U.S. urges UN council to end "neglect," act on Syria (Reuters)

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) ? The United States and other Western countries called on the U.N. Security Council on Monday to end its "neglect" of the violence raging in Syria and rapidly endorse an Arab League plan for a political transition there.

Western officials were speaking a day before the 15-nation council holds a key meeting to consider the Arab plan, but faced reluctance from Damascus's ally Russia, a veto-holder in the council that has demanded changes in a proposed resolution.

Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby and Qatar's prime minister are due to plead with the council to back the plan for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to transfer powers to his deputy to prepare for free elections.

Western countries are deploying their big guns to try to overcome Russian objections, with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, British Foreign Secretary William Hague and French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe due to attend the session.

"We have seen the consequences of neglect and inaction by this council over the course of the last 10 months, not because the majority of the council isn't eager to act - it has been," Washington's U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice told reporters.

"But there have been a couple of very powerful members who have not been willing to see that action take place," she said. "That may yet still be the case."

Rice was referring to Russia and China, which vetoed a European-drafted Security Council resolution in October that would have condemned Syria for its bloody crackdown on anti-government protests and threatened it with possible sanctions.

Clinton urged the council to adopt a European-Arab draft resolution endorsing the Arab plan aimed at ending the 10-month crisis.

"The Security Council must act and make clear to the Syrian regime that the world community views its actions as a threat to peace and security," she said in a statement. "The violence must end, so that a new period of democratic transition can begin."

In Paris, a French diplomatic source said that what Juppe wanted "is that this visit at least speeds up negotiations."

WHAT CHANGES?

Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said last week that he was willing to engage on the European-Arab draft, which Morocco submitted to the council. But while he did not explicitly threaten to use his veto, he said the text was unacceptable in its current form.

Diplomats said Elaraby would be meeting with Churkin behind closed doors in New York to explain to him that vetoing the draft resolution would be tantamount to vetoing the Arab world.

A vote on the draft resolution is unlikely before Thursday or Friday, Western diplomats said on condition of anonymity.

Russia sought on Monday to avert a swift council vote, saying it wanted to study recommendations from Arab observers in Syria before discussing the league's plan. Russia also said Damascus had agreed to take part in talks in Moscow, but a senior figure in the Syrian opposition said it would not attend.

In New York, Rice said it was "vitally important that the Security Council support and embrace the Arab League plan in toto ... We don't see a great deal of reason for an extended negotiation."

She said the resolution was "quite straightforward" and contained no reference to the use or threat of force. Russia has said NATO countries distorted the sense of a March 2011 council resolution on Libya to help rebels overthrow the government of Muammar Gaddafi.

While few expect Russia to support the resolution, Western officials said they were hopeful Moscow might be persuaded to abstain, allowing it to pass. The question remained what changes would need to be made to the text to secure that outcome.

It was widely expected that Russia would insist at least that language in the draft explicitly calling on Assad to transfer power to his deputy be dropped, as well as criticism of arms sales to Syria that is clearly aimed at Moscow.

(Writing by Louis Charbonneau and Patrick Worsnip; editing by Mohammad Zargham)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/un/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120130/wl_nm/us_syria_un

mitt romney tax return elizabeth smart flip saunders apple earnings solar flares academy award nominations cynthia nixon

British minister to visit Falklands to mark war anniversary (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) ? A British minister will travel to the Falkland Islands in June to take part in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of Britain's recapture of the islands from occupying Argentine troops, a visit that could rile Buenos Aires.

Britain said it would send one of its most advanced warships, the destroyer HMS Dauntless, to the South Atlantic in the coming months to replace another ship on patrol, but that the move was long planned and "entirely routine".

Tension between Britain and Argentina over the disputed South Atlantic islands has been rising again as the anniversary of the war approaches and British companies drill for oil in waters surrounding the islands.

"I'm going to coincide with the conclusion of the Falklands war. I will be going in June for the 30th anniversary," Jeremy Browne, the British Foreign Office minister responsible for relations with Latin America, told Reuters in an interview.

Browne said he hoped his week-long visit would not annoy Argentina, which has already accused Britain of acting provocatively by announcing that Prince William, second in line to the British throne, will be deployed to the islands this year as an RAF search-and-rescue helicopter pilot.

"I hope they will see it for what it is, which is a recognition of the valor and sacrifice of British soldiers and the Falkland islanders themselves in the liberation of the islands 30 years ago and also a wider commemoration of the sacrifice made more generally, including by Argentineans," he said.

Argentina was quick to react to the warship's deployment, but did not specifically comment on Browne's visit.

Referring to the destroyer's deployment and Prince William's tour of duty, the Foreign Ministry said it "rejected the British attempt to militarize (the) conflict" and regretted that an heir to the throne would arrive wearing "the (military) uniform of a conqueror."

"Governments should avoid the temptation of falling into a discourse ... that aims to distract public attention from belt-tightening economic policies," a ministry statement added.

Britain refuses to negotiate with Argentina over its claim of sovereignty to the islands, which are called Las Malvinas in Spanish. Prime Minister David Cameron said this month Britain was committed to protecting the islands and said the islanders' wishes were paramount.

London has controlled the islands, about 300 miles off the southern Argentine coast, since 1833. In 1982, Britain sent a naval force and thousands of troops to reclaim the islands after Argentine forces occupied them. About 650 Argentine and 255 British troops died in the 10-week conflict.

Browne is the first minister from Britain's 20-month-old coalition government to announce plans to travel to the islands and will be the first Foreign Office minister to go since 2008.

FLAG BAN

In December, the South American trading bloc Mercosur - including associate member Chile - agreed that vessels sailing under a Falklands Islands flag would be banned from docking at any of its ports in solidarity with Argentina.

After Argentine President Cristina Fernandez described Britain last year as a "crass colonial power in decline" for refusing to hold talks over the islands, Cameron retorted this month by accusing Argentina of "colonialism".

Browne, a member of the centre-left Liberal Democrats, the junior coalition partner, said he did not see the dispute as a barrier to Britain's drive for stronger relations with Latin American nations, "with the exception of Argentina".

Argentina last week appointed Alicia Castro as its ambassador to London, a post left vacant since 2008 in protest at Britain's refusal to negotiate over the Falklands.

Browne said there was scope for a "more productive" relationship between Britain and Argentina in areas such as trade, climate change and economic cooperation, including in the G20 group of leading economies to which both countries belong.

"But we are not about to forfeit our belief in the right of self-determination of the Falkland islands' people ... in order to engender that relationship," he said.

He said Argentina's actions could be counter-productive.

"There are a lot of people across Latin America and more widely ... who feel very uncomfortable about a country with a population of 40 million people trying to put into effect what amounts to an economic blockade against remote islands with a population of about 2,500 people," he said.

The official Falkland Islands website says the inhabitants are predominantly of British descent.

Asked if he expects Argentina to try to create obstacles for companies drilling for oil off the Falklands, Browne said:

"They look determined to try and make it harder and I'm sure they could make it harder, but the oil exploration is carrying on, so if the ambition of the Argentinians is to bring it to a standstill, then they haven't succeeded."

(Additional reporting by Mohammed Abbas, and Helen Popper in Buenos Aires; editing by Mohammad Zargham)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120131/wl_nm/us_britain_argentina

the band perry faith hill cma awards 2011 cma awards 2011 western black rhino western black rhino jefferson county alabama

2 for Wambach, Morgan; US women beat Canada 4-0

/

By JOSEPH WHITE

updated 11:49 p.m. ET Jan. 29, 2012

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - With a flick of the head, Abby Wambach sent Alex Morgan on a 30-yard run that gave the United States an early lead, the first of three goals resulting from impeccable teamwork between the veteran and the up-and-comer.

There's no question that Wambach, now the second leading goal-scorer in women's soccer, will be at the front of the attack for the U.S. women's soccer team at the London Olympics. The emerging question is whether Morgan should be starting as well.

Wambach and Morgan scored two goals apiece Sunday night in the Americans' 4-0 victory over Canada in the championship game of the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament, a match that was essentially for bragging rights between two teams that had already earned their berths for the Summer Games.

"I'm not going to lie. I think we play really well together," Wambach said. "Her skill set is completely opposite of mine, and that just makes for a nightmare for any defenses. She's so fast. Not only is she fast, she's so strong on the ball."

Wambach's head-flick provided the assist on Morgan's goal in the fourth minute, then Morgan assisted in the 24th and 28th as Wambach pushed her career total to 131 goals, one ahead of longtime U.S. captain Kristine Lilly. The 31-year-old forward said last week that it's only a matter of time before she or Canada's Christine Sinclair topple Mia Hamm's record of 158, but that's still a few years off.

"Lill emailed me a couple of days ago," Wambach said. "And she says 'How about you go ahead and tie me already, and then why don't you go ahead and beat me already? But don't make it a toe-poke, make it a nice goal.' And I think those two goals were great goals for us."

Wambach left for a sub at halftime, but Morgan continued merrily on, scoring her second goal in the 56th after running onto a long ball from Lauren Cheney.

Morgan has become the Americans' super-sub, bringing energy and lightning-fast scoring potential off the bench at last year's World Cup. She'd prefer to start ? and she admits she was mad when she sat the entire game against Mexico last week ? and she took advantage of a spot in the first 11 on Sunday to show that is perhaps where she belongs.

"If we play tomorrow, I'd say yes," coach Pia Sundhage said. "When we go to Algarve Cup (next month), I don't know. That's the beauty of the team we have right now. We will still change the starting lineup quite a bit. Regardless of who we pick, it will be a good team. But she brought something special today with Abby."

Sundhage has been starting games with a Wambach alone at the top of a 4-2-3-1 formation. Playing Wambach and Morgan together, as the coach did Sunday, makes it a more traditional 4-4-2 ? and it worked magic from the opening whistle.

When Carli Lloyd hit a long ball early in the game, Wambach knew that all she had to do was nod it to on to Morgan, who used her power and speed to fight off two defenders. Canada's Candace Chapman did everything but pull Morgan to the ground, but instead it was Chapman who ended up on the turf as Morgan finished off a left-footer from 12 yards.

Morgan then supplied the cross for Wambach's header to make it 2-0, then collected a rebound and slid the ball to Wambach again for an easy right-footer from 7 yards four minutes later.

Wambach and Sinclair started the game tied at 129 goals, but the anticipated head-to-head matchup between two of the game's greats turned out to be as lopsided as the final score. Sinclair, whose nine goals led all scorers in the tournament, found herself bottled up by U.S. defenders. The better scoring chances were left to Christina Julien, who was twice stymied point-blank by goalkeeper Hope Solo in the first half.

Solo played every minute of the tournament despite a slight pull of her right quadriceps suffered before the second game. The Americans outscored their opponents by a combined score of 38-0 over five games.

The U.S. and Canada were playing for the 50th or 51st time ? there's some disagreement between the two sides over a game that might or might not have taken place in the 1980s ? but either way it's been a series of American domination. Canada has only three wins and five draws, its last victory coming 11 years ago in a tournament in Portugal.

Even a sellout crowd of 25,427 at BC Place ? the second-largest ever for a Canada home game ? failed to rally the underdogs, who have much work to do to catch up with the Americans before heading to London.

"From what we can see, the naked eye will tell you, there's a bit of a gap there," Canada coach John Herdman said. "We can close that gap. I'm absolutely sure."

___

Joseph White can be reached at http://twitter.com/JGWhiteAP

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

advertisement

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/46185018/ns/sports-olympic_sports/

extreme couponing taylor lautner act sinead o connor dan marino passing record ipad 2 cases movie times

EU leaders struggle to reconcile austerity, growth

BRUSSELS?? European leaders struggled to reconcile austerity with growth on Monday at a summit due to approve a permanent rescue fund for the euro zone and put finishing touches to a German-driven pact for stricter budget discipline.

Officially, the half-day summit was meant to focus mainly on ways to revive growth and create jobs at a time when governments across Europe are having to cut public spending and raise taxes to tackle mountains of debt.

But disputes over the limits of austerity, and about Greece's unresolved debt restructuring negotiations with private bondholders, may sour efforts to send a more optimistic message that Europe is getting on top of its debt crisis.

The risk premium on southern European government bonds rose while the euro and stocks fell on concerns about a lack of tangible progress in the Greek debt talks and gloom about Europe's economic outlook.

Highlighting those fears, Spain's economy contracted in the last quarter of 2011 for the first time in two years and looks set to slip into a long recession.

And France halved its 2012 growth forecast to a mere 0.5 percent in another potentially ominous sign for President Nicolas Sarkozy's troubled bid for re-election in May. Prime Minister Francois Fillon said the cut would not entail further budget savings measures.

Conservative Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, attending his first EU summit, said Madrid was clearly not going to meet its target of 2.3 percent growth this year. That has raised big doubts about whether it can cut its budget deficit from around 8 percent of economic output in 2011 to 4.4 percent by the end of this year as promised.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso hinted that Brussels may ease Spain's near-unattainable 2012 deficit target after it updates EU growth forecasts on February 23.

Italy, rushing through sweeping economic reforms under new Prime Minister Mario Monti, was rewarded with a significant fall in its borrowing costs at an auction of 10- and 5-year bonds, despite double-notch downgrades of its credit rating by Standard & Poor's and Fitch this month.

But Portugal's slide towards becoming the next Greece - needing a second bailout to avoid chaotic bankruptcy - gathered pace as banks raised the cost of insuring government bonds against default and insisted the money be paid up front instead of over several years.

The yield spread on 10-year Portuguese bonds over safe haven German Bunds topped 15 percentage points for the first time in the euro era. It cost a record 3.9 million euros ($5.12 million) to insure 10 million euros of Portuguese debt.

Outlawing Keynes?
With Britain standing aloof, most of the other 26 EU leaders were set to approve a fiscal pact to write balanced budget rules into their national law, despite economists' doubts about the wisdom of effectively outlawing deficit spending.

"To write into law a Germanic view of how one should run an economy and that essentially makes Keynesianism illegal is not something we would do," a British official said.

European Parliament President Martin Schulz told the leaders the new fiscal treaty was unnecessary and unbalanced, because it failed to combine budget rigor with necessary investment in public works to create jobs.

The 17th summit in two years as the EU battles to resolve its sovereign debt problems was called to shift the narrative away from politically unpopular austerity and towards growth.

Despite the rhetoric on growth, debate over strengthening the euro zone's financial defenses and lowering Greece's debt burden are likely to dominate the talks.

Negotiations between the Greek government and private bondholders over the restructuring of 200 billion euros of Greek debt made progress over the weekend, but were not concluded before the summit began.

A Greek official said Prime Minister Lucas Papademos would give the summit a brief report on the situation and meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the sidelines.

Until there is a deal between Greece and its private bondholders, EU leaders cannot move forward with a second, 130 billion euro rescue program for Athens, which they originally agreed to at a summit last October.

Germany caused outrage in Greece by proposing last week that a European commissar take control of Greek public finances to ensure it meets fiscal targets. Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said that to make his country choose between national dignity and financial assistance ignored the lessons of history.

The German idea won cautious backing from the Dutch and Swedish prime ministers.

"We need to have things in place for monitoring that they are really doing what they are promising," Swedish Prime Minister Frederik Reinfeldt told reporters on arrival.

But Merkel played down the idea of placing Greece under stewardship, saying: "We are having a debate that we shouldn't be having. This is about how Europe can be supportive so Greece can comply, so there are targets."

Permanent rescue fund
The leaders were to sign a treaty creating the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), a 500-billion-euro permanent bailout fund that is due to become operational in July, a year earlier than first planned.

But there was a last-minute hitch over the terms of a 'fiscal compact treaty' tightening budget rules when four central European states demanded that countries planning to join the euro be allowed to attend all euro zone summits.

The prime ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia agreed to seek an amendment to the text as a condition for joining the pact, a Hungarian spokesman said.

The ESM was meant to replace the European Financial Stability Facility, a temporary fund that has been used to bail out Ireland and Portugal.

But pressure is mounting - including from Italy's Monti, IMF chief Christine Lagarde and U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner - to combine the resources of the two funds to create a

super-firewall of 750 billion euros ($1 trillion).

The International Monetary Fund says if Europe puts up more of its own money, that will convince others to contribute more resources to the IMF, boosting its crisis-fighting abilities and improving market sentiment.

But Germany has so far resisted such a step.

Merkel has said she will not discuss the issue of the ESM/EFSF's ceiling until the next EU summit in March. Meanwhile, financial markets will continue to worry that there may not be sufficient rescue funds available to help the likes of Italy and Spain if they run into renewed debt funding problems.

"There are certainly signals that Germany is willing to consider it and it is rather geared towards March from the German side," a senior euro zone official said.

The sticking point is German public opinion which is tired of bailing out the euro zone's financially less prudent.

The summit was expected to announce that up to 20 billion euros of unspent funds from the EU's 2007-2013 budget will be recycled towards job creation, especially among the young, and will commit to freeing up bank lending to small- and medium-sized companies.

But with no new public money available for a stimulus, leaders focused mainly on promoting structural reforms such as loosening labor market regulation, cutting red tape for business and promoting innovation.

However, they were unlikely to resolve a decade-old battle over creating a single European patent which would reduce the high cost of registering inventions and protecting intellectual property. Firms currently have to register patents in each of the 27 member states. The streamlining has long been stymied by disputes over language and the location of an EU patent court.

Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46191196/ns/business-world_business/

mariano rivera mariano rivera dadt repeal comedy central roast neal schon neal schon richard pryor

Joseph Maturo, East Haven Mayor, Admits Blame Over Taco Remark

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-27-BKN-Knicks-Heat/id-d46bb0ba779e4f58b5ec5436e621426d

case mccoy kristin davis kristin davis phillies phillies philadelphia phillies sand dollar

James Zogby: Bridging the Divide

ABU DHABI, UAE: I've just finished teaching a three week January term course at New York University's Abu Dhabi campus (NYUAD). I've had the great fortune to teach before at some wonderful schools across the U.S. But this, for me, was a special experience, the result of the unique mix of students who had been brought together in this one place.

The course I had been invited to teach was called "Bridging the Divide between the Arab World and the West". It was to be an examination of how the West and Arabs have interacted with each other in the past century, their mutual misperceptions, and the resultant and often tragic problems that have ensued, putting both sides at risk.

In the lead up to the start of the course, I had planned my lectures and prepared class exercises. The students would create, conduct, and analyze their own polls of U.S. and Arab attitudes and would develop their own class blog about the divide and the ways they experience it. On day one, I was set to begin and to proceed according to my plan, and then I met my students.

The class was made up of mostly first year students. There were sixteen in all - from twelve different countries on four continents! The range was extraordinary. Four were Arabs (one each from the UAE, Egypt, Libya, and a Palestinian from Lebanon - each with a fascinating story to tell). There were four Americans (from Minnesota, Ohio, Virginia, and New Jersey). They were joined by colleagues from: the UK, Denmark, Bosnia, Kenya, India, Indonesia, and South Korea. Though different in so many ways, they were, for the most part, "cut from the same cloth", variations on a theme. They were bright and inquisitive, expressive and insightful, and open to learning from each other.

After interviewing each of the students on the first day, it became clear to me that while they were eager to learn about the place they were in, and the Arab World, in general, they also had a great deal to share about their own experiences in confronting the many "divides" that make up our modern world. My students from Columbus, Ohio and St. Paul, Minnesota, for example, wanted to tell about how their respective communities were dealing with the influx of large numbers of Somali refugees. The ethnic and religious divides that have shaped the modern histories of India, Indonesia, and Bosnia became subjects for conversation, as did the more recent tensions that have confronted Muslim immigrants to the UK, U.S. and Denmark.

Some of my American students shared the apprehension expressed by their parents and peers when they made known their choice to go to a school in the Arab World, while some of my Arab students told of similar reactions they received when they declared their intention to attend an American school.

We had much to talk and write about, and we did. What was so extraordinary was how supportive the students were of one another. Although NYUAD is only two years old, a new culture had been created in this remarkable place, itself an important learning experience. As I watched the students engage in conversation, or when I read their posts and their comments on their colleagues' posts, or when I saw them just mingling with one another in the cafeteria, it became clear what a remarkable thing was being done here.

There were times I felt as though this were a sort of Hogwart's Castle. And that these little wizards had been plucked from their respective worlds and brought together where their special skills could be developed before they were to be sent back home. But I came to realize that this wasn't the case at all. The students weren't magical, nor was the place. It was the opportunity that had been created for meeting and learning from each other that was the magic. It was the vision behind this place that had brought these few hundred very bright young men and women from every continent to learn together, that would create lessons that would last a lifetime.

The UAE will be bidding to host the World Expo in 2020. Their theme is "Connecting the World, Creating the Future". In many ways, this is being done across this young country every day, in business, in culture and the arts, and in the meetings of peoples in everyday life. This also describes the NYUAD experience--in every classroom and in every lunch table conversation. The students who are fortunate enough to be a part of this experience are being connected to the world in a very personal way and out of this experience a new generation of global leaders is being created. And because these students are being transformed by their encounters here, they will be better able to heal the many divides they face in our increasingly complex world.

I leave here enriched and invigorated by the time I spent with my students in this place.

?

Follow James Zogby on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AAIUSA

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-zogby/bridging-the-divide_b_1239126.html

lobster recipes nate diaz vs donald cerrone vanderbilt texas a m alistair overeem alistair overeem appetizer recipes

Pac-Man Is NP-Hard

Assuming NP != P your first sentence is correct. And maybe this is what laymen should know about it. However for completeness...

In general a problem is presented as a string of n bits and the algorithm (Turing Machine) has to decide whether it is acceptable or not (good or bad etc.) For example, take the graph coloring problem. This involves a graph on m vertices and you have to color it using k colors such that neighboring vertices have different colors. The input to the algorithm is a description of the graph and k as a bit-string. And the bit-string is acceptable if there is a proper coloring.

If the Turing machine can decide whether the bit-string with n bits is acceptable in less than p(n) steps where n is a polynomial, then the problem is in P.

NP does *not* stand for Not P.

NP means that there is a witness to the acceptability of a bit-string that can be verified in p(n) steps. For example, the witness for the graph coloring is an actual assignment of the colors to the vertices. It is quite straightforward to verify that the coloring is proper (no neighboring vertices have the same color, it takes less than n^2 color comparisons. NP stands for Nondeterministic Polynomial, I am
not a fan of the name.

NP-Hard means that the problem is such that any NP problem can be reduced to it (with a polynomial correspondance). Therefore, if you had a polynomial algorithm for it than you had one for *all* NP problems. This would imply P=NP and is doubtful to be true. In other words a proof of NP-hardness means: Yes, it is harder than P, at least most scientists think so.

I have no idea yet how the Pac-Man problem is represented as a bit-string. I will find out tomorrow on a lecture...

It is worth mentioning the class co-NP. This is a the class of problems for which there is a witness that the input is *not* acceptable. Think what witness could easily verify that a graph is not k colorable... For example existence of a full k+1 subgraph would suffice but other constructions also prohibit k coloring which have no full k subgraph in them. I do not recall from the top of my head whether k coloring is co-NP or not. But I think it is not, here is why:

There is a conjecture that may have more chance than P = NP. And that is: P = NP intersect co-NP. That is if both acceptability and non-acceptibility can be polynomially verified then there would be a guaranteed polynomial algorithm. So far this appears to be the case.
The last famous problem that is NP and co-NP at the same time and was found to be in P was prime testing.

And of course there are many, many other complexity classes...

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/3nfltwimYbE/pac-man-is-np-hard

zack greinke zack greinke siri san diego news ford evos ford evos the skin i live in

Shop Android Deal of the Day: HTC Tatami Hard Shell Case for EVO 3D

The Jan. 27 Shop Android Deal of the Day is the HTC Tatami Hard Shell Case for the EVO 3D. It has a perfect fit and a sleek look, lets you charge without having to remove the case, protects your phone from scratches, drops and falls, and its easy snap-on installation requires no extra tools. And it's available in black, purple or raspberry today only for just $9.95. Get yours while supplies last!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/pP2zsKPl2hE/story01.htm

andrew bailey zooey deschanel and joseph gordon levitt debra messing ayaan hirsi ali rachel uchitel strait of hormuz new years eve party ideas

Toshiba announces color e-reader in Japan, hopes people buy more e-books from its store

If you're gonna be late to a party, you should at least be fashionably late. That's the mindset behind Toshiba's entry into the dedicated e-reader space with its new 7-inch BookPlace DB50. Toshiba hopes adding an e-reader alongside its existing AT200 and Thrive tablets will push more eyeballs towards the 100,000 or so titles in its BookPlace online bookstore. The ¥22,000 ($284) BookPlace DB50 sports a TFT-LCD screen with an LED backlight, a 1GHz Freescale i.MX535 processor, 8GB of internal flash memory and a microSD slot. The device also measures 120mm wide, 190mm tall, 11mm thick and weighs 330 grams (11.6 ounces), with battery life rated at up to 7.5 hours. Toshiba did not mention the operating system in its release though the hubbub in the Interwebs is that it will use customized versions of Linux and Android Gingerbread. The Japanese debut is pegged for February 10th and the company is apparently considering a release outside the country, too.

Toshiba announces color e-reader in Japan, hopes people buy more e-books from its store originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink PCWorld, TechCrunch  |  Toshiba (Japan)  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/27/toshiba-announces-color-bookplace-db50-e-reader-in-japan/

nigel tufnel day black friday deals

One million children in Sahel at risk, UNICEF warns (Reuters)

GENEVA (Reuters) ? More than 1 million children in the Sahel are at risk of severe malnutrition and urgent action is needed to avert starvation akin to that in Somalia, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned on Friday.

The agency appealed for $67 million for 8 countries in the region where it said instability fueled by increasing activities of al-Qaeda and Boko Haram was compounding humanitarian needs. They are Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and the northern regions of Cameroon, Nigeria and Senegal.

"In the Sahel we are facing a nutrition crisis of a larger magnitude than usual with over 1 million children at risk of severe, acute malnutrition," Rima Salah, acting UNICEF deputy executive director, told a news briefing.

"The countries in the Sahel, for example, if we do not now attend to their needs, it will become like Somalia and other countries," she said. "We have to prevent it before it becomes a disaster."

She was referring to the anarchic Horn of Africa country where the U.N. says 250,000 still live in famine conditions due to drought and conflict and a total of 4 million need aid.

More than nine million people in five countries in Africa's Sahel region face food crisis next year, following low rainfall, poor harvests, high food prices and a drop in remittances from migrants, aid agency Oxfam said last month.

The funds for the Sahel, for an initial six-month phase, will provide therapeutic feeding to malnourished children and campaigns to prevent the spread of epidemics including cholera. Some families will receive cash to cover higher food prices.

It is part of UNICEF's overall appeal of $1.28 billion for 98 million women and children in 25 countries. Somalia and other Horn of Africa countries (Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya) account for nearly one-third of the total amount sought.

"There is growing instability in the Sahel region, fuelled by the Arab Spring and increasing activities of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Boko Haram, all compounding the humanitarian needs of children and women in the region," UNICEF's report, "2012 Humanitarian Action for Children," said on Friday.

The Libyan civil war might have given militant groups in Africa's Sahel region like Boko Haram and al Qaeda access to large weapons caches, according to a U.N. report released in New York on Thursday.

The U.N. report on the impact of the Libyan civil war on countries of the Sahel region that straddle the Sahara - including Nigeria, Niger and Chad - also said some national authorities believe the Islamist sect Boko Haram, which killed more than 500 people last year and more than 250 this year in Nigeria, has increasing links to al Qaeda's North African wing.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay Editing by Maria Golovnina.)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/un/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120127/wl_nm/us_africa_sahel_un

west virginia football west virginia football black friday violence black friday violence il postino il postino online black friday deals