Latinos In Foster Care Reach Historic High - Huffington Post

Deporting Mom

Estrella Manuel, 2, holds an American flag in her mouth during a news conference in Miami Wednesday, June 17, 2009. Roughly 150 children are suing President Barack Obama to halt the deportations of their parents until Congress overhauls U.S. immigration laws. The U.S.-born children say their constitutional rights are being violated because they, too, will likely have to leave the country if their parents are forced to leave. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Memorial dedicated to the children of the Paris Vel D'Hiv round-up

French former President Jacques Chirac looks at photographs of victims, on January 27, 2011 in Orleans, central France, during the unveiling of a memorial dedicated to the children of the Paris Vel D'Hiv round-up, as part of a worldwide souvenir day. On July 16 and 17, 1942, some 13,000 Jews were detained and taken to the Velodrome d'Hiver cycling stadium near the Eiffel Tower, where they spent a week in appalling conditions, before being deported to Nazi concentration camps. AFP PHOTO/ALAIN JOCARD (Photo credit should read ALAIN JOCARD/AFP/GettyImages)

Deportations From Greece

Migrants on a police bus in central Athens, Sunday, Aug. 5, 2012. Greek police say officers have begun an operation to arrest and deport illegal migrants from the center of the capital and along the country

Flying Kites In Memory Of Orphans Deported To Treblinka

Members of the Israeli youth movement HaMachanot HaOlim fly kites in memory of Janusz Korczak on August 5, 2012 during an event marking 70 years since the deportation to Treblinka of Korczak, Stefa Wilczynska, and the children of their orphanage, from the Warsaw Ghetto at the Yad Vashem holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem. On August 5, 1942, the Nazis rounded up Korczak, Wilczynska and the 200 children of the orphanage. He and Stefa never abandoned the children, even to the very end. Korczak, Wilczynska and the children were sent to Treblinka, where they were all murdered. AFP PHOTO/GALI TIBBON (Photo credit should read GALI TIBBON/AFP/GettyImages)

Hamas leader holds a portrait of arrested Islamist leader

Hamas leader Ismail Haniya holds a portrait of Sheikh Raed Salah, head of the radical wing of the Islamic Movement in Israel, during a protest in Gaza City on July 5, 2011, after the controversial Arab-Israeli Islamist leader was arrested in London for entering the country despite a government ban and now faces deportation from Britain. AFP PHOTO / MOHAMMED ABED (Photo credit should read MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images)

Remembering Deportation Of Chechens

A woman holds a poster showing President Putin's portrait drawn as a razor wire during anti-Putin rally in Moscow, 23 February 2005, during Democtraic Union party's protest action for the 61th anniversary of Stalin's deportation of Chechens to Siberia and Kazakhstan. AFP PHOTO/ ALEXANDER NEMENOV. (Photo credit should read ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP/GettyImages)

Suspected FARC Member Deported From Ecuador

Edilson Castro Lopez, center, a suspected member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, is escorted by police officers, after arriving in Bogota, Colombia, Monday, Aug. 6, 2012. Castro was deported from Ecuador where he was captured Saturday. Castro Lopez was in Ecuador negotiating an arms deal for the FARC, according to police chief, Gen. Jose Roberto Leon. (AP Photo)

Iraqi and Iranians protest in the Iraqi city of Baquba

Iraqi and Iranians protest in the northeastern Iraqi city of Baquba, the capital of the province of Diyala, on November 18, 2011, calling on the government to have the residents of the Ashraf camp deported and the camp closed. Iraq has served a virtual 'death warrant' on some 3,400 Iranian dissidents exiled in a camp north of Baghdad, the head of the European parliament's delegation for relations with Iraq said. Camp Ashraf was set up when Iraq and Iran were at war in the 1980s by the People's Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran (PMOI) and was later placed under US control until January 2009, when US forces transferred security for the camp to Iraq. AFP PHOTO/STR (Photo credit should read -/AFP/Getty Images)

People place flowers in Vilnius honoring memory of people deported by Soviet forces

People place flowers in Vilnius on June 14, 2011 on a cattle wagon used to deport people from Lithuania to Siberia on June 14, 1941. The Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia on June 14 honoured the memory of tens of thousands of their citizens deported by Soviet forces exactly 70 years ago during World War II. In nationwide commemorations that only became possible after Soviet rule ended in 1991, leaders said the 43,000 victims of June 14, 1941 must never be forgotten. AFP PHOTO / PETRAS MALUKAS (Photo credit should read PETRAS MALUKAS/AFP/Getty Images)

Remembering The Mass Deportations From The Warsaw Ghetto

People attach colourful ribbons with the names of Jewish children on the fence of a former Jewish orphanage during ceremonies in Warsaw on July 22, 2012 marking the 70th anniversary of the start of Nazi Germany's mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to the death camp of Treblinka. AFP PHOTO / WOJTEK RADWANSKI (Photo credit should read WOJTEK RADWANSKI/AFP/GettyImages)

Members of the English Defence League

Members of the English Defence League (EDL) chant holding placards calling for the deportation of radical Islamist cleric Abu Qatada at opposing Unite Against Facism protesters as they gather outside the Home Office in central London on April 17, 2012. British authorities on April 17 arrested Abu Qatada, who is accused of ties to late Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden, as they resumed efforts to deport him to Jordan. The UK government has been trying to extradite the 51-year-old Jordanian since 2005 arguing that he is a threat to national security, but British and European courts have repeatedly thwarted its efforts on human rights grounds. AFP PHOTO / LEON NEAL (Photo credit should read LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images)

Chinese police excort a group of suspects deported from Indonesia

Chinese police excort a group of suspects (in black hoods) deported from Indonesia upon their arrival at the airport in Beijing on June 11, 2011. Indonesia deported 76 Chinese nationals who were among hundreds rounded up across Asia in connection with an alleged massive online fraud. CHINA OUT AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images)

A boy born in Israel to a foreign worker

A boy born in Israel to a foreign worker, holds a letter in Hebrew addressed to Israeli prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu asking him not to be deported during a protest against a possible deportation of their families from Israel outside Prime Minister Netanyahu's residency in Jerusalem on February 21, 2012 organized by the NGO Israeli Children. Under an August 2010 cabinet decision, foreign workers with children could obtain residency rights if the child had come here before age 13, lived here at least five years, was either in school or about to enter first grade, and spoke Hebrew fluently, on condition that the parents initially entered Israel legally. Last week the Population, Immigration and Borders Authority (PIBA) began informing foreign workers and their children whether they have the right to stay in Israel or will face deportation in the next month. AFP PHOTO/GALI TIBBON (Photo credit should read GALI TIBBON/AFP/Getty Images)

Indonesians Deportations

Rep. Rush Holt, D-NJ, addresses a gathering of Indonesian immigrants at the Reformed Church of Highland Park Friday, April 6, 2012, in Highland Park, N.J. The church has granted sanctuary to a number of Indonesian Christian immigrants with final orders of deportation. Holt was speaking in favor of a bill by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-NY, to try and reopen their cases. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

Supreme Court considers SB1070

Tuulia Lowe protests against SB1070 and immigration deportations Wednesday, April 25, 2012, in San Francisco. Supreme Court justices strongly suggested Wednesday that they are ready to allow Arizona to enforce part of a controversial state law requiring police officers to check the immigration status of people they think are in the country illegally. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

South Sudanese Refugee Deported From Israel

South Sudanese refugee Samuel Akue 30, carries his suitcases on June 11, 2012, in the Mediterranean city of Tel Aviv, as he prepares for his deportation by Israeli authorities. Israeli authorities rounded up dozens of migrants slated for deportation, most of them Africans from South Sudan, as the government weighs tough penalties against Israelis who help illegal aliens. AFP PHOTO/JACK GUEZ (Photo credit should read JACK GUEZ/AFP/GettyImages)

President Obama Speaks On Homeland Security's Announcement About Deportations

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 15: Members of CASA de Maryland gather in front of the White House to celebrate the Obama Administration's announcement about deportation of illegal immigrants June 15, 2012 in Washington, DC. Obama said the administration will stop deporting undocumented immigrants who had come to the U.S. when they were at a young age. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Immigration Rights Activists Protest Possible Deportation Of Bangladeshi Student

POMPANO BEACH, FL - OCTOBER 25: (L-R) Frida Ulloa, Felipe Mato and Raul Gil and others hold a sign reading, ' Education Not Deportation'' as they stand in front of the Broward Transitional Center on October 25, 2011 in Pompano Beach, Florida. The group was protesting the possible deportation of Shamir Ali, a 25-year-old born in Bangladesh, who they say would be a candidate for the DREAM Act if it was made into a federal law. The DREAM Act bill would provide legal status to some undocumented young people. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Honduran migrants deported from the United States

Honduran migrants deported from the United States walk on a tarmac of Toncontin Airport in Tegucigalpa upon their arrival on December 23, 2011. The 134 migrants are part of the 40.000 Hondurans, including men, women and children, that have been deported from the US this year. AFP PHOTO/Orlando SIERRA (Photo credit should read ORLANDO SIERRA/AFP/Getty Images)

Drug trafficker Hector Buitriago

Colombian police custody Colombian drug trafficker Hector Buitriago, aka Martin Llanos, upon his arrival at the antinarcotics police air base after his deportation from Venezuela, in Bogota on February 9, 2012. AFP PHOTO/Luis Acosta (Photo credit should read LUIS ACOSTA/AFP/Getty Images)

Immigrants and working families march to stop deportations on May Day

Immigrants and working families march to demand legalization for all immigrants and to stop deportations and the attacks on workers in Los Angeles, California on May 1, 2011. AFP PHOTO / GABRIEL BOUYS (Photo credit should read GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images)

126 Guatemalans Arrive Back Home

Some of 126 deported Guatemalans wait for his turn to be registered by migration authorities upon arrival at the Air Force base in Guatemala City from the US Luisiana state on July 26, 2012. The United States deported 23,136 Guatemalans between January and July, a historical record that exceeds 28.3 % expulsions registered during the same period last year, according to records of the General Directorate of Migration of Guatemala. JOHAN ORDONEZ/AFP/GettyImages

Berlin Marks 70th Anniversary Of Jewish Deportations

BERLIN, GERMANY - OCTOBER 18: A young woman arrives to lay a rose at the Gleis 17 (Track 17) memorial on the 70th anniversary of the deportation of Jews from Berlin to concentration camps during World War II on October 18, 2011 in Berlin, Germany. On October 18, 1941, the Nazis began deporting Jewish residents of Berlin by rail to concentration camps, including to Theresienstadt and later to Auschwitz. In all approximately 56,000 Berlin Jews were deported and killed between 1941 and 1945, and today a memorial at Track 17, the original platform from which many Jews were crowded into freight cars for deportation, lists the dates, origins, destinations and numbers of Jews transported. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Immigrant Mother Of American Children Faces Deportation

DENVER, CO - MAY 23: Mexican immigrant Jeanette Vizguerra loads her children into her car after a meeting at the Mexican consulate in her fight against deportation hearings on May 23, 2011 in Denver, Colorado. She is scheduled for a final hearing July 13 at Denver's Federal Courthouse. Just one of millions of undocumented immigrants living in the United States, Vizguerra is a small business owner of a janitorial service as well as an community organizer for immigration rights. She first came to Colorado from Mexico City with her husband 14 years before, and they now have three American-born children. Two years ago she was stopped by a traffic policemen for driving with expired tags and was taken to jail when she could not prove she was in the country legally. Vizguerra has been out on bail during lengthy court proceedings, but now faces the real possibility that she will be deported back to Mexico and separated from her family in the United States. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

Romanian Roma victim of deportation during World War II

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY MIHAELA RODINA Romanian Roma victim of deportation during World War II, Marin Safta, 89, holds an old picture of him with his wife as he recounts on January 23, 2012 the widely forgotten tragedy in Bucharest. The deportation of thousands of Roma by Romanian marshal Ion Antonescu is an indelible stigma for the victims 70 years on, survivors and analysts say. Holocaust victims are commemorated across the world on January 27, declared an International Day of Rememberance. In May 1942, Romania's Antonescu ordered the deportation of 'nomad, idle and criminal Gypsies' (Roma) in order to 'cleanse villages and cities of poor or dangerous people.' Some 25,000 Roma, out of a total of 208,000 registered, were deported to Transdniestr, a formerly Soviet region that was at the time controlled by the Romanian pro-Nazi authorities. AFP PHOTO DANIEL MIHAILESCU (Photo credit should read DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP/Getty Images)

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/28/latinos-in-foster-care_n_3174664.html

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Pattern seen in alleged chemical arms use in Syria

BEIRUT (AP) ? The instances in which chemical weapons are alleged to have been used in Syria were purportedly small in scale: nothing along the lines of Saddam Hussein's 1988 attack in Kurdish Iraq that killed thousands.

That raises the question of who would stand to gain as President Bashar Assad's regime and the opposition trade blame for the alleged attacks, and proof remains elusive.

Analysts say the answer could lie in the past ? the regime has a pattern of gradually introducing a weapon to the conflict to test the international community's response.

The U.S. said last week that intelligence indicates the Syrian military has likely used sarin, a deadly nerve agent, on at least two occasions in the civil war, echoing similar assessments from Israel, France and Britain. Syria's rebels accuse the regime of firing chemical weapons on at least four occasions, while the government denies the charges and says opposition fighters have used chemical agents in a bid to frame it.

But using chemical weapons to try to force foreign intervention would be a huge gamble for the opposition, and one that could easily backfire. It would undoubtedly taint the rebellion in the eyes of the international community and seriously strain its credibility.

Mustafa Alani, an analyst at the Gulf Research Center in Geneva, said it would also be difficult for the rebels to successfully employ chemical agents.

"It's very difficult to weaponize chemical weapons," he said. "It needs a special warhead, for the artillery a special fuse."

In the chaos of Syria's civil war, pinning down definitive proof on the alleged use of weapons of mass destruction is a tricky task with high stakes. President Barack Obama has said any use of chemical arms ? or the transfer of stockpiles to terrorists ? would cross a "red line" and carry "enormous consequences."

Already, the White House's announcement that the Syrian regime appears to have used chemical arms has ratcheted up the pressure on Obama to move forcefully. He has sought to temper expectations of a quick U.S. response, saying too little is known about the alleged attacks to take action now.

Analysts suggest that a limited introduction of the weapons, with little ostensible military gain, could be an attempt by the Syrian government to test the West's resolve while retaining the veil of plausible deniability. This approach would also allow foreign powers eager to avoid a costly intervention in Syria to remain on the sidelines, while at the same time opening the door for the regime to use the weapons down the road.

"If it's testing the water, and we're going to turn a blind eye, it could be used widely, repeatedly," Alani said. "If you are silent once, you will be silent twice."

The slow introduction of a weapon to gauge the West's response fits a pattern of behavior the Assad regime has demonstrated since the uprising began in March 2011, according to Joseph Holliday, a Syria analyst at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War.

When largely peaceful protesters initially took to the streets, the regime responded with small arms fire and a wave of arrests. As the government ramped up its violent crackdown, the opposition began to take up arms in late 2011, prompting yet another escalation in force by the regime.

In early 2012, government troops began using heavy weapons, first in a relatively restrained manner on military targets.

"Once they could confirm that there wasn't going to be a major reaction from the West, they were able to expand the use of artillery," Holliday said.

By the summer of 2012, government troops were pounding rebellious neighborhoods with tank fire, field cannons and mortars, but the rebellion was stronger than ever, prompting Assad to turn to his air force, and the regime's MiG fighter jets and helicopter gunships began to strike military targets in rural areas.

After the government was satisfied that the international community wasn't going to impose a no-fly zone like NATO did in Libya, Assad unleashed the full might of his air power, and warplanes have been indiscriminately bombing rebel-held areas since.

"It all fits the pattern of being able to do this incrementally," Holliday said.

"It's been important for the regime to introduce these capabilities as gradually as possible so that they don't trip the international community's red lines," he added. "I think this is basically a modus operandi that the Assad regime has established and tested with the United States, and confirmed that it works, and he's using it again with chemical weapons."

Syria has never confirmed it even has chemical weapons. But it is believed to possess substantial stockpiles of mustard gas and a range of nerve agents, including sarin, a highly toxic substance that can suffocate its victims by paralyzing muscles around their lungs.

Concern rose last summer when then-Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi told a news conference that Damascus would only use chemical or biological weapons in case of foreign attack, not against its own people. The ministry then tried to blur the issue, saying it had never acknowledged having such arms.

Weapons of mass destruction are generally viewed as a deterrent against foreign attack, and their use a sign of desperation. But Assad appears far from desperate at the moment, and in fact is operating from a position of relative strength.

While much of northern Syria has fallen to the rebels, the government's hold on Damascus is firm and its forces have been on the offensive in the capital's suburbs and in the countryside near the border with Lebanon. In the northwest, regime troops recently opened up a key supply road to soldiers fighting in the embattled city of Aleppo.

Two of the alleged attacks the Syrian opposition blames on the regime took place in and around Aleppo: one in Khan al-Assal west of the city on March 19, and another in the contested Shiekh Maqsoud neighborhood on April 13. The other alleged instances were in the central city of Homs on Dec. 23 and in the village of Otaybah outside Damascus on March 19.

It is not clear exactly how many people died in those attacks because of the scarcity of credible information. The Syrian government seals off areas it controls to journalists and outside observers, making details of the attacks sketchy. But reports from anti-Assad activists and the government provide a basic outline.

Opposition activists have posted videos and pictures online of alleged victims of the attacks foaming at the mouth or with blister burns ? symptoms consistent with chemical weapons attacks, but also other munitions. The Syrian state news agency, after one attack it blamed on rebels, published photos of casualties, including children. None showed signs of physical injuries.

Both sides in the civil war, which has already killed more than 70,000 people, have tried to use the issue to sway international opinion.

Rebels have been clamoring for more robust international action against the Assad regime. At a recent gathering in Turkey of the rebellion's international supporters, the opposition political leadership demanded drone strikes on regime targets and the imposition of a no-fly zone, and it reiterated calls for transfers of heavier weapons to its fighters.

The regime has seized on the opposition's demands for outside support to bolster its argument that rebels may have used chemical weapons to frame the government and precipitate foreign intervention.

In December, after rebels captured a chlorine factory in Aleppo, the government warned the opposition could be planning a chemical attack to frame the regime. To back up its assertions, the state news agency pointed to internet videos that purported to show regime opponents experimenting with poisons on mice and rabbits.

In the video, a masked man mixes gases in a glass box containing two rabbits. About a minute later, the animals start to spasm and then collapse. A narrator then says, "This is what will happen to you, Assad supporters." The origin of the video was not known.

Alani dismissed the possibility of the rebels, including Islamic extremist groups among the most powerful opposition fighting factions, carrying out a chlorine attack.

He noted that al-Qaida militants used chlorine on at least two occasions in Iraq in the cities of Ramadi and Fallujah, but abandoned the practice because "the impact of the chlorine was far less than conventional explosives."

___

Follow Ryan Lucas on Twitter at www.twitter.com/relucasz

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pattern-seen-alleged-chemical-arms-syria-191327590.html

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CIA gave bags of cash to Afghan leader

(Reuters) - Tens of millions of U.S. dollars in cash were delivered by the CIA in suitcases, backpacks and plastic shopping bags to the office of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai for more than a decade, according to the New York Times, citing current and former advisers to the Afghan leader.

The so-called "ghost money" was meant to buy influence for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) but instead fuelled corruption and empowered warlords, undermining Washington's exit strategy from Afghanistan, the newspaper quoted U.S. officials as saying.

"The biggest source of corruption in Afghanistan", one American official said, "was the United States."

The CIA declined to comment on the report and the U.S. State Department did not immediately comment. The New York Times did not publish any comment from Karzai or his office.

"We called it ?ghost money'," Khalil Roman, who served as Karzai's chief of staff from 2002 until 2005, told the New York Times. "It came in secret and it left in secret."

For more than a decade the cash was dropped off every month or so at the Afghan president's office, the newspaper said.

Handing out cash has been standard procedure for the CIA in Afghanistan since the start of the war.

The cash payments to the president's office do not appear to be subject to oversight and restrictions placed on official American aid to the country or the CIA's formal assistance programs, like financing Afghan intelligence agencies, and do not appear to violate U.S. laws, said the New York Times.

There was no evidence that Karzai personally received any of the money, Afghan officials told the newspaper. The cash was handled by his National Security Council, it added.

U.S. and Afghan officials familiar with the payments were quoted as saying that the main goal in providing the cash was to maintain access to Karzai and his inner circle and to guarantee the CIA's influence at the presidential palace, which wields tremendous power in Afghanistan's highly centralized government.

Much of the money went to warlords and politicians, many with ties to the drug trade and in some cases the Taliban, the New York Times said. U.S. and Afghan officials were quoted as saying the CIA supported the same patronage networks that U.S. diplomats and law enforcement agents struggled to dismantle, leaving the government in the grip of organized crime.

In 2010, Karzai said his office received cash in bags from Iran, but that it was a transparent form of aid that helped cover expenses at the presidential palace. He said at the time that the United States made similar payments.

The latest New York Times report said much of the Iranian cash, like the CIA money, went to pay warlords and politicians.

For most of Karzai's 11-year reign, there has been little interest in anti-corruption in the army or police. The country's two most powerful institutions receive billions of dollars from donors annually but struggle just to recruit and maintain a force bled by high rates of desertion.

(Additional reporting by Alistair Bell and Sarah Lynch in Washington; Writing by Michael Perry; Editing by Mark Bendeich)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/millions-cia-ghost-money-paid-afghan-presidents-office-020006835.html

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New conservative lobbying push for gay marriage

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) ? A national group of prominent GOP donors that supports gay marriage is pouring new money into lobbying efforts to get Republican lawmakers to vote to make it legal.

American Unity PAC was formed last year to lend financial support to Republicans who bucked the party's longstanding opposition to gay marriage. Its founders are launching a new lobbying organization, American Unity Fund, and already have spent more than $250,000 in Minnesota, where the Legislature could vote on the issue as early as next week.

The group has spent $500,000 on lobbying since last month, including efforts in Rhode Island, Delaware, Indiana, West Virginia and Utah.

Billionaire hedge fund manager and Republican donor Paul Singer launched American Unity PAC. The lobbying effort is the next phase as the push for gay marriage spreads to more states, spokesman Jeff Cook-McCormac told The Associated Press.

"What you have is this network of influential Republicans who really want to see the party embrace the freedom to marry, and believe it's not only the right thing for the country but also good politics," Cook-McCormac said.

In Minnesota, the money has gone to state groups that are lobbying Republican lawmakers and for polling on gay marriage in a handful of suburban districts held by Republicans. So far, only one Minnesota Republican lawmaker has committed to voting to legalize gay marriage: Sen. Branden Petersen, of Andover.

"I think there will be some more. There are legislators out there that are struggling with this," said Carl Kuhl, a former political aide to former GOP Sen. Norm Coleman and Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer. Kuhl's public affairs firm is contracted by Minnesotans United, the lead lobby group for gay marriage in Minnesota and main recipient of American Unity's Minnesota spending.

Gay marriage's fate in Minnesota may rest with the House, where support is seen as shakier than in the Senate. A handful of votes from Republicans could put it over the top. Nearly two dozen House Republicans represent more socially moderate suburbs and might be candidates to vote yes.

House Speaker Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, said he has encouraged advocates of the marriage bill to round up Republican votes, if nothing else than to send a message to Minnesota residents that it's not a partisan proposition. But that will be politically risky; the main opposition group to same-sex marriage, Minnesota for Marriage, has said it will seek consequences for Republicans who stray on gay marriage.

Part of American Unity PAC's original mission was to spend money on behalf of Republican gay marriage supporters. Many GOP lawmakers have faced primary challenges funded in part by anti-gay marriage groups such as the National Organization for Marriage, which argue that the lawmakers had betrayed the party's core principles.

Since forming the lobby group last month, American Unity also spent money to win over Republican lawmakers in Rhode Island, where last week all five Republicans in the state Senate jumped on the gay marriage bandwagon. Rhode Island is on track to legalize gay marriage by next week, which would make it the 11th U.S. state where gay marriage is legal.

There are also plans to lobby federal lawmakers on gay rights issues.

"We intend to work on this effort until every American citizen is treated equally under the law," Cook-McCormac said. Other wealthy, traditionally Republican donors giving money to the group include Seth Klarman, David Herro and Cliff Asness.

Though only one current GOP officeholder in Minnesota is on record supporting gay marriage, a handful of prominent Republicans have spoken out in favor of it. They include former state auditor Pat Anderson and Brian McClung, who was spokesman for former Gov. Tim Pawlenty. Prominent Republican donors including former politician Wheelock Whitney and businesswoman Marilyn Carlson Nelson have also lent support and donated money.

Since it first formed to campaign against last fall's gay marriage ban and then shifted to pushing for its legalization at the Capitol, Minnesotans United has been building Republican alliances, hiring multiple lobbyists with Republican ties.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/conservative-lobbying-push-gay-marriage-050802280.html

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What a DDoS Attack Looks Like

When hackers do cyber-battle, there isn't much to see. Maybe you'll wind up on a crashed website, but the real carnage is happening behind the scenes, perpetrated by a diffuse army of computers a world away. This is what it looks like. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/8uGvX9QmUzU/how-a-ddos-attack-looks-as-it-happens

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Classic: Daily Show's John Oliver on Australia's Total Gun Control "Failure" (Little green footballs)

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UFC 159 picks from Kevin Iole, Maggie Hendricks and Cagereaders like you

The UFC 159 picks are in. Check out how Kevin Iole and I picked the fights, and who Cagereaders said will win. Thanks to everyone who weighed in on Cagewriter's Facebook page. Want to join in on the fun? Like Cagewriter on Facebook.

Kevin Iole -- Jon Jones TKO2 Chael Sonnen: I've been on a terrible run with my picks in 2013, so my choice might be the thing that helps produce one of the UFC's greatest upsets. But looking closely at the bout, I see no way Sonnen can win it. I expect Jones to get a takedown at some point, cut Sonnen open with an elbow and finish it that way.

Maggie Hendricks -- Jon Jones TKO3 Chael Sonnen: When you cut through the smack talk and look at their actual skills in the cage, Sonnen is moving up in weight to meet a fighter who is younger, faster and more skilled.

Cagereaders -- 68 percent of Cagereaders said Jones would win:
I believe that Jones has more of an arsenal and can keep sonnen guessing as to what is coming next. - Fred Mull
Sonnen never deserves this title shot. Jones by KO in 2nd by GNP elbows, or Sonnen simply quits before getting knocked out when he realizes he has no business in the octagon with Jones. - Chris Dryden

***

Kevin Iole -- Michael Bisping TKO3 Alan Belcher: Both men are inconsistent and both badly need a solid win. I think Bisping gets it by staying on his feet and going back to his kick boxing background.

Maggie Hendricks -- Alan Belcher W3 Michael Bisping: This is a tight fight, but Belcher will take it by bringing the fight to the ground.

Cagereaders -- 50.8 percent of Cagereaders said Bisping will take this bout:
Belcher is more well rounded than Bisping -- Trampas Lee Fleming

***

Kevin Iole -- Roy Nelson SUB2 Cheick Kongo: Roy has the power to knock Cheick out. I think he'll hurt him with one of those big windmill right hands he fires and then finish him with a choke.

Maggie Hendricks -- Roy Nelson W3 Cheick Kongo: Nelson has an iron chin, and will be able to withstand Kongo's power.

Cagereaders -- 81 percent of Cagereaders say Nelson will take this fight:
Nelson has a heavy hand and stronger chin than Kongo. -- Pinkie Aman Suarez

***

Kevin Iole -- Phil Davis W3 Vinny Maghalaes: Davis will have to be careful on the ground with Maghalaes, but I believe he's the better overall fighter and that he'll score a convincing decision victory.

Maggie Hendricks -- Phil Davis W3 Vinny Magalhaes: It may not be thrilling, but it will be a wrestling-filled win for Mr. Wonderful.

Cagereaders -- 84 percent of Cagereaders said Davis will take this bout:
Potential submission of the night. Phil is too quick and talented, will submit the submission expert -- Marvin Ishmael

***

Kevin Iole -- Jim Miller W3 Pat Healy: This has the potential to steal the show. It's an excellent bout and I see Miller with a very slight edge.

Maggie Hendricks -- Jim Miller SUB2 Pat Healy: It's been three years since Healy was submitted, but Miller has the skill to do it.

Cagereaders -- 92 percent of you said Miller will win:
Miller had a war against Joe last time out and will come out strong as usual -- Mike Terry

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/ufc-159-picks-kevin-iole-maggie-hendricks-cagereaders-144117921.html

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TSX opens higher on positive data, Potash earnings

MADRID, April 25 (Reuters) - Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina said the 10-match ban given to his team mate Luis Suarez for biting an opponent was 'absurd' and 'excessive'. Uruguay international Suarez was punished on Wednesday by the English Football Association (FA) after he bit the arm of Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic at the weekend. "He knows he is in the wrong, and that it was a mistake, but the 10-game punishment seems absurd to me, excessive and unfair," Spanish international Reina was quoted as telling radio station Cadena Cope by sports daily AS on Thursday. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tsx-set-open-higher-stronger-earnings-data-124832541--finance.html

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On immigration, it?s pathway to citizenship or bust

Sens. Chuck Schumer and John McCain (Christian Science Monitor)

The lead authors of the Senate immigration reform bill are dug in on the question of whether the final product must include a "pathway to citizenship" for many of the 11 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.

The bill will die if it does not include such a pathway, Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York told reporters Thursday.

"There's no way of getting this job done without giving people a path to citizenship," McCain said during a Christian Science Monitor breakfast that Schumer also attended. "To say that you can have a legal status but you can't ever have a path to become a citizen of his country offends our fundamental principles of fairness in this country. I know that that opposition is there; I don't think it's valid and I don't think it's held even by a majority of Republicans, certainly not in the Senate."

Whether unauthorized immigrants should be given the choice to remain here without returning to their home country first has remained a sticking point for some Republican lawmakers. In an interview with CBS News on Wednesday, Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz warned that including a pathway to citizenship would likely "scuttle the bill." Others in the House have said they will refuse any attempts to offer what they call "amnesty" for such immigrants.

According to the language of the Senate bill, those living in the U.S. illegally who arrived before Dec. 31, 2011, must wait up to 13 years to achieve citizenship, and only after undergoing a rigorous application system that includes background checks, proof of access to gainful employment and the paying of back taxes and fines. The federal government will also have to comply with a strict set of enforcement mandates for the pathway provisions to trigger.

During the breakfast meeting, Schumer seconded McCain's prediction about the bill's fate.

"Any attempt to say in the House that you will not have a path to citizenship will be a nonstarter, and I say that unequivocally," Schumer said, pounding his fist on the table. "It will not pass the Senate. I don't think it would get a Democratic vote."

"A majority of Republicans support it," Schumer said, before McCain interjected.

"As long as?" McCain said.

"?there's a path," Schumer said. "You earn it."

"Right," McCain added.

McCain also reiterated his warning to Republicans that a failure to pass an immigration overhaul could be devastating to the party in the future. Passage won't automatically gain votes, he said, but it will keep the party competitive.

"If we pass this legislation, it won't gain us a single Hispanic vote. But what it will do is put us on a playing field where we can compete. Right now we cannot compete," McCain said. "It's a demographic certainty that if we condemn ourselves to 15, 20, 25 percent of the Hispanic vote, we will not win elections, but I have no illusions about whether passage of this legislation will gain Hispanic voters. It won't."

The Senate is currently holding hearings about the immigration bill in the Judiciary Committee, and supporters say they expect a vote in the chamber by early summer.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/immigration-bill-authors-pathway-citizenship-bust-151543776--politics.html

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US jobless claims data shore up markets

LONDON (AP) ? Solid weekly U.S. jobless claims figures shored up markets Thursday in the run-up to the first estimate of the country's first-quarter economic growth.

This week economic data have largely disappointed expectations. However, the 16,000 fall in weekly claims to 339,000 augurs well for next week's nonfarm payrolls report for April. Before then, investors will focus on Friday's release of GDP growth during the first three months of the year.

Growth is expected to come in at an annualized rate a little above 3 percent, way up from the previous quarter's 0.4 percent.

Michael Hewson, senior analyst at CMC Markets, said the risk is that investors are setting themselves up for "significant disappointment" if the growth numbers are low.

"Given the weakness of recent data it is somewhat surprising that this 3.1 percent estimate hasn't been revised lower, especially in light of the poor data seen in March, from employment, retail sales, existing home sales and durable goods yesterday," Hewson said.

Following the claims figures, European markets were trading more or less where they were before whereas Wall Street opened solidly.

In Europe, Germany's DAX rose 0.6 percent to 7,805, while the CAC-40 fell 0.2 percent to 3,835. Spain's IBEX underperformed all others, trading 0.8 percent lower after figures showed the unemployment rate climbed to a record high of 27.2 percent at the end of the first quarter of 2013.

The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was flat at 6,433 even though official figures showed the country's economy grew by a greater than anticipated quarterly rate of 0.3 percent in the first three months of the year.

Many in the markets were predicting that Britain would sink into its third recession in less than five years. But the rise eased expectations that the Bank of England will soon announce another big monetary stimulus. That gave the British pound a lift ? it was trading 1.3 percent higher at $1.5466 and near two-month highs.

Sentiment has held up this week largely because investors think the world's major central banks will continue with their super-easy monetary policies. That's increasingly the case in Europe, where investors think the European Central Bank will likely cut interest rates at its policy meeting next Thursday.

"The case for an ECB rate cut at the 2 May policy meeting is quite strong," said Neil MacKinnon, global macro strategist at VTB Capital.

Currency markets elsewhere were unspectacular, with the euro down 0.1 percent at $1.3009 and the dollar 0.1 percent lower at 99.37 yen.

Earlier in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.6 percent to close at 13,926.08 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 1 percent to 22,401.24. South Korea's Kospi added 0.8 percent to 1,951.60.

Oil prices were fairly flat too after recovering above $90 a barrel on Wednesday ? the benchmark rate was down 15 cents at $91.27 a barrel.

____

Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-jobless-claims-data-shore-markets-145707501--finance.html

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Green Throttle Takes (A Few) Mobile Games to the ... - AllThingsD

The last time I owned a videogame console, Hypercolor shirts were in, everyone pegged their jeans, and I had a perm. In other words, it was a long time ago. (It was the Nintendo Entertainment System, by the way.)

I?m ready to get a new system now, and choosing one is proving to be a difficult decision. Microsoft?s Xbox 360, Sony?s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo?s Wii U are the most well-known and popular ones. But I don?t want to spend a lot of money, and I already have Roku set-top box and DVD player, so I don?t necessarily need the entertainment aspects of those systems. What to get?

Enter Green Throttle. Started by one of the co-creators of the Guitar Hero videogame with two former Palm employees, Green Throttle is an app and game-controller solution that aims to turn your existing Android tablet or smartphone into a game console.

The only thing you have to buy is the Atlas game controller, which costs $40 and connects via Bluetooth. If your mobile device can be plugged into a TV for playing video, the company also sells bundles that include special cables for connecting to your HDTV. Meanwhile, the company?s free Arena application acts as the game center, where you can download titles and play games

Green Throttle is more about enhancing the game-playing experience of mobile devices, rather than being a direct competitor to Xbox or PlayStation. And it succeeds in that goal. The controller allows for more precision and capabilities than a touchscreen. It?s also nice to be able to play games on a bigger screen. But there?s a big drawback, and that?s its lack of compatible games. There are currently less than a dozen games that work with Green Throttle, so it?s simply not worth buying right now ? though it has potential.

Green Throttle works with any device running on Google?s Android operating system, version 4.0 or higher. I tested it on the Google Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire HD, and setup was relatively painless.

After turning on the Atlas controller and downloading the Arena from the Google Play Store, I went to the app?s settings menu to connect the controller. The pairing process took some time, though. Normally, when I connect a Bluetooth headset or keyboard to a smartphone or tablet for the first time, the whole process only takes a couple of minutes.

With Green Throttle, it took at least a few minutes for both tablets to find the Atlas controller. Enough time had elapsed that I thought something might be wrong, but eventually I got a prompt to connect to the controller, and I was up and running shortly after that. Fortunately, once paired, reconnections were almost instantaneous.

The controller is similar to the ones used with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. It?s powered by two AA batteries (included in the package), and there are two joysticks, a directional pad, X, Y, A, B buttons, and two trigger and two shoulder buttons on the top edge of the controller. The power, start and back buttons are located in the middle. All the controls were within easy reach, and provided good feedback ? not too stiff or mushy-feeling.

The user interface of the Green Throttle Arena game hub is pretty straightforward. There are four tabbed sections you can peruse through: Home, My Games, Recommended and Settings. The latter is self-explanatory. Home features the latest Green Throttle news, recent games and featured games. My Games is where you?ll find all your downloaded titles, while Recommended surfaces editors? picks.

A couple of things were missing: One is a search feature for looking up specific titles; the other is the ability to look for games by type, such as action, puzzle, sports and so on. Green Throttle says it will add both functions in the future.

For now, this isn?t a huge issue, since there aren?t that many games. Games must be built to work with the Atlas controllers, so you can?t use them to play titles you?ve already downloaded from the Google Play store.

Currently, there are only eight available titles from the Arena game store. Green Throttle said it is adding one or two new games to the store every week, and more than 500 companies are using its software to build titles for the system, including a few well-known console game developers.

I tried all eight titles. Most are casual or retro-style arcade games. Given the limitations of a mobile device?s hardware (computing and graphics power, memory, etc.), you won?t find any really complex or graphics-intensive titles, compared to dedicated game consoles like the Xbox and PlayStation, or even the Razer Edge gaming tablet. So, if you?re looking for big-name titles like Assassin?s Creed III or BioShock Infinite, this isn?t the system for you.

Instead, you get games like Coral Combat, a Space Invaders-type game that takes place underwater, or FishTails, a racing game where you have to collect as many coins as possible while dodging obstacles. There are also multiplayer games like Crystal Swarm, where you can team up to kill alien bugs. I played the game with a friend, using the Kindle Fire HD hooked up to my Samsung TV.

They?re all worth a try (most games are free, but APO Snow costs $1.99, and Gunslugs costs $1.49), but given their simple nature, I wasn?t drawn to play them on a regular basis, with the exception of the snowboarding game APO Snow, and Blocks Party.

Performance was smooth. Also, having a controller with physical buttons made it easy to navigate through the games and accomplish moves.

Final score: Green Throttle takes the mobile gaming experience to the next level in an affordable way, but it?s not worth it until it beefs up its game selection.

Source: http://allthingsd.com/20130425/green-throttle-takes-a-few-mobile-games-to-the-living-room/

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Microsoft Inks Patent Deal With ZTE, A Week After Reaching A Similar Agreement With Foxconn

Microsoft has signed a patent deal with ZTE that covers all Android and Chrome devices manufactured by the Chinese firm. This latest agreement comes a week after Microsoft scored a major coup by striking a similar patent licensing deal with Taiwanese smartphone maker Hon Hai, which owns Foxconn.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/ecUbHSHSFfQ/

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AstraZeneca first-quarter sales tumble as generic losses bite deep

LONDON (Reuters) - AstraZeneca's sales fell by a bigger-than-expected 13 percent in the first quarter as patent expiries sent revenue from key medicines skidding lower, underscoring the turnaround challenge facing Britain's second biggest drugmaker.

The group reiterated its expectation for a mid-to-high single digit percentage fall in revenue this year, with earnings declining significantly more due to increased operating costs.

Sales in the quarter of $6.39 billion generated "core" earnings, which exclude certain items, down 25 percent at $1.41 a share, the company said on Thursday.

Analysts had, on average, forecast sales of $6.51 billion and earnings of $1.31, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/astrazeneca-first-quarter-sales-tumble-generic-losses-bite-061155654--finance.html

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WWDC 2013 Tickets On Sale April 25 At 10AM PT, Runs June 10-14

Apple has just released the official announcement for its 2013 Worldwide Developers Conference. Every year, it releases tickets for the developer-focused event at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, and every year, they sell out faster than the year before. Last year, on April 25, they sold out in just two hours, so if you want some, doen't hesitate when they come out tomorrow, because they'll be gone fast.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/kp_ohtUw4Lk/

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Reese Witherspoon Cancels Post-Arrest Public Appearances

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/reese-witherspoon-cancels-post-arrest-public-appearances/

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Lawmakers ask who knew what about bomb suspect

FILE - This combination of undated file photos shows Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, left, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19. The FBI says the two brothers are the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, and are also responsible for killing an MIT police officer, critically injuring a transit officer in a firefight and throwing explosive devices at police during a getaway attempt in a long night of violence that left Tamerlan dead and Dzhokhar captured, late Friday, April 19, 2013. The ethnic Chechen brothers lived in Dagestan, which borders the Chechnya region in southern Russia. They lived near Boston and had been in the U.S. for about a decade, one of their uncles reported said. Since Monday, Boston has experienced five days of fear, beginning with the marathon bombing attack, an intense manhunt and much uncertainty ending in the death of one suspect and the capture of the other. (AP Photo/The Lowell Sun & Robin Young, File)

FILE - This combination of undated file photos shows Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, left, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19. The FBI says the two brothers are the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, and are also responsible for killing an MIT police officer, critically injuring a transit officer in a firefight and throwing explosive devices at police during a getaway attempt in a long night of violence that left Tamerlan dead and Dzhokhar captured, late Friday, April 19, 2013. The ethnic Chechen brothers lived in Dagestan, which borders the Chechnya region in southern Russia. They lived near Boston and had been in the U.S. for about a decade, one of their uncles reported said. Since Monday, Boston has experienced five days of fear, beginning with the marathon bombing attack, an intense manhunt and much uncertainty ending in the death of one suspect and the capture of the other. (AP Photo/The Lowell Sun & Robin Young, File)

Pallbearers carry the casket of fallen Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer Sean Collier into St. Patrick's Church before a funeral Mass, in Stoneham, Mass., Tuesday, April 23, 2013. Collier was fatally shot on the MIT campus Thursday, April 18, 2013. Authorities allege that the Boston Marathon bombing suspects were responsible. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

This undated photo provided by Bill Richard shows his son, Martin Richard, in Boston. Martin Richard, 8, was among the at least three people killed in the explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon Monday, April 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Bill Richard)

Investigators from the FBI inspect the boat where Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found hiding on Friday night in a backyard in Watertown, Mass., Tuesday, April 23, 2013. There is blood spattered on the wheel fender of the trailer and bullet holes in the hull of the boat. Tsarnaev had gunshot wounds to the head, neck, legs and hands when he was captured hiding out in the boat on Friday night, April 19, 2013. (AP Photo/The Boston Globe, David L. Ryan) BOSTON HERALD OUT; QUINCY OUT; NO SALES

A man sweeps around the outdoor seating area at a business on Boylston Street in Boston Tuesday, April 23, 2013 about two blocks from the Boston Marathon finish line where two bombings killed three people and injured many. Boylston Street businesses near the finish area remain closed to the public, but business owners are slowly being allowed to prepare to re-open. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

BOSTON (AP) ? Lawmakers are asking tough questions about how the government tracked suspected Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev when he traveled to Russia last year, renewing criticism from after the Sept. 11 attacks that failure to share intelligence may have contributed to last week's deadly assault.

Following a closed-door briefing on Capitol Hill with the FBI and other law enforcement officials on Tuesday, Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said it doesn't appear yet that anyone "dropped the ball." But he said he was asking all the federal agencies for more information about who knew what about the suspect.

"There still seem to be serious problems with sharing information, including critical investigative information ... not only among agencies but also within the same agency in one case," said committee member Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

Lawmakers intensified their scrutiny as funerals were held Tuesday for an 8-year-old boy killed in the bombings and a campus police officer who authorities said was shot by Tsarnaev and his younger brother days later. A memorial service for the officer, 26-year-old Sean Collier, is scheduled for Wednesday. Vice President Joe Biden is expected to speak.

Also Wednesday, Boylston Street, where the blasts occurred, reopened to the public after being closed since the bombings.

While family said that the older Tsarnaev had been influenced by a Muslim convert to follow a strict type of Islam, brother 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev remained hospitalized after days of questioning over his role in the attacks. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed in a shootout with police last week.

Conflicting stories appeared to emerge about which agencies knew about Tamerlan Tsarnaev's six-month trip to Russia last year how they handled it. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told the Senate Judiciary Committee on immigration legislation that her agency knew about Tsarnaev's journey to his homeland.

But Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the FBI "told me they had no knowledge of him leaving or coming back."

Information-sharing failures between agencies prompted an overhaul of the U.S. intelligence system after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Meanwhile, evidence mounted that Tsarnaev had embraced a radical, anti-American strain of Islam. Family members blamed the influence of a Muslim convert, known only to the family as Misha, for steering him toward a strict type of Islam.

"Somehow, he just took his brain," said Tamerlan's uncle, Ruslan Tsarni of Montgomery Village, Md., who recalled conversations with Tamerlan's worried father about Misha's influence.

Authorities don't believe Tsarnaev or his brother had links to terror groups. However, two U.S. officials said that Tsarnaev frequently looked at extremist websites, including Inspire magazine, an English-language online publication produced by al-Qaida's Yemen affiliate. The magazine has endorsed lone-wolf terror attacks.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.

Eight-year-old Martin Richard, a Boston schoolboy and the youngest of those killed by the blasts, was laid to rest Tuesday after a family-only funeral Mass.

"The outpouring of love and support over the last week has been tremendous," the family said in a statement. "This has been the most difficult week of our lives."

The Richards family said they would hold a public memorial service for Martin in the coming weeks.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's condition was upgraded from serious to fair Tuesday as investigators continued building their case against him.

He could face the death penalty after being charged Monday with joining forces with his brother in setting off shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs. Three people were killed and over 260 injured. About 50 were still hospitalized.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured hiding in a tarp-covered boat in a suburban Boston backyard on Friday.

In Washington, Senate Intelligence Committee member Richard Burr, R-N.C., said after his panel was briefed by federal law enforcement officials that there is "no question" that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was "the dominant force" behind the attacks and that the brothers had apparently been radicalized by material on the Internet rather than by contact with militant groups overseas.

The brothers' parents are from Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim province in Russia's Caucasus, where Islamic militants have waged an insurgency against Russia. A U.S. Embassy official said Wednesday that a team of U.S. investigators has traveled to Dagestan to speak to the parents. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Family members reached in the U.S. and abroad by The Associated Press said Tamerlan was influenced by Misha.

After befriending Misha, Tamerlan gave up boxing, stopped studying music and began opposing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to family members, who said he turned to websites and literature claiming that the CIA was behind 9/11.

"You could always hear his younger brother and sisters say, 'Tamerlan said this,' and 'Tamerlan said that.' Dzhokhar loved him. He would do whatever Tamerlan would say," recalled Elmirza Khozhugov, the ex-husband of Tamerlan's sister. He spoke by telephone from his home in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The brothers, who came to the U.S. from Russia a decade ago, were raised in a home that followed Sunni Islam, the religion's largest sect, but were not regulars at the mosque and rarely discussed religion, Khozhugov said.

Then, in 2008 or 2009, Tamerlan met Misha, a heavyset bald man with a reddish beard. Khozhugov didn't know where they met but believed they attended a Boston-area mosque together.

Napolitano said Tuesday that her agency knew of Tamerlan Tsarnaev's trip to Russia. She said that even though the suspect's name was misspelled on a travel document, redundancies in the system allowed his departure to be captured by U.S. authorities in January 2012.

Meanwhile, a U.S. Embassy official said U.S. investigators traveled to southern Russia to speak to the brothers' parents, hoping to learn more about their motives.

In other developments:

? A lawyer for Tamerlan Tsarnaev's wife, Katherine Tsarnaeva, said his client "is doing everything she can to assist with the investigation," although he would not say whether she had spoken with federal authorities. Another lawyer for Tsarnaeva said the 24-year-old deeply mourned the loss of innocent victims in the bombings.

? The Massachusetts state House turned aside a bid by several lawmakers to reinstate the death penalty in certain cases, including the murder of police officers. In a 119-38 vote, the House sent the proposal to a study committee rather than advance it to an up-or-down vote.

? In New Jersey, the sisters of the suspects, Ailina and Bella Tsarnaeva, issued a statement saying they were saddened to "see so many innocent people hurt after such a callous act." Later, in brief remarks to several news outlets, Ailina described her elder brother as a "kind and loving man." She said of both brothers: "I have no idea what got into them" and also that "at the end of the day no one knows the truth."

? Phantom Fireworks of Seabrook, N.H., said Tamerlan Tsarnaev bought 48 mortar shells at the store in February. Company Vice President William Weimer, however, said the amount of gunpowder that could be extracted from the fireworks would not have been enough for the Boston bombs.

? A fund created to benefit the victims of the Boston Marathon attacks has generated $20 million. Mayor Thomas Menino said more than 50,000 donors from across the world have made donations to One Fund Boston.

___

Dozier reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Bridget Murphy and Bob Salsberg in Boston, Lynn Berry in Moscow, and Adam Goldman, Eric Tucker, Matt Apuzzo, and Eileen Sullivan in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-04-24-Boston%20Marathon-Explosions/id-e114b14b04a44e3f8d371350a18c3b53

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SoftBank best carrier for high-speed smartphones

By Ken Y-N ( April 23, 2013 at 00:14) ? Filed under Mobile, Polls

Mobile Marketing Data Labo recently performed a survey into true feelings about one?s mobile carrier?s network, and found SoftBank?s reputation for being a poor network is ill-deserved.

Demographics

Between the 1st and 4th of April 2013 1,200 smartphone-owning members of the MMD monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionniare. Each of the three major carriers, docomo, au and SoftBank, were represented by 400 people. No further demographics information was given.

Note that one reason for the high degree of satisfaction amongst SoftBank users is that the iPhone is their main smartphone, and we all know that Apple users always rank themselves the most satisfied when it comes to these sorts of stories. I wonder how much this Apple love rubs off on the user?s impression of the ease snd speed of connection questions?

Research results

Q1: How easy do you feel it is for your smartphone to connect to high-speed data transmission (4G, LTE, etc)? (Sample size=high-speed smartphone owners)

?	docomo	au	SoftBank
Easy	39.9%	41.5%	44.7%
Somewhat easy	23.4%	20.3%	18.4%
Can?t say	27.5%	26.0%	28.3%
Somewhat difficult	5.5%	7.3%	4.6%
Difficult	3.7%	4.9%	3.9%

Q2: How fast do you feel your smartphone high-speed data transmission (4G, LTE, etc) is? (Sample size=high-speed smartphone owners)

?	docomo	au	SoftBank
Fast	35.8%	43.1%	44.1%
Somewhat fast	22.5%	23.6%	19.7%
Can?t say	23.4%	18.7%	23.7%
Somewhat slow	10.1%	8.1%	9.9%
Slow	8.3%	6.5%	2.6%

Q3: Compared to six months ago, how much easier do you feel it is for your smartphone to connect to high-speed data transmission (4G, LTE, etc)? (Sample size=high-speed smartphone owners)

?	docomo	au	SoftBank
Easier	28.9%	38.2%	44.1%
Somewhat easier	20.6%	20.3%	14.5%
Can?t say	40.8%	34.1%	32.9%
Not really easier	6.0%	4.1%	5.3%
Not easier	3.7%	3.3%	3.3%

Q4: Compared to six months ago, how much faster do you feel your smartphone high-speed data transmission (4G, LTE, etc) is? (Sample size=high-speed smartphone owners)

?	docomo	au	SoftBank
Faster	30.7%	40.7%	45.4%
Somewhat faster	18.8%	22.8%	15.8%
Can?t say	35.3%	29.3%	30.9%
Not really faster	7.8%	4.1%	6.6%
Not faster	7.3%	3.3%	1.3%

Q5: How satisfied are you with your smartphone? (Sample size=400+400+400)

?	Average	docomo	au	SoftBank
Satisfied	16.4%	8.0%	17.8%	23.5%
Somewhat satisfied	46.0%	44.5%	45.8%	47.8%
Can?t say	26.8%	31.8%	24.0%	24.8%
Somewhat dissatsified	8.6%	12.8%	10.0%	3.0%
Dissatisfied	2.2%	3.0%	2.5%	1.0%

Q6: How satisfied are you with your carrier? (Sample size=400+400+400)

?	docomo	au	SoftBank
Satisfied	6.3%	8.3%	9.0%
Somewhat satisfied	39.0%	41.0%	39.5%
Can?t say	40.3%	39.5%	39.3%
Somewhat dissatisfied	10.3%	9.3%	9.8%
Dissatisfied	4.3%	2.0%	2.5%

Read more on: carrier,mmd laboratory,smartphone

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