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Sunday, September 30, 2012
Last Western detainee at Gitmo returns to Canada
TORONTO (AP) ? The last Western detainee held at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay returned to Canada Saturday after a decade in custody following his capture in Afghanistan at age 15 after being wounded in a firefight with U.S. soldiers, officials said.
Canadian Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said that 26-year-old Omar Khadr arrived at a Canadian military base on a U.S. government plane early Saturday and was transferred to the Millhaven maximum security prison in Bath, Ontario.
The son of an alleged al-Qaida financier, Khadr pleaded guilty in 2010 to killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan and was eligible to return to Canada from Guantanamo Bay last October under terms of a plea deal.
But Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government had long refused to request the return of Khadr, the youngest detainee held at Guantanamo. The reluctance was partly due to suspicions about the Khadr family, which has been called "the first family of terrorism."
The U.S. Defense Department confirmed the transfer in a statement and said 166 detainees remain in detention at Guantanamo Bay.
The Toronto-born Khadr was 15 when he was captured in 2002 in Afghanistan, and has spent a decade at the Guantanamo prison set up on the U.S. naval base in Cuba to hold suspected terrorists after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He received an eight-year sentence in 2010 after being convicted of throwing a grenade that killed Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer during a 2002 firefight.
"His head is spinning a bit and it's going to be a real adjustment for him, but at the same time he is so happy to be home," John Norris, Khadr's Canadian lawyer, said after speaking with his client.
"He can't believe that it is finally true. He simply can't. For very good reason he was quite fearful that the government would not follow through on its word and he's pinching himself right now not believing that this government has finally kept its word," he said.
Norris said Khadr would be eligible for parole as early as the summer of 2013. He said Khadr's return to Canada comes 10 years too late.
Toews said the U.S. government initiated Khadr's transfer and suggested that Canada had little choice but to accept him because he is a Canadian citizen. It will be up to Canada's national parole board to release him, Toews said.
"Omar Khadr is a known supporter of the al-Qaida terrorist network and a convicted terrorist," Toews said.
Toews called for "robust conditions of supervision" if Khadr is granted parole. Toews said in his written decision that he reviewed all the files forwarded by the U.S. government and said the parole board should consider his concerns that Omar "idealizes" his father and "appears to deny "Ahmed Khadr's lengthy history of terrorist action and association with al-Qaida."
Toews also said that Omar Khadr's mother and sister "have openly applauded" his father's "crimes and terrorist activities" and noted that Omar has had "little contact with Canadian society and will require substantial management in order to ensure safe integration in Canada."
"I am satisfied the Correctional Service of Canada can administer Omar Khadr's sentence in a manner which recognizes the serious nature of the crimes that he has committed and ensure the safety of Canadians is protected during incarceration," Toews said.
Norris said it is regrettable that the minister is trying to influence the parole board.
"Most of what he has said there is simply not true. It's part of the stereotype of Omar that this government has been disseminating from the beginning," Norris said.
He added that once the Correctional Service "will get to know Omar" they will "recommend appropriate conditions."
Defense attorneys have said Khadr was pushed into fighting the Americans in Afghanistan by his father, Ahmed Said Khadr, an alleged al-Qaida financier whose family stayed with Osama bin Laden briefly when Omar Khadr was a boy.
The Egyptian-born father was killed in 2003 when a Pakistani military helicopter shelled the house where he was staying with senior al-Qaida operatives. Omar's youngest brother lives in Toronto and is paralyzed after being shot in the attack that killed his father.
Another brother was released from a Canadian jail last year after successfully fighting extradition to the U.S. on charges he supplied al-Qaida with weapons in Pakistan.
The father was arrested in Pakistan in 1995 after a bomb attack targeting the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad, but was released after former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien appealed to Pakistan to give him due process. Canada was embarrassed when he later emerged as a senior al-Qaida figure. Canadian governments have since refused to speak out on behalf of the Khadr family.
Omar was found in the rubble of a bombed-out compound badly wounded and near death in Afghanistan in 2002. His case received international attention after some dubbed him a child soldier.
Khadr's family did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment about his release. Norris said he told the family Saturday morning that Omar had returned to Canada.
Norris said it's not for him to say whether Omar should live with his family once he's released.
"You can't change the fact that they are his family," Norris said. "They love him and I know that they'll find a way."
Norris said Khadr has received some education in Guantanamo Bay and hopes that will continue so that he's able to reintegrate into the community.
Khadr has claimed in the past that he was abused at Guantanamo, but Canadian Foreign Affairs officials said they accept U.S. assurances that Khadr was treated humanely. Human rights groups have long criticized Harper's Conservative government for not doing enough for Khadr, and the Supreme Court of Canada twice ruled that the Canadian government had violated his rights.
Canada's three opposition parties demanded that Harper's government bring Khadr home. He has received some sympathy from Canadians, largely due to his age and the torture allegations, but his family has been widely criticized.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta signed off on Khadr's transfer in April. Panetta said in Ottawa earlier this year that sending Khadr back to Canada would be an important step because it would serve as an example to other detainees who are looking to return to their home countries or other places. Some Guantanamo detainees have been reluctant to agree to plea deals after noting that Khadr had remained in Guantanamo despite being eligible to leave since last October.
Suzanne Nossel, Amnesty International USA Executive Director, said the Guantanamo prison should finally be closed. She said Canada now has a chance to right what she called the many wrongs against Khadr and called for an investigation into Khadr's allegations of torture.
"Given the Obama administration's glacial pace towards closing the U.S.-controlled detention center, little and late though it is, today's news represents progress," Nossell said in a statement. "Khadr was imprisoned at the age of 15, subjected to ill-treatment and then prosecuted in a military commissions system that does not meet international fair trial standards. Growing up in Guantanamo and facing more prison time in Canada, his future remains uncertain."
The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights released a statement calling Khadr's case "one of the ugliest chapters in the decade-long history of Guantanamo."
"Khadr never should have been brought to Guantanamo. He was a child of fifteen at the time he was captured, and his subsequent detention and prosecution for purported war crimes was unlawful, as was his torture by U.S. officials," CCR Legal Director Baher Azmy said.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://enews.earthlink.net/article/int?guid=20120929/dccc4cd3-c667-478f-a85f-7fbcf25ee050
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Saturday, September 29, 2012
Tornado hits fair in Spain, flood deaths reach 10
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) ? A tornado swept through a fairground in a Spanish town, knocking down a Ferris wheel and injuring 35 people, while the death toll from flooding in the same southern region of the country rose to 10, authorities said Saturday.
Friday's tornado damaged several rides and cut electricity in the temporary fair set up in the main square of Gandia, according to its town hall website. It said 15 of the injured were seriously hurt, all of whom were treated on site.
Local media reported the fair in Valencia province was closed to the public at the time of a thunderstorm and that all the injured were fair workers.
Just inland from the Mediterranean coastal town, five more victims of Friday's flash floods southwest of Gandia were found overnight. They included a middle-aged woman in the town of Lorca.
Last summer, Lorca was hit by Spain's deadliest earthquakes in more than 50 years, leaving nine dead.
A spokeswoman for the regional government of Andalucia told The Associated Press on Saturday that the heavy downpours and resulting high waters had claimed the lives of five people in the province of Murcia, three in Almeria and two in Malaga.
The spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with government policy, said a 52-year-old British woman was missing in Almeria as well as one homeless man. Five people originally declared missing had been found alive.
Local media reported that hundreds of citizens had to be evacuated throughout the region.
The flooding disrupted high-speed train service between Madrid and Valencia, and various regional lines, while bridges and roads were also made impassible.
The heavy rains which started Friday morning were expected to continue throughout Saturday, with the front moving north toward Catalonia and the Balearic Islands.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tornado-hits-fair-spain-flood-deaths-reach-10-144042955.html
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Target, Walmart list price drop for B&N's Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight to $119
Check those calendars. It's September 29th, which means, for those who follow the world of e-readers, that we're two days from Kindle Paperwhite day. According to Target and Walmart, it also means that Barnes & Noble's own illuminated e-reader, the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight, is getting a $20 price cut, down to $119. That price puts the reader on par with the entry-level Paperwhite (no 3G, with ads). Let the battle of the front lit e-readers commence!
Target, Walmart list price drop for B&N's Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight to $119 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 Sep 2012 21:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Maggot Guts Lead to ID of Dead Body
Police in Mexico recently discovered a body burned beyond recognition in a remote patch of woods just off a country road. The hands and feet were missing. There was no physical evidence nearby except a school graduation ring. The body was in such bad shape that investigators couldn't even determine the gender. The only soft tissue available for genetic analysis was a burned fragment of liver, but attempts to get a DNA profile from this bit of evidence proved futile.
However, forensic investigators were able to find useful genetic material in an unusual place ? inside the guts of the maggots infesting the corpse's neck and face.
"This is the first reported case of analysis of human DNA isolated from the gastrointestinal tract of maggots used to identify a victim in a criminal case," a group of researchers from Monterrey, Mexico, wrote in a report this month in the Journal of Forensic Sciences.
Ten days before the body was found, a man claimed his daughter had been abducted. He recognized the ring, but couldn't tell if the badly burned corpse was his daughter. The investigators took a DNA sample from the man and then looked at the gut contents of three blowfly maggots from the dead body. They found traces of human DNA in the bugs' stomachs. With this evidence, they found that the victim was female, and they were able to run a paternity test, which came back with a 99.68-percent match to the man, confirming that this was his abducted daughter.
Maggots are commonly used to construct timelines for crimes, as larval development can indicate how long a victim has been dead. Attracted by gases escaping from a decomposing corpse, blowflies often show up within minutes of death, infesting parts of the body and laying their eggs there. It's the larvae that result from these eggs that serve as a timestamp; depending on the temperature they develop from egg to winged adult in a matter of 10 or so days.
But the researchers say this grim case shows how else the insects might be used as clues.
"If maggots are encountered in association with human remains, investigators could utilize this approach if the extraction of DNA from other sources is not possible," wrote the researchers, led by Marta Ortega-Mart?nez, of Universidad Aut?noma de Nuevo Le?n.
Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience. We're also on Facebook?& Google+.
Copyright 2012 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Source: http://news.yahoo.com/maggot-guts-lead-id-dead-body-211035304.html
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Friday, September 28, 2012
Video: Escapee returned to China?s ?black jails?
Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.
Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/49218401/
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Home Improvement Dreams Can Come True!
Our family has been diligently focusing on paying down our debt and raising 3 kids and we didn?t have a lot of time or extra money to do home improvements. So now we need a few major repairs, but at least we will have the money to get them done.?First place we need to start is our kitchen. Our counters are mismatched, cupboards from the 70?s and appliances from the 80?s. Let the makeover begin.
Our biggest upgrade is the kitchen and then the bathroom. The kitchen is going to be where where we starts, since we only have one bathroom, there will be some logistics to figure out before we can start a remodel there.I have been browsing home remodel and kitchen sites online for days. I think I have a basic idea of what we want and where to start, but it get?s confusing with so many options.
Have you seen those kitchens with the?LED under cabinet lighting direct wire lights that last up to 10 years and save money, too? I am thinking they are a must have. Thank goodness my husband is an electrician and knows all about?direct wire LED lighting and is actually on board with investing in it. He even got sucked into a few lighting websites searching for products, power supplies and?LED TV backlighting. I am glad I don?t need to understand any of that ?technical? stuff. I think I will stick to picking out the cupboards and appliances and leave the other stuff to him. My husband thinks I need to take a few steps back and focus on the cabinets and counter tops I prefer, before I worry about lighting choices. It?s really hard when there are so many great lights to choose from.
Have you done any remodeling or upgrades to your home? I would love to hear your suggestions on kitchen makeovers!
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Source: http://moneysavingmichele.com/2012/09/home-improvement-dreams-can-come-true/.html
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Penn St. officials lose pretrial motion on perjury
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) ? Two weeks before former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky is expected to be sentenced on child molestation charges, a county judge determined that perjury charges should remain in place against two university administrators.
Dauphin County Judge Todd Hoover ruled Wednesday against former Vice President Gary Schultz and Athletic Director Tim Curley on the felony perjury charge they both face, but he didn't decide on a separate request to throw out the other charge ? failure to report suspected child abuse.
The perjury counts are felonies, while failure to report suspected child abuse is a summary offense, less serious than a misdemeanor. Schultz and Curley are accused of lying to the grand jury that investigated Sandusky.
The judge said the claim made by Schultz and Curley that there is insufficient evidence to corroborate the perjury charges will be more appropriately pursued during the trial. He also said prosecutors have given the defendants sufficient information about which parts of their grand jury testimony make up the perjury allegation.
"Having satisfied the request to specify the statements it will seek to prove as perjurious, we find that the commonwealth need not identify the manner in which it intends to prove the alleged falsity of each statement," the judge wrote.
Hoover did not say when he would rule regarding the failure to properly report suspected child abuse, for which Curley and Schultz have argued the statute of limitations has expired.
Schultz, the university's former vice president for business and finance, has retired. Curley, the athletic director, is on leave. Their trial is scheduled to begin in Harrisburg with jury selection on Jan. 7. Defense lawyers are seeking to split the criminal cases against them.
A spokesman for the attorney general's office declined to comment Wednesday. A spokeswoman for the defendants' lawyers did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
Sandusky, a former defensive coordinator, was convicted in June on charges he sexually abused 10 boys, some on campus. He remains jailed awaiting sentencing Oct. 9.
Eight young men testified against Sandusky, describing a range of abuse they said went from grooming and manipulation to fondling, oral sex and rape when they were boys and for some included acts that occurred in Penn State team showers. One young man testified that his muffled screams from the basement of the Sandusky home in State College, where Penn State's main campus is, went unanswered as Sandusky attacked him.
The 68-year-old Sandusky maintains his innocence, acknowledging he showered with boys but insisting he never molested them. Given his age and the serious nature of the crimes of which he was convicted, he's likely to receive a sentence that will keep him in prison for life.
The abuse scandal touched off by Sandusky's arrest last year rocked Penn State, bringing down longtime coach Joe Paterno and the university's president and leading the NCAA, college sports' governing body, to levy unprecedented sanctions against the university's football program.
Former FBI Director Louis Freeh, hired by university trustees to conduct an investigation into the university's handling of abuse complaints against Sandusky, concluded that Paterno, ousted President Graham Spanier, Curley and Schultz concealed a 2001 allegation against Sandusky to protect Penn State from bad publicity.
The late coach's family, as well as Spanier, Curley and Schultz, have hotly disputed Freeh's assertions.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/penn-st-officials-lose-pretrial-motion-perjury-072005331--spt.html
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Thursday, September 27, 2012
Futures flat after recent sell-off
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures were flat on Wednesday as investors took a break from the previous day's sharp decline, which was the S&P's worst day since June.
Market participants have been seeking new catalysts to keep pushing shares higher since the U.S. Federal Reserve and European Central Bank announced stimulus measures earlier this month. The S&P is up almost 6 percent so far this quarter, with much of those gains coming on expectations for such announcements from the central banks.
Further gains may be hard to come by amid concerns over the impact that slowing global growth could have on companies. Tuesday's sell-off came as Caterpillar Inc
In another discouraging sign for corporate America, Jabil Circuit
S&P 500 futures fell 1.2 point but remained above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 5 points and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 4.25 points.
The S&P 500 is up 2.5 percent so far in September, historically a difficult month for the market, and recently hit the highest level in nearly five years.
The last session of the third quarter is Friday, and the quarter's strongest performers could see some additional upside on "window dressing," when money managers add the latest outperforming stocks to their portfolios before the end of the quarter. MetroPCS
Yahoo Inc's
Investors are also looking ahead to August new home sales, due out at 10 a.m. (1400 GMT) Analysts expect 380,000 units sold in the month, up modestly from 372,000 in August.
While the housing market has shown signs of strengthening, and homebuilders have reported strong results recently, the July Case-Shiller report on home prices, released on Tuesday, came in weaker than expected.
U.S. stocks tumbled on Tuesday, pressured by Caterpillar's outlook and weakness in Apple Inc shares. It was the S&P 500's biggest percentage daily loss since June 25 and the biggest for the Nasdaq since July 20.
(Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stock-index-futures-signal-flat-lower-open-093700536--finance.html
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Video: Mitt Romney, phone home
Angry pet owners take jerky treat fight to stores
Grieving pet owners have started warning other consumers with fliers, cards and posters about potentially dangerous chicken jerky treats from China. After the death of her German shepherd, one Illinois woman gathered 60,000 signatures demanding retailers stop selling the treats.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/49186067#49186067
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Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Poke War! Facebook Pokes Now Update In Real-Time
In case Facebook Poking wasn't addictive enough, the Pokes page now updates in real time. That means you can leave your finger on the trigger and poke back the instant a friend pokes you. I've heard from a Facebook employee the feature was recently built by an intern, and bless their soul. Or curse it if you have something important to do, because you'd be surprised how quickly you can get sucked into a real-time poke war.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/QmEeCdMrSpo/
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Junkyard Find: 1972 Dodge Tradesman Custom Van | The Truth ...
Once the Detroit Big Three went to front-engined/snout-equipped cargo vans in the late 1960s and early 1970s, replacing the dangerous yet highly-maneuverable-in-alleyways forward-control/flat-nose vans that came before, those vans became much more practical for freeway driving (and family transportation). I still see plenty of 40-year-old Econolines, Beauvilles, and Tradesmen in junkyards these days, since these vans are so useful that most of them get flogged until they drop dead, but it (usually) takes one with some mid-70s-style customizing touches to make me break out the camera.
The Tradesman was the windowless ?molester van? cargo hauler, much better suited than the passenger-van Sportsman for airbrush murals depicting jousting knights battling Aztec kings in a zebra herd at the Mars Base.
The most basic customization job on these vans, back when The Sweet was big and groovy chicks in tube tops alternated bongloads of Panama Red with swigs of Boone?s Farm, involved the application of circular bubble windows and some upholstery in the cargo area. If you wanted to increase the odds of enticing those groovy chicks into your van, you needed the airbrush mural, a quadrophonic 8-track sound system, and maybe a wood-burning stove.
I was in grade school back when the custom-van craze reached its zenith, and even then most people thought they were pretty goofy. I wanted a Porsche 914, not a custom van, when I was 8. And yet? I?m slaving away on my own custom van project now.
Source: http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/09/junkyard-find-1972-dodge-tradesman-custom-van/
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Middle East protests: Signs of hope, challenge for fledgling democracies
The Libyan public's backlash this weekend against a militant group blamed for killing Amb. J. Christopher Stevens underscores that the violent hatred unleashed by an anti-Islam film is supported by only a tiny fraction of Islam's more than 1.5 billion adherents. But as Arabs strive to establish new governments in the wake of the 2011 uprisings, those minorities pose challenges far beyond their size ? not only for their governments, but for US policy.
After decades of promoting democracy, the US is getting an early glimpse of what free societies will look like in the Middle East ? and the kind of views that may be expressed. The opening up of public life has allowed for the airing of deep anti-American sentiment, built up over decades of US support for Israel and dictatorial Arab governments. It has also empowered the voice of long-repressed Islamist groups, some of whom were voted into power.
Most citizens in the region would likely agree that the anti-Islam film "Innocence of Muslims" should be banned. But they also say that the recent violence against US targets does not reflect broader public sentiment. And many are optimistic about democracy's possibilities, even if their priorities ultimately are different from those of Western societies.
RELATED ? Islam, politics, and women's rights: The view from the post-revolution Muslim world
But Israel, a key American partner in the region, argues that this upsurge of free expression is anything but democratic. It has been vocal in its criticism of Washington as naive about democratic development ? and the challenge posed by rising Islamist powers, especially hard-line factions.
"The radicals are a minority, but that's also the case with the terrorists?. You cannot ignore them," says Eli Shaked, former Israeli ambassador to Egypt. "Washington should stop expecting the Arabs to become democratic tomorrow or the day after tomorrow or in the near future. It's impossible. Democracy should come after a long process of democratization that should start in schools, in textbooks." Children should grow up learning the values" that are second nature in Western societies, he says.
COPING WITH POWER VACUUMS
Libya was the scene of the worst violence, but it was also the Arab country that arguably moved fastest to condemn it. Three days after the Sept. 11 attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, which killed US Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three colleagues, as Muslims elsewhere launched fresh attacks, Libyans had already begun marching in rejection of the violence, telling Americans that ? in the words of one placard ? "We are sorry." On Sept. 21, thousands protested once again and attacked the compound of Ansar al-Sharia, a militant Islamist group that some have accused of killing Ambassador Stevens.
Libya's fledgling government has vowed to hunt down the perpetrators of the Benghazi attack, which some officials said was preplanned by a militant group, not simply a protest that escalated. But the lack of a strong, unified national security force raises questions about how easy that will be.
For more than 40 years, Muammar Qaddafi was the government of Libya, favoring personal authority over real civic institutions. Libya has had to build a government from scratch while contending with new militias emboldened by Mr. Qaddafi's fall. It is trying to capitalize on public anger over the Sept. 11 attack to force rogue militias to disarm.
Most Libyans reject the violent ideology espoused by militant Salafi groups.
"They should have done a demonstration according to the values of the prophet ? peacefully," says Ebtehaj Zariba, a student in Tripoli. She is against the film, but also against violence.
"Now what I'm worried about most is Libya's image abroad," she says. "That people will get the idea that there's no security."
RELATED ? Salafis 101: 5 key facts
Likewise, in Tunisia, some are exasperated that the government failed to discipline Salafi activists in the wake of a Sept. 14 assault on the US embassy and a nearby American school.
Two days later, police allowed a Salafi leader wanted in connection with the attack to slip out of a Tunis, Tunisia, mosque. Authorities said police withdrew to avoid a potentially violent confrontation. But the security forces' legitimacy is shaky after trying to suppress last year's revolution, says Henry Smith, a Middle East and North Africa analyst at Control Risks, a British risk assessment firm. "Moving against protesters condemning the film might be seen as further politically damaging given the sensitivities over its content," he says.
Similar issues are at play in Egypt, where Salafis initiated the original protest ? although others joined them, including a group of soccer fans who claimed to be the ones to bring down the American flag.
Salafis, who once eschewed politics, have become a force to be reckoned with, challenging the Muslim Brotherhood's hegemony on political Islam and putting Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi in a difficult position when it came to patching up relations with the US after the violence. Too strong a condemnation could make the Salafis look like the stronger defenders of Islam and allow his opponents to portray him as too concerned with US interests.
DIVVY
Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki summed up a common sentiment in a video message on his Facebook page after the Sept. 14 attack: "What happened on Friday is not Tunisia." He also condemned the film as a similar gesture ? albeit a nonviolent one ? of extremism, and asked that neither side see such provocations as representative of the minority. "Be assured that we do not lump together a few extremist individuals and the entire American people," he said. "Neither do we wish to see the Tunisian people reduced to a group of religious radicals."
Many Muslims in the region, as well as in the US, have been quick to reject accusations that the recent violence reflects fundamental problems with Islamic theology or culture.
"Timothy McVeigh does not represent Christianity, does not represent the United States," says Mustafa Abu Sway, a professor of philosophy and Islamic studies at Al Quds University in Jerusalem, referring to the 1995 Oklahoma City bomber whose attack killed 167 people.
According to a survey released in July by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, support for hard-line groups across the Muslim world ? from Al Qaeda to the Taliban to Hamas ? has steadily declined over the past five years.
Roughly two-thirds of Egyptians and Tunisians say democracy is the preferable form of government, with even more saying they're optimistic that the 2011 uprisings will usher in more democracy in their countries.
But Egyptians and Tunisians may have a different model in mind; in a Pew survey of the Muslim world last year, respondents ranked free speech as the fifth most important of six democratic principles, while economic prosperity topped the list.
Indeed, while the anti-Islam film sparked the protests, historical grievances and economic frustration provided ample fuel.
The historical context of the US in the region ? including decades of support for authoritarian regimes, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, overt support for Israel, and a pervasive feeling that America has made war on Islam ? is important to consider. Some argue that, although the film sparked the protests, it was longstanding anti-US sentiment that really fueled them.
"Nobody wants to talk about the fact that it wasn't just about the film," says Hisham Hellyer, a fellow with the Brookings Institution in Washington, who is based in Cairo. "A lot of them were protesting because they wanted to give the US a bloody nose. There's broader anti-American sentiment here, and it's got nothing to do with the film."
For many, however, the economy is a far greater concern than the YouTube clip.
A video of the Tunis attack, posted on YouTube by the liberal Tunisian blog Nawaat shows young men ? some bearded, some in vaguely Afghan dress ? charging the embassy. "Unemployment!" says one young protester to the camera, pointing to himself.
"['Innocence of Muslims'] is a bad film, and America should have banned it," says Egyptian Hassan Osman, who worked at his security job rather than heading to Tahrir Square to protest. "But we have many other things to worry about in Egypt. We don't need to burn down embassies because of a film. Look, we still can't support our families on our salaries. This is what we should protest in Tahrir."
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/middle-east-protests-signs-hope-challenge-fledgling-democracies-150420042.html
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Tuesday, September 25, 2012
OSCE gives thumbs-down to Belarus poll
MINSK (Reuters) - International election monitors gave a thumbs-down on Monday to a parliamentary election in Belarus, saying it was neither free nor fair, in a judgment that increased the isolation of President Alexander Lukashenko.
After election officials listed 109 winning candidates for parliament, all from pro-establishment parties, monitors of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said many opposition politicians had been blocked from taking part in Sunday's poll and unable to run campaigns.
"This election was not competitive from the start," Matteo Mecacci, a OSCE special coordinator, said in the statement. "A free election depends on people being free to speak, organize and run for office, and we didn't see that in this campaign."
The token parliament made up of loyalist deputies will reinforce the authoritarian Lukashenko, who has run the ex-Soviet state since 1994. But the OSCE judgment was also certain to increase his international isolation and lock in place his poor ties with the West.
In a quick reaction, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said: "It is very clear that President Lukashenko, instead of accepting the partnership with Europe that has been offered, continues on a course of repression and this is a tragedy for his country, for the citizens of Belarus."
Lukashenko and his inner circle of officials are under travel and other sanctions from the United States and the European Union because of his heavy-handed rule.
His relations with the West nosedived when he cracked down on street protests against his re-election in December 2010. Scores of his opponents were arrested. Many now either lie low after periods in jail or have fled the country.
Western monitoring agencies have not judged an election in the country of 9.5 million free and fair since 1995.
Earlier, Belarussian election officials made clear that none of the 109 newly-elected deputies represented even those moderate opposition parties which had fielded candidates.
"It seems that candidates from the opposition parties do not enjoy the trust of their electorate," Nikolai Lazovik, a senior commission official, told a news conference.
OPPOSITION BOYCOTT
The two main opposition parties, United Civic Party and the Belarussian People's Front, had called on people to go mushrooming or fishing rather than vote, in protest at the detention of political prisoners and election fraud.
Human rights bodies say the run-up to Sunday's poll was marked by arrests and detention of opposition activists.
Lukashenko, a populist described by the U.S. administration of George W. Bush as the last dictator of Europe, denounced the boycott call on Sunday, calling the opposition "cowards who have nothing to say to the people".
He had positioned himself for a negative verdict from the OSCE observer mission, saying: "If this time round there is doubt cast on the choice of the Belarussian people then I don't know what standards will be good enough in future elections."
A report of preliminary findings published by the OSCE, which fielded 330 observers of the election, said many prominent politicians who might have played an important role in the election "remained in prison or were not eligible to register because of their criminal record".
"We were here in 2010 when some of those people were first arrested and put in jail, and we are sad that their voices could not be heard this campaign," Mecacci added.
The OSCE also said the opposition had been severely limited in its access to state-run media. There had sometimes been a lack of proper ballot-counting procedures and observers had at times been blocked from doing their job.
"Coverage of the campaign did not provide a wide range of views. Candidates who called for an election boycott had their free access to media coverage denied or censored. Media coverage focused on the President and government, with minimal attention given to candidates," it said in a statement.
"While early voting and election-day procedures were assessed positively, the process deteriorated considerably during the count.
"A significant number of observers were not given a meaningful opportunity to observe the count and evaluated the process negatively in a significant number of the polling stations observed," it said.
The election has produced no new strong personalities to challenge Lukashenko's rule. Previous parliaments have initiated very little legislation independent of the presidency.
Despite U.S. and EU sanctions, which prevent Lukashenko and his inner circle travelling to anywhere in the West, the small country has weathered a currency crisis which drained it of dollars and caused two big devaluations.
Russia has provided $4.5 billion in loans and investments in exchange for access to industrial assets such as pipelines pumping Russian gas to Europe.
With the deterioration in relations with the West, Belarus has moved closer to Russia, with which it has an open border and shares a common air defence network.
(Additional reporting by Gareth Jones in Berlin; writing by Richard Balmforth; editing by Andrew Roche)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/osce-says-belarus-election-not-impartial-competitive-111130210.html
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Darain Atkinson Sentenced to Eight Years in Prison ? CBS St. Louis
ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOX) -?Darain Atkinson,?co-owner and operator of??National Auto Warranty Services, Inc. was sentenced to eight years of imprisonment and ordered to pay more than $4 million in restitution for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and filing false tax returns. (Darain?s brother, Cory Atkinson was sentenced to 3 years in prison earlier this month.)
Court documents show Darain Atkinson and his brother Cory Atkinson each?owned 50% of the business.? In January 2009, National Auto Warranty changed its name to US Fidelis, Inc.? National Auto Warranty /US Fidelis?routinely conducted business using the fictitious name of Dealer Services.? The brothers also operated related businesses using some form of the name US Fidelis, and owned a direct mail business, which was known as DS Direct.
The primary business of USF/NAWS was marketing and selling vehicle service contracts (VSCs) throughout the United States.? Typically, USF/NAWS acted as a broker/seller of VSCs on behalf of other VSC administrators.? USF/NAWS made a profit and attempted to make a profit by marking up the price of the VSC, which was often more than $1,000.? The total purchaser cost for a VSC was often greater than $2,000.? USF/NAWS used a variety of techniques to market and sell VSCs, including direct mail to consumers, media advertisements, and unsolicited telephone calls. A VSC was not a warranty or an extended warranty, and USF/NAWS had no affiliation with an automobile manufacturer,? no authority to provide an automobile manufacturer?s factory warranty and no authority or ability to alter or extend a factory warranty, according to the indictment.
According to the plea agreement, as part of the conspiracy, USF/NAWS employed a variety of false, deceptive and materially misleading sales and marketing techniques.? These techniques resulted in substantial sales of VSCs by USF/NAWS.? Among these techniques were mailers that were intended to mislead consumers into believing that the consumers were in some way extending a manufacturer?s warranty, and that failed to disclose material limitations on the VSCs being sold.
Darain Atkinson directed USF/NAWS personnel to fraudulently withhold substantial portions of refunds due to customers who cancelled their VSC and were owed a full or prorated refund.? USF/NAWS routinely fraudulently withheld approximately 40% of the total refund due to customers who legitimately cancelled and attempted to cancel their VSC.? Often, only customers who complained or threatened action were provided a full refund to which they were entitled.? USF/NAWS personnel routinely made the cancellation and refund process difficult to discourage purchasers from being able to obtain refunds to which they were entitled.
In addition to the conspiracy charge, with his earlier plea, Darain Atkinson also admitted that he filed a false tax return for the tax year 2006 that failed to include millions of dollars in distributions that he received from USF/NAWS.? According to the plea agreement, between 2006 and 2008, Darain and Cory Atkinson received millions in distributions from USF/NAWS, a substantial percentage of which funds were used to pay for their personal expenses.? For example, records from USF/NAWS indicate that in 2006, Darain Atkinson received distributions in excess of $13 million.? In 2007, they each received distributions in excess of $8 million; in 2008, in excess of $13 million.
Darain Atkinson, 47, St. Louis, MO, pled guilty April 9th, to one felony count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and one felony count of filing false tax returns, and appeared today for sentencing before United States District Judge John A. Ross.
His brother Corey was sentenced last week to 40 months in prison and ordered to pay over $4 million restitution to the IRS.
This case was investigated by Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, United States Postal Inspection Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Missouri Attorney General?s Office.? Assistant United States Attorneys John Bodenhausen and Charles Birmingham are handling the case for the U.S. Attorney?s Office.
Source: http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2012/09/25/darain-atkinson-gets-eight-years/
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Online Games and High Speed Internet Questions
Do you play online games at all ?? Are you happy with your internet connection ? Any time outs or slow screen reaction ?? Internet service providers have a variety of connection speeds, from basic dial up to lightning fast cable and satellite. A high-speed connection has many benefits, from faster downloading of files to faster web browsing.
The speed of the connection determines how fast the computer is able to communicate with the remote servers on the internet that contain information. ? The faster a computer is able to upload and download information, the more complex and rich the remote information can be.
Often the most rich and speed intensive information is found on online games. The reason most gaming computers must have a good graphics card is that the amount of graphics information they have to process can be intense. ? This is also true of a network connection.
If the connection speed is slow, the best gaming computer on the market will be unable to download the graphics intensive information in some online games fast enough to run the game properly.
The graphics in a slow connection may load too slowly, hang up too often, or simply time out the internet connection, if the connection is too slow. ? If an online gaming customer plans on playing intensive games, they should make sure they have a high speed Internet connection for their premium games.
This information should be made available from the online gaming webpage. Most mobile devices are high speed, and have the added benefit of not being tied to a wired connection.
With today?s mobile devices, a good mobile network connection allows the gaming enthusiast to take their games anywhere.
Imagine the convenience of taking a child?s favorite online game along on a road trip.
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'); -->Pin ItSource: http://homeinternetproviders.org/online-games-and-high-speed-internet-questions/
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Monday, September 24, 2012
What you see is what you getA blog for Baby Boomers
Today?s thoughts are back to the day about ten years ago when a female co-worker looked over her cubicle at me and said: ?You realize you?re very lucky, don?t you?? ?To set the stage, she was one of those co-workers you?d rather forget each and every day at 5:00 because she was not a genuinely nice person. In that case, she was talking about the fact that four years earlier I had married my best friend. Her one bad marriage many years prior had left her without companion or child. My response to her ?lucky? statement was I was more fortunate to have my best friend and he is just as fortunate to have me as his best friend. I think every job has one of those co-workers who are willing to work overtime just to be annoying or mean.
Fast forward to now when two of my closest friends, one white and one black, have both tried dating sites within the past two years. These two live on opposite ends of the country and they have never met each other. They are totally different personalities with totally different life experiences. However, their dating site experiences are nearly identical. One?believes online dating sites are no more than human vending machines. My other friend?agrees. I am obviously the megaphone that relates information from one to the other.?
Both women have experienced lots of ?winks?, email exchanges, phones calls and some dates with the online ?matches?. Some of the winks, emails and phone calls never turned into dates because the men decided to back out before a date took place. Friend number one believes these guys just want to see what they can get out of the human vending machine, but they may never have?had intentions of actually meeting in person. Friend number two agrees. Both women have also experienced overbearing, needy men who never stop calling after the first date, even though the women may have told?them they are not interested in pursuing a relationship any further. Friend number one is curious about why men of another nationality never send her winks. Friend number two is curious about the fact that only men of another nationality send her winks. Friend number one is interested in meeting men of another culture. Friend number two wants to stay within her culture.
Recently I listened to a man who may have the answer.?He says the secret to finding a companion?may?be in what you reveal.?One of the newest daytime talk show hosts, Steve Harvey?is the guy I?m talking about. www.steveharveytv.com? Steve?has?written two books on the subject of relationships. His tips are not rocket science, but they may be things some women forget when?blinded by the ?He may be the one syndrome?. Harvey?s latest book and movie,?Act Like a Woman, Think Like a Man? validated what most of us already know. In?one particular show, he was talking to a woman who had outrageous demands in terms of what she wants in a man. Another show was with a?woman who posted an online photo?showing?extreme cleavage.
Some of Steve?s tips:
1)????? Make sure your online photo reflects how you really look. Don?t wear extreme cleavage, different color hair and definitely post a photo of yourself ALONE?.not with anyone else.
2)????? Don?t publish a bunch of ?do not wants? on your profile. Instead, explain or check off what you ?do? want, what you ?like? and where you want to go in life.
3)????? Don?t give out your real phone number. In fact, purchase a throw-away phone for use with any online introductions. Create a new and generic email address for dating site communication and never give out your address.
4)????? Don?t be willing to meet too soon. Spend an extraordinary amount of time communicating with the person online and asking him key questions. Those key questions include:
?????? a.?What are your short and long term goals?
?????? b. Why are you registered on a dating site?
?????? c.?What do you think of me so far? (This question comes after you have met)
According to Harvey, women hold the keys. Men of all ages see a woman?s physical features first. It is up to the woman to turn that kind of attraction into something substantial and lasting. He says that will never be done if you act desperate, act like a gold digger, move too fast, eat or drink too much, talk too much, look too sexy (or think you do) and make too many demands. He says most men, especially in the ?our time? age group, are looking for companionship, serenity and laughter.
It also comes to mind that the character, Christian from ?50 Shades of Gray? is not necessarily fake. In fact, guys like that do exist, but is that really what you want to deal with for the rest of your life? Aside from the whips, chains, handcuffs and oils, can you handle the control, domineering, bossy, jealous, overbearing, paranoid part that comes with the other part?
A real life example of a desperate woman who thinks life is passing her by, so she makes hasty decisions:
A 45 year old woman just married for the third time. Even though her credit was sub-standard, he insisted she quit her job, sell her house, marry him?and move?to another state. She did that. Now she lives in a house that does not bear her name, she has no property in her name, no freedom to work outside the home and she still has bad credit. Whoopi!!! Good luck. She probably thought he was Christian. Sounds like?her hot flashes are comin? around the corner or looking through the window already.?
?by Dianne Thompson Stanciel ? comments welcome at highheelshotflashes@gmail.com ?
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Source: http://www.highheelshotflashes.com/2012/09/what-you-see-is-what-you-get/
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How Usher Beat The Fatherhood Odds | Praise 1300
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More than four years ago, in one of my first columns for The Root, I wrote about pop star Usher Raymond?s proud papa moments in a piece titled ?What My Father Could Learn From Usher.?
At the time black fatherhood was dominating the airwaves with shows featuring Snoop Lion (n?e Dog), Deion Sanders and Rev. Run. Adding to the list of Cliff Huxtable heir apparents was Usher, who had just married Tameka Foster, the mother of his unborn son. The wedding wasn?t well-received by fans or Usher?s own mother, Johnetta. The ?controversy? baffled me because all I could see was a man standing up for the woman he loved.
As a fatherless child, I was awed by Usher?s 2008 appearance on MTV?s TRL. Addressing the rumors swirling around his new marriage and threatening to suck it down into a tabloid abyss, Raymond grabbed a mic and looked all the haters out there in TV Land directly in the eye: ?I?m a black, strong man in America standing up for my people as a man,? Usher said to the camera.
?To my wife, to my son, to my family, I?m making a stand that a lot of us should make. I could?ve been like any other man who would have a child and just, you know, live with that woman and continue to just, you know, play the game. I?m tryna do it the right way. This is the way you should do it. Pay attention, fellas.?Four years ago I wrote that I?d wished my own father had received a message like that in 1980. A message about sticking around and sticking to your guns. A message about what men ?should? be doing as opposed to what too many men were doing. It resonated with me and with readers.
CLICK HERE to read story
article courtesy of TheRoot.com
Source: http://praisecleveland.com/1373026/how-usher-beat-the-fatherhood-odds/
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Romney focuses on California fundraising
(AP) DEL MAR, Calif. - Facing criticism that he's too focused on raising campaign cash, Mitt Romney is about to launch what advisers call an "intense battleground state schedule." But on Saturday, the Republican presidential nominee focused exclusively on courting donors in a state that hasn't supported a Republican presidential candidate in almost a quarter century.
Speaking to roughly 650 supporters gathered at Grand Del Mar, a luxury hotel north of San Diego, Romney said his campaign schedule has been hectic.
"I'm not even going to be able to go home today," he said of his second home in nearby La Jolla. "We're just coming to town to see you and keep the campaign going. It's nonstop."
Later at fundraising event in the Los Angeles-area, Romney criticized President Barack Obama for failing to "fix Washington."
Romney: My campaign doesn't need a turnaround
Watch: Romney's uphill battle in Wisconsin
"The truth is, he has proven he cannot fix Washington from the inside," Romney said at an event at the Beverly Hilton Hotel that his campaign said raised about $6 million.
The former Massachusetts governor's schedule, particularly his focus on fundraising over campaigning in battleground states with voters, has drawn criticism from some Republicans who fear the campaign is moving in the wrong direction less than seven weeks before Election Day. President Barack Obama on Saturday campaigned in Wisconsin, which has emerged as a swing state, where he also raised money. Polls suggest that Obama has a narrow lead in several key states.
Romney adviser Kevin Madden defended the fundraising focus, while highlighting a shift in the coming days
"We're here raising the resources we're going to need to compete in all those battleground states through Election Day," Madden said. "That's also been matched with a really intense battle ground state schedule that's going to be coming up starting Sunday night. We're keeping very busy."
Over the last week, Romney has attended five public events and at least a dozen fundraisers.
Cognizant of the criticism, his campaign added a Colorado rally to his Sunday night schedule ahead of a three-day bus tour in Ohio. He'll also campaign in Virginia next week. All three states are considered highly competitive.
The shift comes as Romney works to get his campaign back on track.
Already facing reports of campaign infighting, Romney suffered another setback early in the week after his remarks surfaced in an unauthorized video declaring that almost half of Americans are dependent upon government and believe they are victims. On Friday, Romney released his 2011 tax returns showing income of $13.6 million, largely from investment income.
Romney seemed to be trying to move past his video-taped remarks on Saturday.
"This is a tough time," he told donors. "These are our brothers and sisters. These are not statistics. These are people. The president's policies ? these big-government, big-tax monolithic policies ? are not working."
Earlier in the week, conservative columnist Peggy Noonan called Romney's campaign "incompetent."
"Romney doesn't seem to be out there campaigning enough. He seems-in this he is exactly like the president-to always be disappearing into fund-raisers, and not having enough big public events," wrote the former Ronald Reagan speechwriter.
Romney's California fundraising chairman sought to ease donors' concerns that the GOP nominee's campaign was headed in the wrong direction. Thomas Tellefsen told the crowd at the Beverly Hilton he understood they are "probably feeling a bit worried" and frustrated by coverage of the 2012 race.
"I wanted to share some thoughts with you tonight. They can provide you with some comfort," he said. "Polls are not elections. The voters have not yet spoken."
Romney, who would be among the wealthiest presidents ever elected, has struggled to shed the image of an out-of-touch millionaire.
At the Saturday fundraiser in the San Diego-area, where donors paid as much as $25,000 to attend, Romney did little to help that image. He told the audience he spent the night before raising money at a San Francisco area mansion.
"Property up there is, I'm sure, very, very expensive. And we got to her driveway ? it was at least a mile long, up and up, it's like, Oh my goodness, how in the world?" Romney said. "And then we came to the home, and it was like San Simeon, you know, the Hearst castle. It was this beautiful home with gardens, manicured gardens, and a pool and a topiary and so forth."
Romney charged that the president is taking America on a "pathway to become like Europe," adding a jab at his audience's home state.
"Europe doesn't work there. It's never going to work here," Romney said. "It's even possible we could be on a pathway to become California ? I don't want that either."
He later said he was joking.
And before promising that he was done raising money in the San Diego area, Romney encouraged his California donors to help him reach voters in more competitive states.
"I need you to find someone who voted for Barack Obama, maybe in a swing state, and give him a call, and tell him to go to the polls and support this effort," he said.
Source: http://feeds.cbsnews.com/~r/CBSNewsWebMD/~3/1UcwVMDsvJU/
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Where To Find Help With Commercial Real Estate - Maynas Eric Chua
It?s harder to find commercial properties. Although there are plenty of commercial investments in the market, these buildings don?t get preferential listings in classified ads or real estate catalogs as do residential listings. You have to search for the best possible deals to find the best options for your investment. This article will provide you with all the pertinent information.
Real Estate
Before hiring any real estate broker, read all of his disclosures. One thing you should specifically watch out for is dual agency. If so, the agent will represent both sides. The real estate agency will represent both the seller and the buyer. Dual agency must be disclosed by both parties and they need to agree to it.
TIP! Before hiring any real estate broker, read all of his disclosures. It is important that you realize that you may be entering a dual agency transaction.
Make sure you can spot a great deal, and act on it in a timely fashion. Those in the know can pick up on a good deal instantly. They?re so successful largely because they always keep an exit strategy in mind, and they aren?t afraid to step away from deals that have gone bad or lose their appeal. Professional investors can spot any property damage as well as how much it would cost to fix the damage. They can also use a financial calculator to ensure their investment goals can be attained with the property.
Identify any necessary improvements before you sign on a new space. For example, you might neat to repaint or purchase new furniture. Some of these improvements may require the removal or addition of walls to create the appropriate floor plan. Be sure to negotiate who is responsible for these changes ahead of time so that you do not have to pay for the full cost.
Smaller Issues
TIP! Prior to investing massive sums of money in a property, take a hard look at community income averages, as well as employment rates, and how much hiring and firing nearby businesses are doing. Properties centrally located near universities and hospitals will have a consistently higher value, and it will sell more quickly.
Start drafting letters of intent by focusing on the more central issues. Once you have agreement on those, broaden the negotiations to include any smaller issues that remain. This will make negotiations less tense and make gaining agreement on the smaller issues easier to complete.
Try sending a newsletter about your commercial property, or post fresh content on a networking site. It is important to keep in touch with your contacts, for they can be beneficial to you in the future.
If you are renting out your property, be sure that they are always occupied. When you have an open space, you have to shell out the money to keep it looking great and running well. If you have more than one empty property, think about why that may be, and consider what you may be doing to drive tenants away.
TIP! Prior to negotiating with the lease of your commercial real estate, try to decrease anything that could be a default as you can. This lowers the chance that the person renting will fail to uphold their end of the lease.
Real Estate
To find a trustworthy real estate firm, inquire about their methods on how they make a lot of their money. Their answer should be discussed openly. It?s obvious that real estate agents stand to benefit by selling property to you, so it becomes important that you deal with only an honest broker.
Look for an agency that keeps your best interest in mind. If you don?t do this, you could end up with a bad deal and lose more money as time goes on.
TIP! When selecting a real estate broker to work with, you should ask about their negotiation strategies. Inquire about their training and experience.
There are many tax benefits available for commercial investors. Investors can get interest deductions and depreciation benefits too. However, investors sometimes receive ?phantom income?, which is income that is taxed, but not received as cash. Before investing, become more familiar with this sort of income.
When you are contemplating investing in commercial real estate, be mindful of the relationship between yourself, investors, and private lending institutions. For example, many commercial properties that are sold are unlisted, so having many people in your own network can help you know more and get inside scoops on some great deals.
Commercial Property
TIP! Before signing the paperwork to lease a commercial property, check the lease form. Larger companies can sometimes slip extra requirements into lease documents, and this can make them longer and more complicated.
An essential fundamental of commercial property is location, location, location. When investing in a property, consider what type of neighborhood it is located in. Compare the growth of the property?s neighborhood to similar neighborhoods around the country. This research will help you figure out how the neighborhood you?re considering buying commercial property in is likely to grow and change over the next several years. If you aren?t comfortable with the potential growth rate or the atmosphere of the neighborhood, purchase property elsewhere.
Search for buildings that are simply designed and constructed if you?re planning on renting out commercial property. Tenants are more likely to move in when they know the property is well taken care of. In addition, these properties are low maintenance because they don?t frequently need repairs, a benefit to the owners, as well as the tenants.
You should be aware of any environmental concerns. A major area of concern would arise if the property has a history of hazardous waste generation or disposal issues. When these issues arise, the burden ultimately falls on the property manager to solve them, regardless of who is responsible for having caused the issues.
TIP! Try to keep your properties occupied. If you have open spaces, then you are the person who will be paying for their upkeep and maintenance.
If you have just begun investing, try to stick to one kind of investment. Pick out just one type of property to begin with and then give it all you?ve got. You want to be an ace investor in one property type rather than just OK at many different types.
Buying a larger property is great for a variety of reasons. By having access to a large number of units, you will be able to more easily spread your earnings across all of your units. Many investors tend to shun property with fewer than 10 units, as most subscribe to the idea that there is a direct correlation between the number of units and the amount of money that can be made.
Finding your optimum commercial real estate property will only see you half way through this process. The right information can get you
TIP! As you comb through possible brokers, search for those who have extensive experience in commercial markets. Make sure that the agent has the proper expertise with the type of real estate purchase or sale you are looking for.
Source: http://www.maynaseric.com/where-to-find-help-with-commercial-real-estate-6
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Ex-top cop in China scandal jailed for 15 years
CHENGDU, China (AP) ? The Chinese police chief whose thwarted defection exposed murder and infighting in high places was sentenced to 15 years in prison Monday, setting the stage for China's leadership to close out the divisive scandal and move ahead with a generational handover of power.
Amid heavy security, the Intermediate People's Court in the central city of Chengdu sentenced Wang Lijun after convicting him of defecting, abuse of power, taking bribes and other crimes to which he confessed at his trial last week. Wang told the court he will not appeal, said his lawyer.
The sentence is lighter than the 20-year prison term suggested in sentencing guidelines. The court noted Wang's cooperation in exposing the crimes of others, especially the central element in the scandal ? the murder of a British businessman by the wife of Wang's former boss, once political high-flier Bo Xilai.
The scandal has been the messiest, most public one Communist Party leaders have had to confront in decades, triggering bruising internal jostling as the leadership prepares to transfer power to a younger generation. In the scandal's wake, Bo was removed from the leadership, his wife confessed to the murder and relations among the leaders were strained. As a result, arrangements for a party congress to install the new leadership this fall grew complicated.
After Wang's sentencing, the leadership is expected to announce long-overdue dates for the congress and dispose of the scandal's stickiest issue ? whether merely to expel Bo from the party or hand him over for criminal prosecution. Pronouncing judgment on Bo will allow the new leaders to take charge without the scandal's overhang.
Wang's verdict likely portends harsher treatment for Bo. His 15-year term contrasts with the effective life sentence given to Bo's wife, Gu Kailai, for the murder of Briton Neil Heywood, a family associate, over what authorities have said was a business dispute. Only two of the 15 years were for attempting to defect to the U.S., a gambit in which Wang exposed Heywood's murder first to American diplomats and then to Chinese authorities, handing over evidence used to convict Gu last month.
"He apparently got credit for turning against" Bo and his wife, said Dali Yang, director of the University of Chicago Center in Beijing. "The revelation against Bo Xilai provides ground for the central leadership to dismiss Bo formally and, if they choose to do so, presumably to bring criminal charges."
Wang's conviction mark the spectacular downfall of a publicity-grabbing police official who rose to nationwide fame by leading a high-profile but law-bending crusade against organized crime in the inland city of Chongqing until he was cast out by Bo, the city's party chief. According to an official account of his trial, Wang had grown close to Gu, and after she confessed to murdering Heywood, Wang covered it up until his estrangement from her. Wang then went to Bo, whose angry response drove him to flee to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu, fearing for his life.
"When mafia members break up with their bosses, they can attempt to seek police protection. But in Chongqing and for the former police boss, there was nowhere to turn," prominent editor Hu Shuli wrote in a commentary posted on the website of her magazine, Caixin. "And this perhaps encapsulates one of the greatest embarrassments of the country's current legal system."
The official account of Wang's trial, carried by Xinhua, portrays Wang as unbound by the law. It says he ordered surveillance of people without authorization and took bribes from businessmen connected to Bo in exchange for releasing suspects from police detention.
While he first told Gu he would hide evidence and cover up her crime last November, the account said he secretly recorded her confession to poisoning Heywood, a business associate whom she said had threatened her son's safety in a dispute over money.
After his falling out with Gu and Bo, Wang ordered subordinates to gather up the evidence and in February fled to the U.S. Consulate, where he applied for political asylum, though he later surrendered to Chinese authorities.
Xinhua has portrayed Wang as being contrite. "I acknowledge and confess the guilt accused by the prosecuting body and show my repentance," Wang was quoted as saying in court last week. "For the Party organizations, people and relatives that have cared for me, I want to say here, sincerely: I'm very, very sorry, I've let you down."
As for Bo, who was dismissed as party boss of Chongqing in March and stripped of his position among the Communist Party elite, last week was the first time the authorities implicated him in a crime. Though the account does not name him, it says Wang told the city's top party official about Gu's role in Heywood's murder, only to be slapped for it. The implicit reference suggests authorities are preparing to prosecute him on criminal charges, removing for good a politician whose populist style grated on his fellow leaders.
Ding Xueliang, a China expert at Hong Kong's University of Science and Technology, said those in the party leadership who wanted Bo out might push to reward Wang for exposing the corrupt and lawless inner workings of Bo's administration.
"Despite the many terrible things that Wang Lijun did before, he, in my view, contributed enormously to the legitimacy of the Communist government," Ding said. "This kind of local emperor style of Bo Xilai, it is a cancer of the system, and Wang Lijun helped the top leadership to deal with the fundamental disease before it's too late."
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Follow Gillian Wong on Twitter: http://twitter.com/gillianwong
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ex-top-cop-china-scandal-jailed-15-years-014225729.html
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