Uncertainty over US stimulus drags shares lower

A worker stretches on a chair during a morning trading at the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo Monday, June 17, 2013. Asian stocks edged up Monday amid hopes that the U.S. Federal Reserve will put off plans to wind down its stimulus program. Tokyo's Nikkei 225, the regional heavyweight, jumped 2.2 percent to 12,960.81, extending Friday's 2.4 percent gain. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

A worker stretches on a chair during a morning trading at the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo Monday, June 17, 2013. Asian stocks edged up Monday amid hopes that the U.S. Federal Reserve will put off plans to wind down its stimulus program. Tokyo's Nikkei 225, the regional heavyweight, jumped 2.2 percent to 12,960.81, extending Friday's 2.4 percent gain. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

A visitor is seen at Tokyo Stock Exchange during a morning trading in Tokyo Monday, June 17, 2013. Asian stocks edged up Monday amid hopes that the U.S. Federal Reserve will put off plans to wind down its stimulus program. Tokyo's Nikkei 225, the regional heavyweight, jumped 2.2 percent to 12,960.81, extending Friday's 2.4 percent gain. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

A visitor takes a picture at Tokyo Stock Exchange during a morning trading in Tokyo Monday, June 17, 2013. Asian stocks edged up Monday amid hopes that the U.S. Federal Reserve will put off plans to wind down its stimulus program. Tokyo's Nikkei 225, the regional heavyweight, jumped 2.2 percent to 12,960.81, extending Friday's 2.4 percent gain. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

TOKYO (AP) ? Jitters over a possible change in U.S. stimulus efforts by the Federal Reserve helped pull share prices mostly lower in early Asian trading Tuesday.

Asia's biggest benchmark, Japan's Nikkei stock average, shed early gains to fall 0.6 percent by mid-morning in choppy trading, to 12,956.78. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped 0.7 percent to 21,075.01, while South Korea's KOSPI index rose 0.1 percent to 1,885.77.

Japanese shares have tended to gain as the yen falls, on expectations a weaker currency will help heavyweight exporters like Toyota Motor Corp. and Sony. Early Tuesday, the dollar was at 94.80 yen, compared with 94.99 yen late Monday in New York. The euro was steady at 1.336.

Shares had climbed on growing expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will maintain its current policy stance when policymakers meet this week. But that optimism appears to be wavering.

"There is still some selling pressure but overall the markets are sidelined. Investors are quite cautious about the Federal Reserve meeting," said Linus Yip, a strategist at First Shanghai Securities in Hong Kong. "The market will wait."

Markets have gyrated in recent weeks on worries the Fed might choose to start cutting back on the volume of its financial asset purchases, which are intended to encourage spending and investment by helping to keep interest rates low.

Investors were spooked when Fed chairman Ben Bernanke suggested the U.S. central bank might ease its aggressive support for the U.S. economy if indicators, especially hiring, improve.

Markets across Asia were hit by sharp drops in share prices as investors pulled back from emerging markets.

Shares were mostly lower early Tuesday, also losing ground in mainland China and Australia. Shares rose in Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia and New Zealand.

A meeting of leaders from the Group of Eight top industrial countries in Northern Ireland appeared to be having little impact on the markets given the gathering's main focus on diplomatic issues such as Syria and North Korea.

In Europe overnight, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares ended Monday up 0.35 percent at 6,330 while Germany's DAX rose 1.1 percent to 8,215. The CAC-40 in France was 1.5 percent higher at 3,863.

In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.7 percent to 15,179.85 while the broader S&P 500 index rose 0.8 percent to 1,639.04.

Oil prices rose ahead of the Fed's meeting, with the benchmark New York rate up 3 cents at $97.80. The contract fell 8 cents to finish at $97.77 a barrel on the Nymex on Monday.

In currencies, the euro rose to $1.3355 from $1.3340 late Monday in New York. The dollar fell to 94.77 yen from 94.86 yen.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-06-17-World%20Markets/id-ea8448ed610f496e9af35fe201b454b5

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Egypt investment minister aims for 7 percent growth in two years

By Patrick Werr

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian Investment Minister Yehya Hamed said on Monday he aimed to boost Egypt's anemic economic growth to as high as 7 percent in two years by improving the environment for private investors.

He said he would work out reconciliation agreements with business people who had fled abroad or were suffering legal problems since the 2011 uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt's economy was growing at about 7 percent annually for several years before the uprising. But even that pace was barely enough to produce work for the large number of Egyptian youths entering the job market - one of the drivers of the protests.

Since then, the economy has been battered by political instability, a loss of tourism and foreign investors and regular labor strikes. It grew by 2.2 percent in the fiscal year that ended last June and 2.4 percent in the last six months of 2012.

"Next year we aspire to have 3.7 or 4 percent GDP and the year after we aspire to touch base with 6.5 and 7 percent," Hamed told the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt.

His numbers seemed ambitious, given that 10 economists polled by Reuters in April expected the economy to grow by 2.0 percent in the fiscal year to June 30, 2013, and 3.0 percent in the year ending June 2014, revising down their forecasts from the previous September.

President Mohamed Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood has come under fire for not moving decisively to revive an economy kept afloat by loans from Qatar and other states in the region. It is also in talks to obtain an IMF loan in exchange for economic reforms.

Businessmen complain that government officials have been afraid to take decisions in Egypt's fraught political climate. Foreign investors are also concerned that the currency is overvalued and will soon have to be devalued sharply.

Popular anger is still simmering too. Millions have signed a national petition demanding the president resign and plan to take to the streets on June 30, when Mursi marks a year in office.

"BAD SIGNALS"

Hamed, a member of the Brotherhood, was appointed to the cabinet in a reshuffle last month. At 34, he is one the youngest ministers in the country's modern history.

He listed plans for road building, the distribution of land for agricultural and industrial projects and other schemes where private investors would play a leading role.

"If the deals start in the next fiscal year, which will start in a few days from now, we can get the 4 percent, if we have a very good strategy," Hamed said, in English.

He hoped to rapidly increase investment by government and private and foreign investors from the current $40 billion.

"In order to reach a sustainable 7 percent GDP growth rate over seven years, we need to increase from $40 billion to $60 billion, and we can't have the $60 billion except by the private sector," he said.

The minister the cabinet had approved changes to the investment law that would give him greater scope to negotiate reconciliation agreements with businessmen in exile since the uprising to try to the jumpstart investment climate.

He said the banning from Egypt since the uprising of figures such as Rachid Mohamed Rachid and Mohamed Mansour, who as ministers were major forces behind Mubarak-era economic liberalization policies, was "giving very bad signals".

Rachid, minister of trade and industry from June 2004 until January 2011, fled to Abu Dhabi during the uprising, and Mansour, minister of transport from 2006 until 2009, remained in London where he was receiving medical treatment at the time.

An Egyptian court convicted Rachid in absentia and sentenced him to five years in prison in June 2011 for profiteering and squandering public funds. Hamed did not say how he planned to work with the pair, or whether he intended to invite them home.

"We have to give very positive signals for people to start coming and investing in Egypt, and we can't do that unless we give positive signals to the locals, and then invite foreigners to come and invest in Egypt," he said.

(Editing by Alison Williams)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypt-investment-minister-aims-7-percent-growth-two-205126631.html

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Boeing's Conner says battery didn't slow other programs

By Alwyn Scott

PARIS (Reuters) - Boeing's extraordinary effort to solve battery problems that hit the 787 Dreamliner early this year did not disrupt progress on other aircraft programs, which remain on schedule.

"It didn't slow down development," despite doing three years of work in three months to fix the problem of overheating batteries on the 787, said Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Ray Conner, speaking at a news briefing ahead of the start of the Paris air show which opens on Monday.

Conner said the company expects to deliver 11 or 12 787s by the end of the first half, counting from when the grounding of the 787 ended in April.

One 787 was delivered in January before the worldwide 787 fleet was grounded. Two lithium ion battery incidents aroused safety concerns with regulators, prompting the grounding.

Conner said Boeing was on track to deliver more than 60 Dreamliners this year, as promised.

(Reporting by Alwyn Scott; editing by Jason Neely)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/boeings-conner-says-787-battery-fix-did-not-120902709.html

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Smith holds off Larson to win Nationwide race

BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP) ? The rain drops splashed down on the pavement at Michigan International Speedway about an hour after Regan Smith's victory Saturday.

Too late to interrupt the race ? and that was fine with Smith and crew chief Greg Ives.

"I've had a lot of different situations over the years, of weather and how it plays into it," Ives said. "I had the radar on my screen, and I saw it breaking up. None of my strategy really came off the weather ? whether or not the rain was going to come. ... If it would have came and rained us out, it happens, but I wasn't going to guarantee myself anything on the rain."

Smith won the Nationwide Series race, holding off Kyle Larson in the final 10 laps and more than doubling his lead in the points standings. He took the lead with 13 laps remaining when Parker Kligerman had to pit. The race was run under threatening weather conditions, but all 125 laps and 250 miles were completed with no delays.

Kligerman led for 13 laps toward the end, but the rain that might have helped him didn't arrive in time.

"We played it perfectly for that situation," Kligerman said. "There was debris everywhere the last 20 laps. Of course, no one threw a caution, so we ran out of fuel and finished wherever we finished."

Kligerman finished 25th. Sam Hornish Jr., who is second in the standings, fell from 23 points behind Smith to 58 points back. He finished 32nd ? his day ended early because of an oil pump problem.

"One of the pieces of debris that were flying around on the track probably from one of the cars that got wrecked early on came through the nose of the car and actually broke the oil pump," Hornish said. "That basically allowed that front bearing to dump a bunch of oil out of the engine."

Smith won for the second time this year. It was his 11th straight top-10 finish, and although Larson closed the gap a bit toward the end, he wasn't able to overtake Smith's No. 7 Chevrolet.

Smith's final margin of victory was 0.33 seconds. He also won at Talladega in May ? but he was unsatisfied with recent results despite his lead in the standings.

"We didn't feel good. I think every time we go to the racetrack, we want this team to be the team that's up front, that's leading laps, that's contending for wins," Smith said. "Unless we're winning every race, we're not content."

Smith won last year at Homestead in his debut race with JR Motorsports. He now has three Nationwide victories since teaming up with co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr.

"Regan had kind of been at the top of my list for a couple years," Earnhardt said. "I think as a company that we've actually batted a pretty good percentage on tapping into good talent."

Paul Menard finished third Saturday, followed by Kyle Busch and Trevor Bayne. Pole winner Austin Dillon was 20th.

Larson, a series rookie, took second for the second time, but he has yet to win.

"It's not bad, finishing second," Larson said. "It would have been nice to get it today for Jason Leffler."

Leffler died earlier in the week in a sprint car crash in New Jersey. Larson's own background is in sprint cars, and he drives for Turner Scott Motorsports ? a team Leffler used to drive for.

Smith also acknowledged Leffler after his victory.

"Although I wasn't as close as some guys around here were to him ? definitely knew him and had a lot of conversations with him," Smith said. "Certainly, he's going to be missed, and we don't want to forget about his family."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/smith-holds-off-larson-win-nationwide-race-203931611.html

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Detroit Photos And Video: Detroit City FC, Diana Ross, Dancing The Jit; More From The Week Of June 9-16

Soccer Supporters Shake The Stands

Meet 600 or more of the most passionate, loyal fans the 313 has ever known.

Endless Love

Berry Gordy talks candidly about his struggles managing Diana Ross, and <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/15/berry-gordy-diana-ross_n_3442536.html?utm_hp_ref=detroit&ir=Detroit" target="_blank">the moment he says he realized</a> he loved her. "That was it," he said.

Built Detroit Tough

An employee uses a hammer and an anvil to hammer in copper rivets on a pair of denim jeans at Detroit Denim, in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., on Wednesday, June 12, 2013. The Commerce Department is scheduled to release monthly business inventories data on June 13.

Jit Down

The editors of HuffPost Detroit are committed to bringing our readers the best of Detroit's jit-dancing videos. Check out this one: jit troupe The League kicks and steps so fast, you'd think they were fast-forwarded. Nah, that's just talent. Hustle on!

Feels Like A Winner

Detroit Lions wide receiver Nate Burleson reacts to making a catch during an NFL football minicamp practice in Allen Park, Mich., Thursday, June 13, 2013.

Wanna Buy A Watch?

From the iconic, handmade wood box to a personalized "Thank You" note, the Detroit-made Shinola Runwell watch is all about the custom touch. Watch one of these beauties get unwrapped and explained. Wow.

Modern/Classic

Reynolds Metals Regional Sales Office, Southfield, designed by Minoru Yamasaki. <a href="http://www.cranbrookart.edu/museum/CAMec3.html" target="_hplink">"Michigan Modern: Design that Shaped America"</a> runs at the Cranbrook Art Museum through October 13. Read more <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/14/michigan-modern-design-cranbrook_n_3437045.html?utm_hp_ref=detroit" target="_blank">here</a>.

"Public Meeting"

People wait to go through security before a public meeting with Kevyn Orr, emergency manager for the city of Detroit, not seen, at Wayne State University Law School in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., on Monday, June 10, 2013. Whether Detroit careens into the largest U.S. municipal bankruptcy depends on emergency manager Kevyn Orr's convincing creditors during the next two months that his plan will revive a city plagued by deficits, crime and strained services.

Material Information

Materials are carted to a meeting of creditor representatives during a meeting with Detroit's emergency manager Kevyn Orr in Romulus, Mich., Friday, June 14, 2013. Orr says the city is defaulting on about $2.5 billion of debt. Orr said that Detroit is asking creditors to take about 10 cents on the dollar of what they're owed. Underfunded pension claims will get less.

D-Fault

Detroit's financial collapse, and last-ditch restructuring plan, is the subject of an informative and balanced PBS Newshour segment.

Dimes On The Dollar?

Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr speaks with reporters after a meeting with creditors in Romulus, Mich., Friday, June 14, 2013. Orr says the city is defaulting on about $2.5 billion of debt. Orr said that Detroit is asking creditors to take about 10 cents on the dollar of what they're owed. Under-funded pension claims will get less.

Tender Moment Captured

Detroit Tigers' Prince Fielder, right, celebrates with Miguel Cabrera after defeating the Minnesota Twins 4-0 in a baseball game, Friday, June 14, 2013, in Minneapolis.

"Detroit Calling"

Put on your techno shorts and dance... or just ponder the alignment of techno and poverty. There's a lot going on in this track. NSFW Language may not be suitable for all listeners.

Those Bands Are Sellouts!

We don't mean it as an insult. Grizzly Bear and The XX's June 12 performance at the Fillmore Detroit was a record-breaker, marking the venue's record 11th sellout of the year.

Photog Has National Geographic Moment

Looks like the AP has an amateur bird-watcher on staff! A bird catches a bug on the infield during a baseball game between the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., Wednesday, June 12, 2013.

Weekley Takes The Stand

Detroit Police Officer Joseph Weekley testifies during his trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter and careless discharge of a firearm causing death, in Wayne County Circuit Court in Detroit, Mich., on Thursday, June 13, 2013. Weekley is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of Aiyana Stanley-Jones. She was killed during a chaotic police raid to find a murder suspect at a Detroit house in 2010.

Boggs, Like You've Never Seen Her

"Most people know me first through this conflict." While we're sure you newshounds have heard of Grace Lee Boggs, this documentary into the civil right activist's youth and early organizing work will open your eyes. See an excerpt from a new doc featuring this 98-year-old icon.

Detroit Photos & Video from the week of June 2-9

Whole Foods opens in Midtown

Shoppers lined up to get a glimpse of the brand new Whole Foods Market, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/05/detroit-whole-foods-midtown-grocery-opens-_n_3389605.html" target="_blank">which opened Wednesday to much fanfare</a> in Midtown. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/05/detroit-whole-foods-midtown-grocery-opens-_n_3389605.html" target="_blank">Click here</a> to see more photos of Whole Foods' opening in Detroit.

The Next Generation

In this Wednesday, May 8, 2013, photo, Jeff Caldwell, 29, right, a chassis assembly line supervisor, checks a vehicle on the assembly line at the Chrysler Jefferson North Assembly plant in Detroit. The auto industry is on a hiring spree as car makers and parts suppliers race to find engineers, technicians and factory workers to build the next generation of vehicles.

The Sound of Silence

Carole Hoste, plays piano Wednesday, June 5, 2013 at the Detroit School of Music, a former Detroit Public School building, where she gives private music lessons in Detroit. This was among dozens of Detroit schools forced to close in recent years as the public school system sank deep into debt and parents sought better education options for their children. A number of former Detroit Public Schools have found new life in the private sector, including as a movie theater, a church and recording studio.

Baby Penguin At Detroit Zoo Gets New Foster Parents

This two-week old macaroni penguin chick being sheltered by foster dad, Tubby, is one of the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/06/baby-penguin-detroit-zoo-foster-parents_n_3397163.html" target="_blank">newest additions to the Detroit Zoo.</a>

Rape Kit Backlog

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, right, addresses the media as Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, left, and Attorney General Bill Schuette stand by at a news conference Wednesday, June 5, 2013, in Lansing, Mich. Snyder and top law enforcers proposed spending $4 million to test DNA evidence in thousands of unprocessed rape kits in Detroit, saying victims have waited too long for justice and suspected rapists can still be caught for old crimes. After taking over the city's crime lab in 2008, the state discovered more than 11,000 untested rape-evidence boxes dating back 25 years.

Praise!

Detroit Tigers' Victor Martinez celebrates his solo home run against the Cleveland Indians in the second inning of a baseball game in Detroit, Mich., Friday, June 7, 2013.

Bizarre Borders

If you think the Canada-U.S. border is one of the most boring places on Earth, you're <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/06/07/canada-us-border-video_n_3402435.html?just_reloaded=1" target="_blank">in for a surprise</a>. A new video on the quirkier aspects of the border from the popular educational YouTube channel CGPGrey has been watched more than a million times since Wednesday. Read <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/06/07/canada-us-border-video_n_3402435.html?just_reloaded=1" target="_blank">more.</a>

Orion Music Festival Rocks Belle Isle

Kyle 'Gumby' Gunther of Battlecross poses during the 2013 Orion Music + More Festival at Belle Isle Park on June 9, 2013 in Detroit, Michigan.

Deftones at Orion

Chino Moreno of Deftones performs during the 2013 Orion Music + More Festival at Belle Isle Park on June 9, 2013 in Detroit, Michigan.

Dust Bowl

Festivalgoers mosh during the Metallica show at Orion Music Festival on Belle Isle in Detroit on June 9, 2013.

Metallica At Orion

James Hetfield of Metallica performs during the 2013 Orion Music + More Festival at Belle Isle Park on June 9, 2013 in Detroit, Michigan.

Pyrotechnics at Orion

What's that BOOM?! The Metallica light show sends a flare over the evening sky at the Orion Music Festival on June 9, 2013.

Deftones at Orion

Chino Moreno of Deftones performs during the 2013 Orion Music + More Festival at Belle Isle Park on June 9, 2013 in Detroit, Michigan.

Gogol Bordello at Orion

Eugene Hutz of Gogol Bordello performs as part of the 2013 Orion Music + More Festival on Bell Isle on June 9, 2013 in Detroit, Michigan.

Japandroids at Orion

Brian King (L) and David Prowse of Japandroids perform as part of the 2013 Orion Music + More Festival on Bell Isle on June 9, 2013 in Detroit, Michigan.

Destroid at Orion

Downlink of Destroid performs as part of the 2013 Orion Music + More Festival on Bell Isle on June 9, 2013 in Detroit, Michigan.

Photos from May 25-June 2

Prix Party Crashers

C'mon ducks, just because you didn't get tickets to the Grand Prix doesn't mean you get to take a seat on on the track.

Cars & Champagne

Lots of madness at the Belle Isle Grand Prix this weekend. We just hope they're dry cleaning those fire suits. DETROIT, MI - JUNE 01: Mike Conway of England, driver of the #18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda, celebrates winning the IZOD IndyCar Series Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit at the Raceway at Belle Isle Park with third-place finisher and teammate Justin Wilson of England, driver of the #19 Dale Coyne Racing Honda, on June 1, 2013 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Crooning & Cars

Grand Prix attendees got a treat -- Dwele performed on Belle Isle this weekend. DETROIT, MI - MAY 31: Dwele performs at Belle Isle Park on May 31, 2013 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Paul Warner/Getty Images)

One Happy Nerd

Gov. Rick Snyder smiles during his keynote address at the Mackinac Policy Conference on Friday, May 31, 2013.

Leyland Shows Support For The Troops

DETROIT, MI - MAY 27: Manager Jim Leyland #10 of the Detroit Tigers poses for a photo with First Lieutenant Robert McLean of the Michigan Air National Guard during a ceremony to honor Memorial Day prior to the interleague game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Comerica Park on May 27, 2013 in Detroit, Michigan. The Tigers defeated the Pirates 6-5. (Photo by Mark Cunningham/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

They Totally Stole The Show

With ESPN in town to peek around Detroit, the organizers of the bid to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/18/x-games-detroit-party-video_n_3109933.html" target="_blank">have the city host the Summer X Games</a> had no choice but to throw a huge outdoor party to wow the network. The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=O_IJzpdIRcY" target="_blank">crowd really got into it</a> at Campus Martius on Tuesday, but these two stars-to-be might have been the best part.

Historic Fort Gets A Little Surreal

<a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/451855601563900/?ref=22" target="_blank">Here's what you missed at Fort Wayne last weekend</a> while you were too busy partying at Movement..

Prehistoric Art

A fire breathing dragon you can ride in? Why not.

A Former Pistons Great Throws In The Towel

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/01/grant-hill-retires-nba-19-seasons_n_3373108.html" target="_blank">Grant Hill announced he was retiring this week</a>. The Los Angeles Clippers player has put 19 seasons in, but back in 1995 when this shot was taken, he was just drafted out of Duke, playing his first NBA season with the Detroit Pistons and on his way to winning Rookie of the Year. AUBURN HILLS, MI - 1995: Grant Hill #33 of the Detroit Pistons poses for a portrait circa 1995 at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 1995 NBAE (Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)

Love & Baseball

Redditor ryanfx and HuffPost Weddings were focused on the irritated looking woman in the foreground, but we're busy having our hearts warmed by <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/30/funny-proposal-photo_n_3361135.html?utm_hp_ref=detroit&ir=Detroit" target="_blank">this joyful engagement at a Tigers game in Pittsburgh this week</a>. Any man that proposes while wearing a Verlander jersey is a class act in our book. Too bad they didn't get a win as well!

Detroit Visualized

Illustrator Julie Stewart of Making Ideas Visible created this piece of art from a panel on Detroit's turnaround that included State of Michigan Treasurer Andy Dillon at the Mackinac Policy Conference.

A Wet Week

A rainy week got even wetter Thursday when a water main broke, <a href="http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/region/detroit/massive-water-main-break-floods-detroit-streets-forces-rescue" target="_blank">causing extensive flooding</a> near Rosa Parks Boulevard and Jefferson Avenue.

Mayors At Mackinac

The mayoral forum at the Mackinac Policy Conference might have been barely civil, but the candidates, as evidenced by the perfect look on Lisa Howze's face, managed to pull a few verbal punches.

Getting Schooled

StudentsFirst head Michelle Rhee answers a question from Craig Fahle, host of "The Craig Fahle Show" on WDET 101.9 FM, following her speech at the Mackinac Policy Conference on Wednesday, May 29, 2013.

Verlander Bathed In Light

What a shot! BALTIMORE, MD - JUNE 01: Justin Verlander #35 of the Detroit Tigers pitches in the fifth inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on June 1, 2013 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)

Detroit Heads North

We're not sure <em>exactly</em> what's going on in this teaser video from Detroit's 4exit4, but from the looks of it, a town on the northern edge of the Upper Peninsula is about to get some Motor City style.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/16/detroit-photos-video-best-michigan-_n_3451082.html

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Car bombs kill 8 in Shiite regions of Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) ? Officials say four car bombs in Shiite-majority parts of central and southern Iraq have killed at least eight people and wounded 31.

Police say the deadliest blasts on Sunday took place in and near the central city of Kut, where two parked car bombs targeted an industrial area and a gathering of construction workers.

Two police officers said at least five people were killed and 26 others wounded.

Another police officer said back-to-back car bombings in the southern city of Basra killed three people and wounded five.

Two medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. All spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release information.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/car-bombs-kill-8-shiite-regions-iraq-070610099.html

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Deep-diving mammals' secret revealed

Link Information - Click to View

Deep-diving mammals' secret revealed
Study solves the mystery of one of the most extreme adaptations in the animal kingdom: how marine mammals store enough oxygen to hold their breath for up to an hour.

Source: BBC News
Posted on: Friday, Jun 14, 2013, 9:25am
Views: 24

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/128642/Deep_diving_mammals__secret_revealed

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PFT: Gronk's back surgery scheduled for Tuesday

AP

The New England Patriots currently may employ up to 90 football players.? Eventually, 37 of them will be fired.? Owner Bob Kraft hopes quarterback Tim Tebow isn?t one of them.

Kraft, appearing Friday on CNBC, said that the organization wants to see Tebow stick around.

?We want high quality people who work hard, are team players,? Kraft said, via Mike Reiss of ESPN.com.? ?I don?t think there is a nicer person that I?ve ever met, and now he?ll get to compete with all the other people at the position, and our hope is that he?s on our 53-man roster.?

Kraft?s comments mesh with the notion that Tebow will be a quarterback and only a quarterback.? (Even though we still believe that, if Tebow makes the roster as a quarterback, they?ll find a way to use him as something other than a quarterback.)? Based on the team?s experience, he?s a quarterback they may eventually need.

?You never know what?s going [to happen]; Tom Brady missed the whole season a few years ago,? Kraft said.? ?You can?t enough quality people in any of your businesses.?

Kraft expanded on his belief that Tebow?s religious beliefs were an attraction ? even though that kind of talk has to make Kraft?s lawyers a little antsy.

?In this age of technology, where people are isolating themselves and going to their little instruments and spending hours of not interfacing with people; people who respect tradition, religion, spirituality, I think we need more of that in America today,? Kraft said.

Though Tebow ultimately has to be one of the best 53 players in order to make it to the 53-man roster, these intangibles could help him in a close case ? especially if Kraft is lobbying aggressively for Tebow to stick around.? As Tom Curran of CSN New England recently suggested on PFT Live, the goal could be to have Tebow?s passion influence others in the locker room.

That could end up being a bigger contribution than anything Tebow ever does on the field.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/06/14/gronkowskis-back-surgery-will-happen-tuesday/related/

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APNewsBreak: Plan lifts Lower 48 wolf protections

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) ? The Obama administration on Friday proposed lifting most of the remaining federal protections for gray wolves across the Lower 48 states, a move that would end four decades of recovery efforts but has been criticized by some scientists as premature.

With more than 6,100 wolves roaming the Northern Rockies and western Great Lakes, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe told The Associated Press that a species persecuted to near-extermination last century has successfully rebounded.

But prominent scientists and dozens of lawmakers in Congress want more. They say wolves need to be shielded so they can expand beyond the portions of 10 states they now occupy.

The animal's historical range stretched across most of North America.

Government-sponsored trapping and poisoning left just one small pocket of wolves remaining, in northern Minnesota, by the time they received endangered species protections in 1974.

In the past several years, after the Great Lakes population swelled and wolves were reintroduced to the Northern Rockies, protections were lifted in states where the vast majority of the animals now live: Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and portions of Oregon, Washington and Utah.

Under the administration's plan, federal protections would remain only for a fledgling population of Mexican gray wolves in the desert Southwest. The proposal will be subject to a public comment period and a final decision made within a year.

While the wolf's recent resurgence is likely to continue at some level elsewhere ? multiple packs roam portions of Washington and Oregon, and individual wolves have been spotted in Colorado, Utah and the Northeast ? Ashe indicated it's unrealistic to think the clock can be turned back entirely.

"Science is an important part of this decision, but really the key is the policy question of when is a species recovered," he said. "Does the wolf have to occupy all the habitat that is available to it in order for it to be recovered? Our answer to that question is no."

Hunters and trappers already are targeting the predators in states where protections previously were lifted. They've killed some 1,600 wolves in the past several years in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Thousands more have been killed by government wildlife agents.

That's been a relief for ranchers who suffer regular wolf attacks that can kill dozens of livestock in a single night. Supporters say lifting protections elsewhere will help avoid the animosity seen among many ranchers in the West, who long complained that their hands were tied by rules restricting when wolves could be killed.

Hunting groups wary of increasing wolf attacks on livestock and big game welcomed Friday's announcement.

Yet vast additional territory that researchers say is suitable for wolves remains unoccupied. That includes parts of the Pacific Northwest, California, the southern Rocky Mountains and northern New England.

Colorado alone has enough space to support up to 1,000 wolves, according to Carlos Carroll of California's Klamath Center for Conservation Research. He suggested wildlife officials were bowing to political pressure, exerted by elected officials across the West who pushed to limit the wolf's range.

"They've tried to devise their political position first, and then cherry-pick their science to support it," Carroll said of the Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Center for Biological Diversity on Friday vowed to challenge the government in court if it takes the animals off the endangered species list as planned.

Ashe said Friday's proposal had been reviewed by top administration officials, including new Interior Secretary Sally Jewell. But he dismissed any claims of interference and said the work that went into the plan was exclusively that of the Fish and Wildlife Service.

He said the agency wants to focus future recovery efforts on a small number of wolves belonging to a subspecies, the Mexican gray wolf. Those occur in Arizona and New Mexico, where a protracted and costly reintroduction plan has stumbled in part due to illegal killings.

The agency is calling for a tenfold increase in the territory where biologists are working to rebuild that population, which now numbers 73 animals. Law enforcement efforts to ward off poaching in the region would be bolstered.

Although wolves roam only a small portion of their historical range, it's about 80 percent of the area they realistically could be expected to occupy today, said David Mech, a leading wolf expert and senior scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey in St. Paul, Minn.

Even without federal protection, wolves are likely to migrate into several Western states, Mech said. The primary barrier to expansion isn't lack of habitat or prey, but human intolerance, he said.

Although Colorado, Utah, Nevada and Northern California might have enough habitat for wolves to thrive, Mech said that might not happen if hunters kill so many Northern Rockies wolves that it reduces the number that would disperse from packs and seek new turf.

___

Flesher reported from Traverse City, Mich.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/apnewsbreak-plan-lifts-lower-48-wolf-protections-160625787.html

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Africa hopes to speed up medicine approval systems

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) ? Bringing a new medicine to market in Africa requires 54 separate applications to each country on the continent, a time-intensive process that could be costing lives. African leaders are now trying to move toward a regional and eventually continentwide approach to speed the process.

Margareth Ndomondo-Sigonda, a former director of Tanzania's Food and Drugs Authority, said Africa could see a continentwide equivalent of the Food and Drug Administration in a decade. African leaders are first working through regional economic communities to "harmonize" the regulation of medicines on the continent.

More than 400 scientists and health experts met in Kenya this week to push for more medical funding and research in Africa.

James Macharia, the secretary of Kenya's Ministry of Health, said Africa needs to spend more resources on home-grown research.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/africa-hopes-speed-medicine-approval-systems-155005895.html

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Texas woman charged in Obama ricin threat

TEXARKANA, Texas (AP) ? A pregnant Texas actress who told FBI agents her husband had sent ricin-tainted letters to President Barack Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was charged Friday with threatening the president.

Shannon Guess Richardson was charged in Texarkana, Texas, with mailing a threatening communication to the president. She could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Richardson was arrested earlier in the day for mailing the ricin-laced letters last month, U.S. attorney's office spokeswoman Davilyn Walston said. It wasn't immediately clear if Richardson, 36, had an attorney.

FBI agents wearing hazardous material suits were seen going in and out of Richardson's house on Wednesday in New Boston, about 150 miles northeast of Dallas near the Oklahoma and Arkansas borders. Officials have said the search was initiated after Richardson contacted the FBI and implicated her husband, Nathaniel Richardson.

John Delk, who represents Nathaniel Richardson, told the AP on Thursday that his client had filed for divorce and may have been set up by his wife. He said his client was cooperating with authorities investigating the letters, which were sent last month to Bloomberg, his Washington gun-control group and the White House threatening violence against gun-control advocates.

"There are a lot of factors I'm aware of that indicate (Nathaniel Richardson) was set up in this deal by her," Delk said.

Delk said his client, a 33-year-old Army veteran, came to him to discuss a potential divorce a year ago and finally hired him on May 6, weeks before the ricin incident came to light. Delk didn't immediately return messages Friday following the arrest.

Bloomberg issued a statement Friday thanking local and federal law enforcement agencies "for their outstanding work in apprehending a suspect," saying they worked collaboratively from the outset "and will continue to do so as the investigation continues."

Shannon Richardson's resume on the Internet movie database IMDb said she has had small television roles in "The Vampire Diaries" and "The Walking Dead." She had a minor role in the movie "The Blind Side" and appeared in an Avis commercial, according to the resume.

Delk said the Richardsons were expecting their first child in October. Shannon Richardson also has five children ranging in age from 4 to 19 from other relationships, four of whom had been living with the couple in the New Boston home, the attorney said.

The FBI is investigating at least three cases over the past two months in which ricin was mailed to Obama and other public figures. Ricin has been sent to officials sporadically over the years, but experts say that there seems to be a recent uptick and that copycat attacks ? made possible by the relative ease of extracting the poison ? may be the reason.

If inhaled, ricin can cause respiratory failure, among other symptoms. If swallowed, it can shut down the liver and other organs, resulting in death. The amount of ricin that can fit on the head of a pin is said to be enough to kill an adult if properly prepared. No antidote is available, though researchers are trying to develop one.

___

Associated Press writer Adam Goldman contributed to this report from Washington.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/texas-woman-charged-obama-ricin-threat-203247185.html

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A technical writer looks at fiction? | Ed&#39;s end of the planet books

June 6, 2013

A few years ago, at a Society for Technical Communications (STC) conference, I ran into a colleague who has achieved a good deal of success in the field of technical writing. My friend started her own technical documentation business, and the last time I spoke with her she had a number of writers on staff at her Atlanta, Georgia office, offering not only technical writing services but technical training as well. She had clients from Fortune 500 companies, and provided in-house training classes to clients around the world. In addition, she had gone on to author a number of commercially available books directed at technical writers.

On the last day of the conference, we met for coffee at an outdoor cafe at Baltimore?s Inner Harbor. After talking about her most recent project, which was authoring one of the famous ?____ for Dummies? books, I told her about my latest fiction writing project. Awkward silence descended upon the espressos.

?So, how is your project going?? she asked.

I told her that I had done an outline of the opening chapters and I had found some good info on the internet on how to format a novel. Then I told her that I had started a milestone chart in Excel and that things were on schedule. After that, I noticed that she was smiling at me.

?I?ve never been able to do it,? she said to me (finally).

?Write fiction??

?Yes,? she said. ?I have tried many times but I just can?t do it. I go for one or two pages and then I start formatting, and then I go back and read it and I don?t like it. Finally, one day, I gave up. I realized I couldn?t do it. When I went back to writing technical documentation, I felt?so at home. I need bullet lists and procedural steps?you know, don?t you??

I said that I did understand, but needed to press forward writing fiction.

?You are wasting your time,? she said to me as she got up to leave. ?But give it your best until you get it out of your system.?

A few hours later, I flew home to Florida, reading Alice Orr?s book, ?No More Rejections? the entire way.

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Source: http://edsendoftheplanetbooks.com/2013/06/06/a-technical-writer-looks-at-fiction/

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Spy chief Clapper denies misleading Congress about spying on Americans

Director of National Intelligence (DNI), James Clapper (Susan Walsh/AP)Did Director of National Intelligence James Clapper mislead Congress in March when he denied that the National Security Agency intentionally collects any type of data at all on millions of Americans? Judge for yourself.

It certainly looks bad. The revelation that the NSA secretly vacuumed up the telephone records of millions of Verizon customers would seem to fit the definition of "data" and "millions of Americans."

Clapper is denying that he misled anyone, telling the National Journal in a telephone interview: "What I said was, the NSA does not voyeuristically pore through U.S. citizens' e-mails. I stand by that."

That may have been what Clapper meant. But it wasn't what he said. And it certainly wasn't what he was asked.

Here's the word-for-word exchange in the March hearing of the relevant Senate Intelligence Committee.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)?who has long warned about excessive government surveillance of Americans, though in veiled terms because the information is classified?had just one question for Clapper. The especially important parts are in bold.

Wyden: "And this is for you, Director Clapper, again on the surveillance front. And I hope we can do this in just a yes or no answer, because I know Senator Feinstein wants to move on.

"Last summer the NSA director was at a conference and he was asked a question about the NSA surveillance of Americans. He replied, and I quote here, '... the story that we have millions or hundreds of millions of dossiers on people is completely false.'

"The reason I'm asking the question is, having served on the committee now for a dozen years, I don't really know what a dossier is in this context. So what I wanted to see is if you could give me a yes or no answer to the question: Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?"

Clapper: "No, sir."

Wyden: "It does not."

Clapper: "Not wittingly. There are cases where they could inadvertently perhaps collect, but not wittingly."

Wyden: "All right. Thank you. I'll have additional questions to give you in writing on that point, but I thank you for the answer."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/spy-chief-clapper-denies-misleading-congress-spying-americans-221024826.html

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This week's sidebar poll: Which screen do you play your Android games on?

Android's flexibility gives us plenty of device form factor choice, which do you choose for gaming?

We're talking mobile gaming this week around these parts, and if Talk Mobile is telling us anything, it's that we all love to play games on our mobile devices. Android is in a special place here, because of the sheer number of different sizes and shapes it comes in. They all mean you have a pretty big choice of just how you want to play any of the great games from Google Play, and we want to find out just how you do it.

I have to tell you, playing a game on the big screen in my living room with an HDMI cable or the HTC Media Link HD is pretty fun, but it's something I rarely do. When I want to get my game on, I reach for my Nexus 7. Other tablets may have a little more power, but the 7-inch form factor and Tegra 3 chip in my Nexus 7 make it my "go to" device. Tell us yours in the poll, which you'll find in the sidebar to the right or after the break.

As always, a look at last week's poll:

Are you waiting for Motorola before you buy a new phone this year?

Looks like I'm not the only one waiting, wallet in hand, to see what Motorola has to show us in 2013. Hurry, Moto!

read more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/aKCIcvv6YN8/story01.htm

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Court: Girls can buy morning-after pill for now

NEW YORK (AP) ? Girls of any age can buy generic versions of emergency contraception without prescriptions while the federal government appeals a judge's ruling allowing the sales, a federal appeals court said Wednesday.

The order, the latest in a series of rulings in a complex back-and-forth over access to the drug, was met with praise from advocates for girls' and women's rights and scorn from social conservatives and other opponents, who argue the drug's availability takes away the rights of parents of girls who could get it without their permission.

The brief order issued by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan permitted two-pill versions of emergency contraception to immediately be sold without restrictions, but the court refused to allow unrestricted sales of Plan B One-Step until it decides the merits of the government's appeal. It did not specify why the two-pill versions were being allowed now, though it said the government failed to meet the requirements necessary to block the lower-court decision.

Department of Justice spokeswoman Allison Price said the government was reviewing the court's order.

Center for Reproductive Rights President Nancy Northup called the day of the court's order a "historic day for women's health."

"Finally, after more than a decade of politically motivated delays, women will no longer have to endure intrusive, onerous and medically unnecessary restrictions to get emergency contraception," she said in a statement.

The center's litigation director, Julie Rickelman, said the government has two weeks to decide whether to appeal the 2nd Circuit's decision on the stay to the full appeals court or the Supreme Court. Even if there is no appeal of the stay ruling, it was unclear how soon drugstores would move the two-pill emergency contraception from behind the counter. She said she hoped the pills would be available without restriction within a month.

"What it does mean is that generic two-pill products are going to be readily available to women without age restrictions, on any drugstore shelf," Rickelman said. "It'll be like buying Tylenol. You'll be able to go get it off the drugstore shelf, no ID, at the regular counter."

Anna Higgins, director of the Family Research Council's Center for Human Dignity, where she focuses on issues including conception and end-of-life care, said the ease of access to the drug was the problem. She described the court's order Wednesday as "confounding."

"Our reaction in general is a concern for the safety of young girls and the rights of parents," she said.

But Dr. Georges Benjamin, of the American Public Health Association, said the court was right to allow women of child-bearing age to have access to emergency contraception, saying he was "hopeful that the full appeals court, when it finally decides, will have the same view."

The government has appealed U.S. District Judge Edward Korman's underlying April 5 ruling, which ordered emergency contraceptives based on the hormone levonorgestrel be made available without a prescription, over the counter and without point-of-sale or age restrictions.

The government asked the judge to suspend the effect of that ruling until the appeals court could decide the case, but the judge declined, saying the government's decision to restrict sales was "politically motivated, scientifically unjustified and contrary to agency precedent." He also said there was no basis to deny the request to make the drugs widely available.

The government had argued that "substantial market confusion" could result if the judge's ruling were enforced while appeals were pending, only to be later overturned.

The morning-after pill contains a higher dose of the female progestin hormone than is in regular birth control pills. Taking it within 72 hours of rape, condom failure or just forgetting regular contraception can cut the chances of pregnancy by up to 89 percent. But it works best within the first 24 hours. If a girl or woman already is pregnant, the pill has no effect. It prevents ovulation or fertilization of an egg.

The Food and Drug Administration was preparing in 2011 to allow over-the-counter sales of the morning-after pill with no limits when Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius overruled her own scientists in an unprecedented move.

The FDA announced in early May that Plan B One-Step could be sold without a prescription to those 15 and older. Its maker, Teva Women's Health, plans to begin those sales soon. Sales had previously been limited to those who were at least 17.

Korman, the judge, later ridiculed the FDA changes, saying they established "nonsensical rules" that favored sales of the Plan B One-Step morning-after pill and were made "to sugarcoat" the government's appeal.

He also said they place a disproportionate burden on blacks and the poor by requiring a prescription for less expensive generic versions of the drug bought by those under age 17 and by requiring those over age 17 to show proof-of-age identification at a pharmacy.

Plan B One-Step is the newer version of emergency contraception ? the same drug but combined into one pill instead of two.

___

Neergaard reported from Washington.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-06-06-Morning-After%20Pill/id-a1d04915771e474fac5bb9fa9ed03037

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Apple releases iTunes 11.0.4

By | Published: June 5, 2013

Apple has just released iTunes 11.0.4.?According to the release notes, it fixes couple of bugs.

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Source: http://electronics.costfreehost.com/2013/06/05/apple-releases-itunes-11-0-4/

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TSA drops plan to allow small knives on planes

FILE - This Sept. 26, 2006 file photo shows knives of all sizes and types are piled in a box at the State of Georgia Surplus Property Division store in Tucker, Ga., and are just a few of the hundreds of items discarded at the security checkpoints of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport that will be for sale at the store. John Pistole, the head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) says he's dropping a proposal that would have let airline passengers carry small knives, souvenir bats, golf clubs and other sports equipment onto planes. The proposal had drawn fierce opposition from lawmakers, airlines and others who said it would place passengers and crews at risk. (AP Photo/Gene Blythe, File)

FILE - This Sept. 26, 2006 file photo shows knives of all sizes and types are piled in a box at the State of Georgia Surplus Property Division store in Tucker, Ga., and are just a few of the hundreds of items discarded at the security checkpoints of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport that will be for sale at the store. John Pistole, the head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) says he's dropping a proposal that would have let airline passengers carry small knives, souvenir bats, golf clubs and other sports equipment onto planes. The proposal had drawn fierce opposition from lawmakers, airlines and others who said it would place passengers and crews at risk. (AP Photo/Gene Blythe, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 4, 2010 file photo, TSA officer Robert Howard signals an airline passenger forward at a security check-point at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in SeaTac, Wash. John Pistole, The head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) says he's dropping a proposal that would have let airline passengers carry small knives, souvenir bats, golf clubs and other sports equipment onto planes. The proposal had drawn fierce opposition from lawmakers, airlines and others who said it would place passengers and crews at risk. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Transportation Security Administration is abandoning a plan to allow passengers to carry small knives, souvenir bats, golf clubs and other sports equipment onto planes in the face of fierce congressional and industry opposition, the head of the agency said Wednesday.

By scuttling the plan to drop the knives and sports equipment from TSA's list of prohibited items, the agency can focus its attention on other priorities, including expanding its Pre-Check program to identify ahead of time travelers who don't pose a security risk, TSA Administrator John Pistole told The Associated Press.

Pistole had unveiled the proposal to loosen the rules for carry-ons in March, saying the knives and other items can't enable terrorists to cause a plane to crash. He said intercepting them takes time that would be better used searching for explosives and other more serious threats. TSA screeners confiscate over 2,000 of the small folding knives a day from passengers.

Skeptical lawmakers, airlines, labor unions and some law enforcement groups complained that the knives and other items in the hands of the wrong passengers could be used to injure or even kill passengers and crew.

Last month 145 House members signed a letter to Pistole asking him to keep in place the current policy prohibiting passengers from including the knives and other items in their carry-on bags. Flight attendant unions organized protests in Washington and at airports across the country. And Airlines for America, which represents major U.S. airlines, as well as top executives from some of the nation's largest airlines, came out against the plan.

"After getting the input from all these different constituents, I realized there was not across-the-board support that would serve us well in moving forward," Pistole said. By dispensing with the controversial proposal, he said the agency can focus on programs to identify the greatest security threats.

"It is a recognition that, yes, these items could be used as weapons, but I want our folks to focus on those things that, again, are the most concern given the current intelligence," he said.

Pistole's announcement that he was dropping the plan came as the House was expected to vote on an amendment to a Homeland Security spending bill that would block the TSA from spending money to implement the plan. The amendment will still be offered and it is expected to pass, said Eben Burnham-Snyder, a spokesman for Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., a sponsor of the amendment.

Pistole's decision is a "victory for every single person who sets foot on a plane, and a reaffirmation that the government listens to the people," Markey said in a statement.

But some opponents changed their position in recent weeks as Pistole explained his reasoning to Congress and in meetings with interest groups. Among those who initially criticized the TSA plan was Debra Burlingame, whose brother Charles was the pilot of the plane that hit the Pentagon in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"They laid out a case for this that I thought made a lot of sense, and I really changed my mind," she said in an interview.

"The TSA is so overwhelmed with the screening process and what they are trying to keep off airplanes, that I think to lessen that difficult task or mitigate it can be a good thing," Burlingame said. "There is a safety issue. But there is a difference between safety onboard an aircraft and security aboard an aircraft."

The proposal would have permitted folding knives with blades that are 2.36 inches (6 centimeters) or less in length and are less than 1/2 inch (1 centimeter) wide. The aim was to allow passengers to carry pen knives, corkscrews with small blades and other knives.

Passengers also would also have been be allowed to bring onboard novelty-sized baseball bats less than 24 inches long, toy plastic bats, billiard cues, ski poles, hockey sticks, lacrosse sticks and two golf clubs.

It's unlikely in these days of hardened cockpit doors, armed off-duty pilots traveling on planes and other preventive measures that the small folding knives could be used by terrorists to take over a plane, Pistole told Congress at a March hearing.

But in late April, three days before the proposal was scheduled to go into effect, the TSA announced it was being temporarily delayed in order to accommodate feedback from an advisory committee made up of aviation industry, consumer and law enforcement officials.

The proposal would have brought U.S. security rules more in line with international rules. There has been a gradual easing by the U.S. of some of the security measures applied to passengers after 9/11. In 2005, the TSA changed its policies to allow passengers to carry on small scissors, knitting needles, tweezers, nail clippers and up to four books of matches. The move came as the agency turned its focus toward keeping explosives off planes, because intelligence officials believed that was the greatest threat to commercial aviation.

And in September 2011, the TSA no longer required children 12 years old and under to remove their shoes at airport checkpoints. The agency recently issued new guidelines for travelers 75 and older so they can avoid removing shoes and light jackets when they go through airport security checkpoints.

___

Associated Press writer David Caruso in New York contributed to this report.

___

Follow Joan Lowy on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-06-05-Knives%20on%20Planes/id-5f87e82becb14e689e4d31a012c6cd74

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EU Commissioner teases net neutrality rules: no throttling, easy switching

The European Union has only taken baby steps toward proper net neutrality legislation so far. Today, however, the European Commission's Neelie Kroes just gave the first glimpse of what those continent-wide rules could look like. Her proposals would let companies prioritize traffic, but not block or throttle it. The measures would also prevent gotchas once customers have signed on the dotted line: internet providers would not only have to offer clear terms of service, but make it easier to jump ship for something better. There are concerns that the proposals would let providers favor their own services, but Kroes also makes no arbitrary distinctions (and thus exemptions) between wired and wireless networks, like we've seen in the US -- can we get these rules elsewhere, please?

[Image credit: The Council of the European Union]

Filed under: Wireless, Networking, Internet

Comments

Via: GigaOM

Source: European Union

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/byQs4U0ARUo/

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The Weirdest Thing on the Internet Tonight: Life and Freaky Times of Uncle Luke

Luther "Uncle Luke" Campbell has had more than his fair share of sexy-time adventures as the the original manager and lead vocalist for 2 Live Crew. But that's nothing compared to the shit he saw growing up. From Borscht Corp, the team that brought you Adventures of Christopher Bosh in the Multiverse!, comes a masterful retelling of the Life and Freaky Times of Uncle Luke.

Source: http://gizmodo.com/the-wierdest-thing-on-the-internet-tonight-life-and-fr-510391342

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