Earl Ofari Hutchinson: This Time President Obama Literally in Gun Toters' Sights

The bullet-riddled tee shirt of President Obama posted brazenly on Facebook by seven semi-automatic gun toting men among them a Peoria, Arizona, police sergeant was much more than the by now standard non-stop litany of racist cartoons, depictions, web postings, and kooky loose talk threats against President Obama. The gun-toting men and the police sergeant were taking target practice on the president's likeness at an undisclosed desert locale. This is Arizona. The state where many legislators think it's ok to pack guns in the legislature, and for citizens to openly pack them in public. This is the state where former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was nearly killed in an assassination attempt, and where there's a wide body of respectable opinion starting with a finger in the face of the president by Governor Jan Brewer, that openly loathes the president's policies and in many cases him personally. The gun-toting men made a virtual public call for the gunning down of the president.

It comes against the backdrop of Secret Service reports that the rate of threats against the President Obama has increased 400 percent from the 3,000 a year or so under President George W. Bush. He receives dozens of assassination threats continuously, and that number has been steady before and during the campaign and increased after he took office. Federal law is very clear on Threatening the President of the United States. It is a class D felony under United States Code Title 18, Section 871. It consists of knowingly and willfully mailing or otherwise making "any threat to take the life of, to kidnap, or to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States."

The Secret Service has taken the threats against the president seriously and has diligently investigated every one of them. In a few cases, prosecutors have brought charges. But here is the problem, in fact several problems. How seriously do other public officials take them, especially in places like Peoria, Arizona? Peoria, Arizona, officials did not suspend the police sergeant pending review and investigation, let alone fire him or call for a prosecution of him or his gun toting pals. Their weak, duck and dodge response was at worst that he may have violated the police department's employee conduct rules on the use of social media. There was no immediate response from Peoria, Arizona, Mayor Bob Barrett or Peoria, city council persons to calls for them to take action against the officer and men involved.

The Secret Service also has had other worries, namely about staffing. At one point, in 2010 there was a report that in a budget request the Secret Service was understaffed and under-resourced. The Service denied it and insisted it had the resources and personnel to meet any security issue involving the president. But the president's hands on meet the people routine during his non-stop road travels throughout the country is a constant challenge to any protective and enforcement agency.

The concern over Obama's safety has been intense since he announced he would seek the presidency in February 2007. He had the dubious distinction of being the earliest presidential contender to be assigned Secret Service protection on the campaign trail. This didn't ease the jitters over his safety. Several congressional members even then demanded that Secret Service officials provide all the resources and personnel they could to ensure Obama's and the other presidential candidates' security. They heard the whispers and nervous questions from his constituents about Obama's safety.

During the presidential campaign in 2008, the flood of crank, crackpot, and screwball threats that promised murder and mayhem toward Obama continued to pour in. This prompted the Secret Service to tighten security and take even more elaborate measures to ensure his safety. This was especially important given the deep doubt and even paranoid suspicion that some blacks have that shadowy government agencies were complicit in the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr, and the fervent belief of millions of other Americans that the CIA or other government agencies were deeply complicit in the killing, if not outright murder of JFK.

There is nothing shadowy or conspiratorial about what police sergeant Pat Shearer and his gun-packing friends in Peoria, Arizona, did. It was brazen and very open. The clueless Shearer for his part saw nothing inappropriate, let alone, dangerous, about what he did. He chalked it up to much ado about nothing or as he put it, he didn't think that shooting up a t-shirt with President Obama's face on it "was that big a deal." It was more than a big deal. The target in their in gun sights was not a regular bullseye, a likeness of Howdy Dowdy, or a cactus plant. It was President Obama. Federal prosecutors should see it as the "big deal" that it is and bring charges.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He is a weekly co-host of the Al Sharpton Show on American Urban Radio Network. He is the author of How Obama Governed: The Year of Crisis and Challenge. He is an associate editor of New America Media. He is host of the weekly Hutchinson Report Newsmaker Hour heard weekly on the nationally network broadcast Hutchinson Newsmaker Network.
Follow Earl Ofari Hutchinson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/earlhutchinson

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Follow Earl Ofari Hutchinson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/earlhutchinson

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/earl-ofari-hutchinson/pat-shearer-arizona_b_1240420.html

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Just Show Me: 3 great football apps for your Android phone (Yahoo! News)

Welcome to?Just Show Me on?Tecca TV, where we show you tips and tricks for getting the most out of the?gadgets in your life. In today's episode we'll show you three apps for your?Android phone that'll help you stay on top of the Super Bowl and all the football news.

To get started, download these apps and watch our video. And don't forget to?outfit yourself with a new TV for the big game!

Take a look at these other episodes of Just Show Me that'll help you master your Android phone:

If you have any topics you'd like to see us cover, just drop us a line in the comments.

This article originally appeared on Tecca

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Former Italian president Scalfaro dies at 93 (AP)

MILAN, Italy ? Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, a past president of Italy who held the post during the sweeping corruption scandal of the early 1990s that reshaped the country's post-war political landscape, died Sunday in Rome. He was 93.

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano paid tribute to his predecessor as "a protagonist in the democratic political life" and an example of "moral integrity."

"As president of the republic, he firmly and steadfastly confronted one of the most difficult periods of our history," Napolitano said in a statement.

Pope Benedict XVI remembered Scalfaro as "a distinguished" Catholic man of state, who "helped to promote the common good and the perennial ethical and religious values."

Scalfaro was a key figure in postwar Italian politics, helping to write the constitution and to found the former Christian Democrats. He held numerous prominent government posts before becoming Italy's ninth post-war president, a position that is largely ceremonial but carries the significant role of moral compass for the country.

As president from 1992-1999, Scalfaro was often called upon to resolve Italy's recurrent political crises, either choosing a new premier or calling early elections. He once called Italy's volatile political situation "pathological."

The "Clean Hands" investigations launched in the early 1990s uncovered a broad system of bribes that wiped out much of Italy's political class, including key members of the conservative Christian Democrats and the center-left Social Democrats. The scandals deeply eroded Italians' trust in politicians and led to the demise of the two parties that had formed the pillars of post-war Italian politics.

Premier Mario Monti said Scalfaro "consistently defended the values" enshrined in the constitution "bearing witness with his actions and his rigor to all Italians, in particular the young."

A devout Roman Catholic with a law degree from the Catholic University of Milan, Scalfaro spent the World War II years working to help imprisoned anti-Fascists and their families.

Then, in 1946, he won a seat in the assembly that wrote the constitution for the Italian Republic, declared in late 1947 after a popular referendum abolished the monarchy.

Scalfaro, a native of the northern city of Novara, was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in the Italian republic's first general election in 1948 and remained a deputy until he was elected president in 1992.

Scalfaro held junior posts at various ministries through the 1950s and early 1960s. In 1966, he gained his first Cabinet position when Premier Aldo Moro appointed him transportation minister.

In subsequent governments, Scalfaro served two more stints as transport minister and was education minister and interior minister. He was vice president of the Chamber of Deputies from 1976 to 1983.

He became a senator for life after completing his term as president.

He is survived by a daughter, Marianna. A funeral is set for Monday afternoon in Rome.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obits/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_on_re_eu/eu_italy_obit_scalfaro

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Curebit Apologizes for Copying 37Signals: ?Stupid, Lazy, and Disrespectful?

That's awkward: Just as it was announcing a $1.2 million round of funding, online referral startup Curebit was caught lifting designs and code from 37Signals, the company behind popular collaboration tools Basecamp, Highrise, and others. The copying was called out on Twitter by 37Signals partner David Heinemeier Hansson, who, after an exchange with Curebit co-founder Allan Grant, called the Curebit team "fucking scumbags." It probably didn't help that Grant's initial responses didn't seem particularly contrite ? he defended the copying as a "quick test" and at one point told Heinemeier Hansson, "Chill dude :)" (VentureBeat has a great blow-by-blow account of the initial controversy.)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/9DnB4ozkuKY/

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Britain says Afghan withdrawal must be carefully phased (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) ? Foreign troops must carefully phase their withdrawal from Afghanistan ahead of an end-2014 deadline, British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Saturday, after France suggested giving Afghan forces full responsibility for security in 2013.

"I don't want to see some sort of cliff edge in 2014 when all of the remaining troops come out at once," Cameron said during talks in London with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

"But clearly, between now and 2014, the rate at which we can reduce our troops will depend on the transition to Afghan control in the different parts of Afghanistan..."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Friday France would pull its combat troops out at the end of 2013, a year before an end-2014 deadline fixed by the United States and its NATO allies for handing over responsibility for security to Afghan forces.

"We have decided, in agreement with President Karzai, to call on NATO to give some serious consideration to the Afghan army taking full charge of NATO combat missions in the course of 2013," Sarkozy said at a news conference with Karzai in Paris.

He said he would raise this at a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels on Feb 2 and 3.

However, some foreign troops, Sarkozy said, would stay on after 2013 to train the Afghan army - which western countries are building up with the aim of making it strong enough to maintain security without outside help after the end of 2014.

Foreign countries are already handing over responsibility for security in parts of Afghanistan to Afghan forces.

The idea of speeding up that transfer has been floated in the past, in part to provide a cushion to Afghan forces to take charge of security at a time when foreign troops would still be available to help in an emergency.

It was unclear whether Sarkozy's suggestion was meant merely to feed into this debate, or whether he was expecting the United States and its allies to agree to a serious acceleration in handing over to Afghan forces.

In Washington, U.S. defence officials said the United States, which has the lion's share of foreign troops in Afghanistan, was standing by NATO's goal of gradually handing over security responsibilities to Afghan forces by 2014.

"That transition has begun, and we have made considerable progress toward this goal over the past year, thanks to the gains of the military surge and the development of Afghan security forces," Pentagon press secretary George Little said.

Consultations on transition would continue at the meeting in

Brussels next week, he said, ahead of a NATO summit due in Chicago in May.

A U.S. defence official said that, "U.S. forces continue to plan to transition through to the end of 2014. Our policy has not changed."

In Brussels, a NATO spokeswoman echoed the Pentagon's comments, saying "transition is well on track to be completed by the end of 2014, as we all agreed."

SUPPORT AFTER 2014

Foreign countries have promised to support Afghanistan with aid and advice for years after combat troops leave.

But they have scaled back their ambitions for Afghanistan to seek a minimum level of stability that would prevent the country from again becoming a haven for al Qaeda.

The United States also began talks with Taliban insurgents in late 2010 in a slow-moving process to try to reach, or at least begin to shape, a political settlement by the end of 2014.

With the western troop presence becoming increasingly unpopular inside Afghanistan, some officials have said the withdrawal of troops might make it easier to reach a settlement with insurgents - who use their opposition to foreign forces to rally support.

Cameron plans to pull out 500 British soldiers this year but has not yet set out a timetable for further withdrawals.

He made clear, however, that British combat troops would stay to the end of 2014 - though Britain has said it will not expand its area of operations in southern Afghanistan to fill in for departing troops from other countries.

"We ... want to have a long-term relationship with Afghanistan, long after our combat troops come home, and that will happen at the end of 2014," he said.

Britain has some 9,500 troops in Afghanistan as part of the 130,000-strong NATO-led force. U.S. forces number some 90,000. France has 3,600 troops in Afghanistan.

Karzai and Cameron signed a partnership agreement setting out how their countries would work together after 2014.

Karzai said the agreement "will take us into a future where Afghanistan will benefit from the assistance and cooperation and help of Britain towards becoming a fundamentally strong democratic state." The Afghan president was asked no questions at a tightly controlled media event.

(Additional reporting by Tim Castle in London, David Alexander in Washington, John O'Donnell in Brussels; Editing by Myra MacDonald)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/britain/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120128/wl_nm/us_afghanistan_britain

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Sudan sells seized South Sudan crude at deep discount: sources (Reuters)

SINGAPORE (Reuters) ? Sudan has sold at least one cargo of crude seized from South Sudan at millions of dollars discount and is offering more, industry sources said, as Khartoum looks to recover oil revenue from its former civil war foe.

A bitter row has escalated between the two over the value of the transit fee landlocked South Sudan should pay for oil pumped north by pipeline through its northern neighbor and exported from Port Sudan.

South Sudan is shutting down production in protest after Khartoum blocked exports and seized some of the oil as compensation. South Sudan's President Salva Kiir accused Khartoum of having "looted" revenues amounting to roughly $815 million from crude cargoes.

The seized crude was loaded onto three tankers from January 13-20, South Sudan's justice ministry said.

Sudan sold one of those cargoes, a 600,000 barrel shipment loaded on the vessel Ratna Shradha, to a North Asian trader. The final price of the sale was unclear, but one trader said that the cargo was sold at a discount as steep as $14 a barrel. That would indicate an $8.4 million discount for the whole cargo versus the last official price charged by the South.

"This is crude from the South sold by the North at a $14 discount to the South's last selling price," a Middle East-based crude trader said.

The tanker is heading to Singapore, another source said.

The last time South Sudan sold Nile Blend cargoes, it did so at a premium of $2.50-$3.00 a barrel to the benchmark Indonesian Crude Price, traders said. This would indicate that Sudan has sold the cargo at a discount of around $11 a barrel to the Indonesian price.

Sudan has also loaded two other cargoes of seized Dar Blend crude, but it is not immediately clear if they have sold those. Khartoum had offered these cargoes last week at a discount to official South Sudan prices, traders said. One of them is headed to the United Arab Emirates port of Fujairah, they added.

The South last sold seven cargoes of Dar Blend at discounts between $5 and $11 a barrel to dated Brent. Sudan offered the cargoes at a discount of $15-$16, another source said.

OFFGUARD

Buyers of South Sudan oil were caught offguard when Khartoum started blocking exports in late December.

In addition to the three, at least seven tankers are still waiting at the port to lift December and January cargoes, raking up demurrage costs of $20,000-$22,000 per day, traders and shipbrokers said. Buyers include PetroChina, Glencore, Vitol, Trafigura and Arcadia, they said.

"There was no reason given. They just held back sailing," a second trader with a Western firm said, adding that demurrage costs and the uncertainty were a "nightmare."

South Sudan pledged to fully shut its output of 275,000 barrels per day (bpd) in two weeks, a move that could also cut off supplies to equity holders China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), Malaysia's Petronas and India's Oil & Natural Gas Corp.

A third trader said buyers could declare force majeure if they still cannot lift the oil 30 days from the date of loading.

"Force majeure is the last resort if the cargo has not been loaded 30 days after the scheduled loading date. As long as the ship has not loaded the oil," the trader said.

"It will be complicated to declare force majeure if the oil is already on board. How are you going to discharge the oil back into the shore tanks?"

South Sudan became independent in July under a 2005 peace agreement with Khartoum that ended decades of civil war but both sides have failed to agree how to untangle their oil industries.

(Additional reporting by Yaw Yan Chong and Osamu Tsukimori in TOKYO Editing by Manash Goswami and Simon Webb)

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

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Iran hits back at EU with own oil embargo threat (Reuters)

TEHRAN (Reuters) ? Fighting sanctions with sanctions in a test of strength with the West over its nuclear ambitions, Iran warned on Friday it may halt oil exports to Europe next week in a move calculated to hurt ailing European economies.

The Tehran government grappling with its own economic crisis under Western trade and banking embargoes, will host a rare visit on Sunday by U.N. nuclear inspectors for talks that the ruling clergy may hope can relieve diplomatic pressure as they struggle to bolster public support.

Since the U.N. watchdog lent independent weight in November to the suspicions of Western powers that Iran is using a nuclear energy program to give itself the ability to build atomic bombs, U.S. and EU sanctions and Iranian threats of reprisal against Gulf shipping lanes have disrupted world oil markets and pushed up prices.

Amid forecasts Iran might be able to build a bomb next year, and with President Barack Obama facing re-election campaign questions on how he can make good on promises - to Americans and to Israel - not to tolerate a nuclear-armed Islamic Republic, a decade of dispute risks accelerating towards the brink of war.

The U.S. Treasury Department said on Friday it would send its undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, David Cohen, to Britain, Germany and Switzerland next week to talk about how to enforce sanctions against Iran's central bank.

Those sanctions aim to starve Iran of funds for developing nuclear weapons.

Western diplomats see little immediate prospect that renewed talks between Iran and the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency, scheduled from Sunday to Tuesday in Tehran, would result much in the way of concessions to Western demands.

For all the tension, there was little clear market response to Friday's talk by members of Iran's parliament that they may vote on Sunday to stop sending oil to the European Union - its second biggest customer - as early as next week, to spite EU states that gave themselves until July to enforce an oil import embargo on Iran.

Greek and Italian refineries which rely on Iranian crude face hardships - recession-hit Greeks have bought more than half their oil from Iran lately. But analysts see Arab producers satisfying some shortfall, and demand for Iranian oil from China and other Asian countries that do not back Western sanctions may mean world oil flows are merely diverted rather than blocked.

RHETORIC

Traders admit to wearying of rhetorical thrust and parry.

"They are the masters of bluffing," one Mediterranean crude oil trader said of remarks by Iranian lawmakers on Friday. "And they aren't very reliable when they threaten extreme measures," he said, noting the serious practical difficulties for tankers and storage plants of diverting 700,000 barrels of oil per day.

"That said, we are living in strange and difficult times," he added, as Brent crude futures gained 0.8 percent to $111.64 on the threat, while disappointing U.S. GDP data pushed prices back.

In Tehran, Hossein Ibrahimi, vice-chairman of parliament's national security committee, was quoted by the semi-official Fars news agency as saying: "On Sunday, parliament will have to approve a 'double emergency' bill calling for a halt in the export of Iranian oil to Europe starting next week."

Moayed Hosseini-Sadr, a member of the energy committee in the legislature, said there would be no delay of the kind the EU allowed to its members on Monday when it imposed a ban on oil imports from Iran that would take full effect only on July 1.

"If the deputies arrive at the conclusion that the Iranian oil exports to Europe must be halted, parliament will not delay a moment," Hosseini-Sadr said. "The Europeans will surely be taken by surprise and will understand the power of Iran."

Echoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who said on Thursday that Europe would be the loser from its sanctions policy, the hardline cleric leading Friday prayers at Tehran university jibed: "Why wait six months, why not right away? The answer is clear. They are in trouble; they are grappling with crisis."

That comment from Ahmad Khatami indicated the pre-emptive export ban is backed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The EU accounted for 25 percent of Iranian crude oil sales in the third quarter of 2011. But China, India and others have made clear that they are keen to soak up any spare Iranian oil, even as U.S. Treasury measures to choke Tehran's dollar trade make it harder to pay for supplies.

SANCTIONS

Highlighting the difficulties of securing global sanctions when many governments, including Russia and China, question their value or say they will only harden Iranian defiance, Turkish state-controlled Halkbank, a key player in handling payments for Iranian oil, said it would keep on doing so.

A manager at the bank told Reuters that, as far as it was concerned, it was not in breach of U.S. financial sanctions.

The EU's response was muted, saying that Iran's intentions had been reported. "We want to see Iran coming back to the negotiating table, engaging in meaningful discussion on confidence-building measures and demonstrate the willingness to address concerns over its nuclear program, without preconditions," said Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

In Paris, where President Nicolas Sarkozy has been vocal in criticizing Iran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero stressed that EU countries were already in the process of finding alternative supplies of oil and he was dismissive of the comments from Tehran.

"It's the little game of statements that they carry out artistically," Valero said.

A senior European executive for an oil company that buys Iranian crude told Reuters there could still be problems for some if Tehran cut off supplies immediately. "We have to wait and be ready. The Iranians have been backed into a corner and it's hard to predict how they will react," he said.

Iran's conservative-dominated parliament has previously shown it is ready to force the government to take action against what it sees as hostility from the West, and oil analyst Samuel Ciszuk said it was likely the assembly would pass the EU ban.

"It makes sense to demonstrate Iranian resolve and that it is not on the back foot, particularly as the measure could hit European refiners at a time of deep economic weakness," said Ciszuk of London consultancy KBC Energy Economics.

An abrupt halt might, however, force Iran to offer discounts to other buyers in order to shift excess output, he added.

RISKS

Asian buyers might be tempted but are also wary of U.S. disfavor. "Even though China and India could take the opportunity to capitalize on Iran's weakness, they currently have little appetite for the resulting international fallout," said Paul Tossetti at consultancy PFC Energy in Washington.

Iran's clerical establishment, having faced down popular protests which followed Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election in 2009, is dealing with internal disagreement on policy while preparing to seek public endorsement at a closely managed parliamentary election in March.

Defending Iran's right to civilian nuclear has been popular, but galloping inflation, which saw the rial formally devalued this week, is fuelling discontent with a ruling class that is also accused of corruption and putting its own interests first.

The diplomatic battleground will move to Tehran with the weekend arrival of an IAEA delegation, expected to number about half a dozen led by inspections chief Herman Nackaerts.

The IAEA director-general, Yukiya Amano, said in Davos on Friday: "I expect through this high level mission Iran tells us everything we need to know and resolve the issue."

Western officials who work with his agency view that kind of sentiment as diplomatic, but wildly unrealistic.

"Nobody is optimistic," one envoy said.

(Additional reporting by Fredrik Dahl in Vienna, Richard Mably and Jessica Donati in London, and Glenn Somerville in Washington; writing by Alastair Macdonald; editing by Angus MacSwan and Mohammad Zargham)

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

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Tensions high as FA Cup games revive racism rows

By ROB HARRIS

AP Sports Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 5:18 p.m. ET Jan. 25, 2012

LONDON (AP) -The specter of two recent racist incidents will hang over the FA Cup this weekend, with tensions high as the clubs involved prepare to play each other again.

Manchester United will travel to Anfield on Saturday for the first time since defender Patrice Evra was repeatedly racially abused by Liverpool striker Luis Suarez in a league match in October.

Chelsea captain John Terry is set to play at Queens Park Rangers days for the first time since prosecutors decided to charge him with racially abusing Anton Ferdinand in the last meeting of the west London clubs in October.

Terry's legal team will enter a not guilty plea on his behalf in a London court next week, with the defender not planning to attend the initial hearing.

Fears that any lingering animosity between the players or rival fans could boil over in the weekend matches have prompted statements appealing for calm from the four clubs and a strong police warning about abusive behavior.

Chelsea and QPR tried to quell any tensions by issuing a statement describing Saturday's fourth-round match as "a unique opportunity to show the world that hatred has no place in our game."

The comments from Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck and QPR counterpart Tony Fernandes came after talks between the clubs.

"Abuse and discrimination has no place in football or society," Buck and Fernandes said in the statement. "Both clubs enjoy fantastic support. However, we would remind fans that while we want to hear their passion, it's a fact that hatred and abuse is not what being a fan of Chelsea or QPR is about.

"The clubs will work together with the police to ensure that anyone using discriminatory or inflammatory language is identified and that the strongest possible action is taken against them."

The spotlight will be on Ferdinand and Terry before the match to see if they shake hands, as is customary.

While racial abuse between players was the problem in the October matches, alleged taunts at Anfield was the issue in the third round of the FA Cup earlier this month.

With Liverpool still reeling from Suarez's eight-match ban for the verbal confrontation with Evra, its fans were accused of racially abusing an Oldham player at Anfield.

And police in Liverpool said Wednesday that a "firm, fair and friendly" approach will be adopted for Saturday's visit of United.

Many meetings between the northwest rivals have been fraught with drama, but United manager Alex Ferguson has written to his club's fans to ensure they do not step over the mark with their behavior at Anfield.

"Your support is vital to the team and down the years that has been especially true at Anfield," Ferguson wrote. "But please put the emphasis on getting us into the next round and giving the sort of support you are famous for - positive, witty and loud."

Police warned that all allegations of offensive conduct will be thoroughly investigated.

"We cannot allow this type of behavior to affect the enjoyment of genuine fans, especially families with young children who attend the game," match commander chief superintendent Jon Ward said in a statement. "We will continue with our efforts to deal with the small number of individuals who commit offenses at football matches, in particular with the continued use of football-banning orders."

The racism cases prompted a British parliamentary committee to launch an investigation into whether enough is being done to combat the problem in football, with a hearing due to take place in March that could hear evidence from the accused and victims.

On Wednesday morning, nine men were arrested by police investigating suspected racist chanting by supporters of Charlton Athletic on a train back from their FA Cup match at London rival Fulham on Jan. 7.

"These recent arrests are saddening to all those who have worked so hard over many decades," Charlton chief executive Stephen Kavanagh said.

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

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Barca holds off Madrid rally

Pedro Rodriguez and Daniel Alves scored first-half goals, and Barcelona held off a spirited Real Madrid comeback attempt to eliminate the defending Copa del Rey champion with a 2-2 tie Wednesday night.

Do-or-die

The U.S. women's soccer team was still on the field, having dispatched rival Mexico, when Abby Wambach gathered her teammates for a little speech.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45324854/ns/sports-soccer/

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AP Interview: Haitian leader could pardon Duvalier (AP)

DAVOS, Switzerland ? Haiti's president suggested Thursday that he might pardon former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, saying reconciliation for his nation is more important than making the man known as "Baby Doc" pay for his bloody rule.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Michel Martelly pledged to respect the independence of the judge expected to rule within days whether Duvalier should face trial on corruption and human rights violations. Duvalier was driven into exile in 1986 and returned to Haiti a year ago.

But Martelly suggested he has little appetite for a trial that could be explosive for the Caribbean nation, recovering from decades of political turmoil and a devastating earthquake two years ago.

"My way of thinking is to create a situation where we rally everyone together and create peace and pardon people, to not forget about the past ? because we need to learn from it ? but to mainly think about the future," he said, adding: "You cannot forget those who suffered in that time, but I do believe that we need that reconciliation in Haiti."

Duvalier assumed power in 1971 at age 19 following the death of his notorious father, Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier. The two presided over a dark period in which their private militia of thugs in sunglasses, known as the Tonton Macoute, tortured and killed opponents. The younger Duvalier has been accused of stealing millions of dollars from public funds; he denies the accusations.

Martelly said any decision on a possible pardon would come only with "a consensus among all leaders, all political parties."

Martelly also pledged to build a new Haitian security force to maintain order without the U.N. peacekeepers ? about 11,000 foreign military and police officers have patrolled Haiti since 2004. They have recently come under fire for allegations of sexual abuse and suspicion of being the source of a cholera outbreak that has killed nearly 7,000 people and sickened a half-million.

The president refused to blame the United Nations for the problems, saying individual troops should be held accountable for their own misdeeds. But he said he will replace the peacekeepers with a Haitian security force that will create jobs for 3,000-5,000 Haitian youths and help Haiti become self-sustaining.

Martelly said he'll need foreign cooperation to fund and train the security force, but pledged to have it at least partially in place by the end of his term in 2016. He has run into opposition from donor countries that criticized earlier pledges to build a new Haitian army ? disbanded in disgrace in 1995 ? and he acknowledged Thursday that a new army wasn't realistic.

He refused to put a time frame on an exit for the peacekeepers.

"We are working with them to establish a calendar where they can retreat," he said. "I don't want to force the peacekeeping nations to feel like I'm pushing them out."

The Haitian president spoke on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, an annual gathering of global power brokers at the Swiss ski resort of Davos, where he came to meet with potential investors.

Martelly, a popular musician sworn in as president in May, said he has already provided new homes to thousands of earthquake refugees, sent nearly 1 million more children to free schools and made progress on rebuilding the airport and the ports. Investment, he said, is booming.

His main priority, he said, is to create jobs so Haiti can support itself without being dependent on foreign aid.

"The Haiti that has been waiting for help and not moving no longer exists," he said. "Enough handouts; we need hands up. Enough aid; we need trade."

Part of that mission will involve helping Haitians to take over the earthquake reconstruction work, which has been dominated by foreigners working for non-governmental organizations.

"When I came in, Haiti was not governed by Haitians anymore. Probably mostly by NGOs. And that has done what to Haiti? It has weakened our institutions," he said. "We need to focus on the plan that Haiti has today. We have a plan. When we want to go somewhere we are going to have them accompany us. ... We need to organize and better use that aid.

A key part of that will be drawing home well-educated Haitians who have abandoned their country amid corruption and lack of opportunity. This week the foreign affairs minister in Paris appealed to Haitians abroad to return.

"The diaspora will be put back to work. We need them," Martelly said.

But he said he wouldn't be offering them specific incentives: "It's not we have anything to offer. They need to have something to offer too. They need to come back and understand that Haiti is their country. By going away..." He broke off and sighed.

"Don't they always come back?"

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_re_eu/eu_davos_forum_haiti

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Sony ST25i 'Kumquat' looks set to launch as 'Xperia U'

We got our first glimpse of the Sony ST25i "Kumquat" last week, and now it seems we may have the official name for the device, too. According to a new entry on the website of the Indonesian telecoms authority, the phone will launch as the Sony Xperia U, continuing the lettered naming scheme of the Xperia S, as well as last year's Tablet S and Tablet P.

The ST25i "Xperia U" is rumored to sport a 3.5-inch qHD (960x540) screen, a 1GHz dual-core CPU and 5MP camera, making for an attractive mid-range proposition. An unofficial, leaked roadmap list the Xperia U around the €260 price point.

As Sony expands its 2012 line-up, we're looking forward to seeing more of the Xperia U, hopefully starting with an official introduction at Mobile World Congress next month.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/137yDtojrSk/story01.htm

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Rollin' Justin learns to throw like a robot

Our pal Rollin' Justin proved the old adage about teaching old robots new robo tricks wrong back in April, when he learned to catch balls by tracking moving objects, calculating their flight paths and then snapping shut his cold metal claws at the moment of impact. Now he's besting himself, thanks to a handful of improvements imparted upon him by way of his fleshy masters at the German Aerospace Agency. Among the upgrades are are an improvement to old Justin's dynamic performance -- he's now 1.5 times faster in his arms, thanks to new gear ratios, helping to make his game of robo catch two-sided, with the ability to actually throw. He's also adopted the more flattering moniker Agile Justin. Video evidence of his new-found skills after the jump.

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FM says Syria has duty to confront armed groups

An anti-Syrian regime protester colors his fingers with the revolutionary flag colors during a protest outside the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Egypt Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. Arab League foreign ministers, meeting in Cairo, extended the much-criticized observers mission for another month, officials from the 22-member organization said. The League decided to add more observers and provide them with additional resources, the officials said. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

An anti-Syrian regime protester colors his fingers with the revolutionary flag colors during a protest outside the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Egypt Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. Arab League foreign ministers, meeting in Cairo, extended the much-criticized observers mission for another month, officials from the 22-member organization said. The League decided to add more observers and provide them with additional resources, the officials said. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Anti-Syrian regime protesters carry revolutionary flags while performing a traditional dance during a protest outside the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Egypt Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. Arab League foreign ministers, meeting in Cairo, extended the much-criticized observers mission for another month, officials from the 22-member organization said. The League decided to add more observers and provide them with additional resources, the officials said. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syria's foreign minister said Tuesday that "half the universe" is conspiring against his country, as Gulf Arab nations withdrew from a monitoring mission in Syria because the government has failed to stop 10 months of violence.

International pressure is building on Syria, not only from the West but increasingly from Arab nations as well. The U.N. estimates more than 5,400 people have been killed since Syria's uprising began in March, sparked by the arrest of a group of teenagers who scrawled anti-government graffiti on a wall in the country's south.

Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem on Tuesday signaled the crackdown will continue, saying in Damascus that the government will take any steps necessary to defend against chaos. Activists, meanwhile, reported more violence nationwide Tuesday, with more than 15 people killed and possibly many more.

Syria has claimed that armed gangs acting out a foreign conspiracy are behind the revolt, not protesters seeking change in one of the most authoritarian states in the Middle East.

"It is the duty of the Syrian government to take what it sees as necessary measures to deal with those armed groups that spread chaos," al-Moallem said during a televised news conference.

He also said it was clear that some Arab countries have joined the conspiracy against Syria ? a clear reference to the Gulf countries' decision to withdraw their monitors and to Sunday's call by the Arab League for Syria to create a national unity government in two months.

The plan also provides for President Bashar Assad to give his vice president full powers to cooperate with the proposed government to enable it to carry out its duties during a transitional period.

Damascus has rejected the plan as a violation of national sovereignty.

Tuesday's decision by the six oil-rich Gulf nations ? Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates ? to pull out their monitors is a blow to an Arab League observer mission that has been mired by controversy, but which for many represented the only hope for an Arab solution to the crisis in Syria, away from outside intervention.

Now, the Gulf Cooperation Council, which had contributed 52 of the estimated 160 observers, has called on the U.N. Security Council to take all "necessary measures" to force Syria to implement the Arab League's peace plan.

The GCC has long advocated referring Syria to the Security Council, putting it in conflict with other Arab states. Security Council action could open the door for more economic sanctions and possible military intervention although veto-wielding member Russia is firmly opposed to punitive measures against its longtime ally.

"The decision was made after careful and thorough monitoring of events in Syria and the conviction by the GCC that the bloodshed and the killing of innocent people there is continuing," the GCC statement said.

Al-Moallem brushed off the threat of Security Council action.

"If they go to (U.N. headquarters in) New York or the moon, as long as we don't pay their tickets, this is their business," he said.

He acknowledged there is little hope for an Arab solution but tried to portray confidence, saying Syria had the strong support of powerful allies in Iran as well as Russia.

The permanent representatives of the Arab League's 22 members held an emergency meeting in Cairo Tuesday to review the situation following the GCC's decision.

Qatar's envoy, Saleh Abdullah al-Buainain, told reporters after the meeting that the GCC countries would continue to support and fund the mission despite withdrawing their observers

An official at the Cairo-based Arab League said an emergency meeting of permanent representatives of the group's 22 members will be held later Tuesday in the Egyptian capital to "review the situation" following the GCC's decision.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The Arab League's observer mission has been heavily criticized for its failure to stop the Assad regime's crackdown.

Saudi Arabia had announced Monday that it would pull out its observers, followed by the other GCC members.

"This is their business," al-Moallem said. "Maybe the Saudi brothers in the mission don't want to see the realities on the ground, which don't satisfy their plots," he added.

Activists said the deadliest incident on Tuesday occurred when security forces shelled a building in the Bab Tadmur area of restive central city of Homs, with a local activist Mohammed Saleh saying 17 people were killed in the attack. The umbrella group Local Coordination Committees claimed 30 people were killed.

Syrian troops also opened fire to disperse hundreds of mourners who had gathered for the funeral of a prominent opposition figure who had been killed by gunmen the day before in al-Barra village in the northern Jabal al-Zawiya region, activists said.

The overall death toll ranged from 15 to more than 43, based on reports from the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Local Coordination Committees and several other activists on the ground.

___

Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue and Elizabeth A. Kennedy in Beirut, and Abdullah al-Shihri in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-24-Syria/id-72ff0eb608f74084a812aec33db2fe1b

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Nigerian police find bomb-filled cars in Kano (Reuters)

KANO/MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) ? Nigerian police said they found cars and vans filled with explosives in the northern city of Kano Monday, three days after Islamist sect Boko Haram carried out a deadly attack there.

Security in Nigeria's second largest city has been beefed up since Friday when bomb attacks and fierce gun battles between the sect and police killed at least 178 people.

(Reporting by Ibrahim Mshelizza; Additional reporting by Felix Onuah in Abuja and Mike Oboh in Kano; Writing by Joe Brock, editing by Robert Woodward)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120123/wl_nm/us_nigeria_sect_explosive

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Video: Unemployment rate drops in December

>>> the world of politics. showing two republican candidates surming in south carolina . among likely voter, mitt romney is in first place with 37% and rick santorum is in second with 19% and newt gingrich is in third place with 18%. for romney it's a 17% jump. for santorum it's a 15% jump. for newt gingrich who was in first place it's a 25-point drop. meanwhile another number out this morning grabbed the attention of the political world . the labor department reporting that employers added 200,000 jobs in december, pushing the unemployment rate down to 8.5%, the lowest point total in almost three years. joining me now from manchester, new hampshire is john harwood . starting with the politics, no republican candidate won iowa and then new hampshire . romney poised to do that and take south carolina as well. what is the romney camp saying?

>> first of all, you are scaring that with that brain decline story, but i will do my best.

>> you have plenty of time.

>> mitt romney is poised to win here in new hampshire and that could be a big step for the, but the tightening polls show that rick santorum has a shot. not a great shot. he needs to finish second and get a push and show that nude gingrich and rick perry are not not the viability alternative and santorum is and he has a chance to do that. mitt romney is in a powerful position.

>> let's turn our attention to the economy as well. the new jobs numbers are out. unemployment is down again. where are we seeing the job growth ?

>> growth in manufacturing and how permanent yours will be. overall this is continued good news for president obama . what he needs to show is that he's got the economy moving in the right direction to make the argument that his policies are working. you can see the advantage he had in the defensive criticism that republicaning were offering. he is not out of the woods by any means. i was at a diner in new hampshire where rick santorum was campaigning and people were saying still the number one issue is jobs. they are not good with where we are.

>> we have sound here from the president talking about these jobs. take a listen.

>> so we are making progress. we are moving in the right direction. one of the reasons for this is the tax cut for working americans that we put in place last year.

>> i'm gratified to see in spite of president obama 's policies the job market is picking up. there might be optimism that maybe republicans are going to take the white house and maybe that's spurring people to start taking risks.

>> today's unemployment numbers are a good indicator. we are a long way from being a healthy economy. it's unlike lie that the president will solve it.

>> what point do the republicans lose steam with comments like that regarding the economy?

>> when you talk about the argument rick santorum made, he is a skilled campaigner and that is say ridiculous argument. there is nothing related to optimism that is causing jobs to grow. republicans have a strong argument to make, unemployment is higher than it was when president obama took office, but when you are the incumbent, you live with the results. as long as americans are feeling as pessimistic about our economic future, that is bad news for mid- romney . he has a good profile for an economic and a jobs focus campaign. the question is whether the mood lifts. we are looking at 3.5% growth. that's robust and will slow down. if you get self-sustaining momentum, that's what president obama is hoping for.

>> appreciate your time.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/newsnation/45903167/

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ABC6NEWS: Best Buy Co. says weaker than expected traffic during the week before Christmas and low demand in Canada and Eur... http://t.co/ulbW4jnu

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WHO "deeply concerned" by mutated birdflu research

By Kate Kelland

LONDON | Fri Dec 30, 2011 4:43pm EST

LONDON (Reuters) - The World Health Organization issued a stern warning on Friday to scientists who have engineered a highly pathogenic form of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, saying their work carries significant risks and must be tightly controlled.

The United Nations health body said it was "deeply concerned about the potential negative consequences" of work by two leading flu research teams who this month said they had found ways to make H5N1 into a easily transmissable form capable of causing lethal human pandemics.

The work by the teams, one in The Netherlands and one in the United States, has already prompted an unprecedented censorship call from U.S. security advisers who fear that publishing details of the research could give potential attackers the know-how to make a bioterror weapon.

The U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity has asked two journals that want to publish the work to make only redacted versions of studies available, a request to which the journal editors and many leading scientists object.

In its first comment on the controversy, the WHO said: "While it is clear that conducting research to gain such knowledge must continue, it is also clear that certain research, and especially that which can generate more dangerous forms of the virus....has risks."

H5N1 bird flu is extremely deadly in people who are directly exposed to it from infected birds. Since the virus was first detected in 1997, about 600 people have contracted it and more than half of them have died.

But so far it has not yet naturally mutated into a form that can pass easily from person to person, although many scientists fear this kind of mutation is likely to happen at some point and will constitute a major health threat if it does.

MUTATIONS

Flu researchers around the world have been working for many years trying to figure out which mutations would give H5N1 the ability to spread easily from one person to another, while at the same time maintaining its deadly properties.

The U.S. National Institutes of Health funded the two research teams to carry out research into how the virus could become more transmissible in humans, with the aim of gaining insight on how to react if the mutation occurred naturally.

The WHO said such research should be done "only after all important public health risks and benefits have been identified" and "it is certain that the necessary protections to minimize the potential for negative consequences are in place."

The agency also said it was vital that new rules on the sharing of viruses and scientific know-how were enforced to ensure those countries at most immediate risk from H5N1, mainly developing countries in Asia such as Indonesia, Vietnam and others, would benefit from advances in research.

During the H1N1 swine flu pandemic in 2009-2010, many developing countries complained they had no life-saving antivirals or vaccines to combat the new virus, despite having made samples of the virus available to researchers and pharmaceutical companies to develop the medicines.

It is normally laboratories in wealthy developed countries that have the level of scientific expertise needed to work on complex flu viruses, while bird, or avian, flu viruses themselves often come from less well developed Asian countries.

A new Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework was agreed and adopted by all WHO member states in May 2011 to set rules for sharing flu viruses that have pandemic potential, and sharing the benefits of the expertise gained.

"WHO considers it critically important that scientists who undertake research with influenza viruses with pandemic potential samples fully abide by the new requirements," the U.N. agency said in its statement.

(Editing by Alistair Lyon)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/scienceNews/~3/AdgXeOGNfVQ/us-birdflu-who-risks-idUSTRE7BT0GO20111230

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Deal of the Day ? Samsung Galaxy Nexus for Verizon

Today’s LogicBUY Deal is the Samsung Galaxy Nexus for the Verizon system for $199.99.? This is the first phone running the new Android OS 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.? Features:? 4.65″ 720×1280 HD Super AMOLED display, a dual-core 1.2GHz TI OMAP 4460 processor, 1GB RAM, 32GB built-in storage, 5MP rear camera (1080p video capable), 1.3MP front [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2011/12/30/deal-of-the-day-samsung-galaxy-nexus-for-verizon/

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marieclaireuk: 2012's New Beauty Rules: Forget detox diets and military fitness regimes. A few small beauty tweaks will... http://t.co/vFDkMUOv #beauty

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Ukraine ex-PM Tymoshenko moved to prison (Reuters)

KIEV (Reuters) ? Former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, sentenced to seven years in prison for abuse of office, has been moved to prison from a detention centre where she has been held since early August, the state penitentiary service said on Friday.

The move indicated she was unlikely to go free any time soon despite pressure from the European Union, which considered her trial politically motivated and put off the signing of key agreements with Ukraine because of her sentence.

Tymoshenko is the fiercest opponent of President Viktor Yanukovich, who narrowly beat her in the presidential run-off in February 2010 after losing his earlier bid for the presidency because of the 2004 "Orange Revolution" protests, which she helped lead.

A local court sentenced Tymoshenko to seven years in prison in October, saying she had exceeded her powers when forcing through a 2009 gas deal with Russia. Tymoshenko, who denies any wrongdoing, lost an appeal against the verdict one week ago.

"Tymoshenko has been moved to a prison in the Kharkiv region," the state penitentiary service said in a statement.

The European Union, which had planned to initial agreements on political association and free trade with Ukraine at a summit this month, put off the signing and cited Tymoshenko's case as an example of selective justice in the former Soviet republic.

"The EU reiterates its concern about the risks of politically-motivated justice in Ukraine, of which the Tymoshenko trial is the most striking example," a spokesman for EU Foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Friday.

"Given the strong international concern already surrounding this case, we call on the authorities to ensure that decisions on the detention conditions of Mrs Tymoshenko are taken transparently and in line with relevant international standards. The EU is urgently seeking further clarification from the Ukrainian authorities."

Yanukovich has refused to intervene and the parliament, dominated by his supporters, has turned down several proposals to remove her alleged offence from the criminal code.

On Friday, Yanukovich issued a decree cancelling Freedom Day celebrations on November 22, a holiday introduced in 2005 to mark the "Orange Revolution" anniversary, provoking angry reaction from Tymoshenko's Batkivshchyna party.

It said in a statement that moving Tymoshenko to a prison and cancelling the holiday on the same day was "an act of final, cynical and public destruction of the ideals of democracy, freedom and independence."

Tymoshenko's lawyers say she hopes the European Court for Human Rights, where she has filed a case against Ukraine, will exonerate her. The court said this month it would fast-track the case.

Tymoshenko, 51, has been suffering from back pains in the last few weeks and cannot walk, according to her lawyers who have said she should not be moved from the detention centre because of this.

But the penitentiary service said she was fit to move.

"Before departure, Tymoshenko was examined by doctors who stated that her health allowed her to be moved," it said, adding that Tymoshenko travelled in a "comfortable" van.

(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Brussels; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111230/wl_nm/us_ukraine_tymoshenko

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