The Jeff n Chris Show Podcast

Defense in Sandusky sex trial could wrap up Wednesday

jeffnchrisshow@gmail.com (jeffnchrisshow) — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 10:35:00 -0500

Defense in Sandusky sex trial could wrap up Wednesday

Wed Jun 20, 2012 7:39am EDT

(Note: explicit sexual content)

(Reuters) - The defense in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case could wrap up its case on Wednesday after days of testimony that included the former football coach's wife saying she never saw anything sexual between him and a child.

The high-profile case that rocked Penn State is racing to a close, with the jury of seven women and five men expected to start deliberations by the end of the week.

Sandusky, a former Penn State defensive coordinator, is charged in Centre County Court with 51 counts of abusing 10 boys over a 15-year period, including some at university locker rooms. He faces more than 500 years in prison if convicted on all counts.

Sandusky' wife of 45 years, Dottie, testified on Tuesday that she had never seen anything inappropriate in her husband's behavior with children.

Several of the accusers, known in court papers as Victims 1 to 10, have testified they stayed overnight numerous times in the basement of Sandusky's home, where he would molest them.

But Dottie Sandusky said that children would sleep overnight as guests perhaps only once or twice a month.

Asked by the defense about the men, now aged 18 to 28, who are accusing her husband, Dottie Sandusky described most of them as pleasant boys when she knew them.

But she described Victim 4, who led off prosecution testimony, as "very demanding ... he didn't listen a lot."

She also denied testimony by Victim 4 of an alleged sexual encounter with Sandusky while on a trip to the 1999 Alamo Bowl in Texas.

Testimony on Tuesday included a psychologist for the defense, Dr. Elliot Atkins, who said Sandusky suffered from histrionic personality disorder. The condition is characterized by emotionalism and attention-seeking, with inappropriate displays of sexual affection, he said.

But a psychiatrist for the prosecution, Dr. John O'Brien, disputed the finding. He said Sandusky was too high-functioning to have the disorder.

The Sandusky case has focused renewed attention on the issue of child sexual abuse and prompted the firing in November of Penn State President Graham Spanier and legendary head football coach Joe Paterno. Paterno died of lung cancer in January.

The prosecution presented witnesses last week who gave often-graphic accounts of abuse ranging from groping and bearhugs in Penn State showers to anal and oral sex.

It was unclear whether Sandusky would testify as the trial entered its final stages.

Judge John Cleland has told jurors he expects the defense to conclude around midday on Wednesday, followed by a prosecution rebuttal. The two sides will give closing arguments on Thursday.

The jury will be sequestered during its deliberations.

(Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Recovery risks may prompt Fed action

jeffnchrisshow@gmail.com (jeffnchrisshow) — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 10:32:00 -0500

Recovery risks may prompt Fed action

By Mark Felsenthal

WASHINGTON | Wed Jun 20, 2012 11:26am EDT

(Reuters) - The Federal Reserve may feel compelled on Wednesday to launch a new round of monetary stimulus, with signs the recovery is flagging and threatened by economic storm clouds abroad.

Many economists expect the Fed to extend a program aimed at pushing down longer-term interest rates to shield the still fragile economy, which faces rising financial strains in Europe, a year-end fiscal showdown in Washington and a sharp slowdown in hiring by U.S. employers.

"The prevailing bias at the Fed is very much tilted toward providing more accommodation," said Eric Green, global head of rates research and strategy at TD Securities in New York.

Fed officials will announce their policy decision at 12:30 p.m. (1630 GMT).

An extension of "Operation Twist," in which the central bank sells bonds with maturities of three years or less and buys securities with maturities of six years and longer, is seen as a less extreme step than outright purchases of new securities. The Fed concludes a two-day meeting on Wednesday that is its last policy gathering before Twist expires at the end of this month.

Another option for the U.S. central bank would be to push back its estimate for when it will finally raise overnight interest rates, which have been held near zero since December 2008. After its meeting in April, it said it expected to keep them "exceptionally low" through at least late 2014.

TAKING OUT INSURANCE

Many economists argue that a move to provide more monetary accommodation is a necessary adjustment to disappointing economic developments, and Fed Vice Chairwoman Janet Yellen has said it might make sense to "insure" against downside risks.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, however, declined to tip his hand in testimony to Congress earlier this month, and economists are closely divided over whether the central bank will act at this meeting. A Reuters poll on June 8 put the chances of an extension of Operation Twist at 42.5 percent.

Even though Greek voters over the weekend supported candidates who back taking painful steps to stay in the euro currency union, Europe's debt crisis remains a threat to the global economy. Spain on Tuesday paid a euro-era record price to sell short-term debt.

"I don't think this provides (Fed officials) with much relief," former Fed Vice Chairman Donald Kohn said of the vote in Greece. "As we're seeing ... tensions in the euro area remain pretty intense."

U.S. stocks were little changed on Wednesday after four days of gains, ahead of the critical Fed decision. U.S. Treasuries prices slipped, and the euro edged higher against the dollar on speculation of more Fed stimulus.

Other central banks are warily eyeing economic conditions.

Europe's debt crisis made some Bank of Japan officials signal readiness in May to ease policy again, minutes of the central bank's meeting showed. For the same reason, the Bank of England also appears to be moving toward more bond purchases.

China cut benchmark rates on June 7, while the European Central Bank could take action at its July 5 meeting.

Fed policymakers will weigh not only the situation in Europe, but evidence from labor, manufacturing and housing reports that U.S. growth has faltered.

Procter & Gamble, the world's largest household product maker, on Wednesday cut its growth forecasts due to slower growth in China and tough markets in Europe and the United States.

Policymakers at the U.S. central bank are worried the recovery could be damaged further if politicians fail to resolve differences over automatic tax increases and spending cuts due to kick in at the end of the year.

The U.S. recession ended in 2009, but the economy has failed to recoup lost jobs and wealth, leading to a widespread sense of malaise.

With lawmakers locked in partisan positions ahead of elections that will determine control of the White House and Congress, the Fed is the only institution in a position to boost economic growth.

EYES ON JOBS

Top Fed officials have made clear that they would need to see the painfully high U.S. jobless rate continue to recede to stay on the sidelines. In May it actually rose to 8.2 percent.

Officials are likely to downgrade their economic projections, which will be released at 2 p.m. (1800 GMT). Bernanke will follow with a news conference at 2:15 p.m. (1815 GMT).

Most observers expect any extension of Operation Twist to include mortgage-backed securities for the first time, both to give a boost to the slow-recovering housing market and to expand the scope of the central bank's arsenal. Analysts estimate the Fed has $160 billion to $190 billion in Treasury securities of three years and less to sell, an amount some see as too small to have much of an impact on interest rates.

Economists agree that the most potent weapon would be outright purchases of new securities, perhaps a combination of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities. While a few think the Fed may take this route on Wednesday, many others believe officials would first want to see clearer signs the recovery was in trouble.

Bernanke will try to herd policymakers with a range of views toward a single consensus. Some favor immediate action, others think the Fed has done enough - if not too much - already.

In marshalling support, he will be aided by the presence of two new members of the Fed's board, investment banker Jerome Powell and economist Jeremy Stein. While not much is known about their monetary policy views, past experience suggests they will be solidly aligned with the chairman at least through the early stages of their tenure. (Editing by Kenneth Barry)

Facebook stock's bad start reins in short sellers

jeffnchrisshow@gmail.com (jeffnchrisshow) — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 10:28:00 -0500

Facebook stock's bad start reins in short sellers

By Cezary Podkul and Olivia Oran

NEW YORK | Tue Jun 19, 2012 8:10pm EDT

(Reuters) - Facebook's weak stock market debut has a potential silver lining for the social media giant - some short sellers may have been scared off.

About 8.1 percent of the 421 million shares in the initial public offering were sold short as of May 31, about two weeks after its trading debut, according to a Reuters analysis of exchange data.

That percentage is lower than for Pandora Media Inc, LinkedIn Corp, Angie's List Inc and Groupon Inc - half of the other Internet companies that went public in the past year. And Google Inc, with which Facebook is often compared, attracted a much higher short interest in the first couple of weeks after its IPO in 2004.

Short sellers borrow stock and then sell it, betting that it will decline in value and that they can then buy it back more cheaply.

Facebook had a tough first few weeks of trading. Its debut was marred by technical glitches on Nasdaq and reports that analysts at top underwriters reduced their revenue and earnings forecasts only days before the offering. Its shares rose only 23 cents on opening day and in subsequent days fell as low as $25.52, 33 percent below the $38 offer price.

But short sellers, after initially sensing a chance to profit from negative market sentiment and Facebook's rich valuation, may have backed off as the shares plunged.

"The opportunity to make money on short selling is greatest when a stock is overvalued," said Jay Ritter, a University of Florida IPO expert who reviewed Reuters' analysis. When the price falls, it signals "time to take profits" because "the possibility of a further decline becomes smaller."

Among the companies that were more heavily shorted, LinkedIn's shares soared as much as 173 percent above their offer price on their first day; Groupon, 56 percent; Pandora Media, 62 percent; and Angie's List, 44 percent.

Facebook's stock price gain in the first few minutes of trading was limited to 18 percent before the decline set in.

DOESN'T MAKE SENSE

Steve Spencer began shorting Facebook at $32 per share the Tuesday after the public offering, but has since stopped. Indeed, Facebook's shares have recovered in the past two weeks to trade around $32 on Tuesday.

"The risk/reward doesn't make sense to me right now," said Spencer, who co-heads SMB Capital, a proprietary trading shop in New York. "If people wanted to make a bet on the short side, they were doing it in the mid-30s."

To be sure, in terms of the raw number of shares shorted, Facebook's initial short bets in the first two weeks of trading are bigger than those of any Internet company listing in the past year.

More than 34 million shares were sold short as of May 31, the latest date for which the data is available. But the figure is not surprising, given the size of Facebook's offering.

Some small investors have kept their Facebook shares, hoping they will bounce back.

"I didn't think it would do this badly," said Tony Allen, a Detroit real estate entrepreneur who bought 50 shares on the day of the offering at $42 and has watched his investment sink in value. He said he was holding on in the hopes of a "turnaround."

A Facebook spokesman declined to comment.

SHORTING COST SOARS

Initially, short sellers' demand for Facebook shares was so high it forced another barometer of bearish investor activity to skyrocket. The annual interest rate charged on the value of borrowed Facebook shares soared to more than 40 percent initially, said David Lewis, senior vice president at Astec Analytics, which tracks stock borrowing costs.

"Anything over 1 percent you consider to be quite special, and this was 40 percent," Lewis said. The interest rate has fallen quickly since and is now at around 0.6 percent, indicating a lot more stock is available for borrowing.

Reuters gauged the degree of shorting activity for stock listings similar to Facebook by calculating the percentage of their publicly listed shares that had been sold short following their IPO. Reuters' data comes from the stock exchanges, which publish short interest reports every two weeks, or for older listings, every month. Reports closest to IPO date were used for the analysis.

It is unclear what the short interest says about the stock's long-term prospects. "Outside of IPOs, almost all of the research indicates that short selling is a negative signal," said Ben Blau, a financeprofessor at Utah State University.

But IPOs are harder to call. Not every company that attracts a high degree of bearish investor sentiment ends up performing poorly.

For example, search engine Google attracted short bets that amounted to about 21 percent of its publicly listed shares shortly after its August 2004 offering - nearly triple that of Facebook. Yet from the beginning, Google defied the shorts: Priced at $85, its shares opened at $100, doubled by January 2005 and closed above $300 six months later - a level they have rarely breached since then. Google's stock was trading on Tuesday at around $582.

During the dotcom boom in the late 1990s, many stocks had higher early short interest levels than Facebook. They include companies that went on to thrive, like eBay Inc, as well as some that collapsed, such as Pets.com.

BORROWING INCREASE

The latest data from Astec opens up the possibility that short investors may have increased their negative bets on Facebook.

Astec estimates there are currently about 52.1 million Facebook shares on loan. That is up from 34.3 million on May 31, about the same as the shares reported short as of that date. If most of the shares now on loan are again shorted, it would indicate that Facebook's short interest could be as high as 12.4 percent.

White House asserts executive privilege in Holder case

jeffnchrisshow@gmail.com (jeffnchrisshow) — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 10:24:00 -0500

White House asserts executive privilege in Holder case

WASHINGTON | Wed Jun 20, 2012 10:59am EDT

(Reuters) - The Obama administration on Wednesday asserted executive privilege, refusing to provide documents to a committee of the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives about a failed gun-running investigation.

The White House move came in response to a planned vote by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for withholding the documents. The panel's chairman, Republican Darrell Issa, vowed to press on with the contempt charge.

"I write now to inform you that the president has asserted executive privilege over relevant ... documents," Deputy Attorney General James Cole wrote to the committee.

Executive privilege allows the White House to argue that some private communications between the president and members of his administration cannot be divulged to Congress.

"This untimely assertion by the Justice Department falls short of any reason to delay today's proceedings," Issa said.

If the House panel votes to charge Holder with contempt, it would then be up to the full House to decide whether to bring that charge against the nation's top law enforcement officer.

The process could take months or even years of court battles and further poison the political atmosphere in a presidential election year.

For months, the committee and the Justice Department have been in negotiations over documents related to federal law enforcement's handling of the "Fast and Furious" probe of guns heading from the United States into Mexico and then being used by Mexican drug cartels.

(Reporting by Donna Smith; Editing by Will Dunham)

jeffnchrisshow@gmail.com (jeffnchrisshow) — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 13:29:00 -0500

Bill Maher maybe crazy from time to time but, you can not help to agree with him about vacations. You can not tell me you would not be a better worker if you had these types of benefits to look forward to. Just watch the video and tell me your opinion on it.

jeffnchrisshow@gmail.com (jeffnchrisshow) — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 00:48:00 -0500

Baltic Sea UFO Looks Like A Giant 'Mushroom' [VIDEO]

Posted: 06/15/2012 6:29 pm Updated: 06/17/2012 7:58 pm

UFO News, Video, Benjamin Radford, Millennium Falcon, Baltic Sea, Baltic Sea Ufo, Dennis Asberg, Peter Lindberg, Sidescan Sonar, Skeptical Inquirer, Slideexpand, Weird Sweden, Weird News

The unidentified circular object that has held the world in a viral grip for a year probably isn't an alien spacecraft after all.

Over the past few days, divers have photographed the unusual anomaly on the seabed nearly 300 feet below the surface.

According to news released Friday by the OceanX treasure hunters who discovered the anomaly on June 19, 2011, "first they thought it was just stone or a rock cliff, but after further observations, the object appeared more as a huge mushroom, rising 10-13 feet from the seabed, with rounded sides and edges.

"The object had an egg-shaped hole leading into it from the top, as an opening. On top of the object they also found strange stone circle formations, almost looking like small fireplaces. The stones were covered in something resembling soot," reports theOceanX website.

Baltic Sea UFO Turns Out Not To Be A UFO.

One of the OceanX divers, Stefan Hogeborn, a veteran of more than 6,000 dives in his 20-year career, is completely puzzled by what he saw.

"I have never seen anything like this. Normally stones don't burn. I can't explain what we saw, and I went down there to answer questions, but I came up with even more questions," Hogeborn said.

The first pictures of the Baltic Sea object have been published by the Swedish newspaper Expressen, which reported the "images show that the circle consists of several blocks formed by 'rolls' or 'mushrooms' that are attached to each other, forming the circle."

On another dive, a sledgehammer was used to obtain samples of the material. "Since we did not get any answers to the questions we asked ourselves, we have brought this to the experts who may be looking at the pieces we brought up," said Hogeborn.

What does the Baltic Sea UFO look like close-up?

UFOs? Maybe They're Just..

1 of 13

Expressen.se / YouTube

On-site researchers are still scratching their heads at the photographic evidence.

Treasure hunters Peter Lindberg and Dennis Asberg first discovered the jumbo jet-sized object -- variously described as disc-shaped, circular and cylindrical -- using side-scan sonar. When images and videos were released on the Internet, the story quickly went viral and speculation took off as to the identity of the object, which resembles the fictitious Millennium Falcon spacecraft from the "Star Wars" movies.

Everything from sonar glitches, a sunken Russian ship, naturally occurring stone outcroppings and, of course, alien spaceship have been debated over the past year.

On June 1, Lindberg and Asberg headed back to the location with deep-sea divers and remote-controlled cameras.

"We need to explore what we have found," Lindberg, captain of the Ocean Explorer,said on the treasure hunters' website. "Media has been speculating about everything from UFOs to Russian space ships, and the time has come to find out what the sonar image actually is."

Isn't it also about time that we all agree to refer to the anomaly as a USO, instead of UFO? USO, as in Unidentified Submerged Object. Because, in reality, nobody knows if this thing was ever in the air, flying, right?

"It was originally claimed to be a perfectly round disc, and of course, that's one of the things that made it a mystery," said Benjamin Radford, deputy editor of Skeptical Inquirer magazine. "If it's a spaceship, as some have suggested, it must be almost entirely buried in the ocean floor," Radford told The Huffington Post.

On June 11, UFO-Blogger.com posted this message from expedition co-leader Asberg: "Everything is top secret now ... because of the risks ... hope you all understand this is no game. But the truth will be reported shortly."

Now that the team has almost certainly revealed that the mushroom-shaped anomaly is not from another planet, they're still not exactly sure what it is.

"First we thought this was only stone, but this is something else," said Lindberg on theOceanX website. "And since no volcanic activity has ever been reported in the Baltic Sea, the find becomes even stranger.

"As laymen, we can only speculate how this is made by nature, but this is the strangest thing I have ever experienced as a professional diver."

Clarification: The headline of the initial version of this story gave the impression that the Baltic Sea anomaly is an actual mushroom. The story correctly quoted the on-site investigators who described the submerged object appearing like a mushroom. As this story progresses and analysis is conducted on samples of the undersea object, updates will be forthcoming.

Sonar image and artist rendering of the Baltic Sea USO.

jeffnchrisshow@gmail.com (jeffnchrisshow) — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 00:38:00 -0500

'Squat Lobster': New Crustacean Species Discovered Near Spain

Posted: 06/18/2012 10:57 am Updated: 06/18/2012 3:14 pm

Animals, Video, Crustacean Species, Green Summer, New Crab Species, New Lobster Species, New Species, Spain Squat Lobster, Spanish Squat Lobster, Squat Lobster, Squat Lobster Spain, Green News

A drawing of the newly discovered squat lobster.

By OurAmazingPlanet Staff:

A new species of crustacean has been discovered in the underwater mountains off the northwest coast of Spain, scientists recently announced.

The squat lobster is orange and a little over 2 inches (5 centimeters) long. Squat lobsters are more closely related to porcelain and hermit crabs than true lobsters.

It was discovered at a depth of 4,626 feet (1,410 meters) in August 2011 by the INDEMARES research group and lives among deep corals and sea fans, according to a study published in the March issue of the journal Zootaxa.

The shy crustaceans are abundant in submarine mountains in areas that haven't been heavily fished; the corals and sea fans amid which they live tend to disappear in trawling zones, researchers said in a statement.

Given the scientific name Uroptychus cartesi, the species' closest relative can be found in the Caribbean Sea, and both species likely have a shared ancestor "who invaded the Atlantic from the Pacific and Indian Ocean a few million years ago," said study co-author Enrique Macpherson, a researcher at Spain's Centre for Advanced Studies of Blanes.

The squat lobsters are homebodies and do not spread far, since their larvae spend only a few days in the free-swimming planktonic stage. They feed on smaller crustaceans and particulate matter.

The crustcean is different from other European species mainly because of its shape and the number of thorns on its shell.

Researchers named it after the scientist Joan Cartes, from Barcelona's Institute of Marine Sciences, who was the first to notice that something about these creatures looked different.

The six specimens captured were handed over to Barcelona's Institute of Marine Sciences and the National Museum of Natural History in Paris.

jeffnchrisshow@gmail.com (jeffnchrisshow) — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 00:36:00 -0500

Antarctica Plant Life Once Thrived On Continent, New Research Finds

Posted: 06/18/2012 6:39 pm Updated: 06/18/2012 6:39 pm

Video, Antarctic Plants, Antarctica, Antarctica Miocene, Antarctica Plant Life, Antarctica Plants,Antarctica Tundra, Green Summer, Miocene, Green News

An artist's interpretation of what middle Miocene Antarctica might have looked like. Shrubs and even stunted trees would have grown along the coast.

By: LiveScience Staff

The few plants that live in Antarctica today are hardy hangers-on, growing just a few weeks out of the year and surviving poor soil, lack of rain and very little sunlight. But long ago, some parts of Antarctica were almost lush.

New research finds that between about 15 million and 20 million years ago, plant life thrived on the coasts of the southernmost continent. Ancient pollen samples suggest that the landscape was a bit like today's Chilean Andes: grassy tundra dotted with small trees.

This vegetated period peaked during the middle Miocene, when atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were around 400 to 600 parts per million. (Today, driven by fossil fuel use, atmospheric carbon dioxide has climbed to 393 parts per million.)

As a result, global temperatures warmed.

Antarctica followed suit. During this period, summer temperatures on the continent were 20 degrees Fahrenheit (11 degrees Celsius) warmer than today, researchers reported June 17 in the journal Nature Geoscience.

"When the planet heats up, the biggest changes are seen toward the poles," study researcher Jung-Eun Lee, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a statement. "The southward movement of rain bands made the margins of Antarctica less like a polar desert and more like present-day Iceland." [Ice World: Amazing Glaciers]

NASA researchers, along with scientists from the University of Southern California and Louisiana State University, collected long cores of sediment from below Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf. Within the sediment, they found plant-leaf wax, an indication of ancient vegetation. The cores also contained pollen and algae.

A pollen grain from modern-day southern beech trees that grow in New Zealand. Ancient Antarctica would have hosted similar trees.

An analysis of the leaf wax provided a record of the water taken up by the plants when they lived. Researchers could then track variations in the hydrogen molecules in the water, called isotopes. Because isotopes vary over time and over certain environmental conditions, these variations allowed the researchers to reconstruct what the climate would have looked like when this water fell as rain.

If current carbon emissions continue as they are, atmospheric carbon is set to reach middle Miocene levels by the end of the century. The northern Antarctic Peninsula has already warmed by 4.5 degrees F (2.5 degrees C) over the last 50 years, and satellite views reveal melting ice shelves.

The ancient Antarctic sediment could provide a vision of what is to come, said study leader Sarah Feakins, an earth scientist at the University of Southern California.

"Just as history has a lot to teach us about the future, so does past climate," Feakins said in a statement. "What this record shows us is how much warmer and wetter it can get around the Antarctic ice sheet as the climate system heats up."

jeffnchrisshow@gmail.com (jeffnchrisshow) — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 00:30:00 -0500

Egypt Elections 2012: U.S. Warns Egyptian Military After Power Grab

Reuters | Posted: 06/18/2012 5:33 pm

Egypt, Video, Arab Spring, Egypt Military, Egyptian Military, Egyptian Elections, Egypt Elections 2012, Egypt Elections Military, Reuters, World News

By Andrew Quinn and David Alexander

WASHINGTON, June 18 (Reuters) - The United States urged Egypt's military on Monday to move swiftly on plans to transfer full power to an elected civilian government and suggested failure to do so would prompt a review of U.S. ties, which includes billions of dollars in military and civilian aid.

Both the State Department and the Pentagon - which oversees the close military links between the two countries - voiced concerns over moves by Egypt's generals to tighten their grip on power despite a presidential vote aimed at sealing the country's democratic future.

The military power grab represents a dilemma for the Obama administration, which publicly backed the revolution that toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak last year but also sees the Egyptian army as a crucial regional security partner.

At the same time, some in Washington may share the Egyptian military's wariness of the Muslim Brotherhood, a popular Islamist group whose candidate some reports said was leading in Egypt's presidential vote.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Egypt was at a critical juncture and the United States was "concerned by decisions that appear to prolong the military's hold on power."

"We call on the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to restore popular and international confidence in the democratic transition process by following through on their stated commitments," Nuland told a news briefing.

The United States, the main financial supporter of Egypt's military, will hold the council to its promises for an inclusive constitutional drafting process, the timely seating of a democratically elected parliament, and the swift, permanent transfer of power to a civilian government, Nuland said.

"They've made a commitment to the Egyptian people, and we want to see them meet it," Nuland said.

"This is an evolving situation that we are watching closely. The decisions that are taken in this crucial period are naturally going to have an impact on the nature of our engagement with the government and with the SCAF moving forward," she said.

The result of Egypt's weekend presidential election was in limbo as vote counting continued on Monday, but the Muslim Brotherhood candidate, Mohammed Morsy, claimed victory in the country's first free presidential contest.

CLEAR MARKERS

Nuland said her statement was aimed at "laying down clear markers" for Egypt's military rulers and that the full spectrum of Washington's ties to Cairo could come under review, although she stressed that no decisions had been made.

The Obama administration in March formally released $1.3 billion in military aid for Egypt despite Cairo's failure to meet pro-democracy goals, saying U.S. national security required continued military assistance.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton waived congressional conditions imposed late last year that tied U.S. aid to progress in Egypt's transition to democracy following Mubarak's ouster.

Egypt has received more than $1 billion annually in U.S. military aid for years, and Congress has also approved $250 million in economic aid and up to $60 million for an "enterprise fund" for this fiscal year, which ends on Sep t. 30.

Senator Patrick Leahy, the Democratic chairman of the Senate appropriations subcommittee on foreign aid, said in a letter last week that he had warned the State Department he did not want the money to keep flowing.

"I would not want to see the U.S. government write checks for contracts with Egypt's military under the present uncertain circumstances," said Leahy, who wrote the new conditions for military aid.

U.S. officials had earlier warned that freezing aid could disrupt existing defense contracts and lead to expensive termination costs possibly topping $2 billion.

Political analysts said the latest move by the Egyptian military had forced the United States into a difficult position

"The United States has to decide if it wants to be associated with this counter-revolution by the military," said Michele Dunne, director of the Atlantic Council's Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East.

"They have to be asking themselves now whether waiving those conditions on the (military) aid was wise."

At the Pentagon, spokesman George Little said the U.S. military believed that "Egypt's transition must continue" and underscored that the two sides had long enjoyed close military relations.

"We want that to continue," Little said. "As to the way ahead on Egypt, we're going to monitor events closely. It's very important to the entire U.S. government and to the U.S military that the SCAF take steps to promote a peaceful transition to democracy and a government in Egypt that is responsive to the Egyptian people." (Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

jeffnchrisshow@gmail.com (jeffnchrisshow) — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 00:23:00 -0500

Eric Hovde, GOP Senate Candidate: Press Should Stop Writing Sob Stories About Poor People

Posted: 06/18/2012 1:39 pm Updated: 06/18/2012 2:30 pm

Elections 2012, Elections 2012, Video, Election 2012, Mark Neumann, Tammy Baldwin, Tommy Thompson, Wisconsin Senate, Eric Hovde, Eric Hovde Senate, Eric Hovde Wisconsin, Wi-Sen, Wisconsin Senate Race, Politics News

Businessman Eric Hovde is running for the GOP nomination to fill Wisconsin's open U.S. Senate seat in 2012.

WASHINGTON -- Wisconsin U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde (R) says he is sick and tired of reading sad stories about people struggling in the recession. Instead, he wants to see the media focus more on the debt and the larger problems afflicting the country.

Hovde made his remarks during apresentation on Friday to the Greater Brookfield Chamber of Commerce.

During the Q&A portion of the event, Hovde expressed his support for lowering the corporate tax rate, tackling the country's spending problems and lowering the national debt.

Then, pointing to a reporter in the audience, Hovde said he would love to see the press stop covering sad stories about low-income individuals who can't get benefits and start covering issues like the deficit more frequently.

"I see a reporter here," he said. "I just pray that you start writing about these issues. I just pray. Stop always writing about, 'Oh, the person couldn't get, you know, their food stamps or this or that.' You know, I saw something the other day -- it's like, another sob story, and I'm like, 'But what about what's happening to the country and the country as a whole?' That's going to devastate everybody."

In fact, journalists already give short shrift to stories about individuals struggling in the recession.

In May 2011, National Journal looked at the nation's five largest newspapers and counted how many times "unemployment" or "deficit" appeared in their headlines or first sentences. The analysis found that unemployment was covered significantly less than the deficit.

"Mentions of unemployment have been dwindling since they spiked to 154 in the month ending August 15, 2010; over the month ending Sunday, there were 63," wroteNational Journal, adding, "That major newspapers and other media outlets have covered the deficit with greater intensity in recent months should come as no surprise given the focus of the politicians and policymakers they cover. The declining mentions of unemployment are perhaps more surprising, as the issue remains salient for millions of Americans."

Sean Lansing, a spokesman for the Hovde campaign, told The Huffington Post in an email that Hovde was saying "that issues like waste, fraud, abuse and out-of-control government spending are what's really hurting the poor and making the human interest stories possible in the first place, so the press -- and the public at large -- should be focusing on the root of the problem and how we can reform the system."

Hovde, a Wisconsin businessman, is one of four candidates running for the GOP nomination for the state's open U.S. Senate seat. The winner will face Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) in November.

A poll last month by Democratic firm Public Policy Polling showed Baldwin trailing Hovde and former congressman Mark Neumann by 4 percentage points, and former governor Tommy Thompson by 5, with a 4-point margin of error. The poll did not ask about State Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, the fourth GOP candidate in the race.

Below is a chart put together by National Journal displaying the findings:

This article was updated to include comments from Hovde's spokesman.

jeffnchrisshow@gmail.com (jeffnchrisshow) — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 00:20:00 -0500

Prince Salman named Saudi heir at time of turmoil

By Angus McDowall

RIYADH | Mon Jun 18, 2012 4:17pm EDT

(Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has appointed his defense minister, Prince Salman, as heir apparent, opting for stability and a continuation of cautious reforms at a time of challenges for the world's biggest oil exporter.

Crown Prince Salman, 76, has built a reputation for pragmatism and is likely swiftly to assume substantial day-to-day responsibilities from a king 13 years his senior.

Since the death of King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud, the country's founding father, the succession has moved along a line of his sons. Salman becomes Abdullah's third heir after the deaths of two older brothers: Crown Prince Sultan last October and Crown Prince Nayef, the interior minister, on Saturday.

The swift decision came as no surprise; analysts had already said they expected Salman to continue the gradual social and economic reforms adopted by King Abdullah as well as Saudi Arabia's moderate oil pricing policy.

At stake is the future direction of a country that sits on more than one fifth of the world's proven global oil reserves.

As crown prince and later as king, Salman will have to tackle challenges ranging from an al Qaeda security threat to systemic joblessness at a time of unparalleled Middle Eastern turmoil, all set against a regional rivalry with Shi'ite Iran.

Like other Sunni-Muslim-led Gulf monarchies, Saudi Arabia is nervous of the rise of Islamist movements such as Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood in the turmoil created by successive "Arab Spring" revolutions, as well as growing discontent among the region's Shi'ite population groups.

"I would predict we will see more Saudi activity abroad, particularly considering what is going on throughout the Arab world today," said Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent former Saudi newspaper editor.

"Prince Salman is pragmatic; I think he will not mind dealing with Islamist Arabs like the Muslim Brotherhood."

As crown prince, Salman will keep the defense portfolio and serve as deputy prime minister to King Abdullah, Monday's royal decree said.

KEY POST

From 1962 until last year, Prince Salman served as governor of Riyadh, a position that gave him more contact with foreign governments than many other senior royals.

That role saw him arbitrating disputes between members of the ruling family, putting him at the centre of the kingdom's most important power structure.

He also had to maintain good relations with senior clerics and tribal leaders, meaning he has experience working with all the main groups that count in Saudi policy-making.

The decree made no mention of the Allegiance Council, a family body that Abdullah set up to ensure smooth successions, which does not legally have to come into play until he dies.

Salman's younger brother Prince Ahmed was made Nayef's successor as interior minister after spending decades as his deputy.

Prince Ahmed is seen as unlikely to alter security policies at a time when Saudi Arabia faces a threat from al Qaeda in neighboring Yemen and unrest among its Shi'ite Muslim minority.

"He was always close to Prince Nayef, but he was more involved in administrative matters, not security. He has vast experience here," Khashoggi said.

Nayef built a formidable security apparatus that crushed al Qaeda inside the kingdom and is a vital element of a global struggle against Islamist militants.

His services arrested thousands of suspected militants and successfully infiltrated Islamist cells, but came down hard on political dissent.

"Prince Nayef was not simply a lone figure on policies that have been pursued but was working as part of a consensus at the highest levels," said Robert Jordan, U.S. ambassador to Riyadh from 2001 to 2003.

Although an al Qaeda campaign last decade was suppressed, its survivors took shelter in neighboring Yemen, where they have built the movement's most dangerous wing, dedicated to toppling the Saudi ruling family.

Analysts lay the credit for the rout of al Qaeda from the kingdom at the door of Prince Nayef's son, Prince Mohammed, whom militants came close to assassinating in 2010.

The continued threat from al Qaeda, and Saudi Arabia's central role in battling the organization, were underscored last month by an announcement in Washington that a bomb plot against Western targets put together in Yemen had been foiled.

(Editing by Kevin Liffey)

jeffnchrisshow@gmail.com (jeffnchrisshow) — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 00:17:00 -0500

Florida shooter's bank records hint at concealment

By Barbara Liston

ORLANDO, Florida | Mon Jun 18, 2012 6:26pm EDT

(Reuters) - George Zimmerman, who is being held on a second-degree murder charge in the February shooting death of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, and his wife actively sought to avoid government scrutiny of their financial assets, as contributions poured into Zimmerman's legal defense fund, bank statements showed.

The statements were released on Monday by the Seminole County Circuit Court following the arrest on perjury charges last week of Zimmerman's wife, Shellie Zimmerman.

George Zimmerman's $150,000 bond was revoked and he went back to jail earlier this month after prosecutors said the couple had misled the court about their financial status.

They failed to tell the court about more than $135,000 that donors had contributed to help pay for Zimmerman's legal defense, and Shellie Zimmerman falsely testified at her husband's April 20 bond hearing that the family was broke, prosecutors said.

The bank records, from separate credit union accounts, show Zimmerman and his wife made dozens of transactions between April 11 and April 20 just under the $10,000 limit that triggers government scrutiny under federal anti-money laundering laws.

Some were overlapping, as George transferred a total of $74,000 to Shellie, and Shellie transferred more than $85,500 back to George. All were in amounts between $9,000 and $9,999.

Another $47,000 was transferred to an account held by Zimmerman's sister, who was not named by prosecutors.

Among the transactions were 16 deposits in amounts from $9,000 to $9,990 from a PayPal account opened by George Zimmerman. The account was linked to a now-defunct website set up by Zimmerman to raise donations from supporters.

Anti-money laundering laws prohibit "structuring," which is intentionally making multiple transactions just under the $10,000 limit to avoid federal scrutiny.

Zimmerman's attorney, Mark O'Mara, did not respond to an inquiry from Reuters about the transactions and other newly released evidence. This included phone calls between the Zimmermans recorded at the jail in which they discuss moving money between accounts in increments under what they referred to as "$10."

However, civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump said the bank statements further undermined Zimmerman's credibility, which he said would be pivotal at his murder trial.

Zimmerman's own lawyers have acknowledged that he hurt his credibility by claiming to be penniless and misleading the court about his finances.

Zimmerman, 28, claims he shot and killed Martin in self defense after the unarmed black teenager attacked him and slammed his head into the ground in a gated community in the central Florida town of Sanford on February 26.

But Crump, who represents Martin's family, said none of the evidence supports Zimmerman's version of events.

"It is George Zimmerman's credibility that is at issue," Crump told Reuters. He said the bank records and other evidence clearly showed that Zimmerman had conspired with his wife "to execute a scheme to hide money" from the authorities.

(Editing By Tom Brown and Christopher Wilson)

jeffnchrisshow@gmail.com (jeffnchrisshow) — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 00:15:00 -0500

Microsoft tackles iPad with Surface tablet

By Lisa Richwine

LOS ANGELES | Tue Jun 19, 2012 12:46am EDT

(Reuters) - Microsoft Corp introduced its own line of tablet computers on Monday at a much-hyped press event in Los Angeles, marking a major strategic shift for the software giant as it struggles to compete with Apple Inc and re-invent its aging Windows franchise.

The new tablet line, named Surface, includes a consumer device aimed directly at the Apple iPad, and another, larger machine designed to compete with lightweight laptops. Both include a keyboard that doubles as a cover, and both will be powered by versions of the new Windows 8 operating system.

The move breaks with Microsoft's operating model of the past 37 years, which has relied on computer manufacturers to make and market machines running Windows. It could throw the world's largest software company into direct competition with its closest hardware partners such as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Hewlett-Packard Co.

However, the success of Apple in recent years has underscored the benefits of an integrated approach to hardware and software, and Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Monday that the company "didn't want to leave anything uncovered" as it rolled out Windows 8.

The new software is the biggest overhaul of Windows in years, and features a new touch-friendly interface dubbed "Metro". It is scheduled to be available for the Christmas shopping season.

The lighter, thinner version of the Surface tablet, built on an Nvidia Corp chip designed by ARM Holdings, will be the first to market at the same time as the general release of Windows 8, and will feature Microsoft's popular Office suite of applications.

It is comparable to Apple's new iPad, heavier but slightly thinner. It has a 10.6 inch screen and comes in 32GB and 64GB memory sizes.

A second, heavier tablet aimed at the new generation of lightweight laptops called "ultrabooks", running on traditional Intel Corp chips, will come in 64GB and 128GB models. That will be available about three months after the ARM version, Microsoft said.

The company gave no details on pricing, except that they would be competitive with comparable ARM tablets and Intel-powered Ultrabooks. They will be on sale online and in Microsoft's new brick-and-mortar stores in the United States.

Microsoft shares rose 0.8 percent in after-hours trading, making up for a 0.6 percent drop to $29.84 in the regular Nasdaq session.

Industry watchers were generally impressed by the devices' specifications, but doubted they were a sure-fire hit.

"I don't see this as an iPad killer, but it has a lot of potential," said Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst at tech research firm Forrester. "This raises more questions than answers. The story that Microsoft told today was incomplete. They focused on the hardware innovation but didn't talk about the services, the unique Microsoft assets that could make this product amazing."

Contrary to expectations, Microsoft made no mention of integrating content and features from its top-selling Xbox game console, the Skype video calling service it bought last year, or Barnes & Noble's Nook e-reader, its new partner in the electronic books market.

FOLLOWING APPLE

Sales of tablets are expected to triple in the next two years, topping 180 million a year in 2013, easily outpacing growth in traditional PCs. Apple has sold 67 million iPads in two years since launch.

Apple, which makes both hardware and software for greater control over the performance of the final product, has revolutionized mobile markets with its smooth, seamless phones and tablets. Rival Google Inc may experiment with a similar approach after buying phone maker Motorola Mobility this year.

Making its own hardware for such an important product is a departure for Microsoft, which based its success on licensing its software to other manufacturers, stressing the importance of "partners" and the Windows "ecosystem."

"The question is why is Microsoft doing it?," said Michael Silver, an analyst at tech research firm Gartner. "Lack of faith in the OEMs (computer makers)? There's definite risk here as Microsoft increasingly competes with its customers."

Microsoft stressed that "OEMs will have cost and feature parity on Windows 8 and Windows RT," meaning that it would not hold back any features from other hardware makers' Windows tablets.

When it has ventured into hardware, the Redmond, Washington-based company has had a mixed record.

Apart from keyboards and mice, the Xbox game console was its first foray into major manufacturing. That is now a successful business, but only after billions of dollars of investment and overcoming problems with high rates of faulty units - a problem which was nicknamed the "red ring of death" by gamers.

The company's Microsoft-branded Zune music player, a late rival to Apple's iPod, was not a success and its unpopular Kin phone was taken off the market shortly after introduction.

The company killed off a two-screen, slate-style prototype of a tablet device called Courier later that year, saying the technology might emerge in another form later on.

(Reporting By Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles, Writing by Bill Rigby in Seattle; Editing by Bernard Orrand Richard Pullin)

jeffnchrisshow@gmail.com (jeffnchrisshow) — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 01:23:00 -0500

Radiohead Toronto show canceled after fatal stage collapse

TORONTO | Sun Jun 17, 2012 12:15am EDT

(Reuters) - A concert by the British rock band Radiohead was canceled after the roof of an outdoor stage collapsed during sound checks and rehearsals before the show on Saturday, killing one person and injuring three others, police and fire officials said.

Radiohead was not on stage at the time, police said, and a spokeswoman for the band confirmed that no member of the group was hurt in the accident, which occurred at about 4 p.m. local time at Downsview Park, about 5 miles north of downtown Toronto.

A Canadian musician named Dan Snaith, who performs under the name Caribou, had been set to open for Radiohead on Saturday, according to his website, but there was no immediate word on whether he was near the stage when the mishap occurred.

Representatives for the sold-out concert's promotion company, Live Nation, declined to comment. Downsview Park officials had no comment on the incident except to confirm that the Radiohead concert had been canceled as a result.

Toronto police spokesman Sergeant Tim Burrows told Reuters that about 20 people were in the direct vicinity of the stage, conducting rehearsals and sound checks, when it gave way.

A police statement issued on Twitter said one man in his 30s was pronounced dead at the scene and a 45-year-old man was taken to a local hospital with a non-life-threatening head injury. It said two other males were treated on the scene for less serious injuries.

Burrows said investigators were still unsure what caused the mishap, which was under investigation by the Ontario Ministry of Labor and the Toronto police.

"The roof part of the stage collapsed," Toronto Fire Services spokesman Captain Mike Strapko told Reuters.

"It's like an arch made out of round piping similar to what they use for scaffolding," he said, adding that the structure was rigged with lighting and other equipment. "So that's what came down and did crush the one individual."

Laura Eldeiry, a band spokeswoman, said Toronto was Radiohead's last stop on its North American tour.

Pictures of the scene posted on social media sites showed a large section of twisted metal scaffolding over and around the stage that had collapsed in the middle of the concert platform.

Radiohead, an alternative rock group led by singer Thom Yorke and famed for such hits as "Creep" and "Paranoid Android," is scheduled to go on tour in Europe this summer.

Their 1997 album "OK Computer" established the band as one of the top musical acts of the decade. The group made waves with its 2007 collection "In Rainbows," which the band ambitiously released first as a digital download while allowing customers to set their own price for it.

(Reporting by Frank McGurty in Toronto and Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Anthony Boadle)

jeffnchrisshow@gmail.com (jeffnchrisshow) — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 01:19:00 -0500

Egypt makes stark choice for president

By Yasmine Saleh and Marwa Awad

CAIRO | Sat Jun 16, 2012 5:22pm EDT

(Reuters) - Egyptians voted on Saturday in the first free presidential election in their history to make what many find an unpalatable choice between a military man who served deposed autocrat Hosni Mubarak and an Islamist who says he is running for God.

Reeling from a court order two days ago to dissolve a new parliament dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, many question whether generals who pushed aside fellow officer Mubarak last year to appease the pro-democracy protests of the Arab Spring will honor a vow to relinquish power by July 1 to whoever wins.

"Both are useless but we must choose one of them unfortunately," said Hassan el-Shafie, 33, in Mansoura, north of Cairo, exasperated like many who picked centrists in last month's first round and now face a choice between two extremes.

With neither a parliament nor a new constitution in place to define the president's powers, the outcome from Saturday and Sunday's run-off will still leave 82 million Egyptians, foreign investors and allies in the United States and Europe unsure about what kind of state the most populous Arab nation will be.

Both contenders may herald further turbulence. An Islamist president will face a mistrustful army, while a victory by a Mubarak-era general will rile the revolutionaries on the street.

There are no reliable opinion polls for guidance, but former air force commander Ahmed Shafik, 70, Mubarak's prime minister in the last days of his rule, surged from outsider status and into the run-off. He has kept up the momentum by playing on fears about rule by an Islamist and the chaos that might bring.

His rival, the Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsy, paints himself as the last revolutionary in the race. He can be sure of solid support from the group's network of disciplined supporters built up over decades. But he has struggled to broaden his appeal.

A result may emerge within hours of polls closing on Sunday. Turnout in the first round last month was only 46 percent. An election official said Saturday's voting had been steady.

For the urban youth who drove the anti-Mubarak revolt, the decision is agonizing, so much so that some of the 50 million voters will spurn both, despite the blood spilt on the streets to end a 30-year rule marked by rigged and meaningless ballots.

Among those staying away was the sister of Khaled Said, a young activist whose death in police custody in 2010 became a cause célèbre which helped ignite the popular uprising: "I am boycotting this sham election," Zahra Said told Reuters.

"What guarantees does Shafik offer that he will not jail or torture youths? During his premiership many youths died and he did nothing," she said in her home city of Alexandria.

"Morsy is no good because he has manipulated the revolution, at times backing the youth and at other times abandoning them."

Yet, whoever wins, the army retains the upper hand. A Shafik presidency means a man steeped in military tradition will be back in charge, just like every president since the end of the monarchy in 1953. If Morsy wins, soldiers can still influence how much authority he has in the yet-to-be-written constitution.

MOOD CHANGE

Many fear the Brotherhood will not accept a defeat quietly and a Shafik win could touch off new unrest on the streets, forcing the army to take sides to impose order and further unsettle a heavyweight state at the heart of a troubled region.

It is a dramatic mood change from the euphoria when Mubarak fell on February 11, 2011. Many are now exhausted and frustrated after a messy and often violent interim period in which the generals have promised to set Egypt on a democratic path.

"If we elect Shafik, I think we can say the Egyptian revolution is over," said Ali Mahmoud Ibrahim, 44, heading to the polls in Cairo. "I will give Morsy a chance to make Egypt a good, Islamic state and to implement Islamic sharia law."

Yet, Shafik has gained traction among those who see him having the army's backing to restore order and revive an economy teetering on the brink of crisis with its foreign reserves drained sharply after tourists and investors packed up.

"He has exactly what we need in a leader. A strong military man to have a strong grip on the state and bring back security," said Hamdy Saif, 22, a student in Cairo's Nasser City district.

There are signs of exasperation with the Brotherhood's push for power after a revolt driven initially by the secular, urban middle class. The Brotherhood secured the biggest bloc in parliament after running for more seats than it said it would. It then reneged on its pledge not to run for president.

The court ruling to dissolve parliament reverses its gains, though that move has helped the group win some sympathizers.

"I was going to vote for Shafik but after parliament was dissolved, I changed my mind and will vote Morsy. There is no more fear of the Islamists dominating everything," said Ahmed Attiya, 35, an IT technician in Cairo's Zamalek district.

Critics denounced the court's parliament ruling as a "soft coup" and compared it to the start of Algeria's civil war, when the army cancelled an election won by Islamists 20 years ago.

But the Brotherhood renounced violence as a means to achieve political change in Egypt decades ago and an Islamist uprising in the 1990s was crushed by Mubarak and the same security forces which have survived last year's revolt intact.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces of about 20 generals is led by Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who was Mubarak's defense minister for two decades. The army controls businesses ranging from real estate to consumer goods factories.

Tantawi sent a letter to parliament ordering it to disperse and barring members from returning to the building, an official in the speaker's office said. The Brotherhood said the council wanted to "take all powers, despite the will of the people".

'DANGEROUS DAYS'

Hardline Islamist violence this month in Tunis, where the first Arab Spring uprising inspired Egyptians, has hardened fears of political Islam, notably among tourism workers, secular activists, women and Christians, who are a tenth of Egyptians.

"With Shafik I know what policy he is going to pursue but Morsy is enigmatic and shadowy like their underground group," said Walid Farouk, a 42-year-old cook, referring to the Brotherhood which was banned for decades under Mubarak.

But some threaten action after a Shafik victory that would disappoint many who massed on Cairo's Tahrir Square last year.

"If Shafik wins, I will be the first one to gather the people and go to Tahrir Square," said Sherif Abdel Aziz, 25, in Fayoum, a city south of Cairo.

The Brotherhood has warned of "dangerous days" and said a Shafik win could wipe out the gains of the revolt. It listed poll violations, including conscripts voting although they are barred. Election officials said any such violators were stopped.

Reflecting its suspicions, one Brotherhood official said many of the group's supporters would vote on Sunday to avoid any tampering with ballot boxes overnight.

International monitors gave guarded approval of the first round vote last month and Egyptian groups listed a range of mostly only minor violations on Saturday, apparently from both sides. In one curio, Egyptian officials reported seizing pens that use ink which disappears within hours. They gave no detail.

Both candidates have sought the centre ground, promising to rule in the spirit of the revolution: "It is not correct that the military council wants to rule through me," said Shafik, seen as a potential successor even in Mubarak's time although he and other contenders were overshadowed by the president's son.

Protesters chanted slogans for and against Shafik as he voted in Cairo. But he did not face a hail of shoes or the kind of abuse he received when he voted in the first round.

Morsy has played down talk of a crackdown on beachwear and alcohol that would hurt tourism and steered away from confrontation with Israel after three decades of cool peace maintained during Mubarak's military-backed rule.

Mobbed by backers after voting in Zagazig in the Nile Delta, Morsy said: "There is absolutely no room for Mubarak's aides."

But both candidates are defined by those who promoted them. Morsy says he is running because God expects him to offer his sacrifice for the nation. Shafik's air force career shadowed that of Mubarak, his elder by 13 years.

(Additional reporting by Samia Nakhoul in Cairo, Tom Perry in Fayoum and Tamim Elyan in the Nile Delta; Writing by Edmund Blair and Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Samia Nakhoul)

jeffnchrisshow@gmail.com (jeffnchrisshow) — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 01:18:00 -0500

Cold virus hitches a ride to kill cancer: study

By Kate Kelland

LONDON | Wed Jun 13, 2012 2:25pm EDT

(Reuters) - In a significant step forward for the development of a potential new cancer treatment, scientists have found how a common cold virus can kill tumors and trigger an immune response, like a vaccine, when injected into the blood stream.

Researchers from Britain's Leeds University and the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) said by hitching a ride on blood cells, the virus was protected from antibodies in the blood stream that might otherwise neutralize its cancer-fighting abilities.

The findings suggest viral therapies like this, called reovirus, could be injected into the blood stream at routine outpatient appointments - like standard chemotherapy - making them potentially suitable for treating a range of cancers.

The study, part-funded by the charity Cancer Research UK and conducted on 10 patients with advanced bowel cancer, confirmed that reovirus attacks on two fronts - killing cancer cells directly and triggering an immune response that helps eliminate leftover cancer cells.

"Viral treatments like reovirus are showing real promise in patient trials. This study gives us the very good news that it should be possible to deliver these treatments with a simple injection into the blood stream," said Kevin Harrington from ICR, who co-led the study and published it in the journal Science Translational Medicine on Wednesday.

Harrington said if viral treatments had been found only to work when injected directly into tumors, that would have been a significant barrier to their widespread use.

"But the finding that they can hitch a ride on blood cells will potentially make them relevant to a broad range of cancers," he said.

Reovirus is being investigated by several research teams around the world - including scientists at Canada's Oncolytics Biotech Inc - because it has shown an ability to infect and kill cancer cells without affecting normal tissue.

"We also confirmed that reovirus was specifically targeting cancer cells and leaving normal cells alone, which we hope should mean fewer side-effects for patients," Harrington said.

Cancer killed 7.6 million people worldwide in 2008, the most recent year for which the World Health Organisation has full data. The number of cancer cases is expected to surge by more than 75 percent across the world by 2030.

The 10 patients in the study were all due to have surgery on tumors that had spread to their livers. During outpatient appointments in the weeks before their surgery, they were given up to five doses of the experimental reovirus treatment.

When researchers looked at pieces of tissue removed during surgery up to four weeks later, they found what they described as "viral factories" of active virus in the tumor - but not in the normal liver tissue.

This confirmed the reovirus had been delivered specifically to the cancer cells after being injected into the blood stream.

"It seems that reovirus is even cleverer than we had thought," said University of Leeds' researcher Alan Melcher.

"By piggybacking on blood cells, the virus is managing to hide from the body's natural immune response and reach its target intact. This could be hugely significant for the uptake of viral therapies like this in clinical practice."

(Editing by Janet Lawrence)

jeffnchrisshow@gmail.com (jeffnchrisshow) — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 01:17:00 -0500

Polls open in Greek vote that could decide fate of euro

By George Georgiopoulos and Karolina Tagaris

ATHENS | Sun Jun 17, 2012 1:36am EDT

(Reuters) - Voting opened on Sunday in a Greek election that could decide whether the heavily indebted country remains in the euro zone or heads for the exit, potentially unleashing shocks that could break up the single currency.

In an election fought over the punishing austerity package demanded by international lenders as the price of keeping Greece from bankruptcy, opinion polls showed the radical leftist SYRIZA party, which wants to scrap the deal, running neck and neck with the conservative New Democracy, which broadly backs it.

The European Union and International Monetary Fund have insisted that the conditions of the 130 billion bailout accord agreed in March must be accepted fully by a new government or funds will be cut off, driving Greece into bankruptcy.

Sunday's election is a re-run of an earlier vote on May 6 which produced no clear winner and forced voters back to the polls for a vote that is seen as a referendum on the future of the single currency.

Opinion polls show Greeks, weary after five years of deep recession, overwhelmingly favor remaining in the euro. But there is bitter anger over the repeated rounds of tax hikes, slashed spending and sharp cuts in wages.

"I voted with a heavy heart for a pro-bailout party because I want the country to stay in the euro, with the help of our European partners. I don't think the failed recipes of the left would get us out of this mess," said Stratos Economou, 49, who runs a bakery shop.

All parties say they will keep Greece in the single currency but Tsipras believes the agreement can be renegotiated without Greece having to leave, betting that European leaders cannot afford the turmoil that would be unleashed by cutting a member of the euro zone loose.

On the right, establishment heir and New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras says rejection of the EU/IMF bailout would mean a return to the drachma and even greater economic calamity.

Samaras told supporters on Friday they faced a stark choice - "euro versus drachma."

Polls opened at 7.00 a.m. (0400 GMT) and close at 7 p.m. Exit polls will follow soon after voting ends.

Neither party is expected to win outright, triggering coalition negotiations with smaller parties. A new government would buy time, but little respite. Whoever comes to power may find their tenure is short-lived.

Central banks from Tokyo to London are readying arsenals to defend banks and nationalcurrencies against any post-election turmoil. The result will dominate a meeting of the Group of 20 world economic powers on Monday and Tuesday in Mexico.

European leaders weighed in on the eve of the vote, some of them openly urging Greeks to reject SYRIZA or risk undermining the very foundations of the single currency.

Finance officials in the euro zone have discussed limiting the size of withdrawals from ATM machines, imposing border checks and introducing euro zone capital controls as a worst-case scenario.

GERMAN WARNING

A Greek exit from the single currency would heap further pressure on two far larger European economies - Spain has already received up to 100 billion euros to save debt-riddled banks andItaly could be next to seek a bailout.

Euro zone officials have hinted they might give a new Greek government some leeway on how it reaches debt targets set by the EU/IMF bailout package, but there would be no change to the targets themselves.

Euro zone paymaster Germany warned Greeks on Saturday the bailout would not be renegotiated.

"That's why it's so important that the Greek elections preferably lead to a result in which those that will form a future government say: 'Yes, we will stick to the agreements'," Chancellor Angela Merkel told a party conference of her Christian Democrats.

Anger with the establishment parties of New Democracy and the Socialist PASOK propelled SYRIZA and its youthful leader, a former Communist student protest leader, from the obscure radical fringe to shock second place on May 6.

"The memorandum of bankruptcy will belong to the past on Monday," Tsipras, 37, told his final election rally on Thursday, though analysts suggest the SYRIZA leader might temper his stance if confronted with the reality of leaving the euro.

The neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party also won seats in the first election, underscoring the fragmentation of a stressed society wrestling with unemployment of almost 23 percent and plummeting living standards.

Five opinion polls published before a blackout two weeks ago put New Democracy narrowly ahead. Two other polls had SYRIZA leading.

"It's obvious the country is now staring into the abyss," leading Greek daily Kathimerini said in a front-page editorial on Sunday, calling for the creation of a New Democracy-led "unity" coalition to keep the country in the euro.

But analysts say Samaras, 61, will find it hard to govern for long with an empowered SYRIZA protesting at the gates. Tsipras, if he wins, will inherit a country on the verge of bankruptcy. He has ruled out a government of national unity and promised to nationalize banks and halt privatizations.

Some global businesses and banks are already in retreat.

Europe's biggest retailer Carrefour said on Friday it was selling up in Greece, a day after French bank Credit Agricole moved to take direct control of its Albanian, Bulgarian and Romanian units from its Greek bank Emporiki.

($1 = 0.7939 euros)

(Writing by Matt Robinson and James Mackenzie; Editing by Ralph Gowling and Anthony Boadle)

jeffnchrisshow@gmail.com (jeffnchrisshow) — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 13:04:00 -0500

Kenneth Branagh knighted in Queen's birthday honors

LONDON | Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:30pm EDT

(Reuters) - British actor Kenneth Branagh, "Titanic" star Kate Winslet and Take That frontman Gary Barlow head the list of Queen Elizabeth's annual birthday honors, announced by Britain's Cabinet Office on Saturday.

Branagh, a renowned Shakespearean actor on stage and screen, will now be known as "Sir Kenneth" after he was knighted in one of the highest awards.

He said the award was very special to him. "I feel very humble about it, I feel elated about it," he told the BBC.

Winslet, winner of an Oscar in 2008 for her role in holocaust drama "The Reader", and who starred alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in the 1997 blockbuster "Titanic", was made a CBE, or Commander of the British Empire.

Barlow, also a judge in Britain's X Factor television music contest, picked up the lesser OBE award, or Order of the British Empire.

He received the honor just days after overseeing a glittering pop concert outside the queen's Buckingham Palace residence in London as part of the Jubilee celebrations marking her 60-year reign.

In another royal connection, Sarah Burton, designer of the dress worn by Prince William's wife Kate at their wedding at London's Westminster Abbey last year, was made an OBE.

Among sportsmen, there were honors for former England international soccer goalkeeper David James, golf world number one Luke Donald, and former Wales international rugby player Shane Williams.

In all, some 1,201 people were honored by the queen, with the majority - 72 percent - being "unsung heroes" nominated because of their contribution to their local community, such as foster care, charity work and even road sweeping.

(Reporting by Tim Castle; Editing by David Brunnstrom)

jeffnchrisshow@gmail.com (jeffnchrisshow) — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 13:03:00 -0500

Louis Vuitton loses lawsuit on "Hangover" handbag

By Jonathan Stempel

Sat Jun 16, 2012 1:08am EDT

(Reuters) - Louis Vuitton on Friday lost its lawsuit against the Warner Brothers studio for using a knock-off handbag in its popular 2011 comedy "The Hangover: Part II".

The case stemmed from a scene in which the character Alan Garner, played by Zach Galifianakis, is shown in an airport with a bag that looks a Louis Vuitton bag, but which the French company said is made by Diophy, which makes products with a design similar to Louis Vuitton's "toile" monogram.

Louis Vuitton, part of LVMG Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, claimed it was harmed by the misrepresentation and the resulting confusion to customers.

It also said it was harmed in particular by a statement by Garner to a friend, "Careful ... that is a Louis Vuitton," that became "an oft-repeated and hallmark quote from the movie." The "Louis" is mispronounced as "Lewis."

Louis Vuitton sought financial damages and a halt to further trademark infringement.

But U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter in Manhattan found that Warner Brothers, part of Time Warner Inc, should not be held liable.

He said it was unlikely that many filmgoers would have noticed that the bag, which was on screen for less than 30 seconds, was a knock-off, or that they would have thought Louis Vuitton approved of Warner Brothers' use of the Diophy bag.

"The likelihood of confusion is at best minimal," Carter wrote.

A lawyer for Louis Vuitton declined to comment on the ruling.

According to the complaint, "The Hangover: Part II" had grossed about $580 million worldwide at the time the case was brought, becoming the highest-grossing "R" rated comedy ever.

The case is Louis Vuitton Mallatier SA v. Warner Brothers Entertainment Inc, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 11-09436.

(Reporting By Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Richard Chang)

jeffnchrisshow@gmail.com (jeffnchrisshow) — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 12:41:00 -0500

Stark choice for Egypt in presidential poll

By Yasmine Saleh and Marwa Awad

CAIRO | Sat Jun 16, 2012 1:24pm EDT

(Reuters) - Egyptians voted on Saturday in the first free presidential election in their history that for many poses an unpalatable choice between a military man who served deposed autocrat Hosni Mubarak or an Islamist who says he is running for God.

Both contenders may herald further turbulence. An Islamist president will face a mistrustful army, while a victory by a Mubarak-era general will rile the revolutionaries on the street.

A result may emerge within hours of polls closing on Sunday. Turnout in the first round last month was only 46 percent. An election official said Saturday's voting had been steady.

"What guarantees does Shafik offer that he will not jail or torture youths? During his premiership many youths died and he did nothing," she said in her home city of Alexandria.

"Morsy is no good because he has manipulated the revolution, at times backing the youth and at other times abandoning them."

MOOD CHANGE

"He has exactly what we need in a leader. A strong military man to have a strong grip on the state and bring back security," said Hamdy Saif, 22, a student in Cairo's Nasser City district.

The court ruling to dissolve parliament reverses its gains, though that move has helped the group win some sympathizers.

Critics denounced the court's parliament ruling as a "soft coup" and compared it to the start of Algeria's civil war, when the army cancelled an election won by Islamists 20 years ago.

'DANGEROUS DAYS'

Hardline Islamist violence this month in Tunis, where the first Arab Spring uprising inspired Egyptians, has also hardened fears of political Islam, notably among tourism workers, secular activists, women and Christians, who are a tenth of Egyptians.

But some threaten action after a Shafik victory that would disappoint many who massed on Cairo's Tahrir Square last year.

"If Shafik wins, I will be the first one to gather the people and go to Tahrir Square," said Sherif Abdel Aziz, 25, in Fayoum, a city south of Cairo.

Reflecting its suspicions, one Brotherhood official said many of the group's supporters would vote on Sunday to avoid any tampering with ballot boxes overnight.

International monitors gave guarded approval of the first round vote last month and Egyptian groups listed a range of mostly only minor violations on Saturday.

Protesters chanted slogans for and against Shafik as he voted in Cairo. But he did not face a hail of shoes or the kind of abuse he received when he voted in the first round.

Mobbed by backers after voting in Zagazig in the Nile Delta, Morsy said: "There is absolutely no room for Mubarak's aides."

(Additional reporting by Samia Nakhoul in Cairo, Tom Perry in Fayoum and Tamim Elyan in the Nile Delta; Writing by Edmund Blair and Alastair MacDonald; Editing by Samia Nakhoul)

jeffnchrisshow@gmail.com (jeffnchrisshow) — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 12:14:00 -0500

Texas grand jury to review case of father who killed daughter's attacker

By Jim Forsyth

SAN ANTONIO | Fri Jun 15, 2012 4:28pm EDT

(Reuters) - A grand jury next week will consider whether to file charges against a Texas father who said he beat to death a man who was attempting to sexually assault his 5-year-old daughter, the district attorney for Lavaca County said on Friday.

A witness saw Jesus Flores, 47, "forcibly" carrying the girl to a secluded location and notified her 23-year-old father, who was attending a barbecue at the family's ranch outside Shiner, Texas, last Saturday, District Attorney Heather McMinn said.

The father, whose name has not been released because he has not been charged with a crime, heard his daughter's screams and ran to a secluded area, where he "removed Flores from on top of his child and, in the process, inflicted several blows to the man's head and neck area," McMinn said.

The father admitted to Lavaca County Sheriff Micah Harmon and a Texas Ranger investigating the case that he beat Flores to death in an effort to protect his child.

In court papers, Harmon said evidence found at the scene appeared to substantiate the father's account.

"The man's pants and underwear were down and his genitals were exposed," Harmon said. "In addition, all of the physical evidence and several detailed witness statements corroborated the father's statement."

McMinn said she determined on Friday that the case should be reviewed by a grand jury.

"Sheriff Harmon made the right decision in not arresting the father at the time of the incident," she said.

McMinn said the father was "very remorseful and did not intend to kill Jesus Flores."

Harmon said Flores had been hired by the family to groom horses and perform other chores.

Shiner, population 1,900, is located in southeastern Texas between Houston and San Antonio. Is best known as the home of the brewery that produces Shiner Bock, one of Texas' popular craft beers.

(Editing By Corrie MacLaggan and Stacey Joyce)

jeffnchrisshow@gmail.com (jeffnchrisshow) — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 12:12:00 -0500

Saudi Prince Salman seen as likely heir to throne

By Angus McDowall

RIYADH | Sat Jun 16, 2012 10:49am EDT

(Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's Defence Minister Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz, seen as more moderate than his hawkish brother Crown Prince Nayef who died on Saturday, is likely to be anointed heir to the throne of the world's top oil exporter.

Although the choice of a new crown prince must be confirmed by a family allegiance council, analysts said it would be highly surprising if Salman, now 76, was passed over.

"The most obvious candidate is Prince Salman," said Saudi politics professor Khalid al-Dakhil.

If appointed, he is likely to shoulder much of the burden of state immediately, given that King Abdullah is already 89.

An imposing figure, Salman controls one of the Arab world's largest media groups.

He believes that democracy is ill-suited to the conservative kingdom and advocates a cautious approach to social and cultural reform, according to a 2007 U.S. diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks.

A familiar figure to the kingdom's top ally - the United States - he is someone with whom Washington would be comfortable doing business.

"It appeared to me he had a good handle on the delicate balancing act he had to do to move society forward while being respectful of its traditions and conservative ways," said Robert Jordan who was U.S. ambassador in Riyadh from 2001-03.

"He doesn't blindly accept everything the United States says, but at the same time he understands the importance of the relationship, which goes beyond oil," Jordan added.

After nearly 50 years as governor of Riyadh province, Prince Salman now controls the big-spending Defence Ministry.

The ministry has long used arms purchases to turn the Saudi armed forces into one of the best equipped in the Middle East and to bolster ties with allies such as the United States, Britain andFrance.

Since being named defence minister last year, he has been to both Washington and London, meeting President Barack Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron.

A family insider, Salman has been part of the inner circle of the al-Saud ruling family, which founded and still dominates the desert kingdom in alliance with conservative religious clerics, for decades.

In a royal family that bases its right to rule on its guardianship of Islam's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina, Salman is reputed to be devout but relatively outward-looking.

"He's not extravagant, whether in his personal life or professionally," said Khaled Almaeena, editor-in-chief of Saudi Gazette, who has known Salman personally for more than three decades.

"He's not a spendthrift and makes sure public money is spent well on projects. If you go to his office he's there every morning meeting people. He has a knack of remembering people and events... He has travelled abroad a lot and is very well read and is very well versed in dealing with the tribes."

A MODERATE

From 1962 until last year, Salman served as governor of Riyadh, a position that meant he has had more to do with foreign governments than many senior royals.

That role saw him arbitrating disputes between quarreling members of the ruling family, putting him at the centre of the kingdom's most important power structure.

In a meeting with the U.S. ambassador in March 2007, described in a cable released by WikiLeaks, Salman said the social and cultural reforms instigated by King Abdullah had to move slowly for fear of a conservative backlash.

He also argued against the introduction of democracy in the kingdom, citing regional and tribal divisions, and told the ambassador that a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict was necessary for Middle East stability.

"He is liberal in his personal life and moderate in politics, he can't be called a liberal because he holds some conservative values," said a source close to the Saudi royals.

"He is a very balanced character, so moderate is the best word to describe him," the source added.

With his strong bearded features, Salman is the prince who is said to more closely resemble his father, King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud, than any of his brothers.

Backed by a small group of followers inspired by an austere vision of Islam, Ibn Saud recaptured his family's old stronghold of Riyadh in 1902, launching a three-decade campaign of conquest that carved out the modern borders of a kingdom founded in 1932.

Salman is one of the so-called "Sudairi seven" - the brothers born to Ibn Saud by his favorite wife Hassa bint Ahmed al-Sudairi.

His full brothers in a family of more than 30 half-brothers include the late King Fahd and Crown Prince Sultan, Nayef and Prince Ahmed, the deputy interior minister.

Salman was born in 1935 in Riyadh, then a mud brick oasis deep in the interior of a new kingdom that had not yet discovered oil, depending instead on revenue from pilgrims to Mecca and Medina, date farming and camel herding.

Yet one son, Prince Sultan bin Salman, became the first Arab astronaut, flying on the U.S. space shuttle Discovery in 1985.

Prince Sultan is now the kingdom's tourism minister while another son, Prince Abdulaziz, is the deputy oil minister.

In his five decades administering Riyadh and its surroundings, Salman oversaw the development of the capital from a large desert town into a metropolis of 4.6 million people.

He was taught in the "princes' school" set up in Ibn Saud's palace by the imam of the Grand Mosque of Mecca, signaling the importance that Ibn Saud attached to the centrality of pure Islamic belief in the kingdom he created.

(Reporting by Angus McDowall; Additional reporting by Amena Bakr; Editing by Sami Aboudi,Samia Nakhoul and Andrew Osborn)

jeffnchrisshow@gmail.com (jeffnchrisshow) — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 12:11:00 -0500

Saudi Crown Prince Nayef, heir to throne, dies

By Angus McDowall

RIYADH | Sat Jun 16, 2012 10:49am EDT

(Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, next in line to rule the world's top oil exporter, has died just eight months after becoming heir to 89-year-old King Abdullah, the royal court said on Saturday.

Analysts and former diplomats said the succession process was likely to be stable, however, with the king and a family council expected to start work on the appointment of a new crown prince, who would probably be another brother of King Abdullah.

"With deep sorrow and grief... King Abdullah mourns his brother... Crown Prince Nayef who passed to the mercy of God on Saturday outside the kingdom," said a royal court statement carried by state media.

State TV said Nayef had died in Geneva where he had been receiving medical treatment for an unknown problem - he was thought to be 78.

His death was not expected to trigger any major changes to the kingdom's energy policy or to key relationships with the United States and other allies.

"The fundamental principle that the Saudis operate under is stability. So they will I'm sure develop a consensus among the senior members of the family over an orderly succession. That has likely been forming in recent months in any event," said Robert Jordan, U.S. ambassador to Riyadh from 2001-03.

Defence Minister Prince Salman, 76, has long been viewed as the next most senior prince after the late Nayef. If he became king, analysts believe he would continue King Abdullah's cautious reforms.

Nayef, interior minister since 1975, was appointed crown prince in October after the death of his elder brother and the previous heir Crown Prince Sultan.

State television said the burial would be in Mecca on Sunday.

In a statement, British Foreign Secretary William Hague expressed his government's condolences, saying he was sad to hear of Nayef's death.

"He served the Kingdom for many years with great dignity and dedication and his contribution to the prosperity and security of the Kingdom will be long remembered," said Hague.

The king of neighboring Bahrain ordered a three-day mourning period, Bahrain News Agency said.

Nayef had a reputation as a steely conservative who opposed King Abdullah's reforms and developed a formidable security infrastructure that crushed al Qaeda but also locked up some political activists.

"He supervised the security affairs of the state for more than 30 years. He scored a lot of successes there. Especially in fighting al Qaeda," said Khalid al-Dakhil, a Saudi political analyst.

In May, Nayef went to Switzerland for medical tests, his second trip abroad for checkups for an undisclosed health issue since March.

Like his brothers King Abdullah and Salman, he was one of the nearly 40 sons of Saudi Arabia's founder, Abdulaziz ibn Saud, who established the kingdom in 1935.

UNKNOWN QUANTITY

Prince Salman, his likely successor, was made defence minister in November and had served as Riyadh governor for five decades.

While Salman has often met foreign diplomats and other officials, he is seen as something of an unknown quantity, having maintained strong relations with both conservative clerics and western-oriented businessmen.

King Abdullah in May hosted a summit for Gulf Arab leaders and has looked well, if tired, in recent television appearances, but in October had his third round of back surgery in 12 months.

In a U.S. embassy cable released by WikiLeaks, American diplomats in 2009 reported that although Abdullah was in good health he "works only a few hours every day".

The conservative Islamic kingdom emerged from last year's Arab uprisings as one of the most stable Middle Eastern states.

Although most Saudi watchers say it is very likely that Salman will become the kingdom's leader after the deaths of Abdullah and Nayef, they say it is uncertain who would then be seen as next in line.

Although nearly 20 of King Abdulaziz's sons still survive, few of them have the requisite government experience to lead the country.

Meanwhile, those that have served for a long time in important positions, such as Deputy Interior Minister Prince Ahmed or Intelligence Minister Prince Muqrin, are younger than the oldest of King Abdulaziz's grandsons.

Under Saudi law, the line of sons must be exhausted before moving on a generation. But it might be seen as embarrassing for elder grandsons, who come first in the official line of precedence, to be overruled by their younger uncles.

Mecca Governor Prince Khaled al-Faisal, a son of the late King Faisal and brother to Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, is seen as one possible contender among the next generation.

Another is Deputy Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and Eastern Province Governor Prince Mohammed bin Fahd.

Under succession rules drawn up six years ago, a new king has to nominate his choice of crown prince for approval by a family "allegiance" council.

Although the council was involved in the appointment of Nayef as crown prince in October, it is not clear whether it voted on Abdullah's choice or was simply informed of it.

(Editing by Sami Aboudi, Louise Ireland and Andrew Osborn)

jeffnchrisshow@gmail.com (jeffnchrisshow) — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 12:09:00 -0500

Joy and anger as Obama relaxes deportation rules

By Tim Gaynor

PHOENIX | Fri Jun 15, 2012 4:38pm EDT

(Reuters) - Undocumented Mexican youths who came to the United States as children reacted with joy to an Obama administration rule change on Friday that could spare them deportation, although opponents slammed it as amnesty and ridiculous.

"It hasn't really sunk in entirely, but I feel a sense of joy and happiness because I know this is really going to change my life," said Justino Mora, 22, an undocumented computer science student at UCLA in Los Angeles.

Mora is among an estimated 800,000 illegal immigrants up to 30 years old who came to the United States as children and will benefit by the surprise order announced by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

"I will have the opportunity to ... create my own business so that I can help ... my family financially and create the jobs that the U.S. needs," Mora told Reuters.

The rule change applies to undocumented youngsters like Mora who do not pose a risk to national security and who will now be eligible to stay in the country and apply for work permits. Mora came to the United States at age 11 from central Mexico with his mother.

Those eligible under Obama's plan must have come to the United States under the age of 16 and lived in the country for at least five years. They must be in school or have graduated from high school or be honorably discharged from the U.S. military. They also must not have been convicted of any felony or significant misdemeanor offenses.

For 18-year-old high school honors graduate Yolanda Medina, in Phoenix, Arizona, the rule change means a shot at studying at the city's Grand Canyon University in the fall and the chance to escape a life toiling in menial jobs open to illegal immigrants.

"Most of us ... are forced to take jobs like cleaning houses, cleaning someone's car or babysitting, when you have so much more to offer," said Medina, who came to the United States with her mother from Durango, Mexico, at age 3.

"This is a like a dream came true for me."

In Mission, Texas, undocumented computer science student Yajaira Marmolejo, 22, said the change would give her a shot at finding a job to help her Mexican migrant parents, who run a business and sell clothes in a local flea market.

"I've just been waiting for an opportunity to work," said Marmolejo, who came to the United States at age 10. "I will be able to help my family economically. Also, I will be able to have money and have a job and do what I actually like doing."

BACKDOOR AMNESTY

There are about 11 million illegal immigrants living, working and studying in the shadows in the United States, some 1 million to 2 million of whom came to the country as children.

What to do with the undocumented population divides Americans in this election year marked by a tough economy, and the rule change made some indignant.

"President Barack Obama's decision to grant work permits to illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children is nothing short of backdoor amnesty by executive fiat and a blatant political ploy," David Dewhurst, the lieutenant governor of Texas and a Republican U.S. Senate candidate, said in a statement.

"Here in Texas, we face the impacts of illegal immigration on our economy every day, as well as the violence from drug cartels and transnational gangs infiltrating our neighborhoods."

For Mark Renner, 50 and unemployed in Phoenix, the move was simply "ridiculous."

"The whole problem is they're coming here illegally, they know they're here illegally and they're getting better treatment than citizens of the U.S. as far as I'm concerned," Renner said.

"Jobs, the healthcare, it's taking away from what we barely have left ... they should go back and do it the right way like everyone else has to," he said.

(Additional reporting by Jared Taylor in McAllen, Jim Forsyth in San Antonio and Corrie MacLaggan in Austin; Editing by Bill Trott)

jeffnchrisshow@gmail.com (jeffnchrisshow) — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 12:08:00 -0500

Two Russian parties merge in push against Putin

MOSCOW | Sat Jun 16, 2012 12:58pm EDT

(Reuters) - Russian opposition activists, who led tens of thousands of people onto the streets in anti-government rallies in recent months, merged two parties into one on Saturday to strengthen their fight against President Vladimir Putin.

Mikhail Kasyanov, prime minister from 2000 to 2004 during Putin's first term as president but now a fierce critic, and former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov, united their People's Freedom Party with former lawmaker Vladimir Ryzhkov's Republican Party of Russia (RPR).

"Our main goal is a change in the country's political course. This can be achieved only via free elections," Kasyanov said on the sideline of a conference where party delegates created the new party RPR-PARNAS.

The opposition got a boost last December when tens of thousands of Russians took to the streets against what they said were rigged parliamentary elections won by ruling United Russia. Such numbers had not been seen since Putin's rise to power in the late 1990s.

Putin, who returned to the Kremlin in May for a six-year term, responded to the protesters by promising modest electoral reforms including easing registration requirements to enable more parties to contest elections.

But he also approved legislation setting harsher fines, in some cases thousands of dollars, for participants in demonstrations which violate public order.

Last month the Justice Ministry gave the RPR permission to register after a long court battle that began when it lost its legal status in 2007 as Putin tightened his grip on electoral politics.

The RPR was always a small force but its members had a dozen parliamentary seats in the early 1990s which it gradually lost during Putin's first term as president.

Opposition leaders hope to gain a foothold in future regional and municipal elections.

Earlier this week, police searched the homes and offices of several opposition leaders, including Nemtsov, after series of mass protests against the rule of Putin.

Nemtsov compared Putin's actions against the opposition to the that of the leader of neighboring Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko.

"This is the Lukashenisation of Russia. This machine of violence will gain more strength," Nemtsov said during the party meeting.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Additional reporting by Mikhail Antonov; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)