuts that could be triggered this week represented a headwind for the economy.</p><br /><p> Gains in homebuilders and other consumer stocks, following strong economic data, kept the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361899626975_5">S&P 500</span> nearly unchanged, while a 5 percent jump in <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361899626975_1">Home Depot</span> <hd.n> lifted the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361899626975_3">Dow</span> industrials. The PHLX housing sector index <.hgx> rose 2 percent.</.hgx></hd.n></p><br /><p> Stocks hit session highs shortly after Bernanke, in testimony before the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361899626975_4">Senate Banking Committee</span>, strongly defended the Fed's bond-buying stimulus program that has been essential for the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361899626975_7">stock market</span>'s recovery.</p><br /><p> However, he 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> "He really came down foursquare on the bearish camp with respect to the potential economic impact of these cuts. That's a surprise, and that's probably why the market's a little nervous right now," said Michael Jones, chief investment officer of <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361899626975_6">Riverfront Investment Group</span> in Richmond, Virginia.</p><br /><p> The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> rose 74.64 points or 0.54 percent to 13,858.81. The S&P 500 <.spx> gained 1.78 points or 0.12 percent to 1,489.63. The Nasdaq Composite <.ixic> dropped 5.84 points or 0.19 percent to 3,110.41.</.ixic></.spx></.dji></p><br /><p> The S&P 500 failed to move above 1,500, a closely watched level that was technical support until recently, but could now become a hurdle.</p><br /><p> Cable network AMC Networks was the Nasdaq's biggest percentage decliner after the home of popular shows such as "The Walking Dead" and "Mad Men" reported a quarterly profit way below analysts' estimates. Its stock fell 7.4 percent to $53.77.</p><br /><p> Equities continued to be weighed by 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 European financial crisis.</p><br /><p> The FTSEurofirst-300 index of top European shares <.fteu3> unofficially closed down 1.3 percent at 1,150.58. The benchmark Italian index <.ftmib> tumbled 4.9 percent.</.ftmib></.fteu3></p><br /><p> Dow component Home Depot Inc <hd.n> was the top gainer in both the Dow and the S&P 500 after the world's largest home improvement chain reported adjusted earnings and sales that beat expectations. Home Depot's shares jumped 5.5 percent to $67.46.</hd.n></p><br /><p> Macy's Inc <m.n> shares climbed 2.8 percent to $39.60 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> Economic reports that showed strength in housing and consumer confidence also supported stocks.</p><br /><p> 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.</p><br /><p> (Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Additional reporting by Sam Forgione; Editing by Jan Paschal)</p><br /><br />Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997934524556527492.post-73221078891380099532013-02-26T10:10:00.001-08:002013-02-26T10:10:17.133-08:00Experts: 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-997934524556527492.post-8554084212396054542013-02-26T10:06:00.001-08:002013-02-26T10:06:12.601-08:00Benedict: 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-997934524556527492.post-86513395741811000292013-02-26T10:04:00.001-08:002013-02-26T10:04:18.013-08:00Snow, sleet beginning to hit<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p>A winter weather advisory has been issued for the Chicago area as a powerful storm churning through the southern Plains is beginning to make its mark on Chicagoland with sleet, freezing rain and some snow.</p><br /><p>The area will be hit with snow, sleet and rain in this storm and it will be all snow by late afternoon. The heaviest snow is expected to fall between 3 and 7 p.m.</p><br /><p>North of I-80, snow accumulation could reach 3 to 6 inches by Wednesday morning. Some area could get 7 inches if the switch from rain to snow occurs sooner than expected, or if there is lake-enhanced snow.</p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p>South of I-80, including much of northwest Indiana, accumulation of less than 3 inches is possible because of an extended period of rain or a rain mixed with snow and sleet.</p><br /><p>The storm bore down on the southern Plains on Monday, dumping more than a foot of snow and creating blizzard conditions in Oklahoma, Texas and parts of Kansas still digging out from a winter storm last week.</p><br /><p>Highways in the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles and parts of Kansas were closed by the heavy and drifting snow that cut visibility and forced flight cancellations at airports across the region.</p><br /><p>A man was killed Monday when his car slid off Interstate 70 in Sherman County, Kansas, near the western border, Governor Sam Brownback said. And in northern Oklahoma, one person died when the roof of a home partially collapsed in the city of Woodward, said Matt Lehenbauer, the city's emergency management director.</p><br /><p>"We have roofs collapsing all over town," said Woodward Mayor Roscoe Hill Jr. "We really have a mess on our hands."</p><br /><p>The storm was slowly moving out of Texas on Monday, while residents of Kansas City in turn were preparing for a foot or more of snow into Tuesday.</p><br /><p>Tornado watches were in place Monday evening in parts of Mississippi and heavy rain was expected through the night in parts of Alabama and Georgia, according to the National Weather Service. The weather service Monday also issued flood watches for parts of the Carolinas and an ice storm warning for portions of West Virginia.</p><br /><p>Some 17 inches of snow fell near Amarillo, Texas, according to the National Weather Service. Other areas in the Texas Panhandle reported more than a foot of snow and Texas Governor Rick Perry activated Texas military forces to be ready to respond to calls for assistance.</p><br /><p>Amarillo could break the all-time record for the amount of snow in one day of just over 18 inches set in 1934, said Kristin Scotten of the National Weather Service.</p><br /><p>Airports in Amarillo and in Lubbock, Texas, were closed and Interstate 27 between the cities was shut because of blowing snow, state officials said. Wind gusts of 75 miles per hour (121 km per hour) were clocked at the Amarillo airport.</p><br /><p>Visibility was near zero on some roads around Amarillo, said Paul Braun, a Texas Department of Transportation spokesman.</p><br /><p>"I am hearing that we have a lot of vehicles that are stalled in the main lanes of our roadways and they can't be seen because of the blowing snow," Braun said.</p><br /><p>Texas State Trooper Gabriel Medrano said the snow was too deep to measure in Lubbock.</p><br /><p>"We are having a lot of problems getting our troopers to these crash scenes," Medrano said. "Our troopers are getting stuck out there."</p><br /><p>In Oklahoma, a state of emergency was declared for 56 of 77 counties, with northwest Oklahoma hit hardest in the storm. All highways in the Oklahoma panhandle were closed because of blizzard conditions.</p><br /><p>Parts of northwestern Oklahoma could get 16 inches to 24 inches of snow, with high winds creating drifts up to 6 feet high, the National Weather Service said.</p><br /><p>"It's the biggest in the last several years, really," said James Hand, emergency management director in the small town of Mooreland. "Last year, we didn't have anything to shovel."</p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997934524556527492.post-54776319993138915652013-02-26T10:02:00.001-08:002013-02-26T10:02:16.904-08:00Italy parties seek way out of election stalemate<br /><p class="first">ROME (Reuters) - <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361896989391_3">Italy</span>'s stunned <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361896989391_9">political parties</span> looked for a way forward on Tuesday after an election that gave none of them a parliamentary majority, posing the threat of prolonged instability and European financial crisis.</p><br /><p> The results, notably by the dramatic surge of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement of comic <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361896989391_1">Beppe Grillo</span>, left the center-left bloc with a majority in the lower house but without the numbers to control the powerful 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_1361896989391_7">government</span>.</p><br /><p> <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361896989391_5">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_1361896989391_4">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_1361896989391_6">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 "non-party" 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_1361896989391_2">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> "This is a jump to nowhere that does not bode well either for Italy or Europe," said Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo.</p><br /><p> In a sign of worry at the top over what effect the elections could have on the economy, Monti, whose austerity policies were repudiated by voters who shunned his centrist bloc, met the governor of the central bank, the economy minister and the European affairs minister to discuss the situation on Tuesday.</p><br /><p> The former EU commissioner and his team of technocrats, who were brought in to govern when Berlusconi was consumed by crisis and scandal, will stay on until a new administration is formed.</p><br /><p> UNTHINKABLE WITHOUT GRILLO</p><br /><p> Projections for the Senate by the Italian Centre for Electoral Studies indicated that the center-left would have 121 seats, 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 and opened up the prospect of previously inconceivable partnerships that will test the sometimes fragile internal unity of the main 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> Berlusconi, a media magnate whose campaigning all but wiped out Bersani's once commanding opinion poll lead, hinted in a telephone call to a morning television show that he would be open to a deal with the center-left - but not with Monti, the economics professor who replaced him 15 months ago.</p><br /><p> "Italy must be governed," Berlusconi said, adding that he "must reflect" on a possible deal with the center-left. "Everyone must be prepared to make sacrifices," he said of the groups which now have a share of the legislature.</p><br /><p> The Milan bourse was down almost 4 percent and the premium Italy pays over Germany to borrow on 10-year widened to a yield spread of 338 basis points, the highest since December 10 and more than 80 points above the level seen earlier on Monday.</p><br /><p> At an auction of six-month Treasury bills, Italy's borrowing costs jumped by more than two thirds with the yield reaching 1.237 percent, the highest since October and compared to just 0.730 percent in a similar sale a month ago.</p><br /><p> The euro dropped to an almost seven-week low against the dollar in Asia on fears of a revival of the euro zone crisis. It fell as far as $1.3042, its lowest since January 10.</p><br /><p> "What is crucial now is that a stable functioning government can be built as swiftly as possible," said German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle. "This is not only in the interests of Italy but in the interests of all Europe."</p><br /><p> However 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> A long recession and growing disillusionment with mainstream parties and tax-raising austerity fed the bitter public mood and contributed to the massive rejection of Monti, whose centrist coalition was relegated to the sidelines.</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 he 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> 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> "We are very concerned about the uncertainty and apparent ungovernability," said Silvio Pietro Angori, chief executive of Pininfarina, which has designed Ferrari sportscars since 1950. "A company competing on the global markets like Pininfarina needs the support of a stable <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361896989391_8">government</span> that inspires trust."</p><br /><p> One of the country's leading bankers summed up his personal reaction: "I'm in shock," he told Reuters. "What a mess!"</p><br /><p> (Additional reporting by Barry Moody, Gavin Jones, Lisa Jucca, Steven Jewkes, Steve Scherer Writing by Philip Pullella and James Mackenzie; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)</p><br /><br />Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997934524556527492.post-78739968149619738492013-02-25T10:12:00.001-08:002013-02-25T10:12:15.590-08:00Dow, S&P slip after uncertain Italian election<p class="first">NEW YORK (Reuters) - <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361815327527_5">U.S.</span> stocks mostly fell on Monday on fears that a divided parliament in <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361815327527_2">Italy</span> would get in the way of the country's reforms and hamper the euro zone's stability.</p><br /><p> Election projections showed the center-right coalition led by former <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361815327527_7">prime minister Silvio Berlusconi</span> was leading in the race for the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361815327527_1">Italian Senate</span>, contradicting initial exit polls and raising the specter of deadlock in parliament.</p><br /><p> Earlier polls pointing to a center-left victory lifted stocks in Milan and other European markets on investors' belief that they would continue the path to pay down Italian debt, said <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361815327527_6">Art Hogan</span>, managing director of <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361815327527_3">Lazard Capital Markets</span> in New York.</p><br /><p> "What we don't want to hear is a renewed fear about a euro- zone fracture," he said.</p><br /><p> Last week, the benchmark S&P 500 closed below its 14-day moving average on Wednesday for the first time this year. At midday, the S&P 500 was trading just below that level, now near 1,515.</p><br /><p> The index was, nonetheless, still near highs not seen in five years, as bets on a strong U.S. economy have given equities support. The S&P 500's slight fall last week was the first weekly drop after a seven-week string of gains.</p><br /><p> Banks and other financial stocks led Monday's decline on concern about the sector's exposure to <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361815327527_4">Italy</span>'s massive debt. The KBW Bank Index <.bkx> fell 0.7 percent.</.bkx></p><br /><p> The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> slipped 18.58 points or 0.13 percent, to 13,981.99. The Standard & Poor's 500 <.spx> shed 2.30 points or 0.15 percent, to 1,513.30. But the Nasdaq Composite <.ixic> rose 3.03 points or 0.10 percent, to 3,164.85.</.ixic></.spx></.dji></p><br /><p> Barnes & Noble Inc <bks.n> shares climbed 11.9 percent to $15.12 after the bookseller's chairman offered to buy its declining retail business.</bks.n></p><br /><p> The Nasdaq received support from Amgen Inc , up 4.2 percent at $90.47, after a rival issued a voluntary recall of its only drug, an anemia treatment that competes with Amgen's top-selling red blood cell booster, Epogen.</p><br /><p> The FTSEurofirst-300 index of top European shares <.fteu3> unofficially closed up 0.1 percent and Italy's main FTSE MIB <.ftmib> ended up 0.7 percent after earlier gaining near 4 percent.</.ftmib></.fteu3></p><br /><p> U.S. equities will face a test with the looming debate over the 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> 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> (Editing by Kenneth Barry and Jan Paschal)</p><br /><br />Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997934524556527492.post-31890743531014171022013-02-25T10:10:00.001-08:002013-02-25T10:10:26.418-08:00Indiana stays No. 1 in AP Top 25, Gonzaga No. 2<br /><p class="first">Indiana is No. 1 in The Associated Press' Top 25 for the fourth straight week, while <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361814609240_1">Gonzaga</span> moved to No. 2 for the first time in school history.</p><br /><p>While the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361814609240_2">West Coast Bulldogs</span> made some news at the top of the poll Monday, <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361814609240_3">Louisiana Tech</span>, <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361814609240_4">the Bulldogs</span> from Down South, moved into the rankings for the first time since a 13-week run in 1984-85, their only appearance in the poll.</p><br /><p>Louisiana Tech, which is 25th this week, was led back then to a ranking as high as No. 7 by a forward named <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361814609240_6">Karl Malone</span>. Gonzaga at that time had a point guard named <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361814609240_7">John Stockton</span>. They went on to become one of the greatest combinations in NBA history with the Utah Jazz, were members of the Dream Team and both were inducted in the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361814609240_5">Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame</span>.</p><br /><p>The Hoosiers, who have been ranked No. 1 for a total of 10 weeks this season, received all but one first-place vote from the 65-member national media panel.</p><br /><p>Gonzaga, which got the other No. 1 vote, was ranked third last week. The Bulldogs were also that high in the poll for the final two weeks of 2003-04.</p><br /><p>Duke moved up three spots to third and is followed by Michigan and Miami, which dropped from second after falling to Wake Forest, the Hurricanes' first Atlantic Coast Conference loss this season.</p><br /><p>Kansas is sixth, followed by Georgetown, Florida, Michigan State and Louisville.</p><br /><p><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361814609240_8">Saint Louis</span>, which beat Butler and VCU last week, moved into 18th in the poll, the Billikens' first ranking since being in for one week last season.</p><br /><p>Colorado State, which was 22nd and lost twice last week, and VCU, which was 24th, dropped out.</p><br />Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997934524556527492.post-1440478009278431132013-02-25T10:06:00.001-08:002013-02-25T10:06:19.091-08:00Iran 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-997934524556527492.post-27588856076781007402013-02-25T10:04:00.001-08:002013-02-25T10:04:21.524-08:00New storm to hit Chicago area on Tuesday: forecasts<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p>For the second time in less than a week, the Chicago area is in line for a snowstorm that promises a mixture of freezing rain, sleet and snow with enough accumulation to bring out the snow shovels.</p><br /><p>Early predictions from the National Weather Service pegged the potential snowfall at about 3-6 inches, about what the storm left the end of last week. But the weather service says it's still unclear which areas will be hit with what: If the temperature is above freezing, there will be less snow, and if it's below, there will be more.</p><br /><p>The weather service has issued a winter storm watch from Tuesday morning through the evening.</p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p>The weather service said the snow will start sometime after midnight Tuesday morning, with freezing rain turning to sleet to wet snow by early afternoon. With winds gusting about 35 mph, some of that snow will drift and made Tuesday a bad day on the roads.</p><br /><p>The track of the storm is over the Texas panhandle northeast and through Missouri and southern Illinois and central Indiana, the Lake Erie area early Wednesday. North of the low pressure path, winter storm watches are in effect from late Monday through Tuesday from Missouri through northern Illinois, the southeastern corner of Wisconsin, extreme northern Indiana and much of Lower Michigan.</p><p>In the Chicago area, there could be heavy snow of 6 inches or more Tuesday generally north of Interstate 80, with northeast winds at 25 to 35 mph whipping and blowing the snow, according to the Chicago Weather Center.</p><br /><p>Rain, a period of freezing rain and sleet will spread north out of central Illinois early Tuesday, changing over to a heavy wet snow in the Chicago metro area and across the far west through north suburbs into southern Wisconsin. </p><p>A combination of freezing rain, sleet and snow will cause hazardous driving across northern Indiana Tuesday. The precipitation will be all snow across Illinois later Tuesday.</p><br /><p>According to the Chicago Weather Center, February has been an unusually snowy month during a winter that has been unusually snowless. Through Saturday, there has been 10.1 inches of snow, about 136 percent of normal, while the winter's total has been 13.6 inches, way below normal.</p><br /><p><strong>Plains states hit again</strong></p><br />A storm struck parts of the southern Plains today, creating blizzard conditions in Oklahoma and Texas and warnings in Kansas and Missouri that caught the brunt of a winter storm last week.<p>Snow fell at the rate of up to 2 inches per hour in the Amarillo, Texas, area, and the National Weather Service warned against travel, saying "most roads are impassable."</p><p>Airports in Amarillo and 120 miles to the south in Lubbock, Texas, were closed while Interstate 27 between the cities was shut down because of the blowing snow, state officials said.</p><p>Amarillo and parts north of Amarillo in the panhandle reported a foot of snow or more on Monday morning.</p><p>Parts of northwestern Oklahoma could get 16 inches to 24 inches of snow, with high winds that could create drifts up to 6 feet high, according to the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma.</p><p>The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said it closed all highways in the Oklahoma panhandle because of blizzard conditions. Interstate 40 in the Texas panhandle was also closed, according to National Weather Service in Amarillo.</p><p>In Oklahoma City, some afternoon flights from Will Rogers World Airport were canceled in anticipation of the storm.</p><p>Kansas, hit by a foot or more of snow in spots last week, braced for possible worsening conditions on Monday and Tuesday.<br/><em/> <br /></p><p><em>Reuters contributed</em><strong/></p><br /><p><strong>chicagobreaking@tribune.com</strong></p><br /><p><strong>Twitter: @ChicagoBreaking</strong></p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-997934524556527492.post-92160505851812518472013-02-24T10:10:00.001-08:002013-02-24T10:10:16.292-08:00Daytona ready for race, willing to relocate fans<br /><p class="first">DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Fans feeling unsafe after the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361728868247_9">horrific crash</span> at <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361728868247_2">Daytona International Speedway</span> can change seats for <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361728868247_1">NASCAR</span>'s biggest race.</p><br /><p><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361728868247_3">Track President Joie Chitwood</span> said Sunday workers successfully repaired a section of fence — 54 feet wide and 22 feet high — that was shredded Saturday when <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361728868247_5">Kyle Larson</span>'s car went airborne on the final lap of a second-tier race and crashed through the barrier that separates cars from fans. Large pieces of debris, including a tire, sprayed into the upper and lower section of the stands.</p><br /><p>The crash injured more than 30 people, raising more questions about fan safety at race tracks.</p><br /><p>Halifax Health spokesman Byron Cogdell said seven people with crash-related injuries remained hospitalized Sunday in <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361728868247_7">Daytona Beach</span> in stable condition. The six people brought to a different Halifax hospital in Port Orange with crash-related injuries had all been discharged by Sunday morning, Cogdell said.</p><br /><p>A spokeswoman at Florida Memorial Medical Center would not release information Sunday on the patients brought to that hospital.</p><br /><p>Chitwood, meanwhile, said if any fans are uncomfortable with their up-close seating for Sunday's <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361728868247_4">Daytona 500</span>, officials will work to move them.</p><br /><p>"If fans are unhappy with their seating location or if they have any incidents, we would relocate them," Chitwood said Sunday. "So we'll treat that area like we do every other area of the grandstand. If a fan is not comfortable where they're sitting, we make every accommodation we can."</p><br /><p><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361728868247_6">Larry Spencer</span> of Nanticoke, Pa., said Sunday he's not sure he wants to ever sit that low again after his 15-year-old brother, Derrick, needed three stitches in his cheek after being hit by metal debris flying from the crash. They sat close to the fence Saturday, but returned for the Daytona 500 with tickets dozens of rows farther away from the track.</p><br /><p>"I thought it was just neat to see the cars going by that close," Spencer said. "After yesterday, though, I definitely will reconsider sitting lower ever again."</p><br /><p>The tire that flew into the stands landed a couple of rows above where they had been standing. After the crash, looking around at the people seriously injured, Spencer said he decided to take his brother to a hospital himself so that speedway crews and paramedics could focus on the people who needed more help.</p><br /><p>"The only way to describe it was like a bomb went off, and the car pretty much exploded," Spencer said.</p><br /><p>Track workers finished repairs about 2 a.m. Sunday, having installed a new fence post, new metal meshing and part of the concrete wall.</p><br /><p>Officials decided not to rebuild the collapsed cross-over gate, which allows fans to travel between the stands and the infield before races.</p><br /><p><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361728868247_8">Daytona</span> has a grandstand remodel planned. Chitwood said the injuries could prompt a redesign that might include sturdier fences or stands further away from the on-track action.</p><br /><p>"It's tough to connect the two right now in terms of a potential redevelopment and what occurred," Chitwood said. "We were prepared yesterday, had emergency medical respond. As we learn from this, you bet: If there are things that we can incorporate into the future, whether it's the current property now or any other redevelopment, we will.</p><br /><p>"The key is sitting down with NASCAR, finding out the things that happened and how we deal with them."</p><br /><p>Daytona reexamined its fencing and ended up replacing the entire thing following Carl Edwards' scary crash at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama in 2009. Edwards' car sailed into the fence and spewed debris into the stands.</p><br /><p>"We've made improvements since then," Chitwood said. "I think that's the key: that we learn from this and figure out what else we need to do."</p><br /><p>NASCAR plans to take what remained of Larson's sheared car along with debris back to its research and development center in Charlotte, N.C., for testing.</p><br /><p>"We'll bring in the best and brightest," said Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR's senior vice president for racing operations. "Anything we can learn will be put in place. ... Fans are our first priority. Obviously we want everybody to be safe at an event. We've talked to the speedway. We're confident in what's in place at today's event. Certainly still thinking about those affected, but we're confident to move forward for this race."</p><br /><p>The 12-car crash began as the front-runners approached the checkered flag. Leader Regan Smith attempted to block Brad Keselowski for the win, triggering a pileup that could have been much worse.</p><br /><p>Larson's burning engine wedged through a gaping hole in the fence. Parts and pieces of his car sprayed into the stands, including a tire that cleared the top of the fence and landed midway up the spectator section closest to the track.</p><br /><p>The 20-year-old Larson stood in shock a few feet from his car as fans in the stands waved frantically for help. Smoke from the burning engine briefly clouded the area, and emergency vehicles descended on the scene.</p><br /><p>Ambulance sirens could be heard wailing behind the grandstands at a time the race winner would typically be doing celebratory burnouts.</p><br /><p>"It was freaky. When I looked to my right, the accident happened," Rick Harpster of Orange Park said. "I looked over and I saw a tire fly straight over the fence into the stands, but after that I didn't see anything else. That was the worst thing I have seen, seeing that tire fly into the stands. I knew it was going to be severe."</p><br /><p>In 1987, Bobby Allison's car lifted off the track at Talladega while running over 200 mph, careening into the steel-cable fence and scattering debris into the crowd. That crash led to the use of horsepower-sapping restrictor plates at Talladega and its sister track in Daytona, NASCAR's fastest layouts.</p><br /><p>As a result, the cars all run nearly the same speed, and the field is typically bunched tightly together — which plenty of drivers have warned is actually a more dangerous scenario than higher speeds.</p><br /><p>"That's one of the things that really does scare you," Allison said Sunday. "But it's always a possibility because of the speeds, where they are."</p><br /><p>___</p><br /><p>Associated Press writer Jennifer Kay in Miami contributed to this report.</p><br />Pasukan News Dua Belashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15124931027898178048noreply@blogger.com