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Source: http://www.facebook.com/gmanews/posts/10151510573391977
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Monday, July 15, 2013
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Saturday concerts to benefit tornado victims
Two separate concerts Saturday will benefit tornado relief. Several bands will be performing at the Myriad Botanical Gardens to benefit the tornado relief fund for "Feed the Children". Another concert at the Santa Fe Train Depot in Norman will benefit a family in Moore who lost their home to the May 20th tornado.
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Why China and the US (Probably) Won?t Go to War Geography and nuclear weapons m...
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Texas Repubs pass abortion bill, Dems vow fight
Opponents and supporters of abortion rights rally in the State Capitol rotunda in Austin, Texas on Friday, July 12, 2013. The Texas Senate convened Friday afternoon to debate and ultimately vote on some of the nation's toughest abortion restrictions, its actions being watched by fervent demonstrators on either side of the issue. (AP Photo/Tamir Kalifa)
Opponents and supporters of abortion rights rally in the State Capitol rotunda in Austin, Texas on Friday, July 12, 2013. The Texas Senate convened Friday afternoon to debate and ultimately vote on some of the nation's toughest abortion restrictions, its actions being watched by fervent demonstrators on either side of the issue. (AP Photo/Tamir Kalifa)
Sen. Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston, left, throws up her hands as she leaves the Senate Chamber with Sen. Wendy Davis, D-FortWorth, right, after the Texas Senate passed an abortion bill, Friday, July 12, 2013, in Austin, Texas. The bill will require doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, only allow abortions in surgical centers, dictate when abortion pills are taken and ban abortions after 20 weeks. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Sen. Wendy Davis, D-FortWorth, sits at her desk after the Texas Senate passes an abortion bill, Friday, July 12, 2013, in Austin, Texas. The bill will require doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, only allow abortions in surgical centers, dictate when abortion pills are taken and ban abortions after 20 weeks. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
A bloodied anti-abortion rights protester is surrounded by Texas state troopers outside the Senate Chamber after the Texas Senate passes an abortion bill, Saturday, July 13, 2013, in Austin, Texas. The bill will require doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, only allow abortions in surgical centers, dictate when abortion pills are taken and ban abortions after 20 weeks. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Abortion rights advocates fill the rotunda of the State Capitol as the Senate nears the vote on Friday night, July 12, 2013. Texas senators were wrapping up debate on sweeping abortion restrictions Friday night and were poised to vote on a measure after weeks of protests. (AP Photo/Tamir Kalifa)
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ? Republicans in the Texas Legislature passed an omnibus abortion bill that is one of the most restrictive in the nation, but Democrats vowed Saturday to fight both in the courts and the ballot box as they used the measure to rally their supporters.
More than 2,000 demonstrators filled the Capitol building in Austin to oppose the bill, and state troopers drug six out of the Senate chamber for trying to disrupt the debate. The Republican majority ultimately passed the bill unchanged just before midnight, with all but one Democrat voting against it.
"Today the Texas Legislature took its final step in our historic effort to protect life," said Gov. Rick Perry who will sign the bill into law in the next few days. "This legislation builds on the strong and unwavering commitment we have made to defend life and protect women's health."
Democrats, though, promised a fight in the courts.
"There will be a lawsuit. I promise you," Dallas Sen. Royce West said on the Senate floor, raising his right hand as if taking an oath.
Democrats offered 20 amendments to the bill, which will ban abortions after 20 weeks, require abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital and require all abortions take place in surgical centers. They ranged from exceptions for rape and incest to allowing doctors more leeway in prescribing abortion-inducing drugs. But Republicans would have none of it.
The bill is just one of many across the nation championed by anti-abortion groups set on a constitutional challenge to Roe vs Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision guaranteeing a woman's right to decide on an abortion before the fetus is viable outside the womb.
Texas falls under the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has shown a willingness to accept more stringent limits on abortions. Passing the law also pleases Christian conservatives who make up the majority of Republican primary voters.
But the measure has also sparked protests in Texas not seen in least 20 years, with thousands of abortion rights supporters flooding the Capitol to draw out normally boring committee hearings and disrupting key votes. Protesters finished a filibuster started by Democratic Sen. Wendy Davis of Fort Worth by jeering for the last 15 minutes of the first special session, effectively killing the bill.
That's when Perry called lawmakers back for round two. But opponents said the fight is far from over and used the popular anger to register and organize Democratic voters.
"Let's make sure that tonight is not an ending point, it's a beginning point for our future, our collective futures, as we work to take this state back." Davis told 2,000 adoring supporters after the bill passed.
The Texas Republican Party, meanwhile, celebrated what they considered a major victory that makes Texas "a nationwide leader in pro-life legislation."
"As Democrats continue to talk about their dreams of turning Texas blue, passage of HB2 is proof that Texans are conservative and organized and we look forward to working with our amazing Republican leadership in the Texas Legislature as they finish the special session strong," a party statement said.
Friday's debate took place between a packed gallery of demonstrators, with anti-abortion activists wearing blue and abortion-rights supporters wearing orange. Security was tight, and state troopers reported confiscating bottles of urine and feces as they worked to prevent another attempt to stop the Republican majority from passing the proposal.
Those arrested or removed from the chamber included four women who tried to chain themselves to a railing in the gallery while singing, "All we are saying is give choice a chance." One of the women was successful in chaining herself, prompting a 10-minute recess.
Sen. Glen Hegar of Katy, the bill's Republican author, argued that all abortions, including those induced with medications, should take place in an ambulatory surgical center in case of complications.
Democrats pointed out that childbirth is more dangerous than an abortion and there have been no serious problems with women taking abortion drugs at home.
Cecile Richards, the daughter of former Gov. Anne Richards and president of Planned Parenthood, said Texas Republicans and abortion opponents won this political round ? but it could cost them down the road.
"All they have done is built a committed group of people across this state who are outraged about the treatment of women and the lengths to which this Legislature will go to take women's health care away," she said.
The dedication of those activists will be tested during the 2014 elections. Democrats have not won a statewide seat in Texas since 1994, the longest such losing streak in the nation.
___
Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/cltomlinson
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Video Post: The amazing night which was Bruce Springsteen in Rome
Photo by: Niccol? Vecchia
I was on the beach staring at my children swim around in Lake Michigan as Bruce Springteen and the E Street Band played a night in Rome on July 11th. I?d brought a book with me to widdle away the time, and never had the chance to open it as setlusting on twitter quickly became my distraction of the day. As it was said when the setlist was posted yesterday, ?I swear, this happened.?
Now as I watch the videos of that night, all I keep thinking is, he sounds like Bruce of the 70?s it?s as if for one night he was reborn. I hope the spirit of that night continues for both Bruce and the band. Enjoy the vids, I sure know I did.
Kitty?s Back
Incident on 57th Street
End of Rosalita into NYC Serenade
New York City Serenade
Spirit In The Night
My Love Will Not Let You Down
Badlands
Roulette
Lucky Town
Summertime Blues
Candy?s Room
Candy?s Room/She?s The One
Brilliant Disguise
The Rising
Born In The USA
Born In The USA/Born To Run/Dancing In The Dark
Shout
Thunder Road (acoustic)
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Young job seekers, check your privacy settings
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Social media websites can be a boon for employers scoping out job applicants, and that's bad news for certain groups of young people, according to a new study.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/-E4lOvijsrQ/130712161103.htm
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Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Top 7 Free E-Book Reader Apps For Windows 8 / Windows RT
In today's fast moving world E-Books are a man's best friends. You can read them from first to last and also search through them, thanks to the ever evolving computer, web and mobile technologies. In this article we will take a look at the top 6 freely available Windows 8 e-book reader apps. If you feel we have missed any popular Windows 8 app for reading e-books on this list, then please let us know in the comments section.
Overdrive Media Console
Overdrive Media Console lets you read your e-books as well as manage your entire e-book collection on your Windows 8 or Windows RT device. Not only e-books you can also access your audio books using this nifty app. This app has the least number of ratings - 6, on the Windows App Store.
Overdrive Windows 8 e-book Reader
Download Overdrive Media Console
Fiction Book Reader Lite
This is a very simple and light-weight Windows 8 app for reading your e-books. This app can read most popular e-book file formats such as fb2, epub (without DRM), mobi (without DRM) and txt books. Apart from this, you can also open books directly from Skydrive, internet browser and manage your books in a library. You can also search through books and highlight particular areas to make notes, etc. - 108 Ratings
Fiction Reader Windows 8 ebook reader
Download Fiction Book Reader Lite
Book Bazaar Reader
This is a great Windows 8 e-book reader for users given its advanced capabilities of customising fonts, font sizes and text colors as per your preferences. It supports EPUB, MOBI, FB2, TXT e-book formats and you can also directly import e-books from local storage or from the web. This app has? 10 ratings on the Windows store.
Book Bazaar Reader Windows 8 e-book reader
Download Book Bazaar Reader
freda Windows 8 Reader - Dyslexia Support
freda?is the only app in this list which has support for Dyslexic readers. It has special settings for users suffering from Dyslexia and has the OpenDyslexic font and can recognise popular e-book formats such as EPUB (DRM-Free), FB2, HTML and TXT formats. You can use the built-in settings to customise looks and appearance of the books as well. The app has garnered 209 ratings in the Windows App Store.
freda Reader Windows 8 ebook reader with Dyslexia support
Download freda Windows 8 Reader
Kobo Reader
Using Kobo's e-reader app for Windows 8 you can directly search for and read both paid and non-paid books right on your computer. You can choose from the huge list of 3-million books of which 1-million are completely free to read. This app has support for reading themes which you can change as per your mood. Rated with 135 points this app also recommends you books based on your reading habits.
Kobo Reader Windows 8 e-book reader
Download Kobo Reader
NOOK Reader for Windows 8
With Nook Reader you can access both Books and Magazines on your Windows 8 system right from Nook's collection. The Nook app has a lot of very useful features such as the ability to sideload ePub and PDF files from your hard drive or the web and add notes to books, highlight words using multiple colors. You can also use the advanced search feature to find words or phrases in books and lookup their meanings in the built-in dictionary. This app has 3100+ ratings on the Windows App Store.
Nook Reader Windows 8 ebook reader
Download Nook Reader
Kindle Reader for Windows 8
Well, who would not know about Kindle. With the Amazon Kindle App for Windows 8, you can easily read all your Amazon Kindle books. However, if you have books in PDF or ePUB format, you can get them converted to Kindle format for free by sending a mail to Amazon. As expected from a product coming from Amazon, this app has the most number of features as compared to the other apps above. With more than 9000 ratings on the Windows Store, this app is definitely a must install.
Amazon Kindle Reader Windows 8 ebook reader
Download Kindle Reader for Windows 8
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/digitizor/~3/P918h56WdnI/
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Tuesday, July 9, 2013
China coal policy 'cut lifespans'
8 July 2013
Last updated at 23:32 ET
China's policy of giving free coal for heating to residents in the north has contributed to shaving 5.5 years off life expectancy there, a study says.
It says air pollution from burning coal in the area north of the Huai River, with a population of some 500m people, was 55% higher than in the south.
The region also had higher rates of heart and lung disease as a result of the policy in force up to 1980.
The study was conducted by researchers from China, the US and Israel.
'Disastrous consequences'They studied pollution and deaths in 90 cities in the north and south between 1981 and 2000.
They specifically looked at the increase in a type of pollution called total suspended particulates (TSPs) found in soot and smoke.
The researchers then analysed mortality statistics in 1991-2000 and found evidence of shorter life expectancy in the previously "free coal" areas.
"Life expectancies are about 5.5. years lower in the north owing to an increased incidence of cardio-respiratory mortality," said the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"The analysis suggests that the Huai River policy, which had the laudable goal of providing indoor heat, had disastrous consequences for health."
The scientists argued that their findings may help other emerging economies - such as Brazil or India - to find better ways to combine a drive for economic growth and public health protection.
The report's findings will increase pressure on the Chinese authorities to do more to tackle pollution, the BBC's Martin Patience in Beijing reports.
Earlier this year, the government faced a public outcry after air pollution soared past levels considered hazardous by the World Health Organization, our correspondent says.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-23236532#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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Nearly half of sarcoma surgeries done by nonsurgical oncology specialists
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Orthopedic oncologists and surgical oncologists, who have been trained in the complex procedures required to remove sarcomas located deep in the muscles and other soft tissues of the limbs, conducted only 52 percent of these operations at 85 academic medical centers during a three-year period, according to an analysis of national data.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/RLHFdYbtszI/130708171042.htm
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40 Missing in Deadly Canada Oil Train Crash
A Quebec town devastated when a runaway oil tanker train ignited explosions and fires braced Monday for what authorities assured would be a rising death toll as fire crews tried to reach the hardest hit areas more than two days after the disaster. Five were dead and about 40 people remained missing.
The growing number of trains transporting crude oil in Canada and the United States had raised concerns of a major derailment, and this one was sure to add to the debate over a proposed cross-U.S. oil pipeline that Canada says it badly needs.
All but one of the train's 73 tanker cars were carrying oil when they somehow came loose early Saturday morning, sped downhill nearly seven miles (11 kilometers) into the town of Lac-Megantic, near the Maine border, derailed and began exploding one by one. At least five blew.
Worries remained late Sunday over the status of two oil-filled train cars at the scene. They were being doused with water and foam to keep them from overheating.
"This is an unbelievable disaster," said Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who toured the town Sunday and compared it to a war zone. "This is an enormous area, 30 buildings just completely destroyed, for all intents and purposes incinerated. There isn't a family that is not affected by this."
The downtown bar area had been bustling at the time of the crash. Quebec provincial police Sgt. Benoit Richard said only a small part of the devastated scene had been searched Sunday as firefighters made sure all flames were out. About a third of the community of 6,000 was forced out of their homes.
Locals were convinced the death toll was far higher than five. Anne-Julie Huot, 27, said at least five friends and about 20 acquaintances remained unaccounted for.
"I have a friend who was smoking outside the bar when it happened, and she barely got away, so we can guess what happened to the people inside," Huot said. "It's like a nightmare."
A coroner's spokeswoman said it may not be possible to recover some of the bodies because of the intensity of the blasts.
The train's oil was being transported from North Dakota's Bakken oil region to a refinery in New Brunswick. Because of limited pipeline capacity in the Bakken region and in Canada, oil producers are increasingly using railroads to transport oil to refineries.
The Canadian Railway Association recently estimated that as many as 140,000 carloads of crude oil will be shipped on Canada's tracks this year ? up from 500 carloads in 2009. The Quebec disaster is the fourth freight train accident in Canada under investigation involving crude oil shipments since the beginning of the year.
Harper has called railroad transit "far more environmentally challenging" while trying to persuade the Obama administration to approve the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast. Greenpeace Canada said Sunday that federal safety regulations haven't kept up with the enormous growth in the shipment of oil by rail.
Officials with the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway said that despite the disaster, they feel transporting oil by rail is safe.
"No matter what mode of transportation you are going to have incidents. That's been proven. This is an unfortunate incident," said Joe McGonigle, Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway's vice president of marketing.
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Chinese Company Town Struggles
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Dubai rent rise will force families to move to affordable ... - Zawya
By Parag Deulgaonkar
"Residents will be priced out of established communities to more affordable, less developed areas due to the rent rises with landlords controlling terms of rents and payment," the property management company said in its second-half report on Dubai real estate.
"Rental growth is not expected to slow down as improving market conditions fuel residential demand. The gap between asking rents and existing rates is likely to grow as new tenancy contracts are not protected by the rental cap law."
The increase in rents will also lead to more relocation to budget-friendly neighbouring emirates. Rents in the Northern Emirates are lower than the peripheral localities in the emirate.
International City beats Marina
Rents in International City grew at a faster rate than Dubai Marina in the second quarter, Asteco said.
Annual rental for a two-bedroom unit rose 11 per cent to Dh42,500 in the second quarter, a 27 per cent annual increase, while Dubai Marina grew 8 per cent, 20 per cent year-on-year (yoy) with two-bedroom apartment now leasing on average for Dh110,000 per year.
Among the villa developments, the Springs and the Meadows were the top performers on the rental side, recording 10 per cent and 8 per cent increases, respectively, over the last three months with average annual rents up 35 per cent and 17 per cent, respectively.
A three-bedroom villa in The Springs is currently renting for Dh160,00 per annum, while a similar same unit in Meadows leases for Dh240,000 per year.
Jumeirah Village tops villa community
Apartment sales prices rose by average 12 per cent with y-o-y growth standing at a 38 per cent. In comparison, average villa sales prices rose 8 per cent, registering a 24 per cent increase.
Discovery Gardens jumped 17 per cent to Dh7,550 per square metre in the second quarter, 75 per cent yoy. The Greens saw a 15 per cent growth with average prices at Dh12,400 per square metre, an annual increase to 44 per cent. Downtown Dubai increased 18 per cent (38 per cent yoy) remaining the most expensive area in Dubai to buy an apartment. The average price is Dh17,750 per square metre.
The best performing areas for villa sales were Jumeirah Village which rose 25 per cent to Dh8,100 per square metre, a 40 per cent increase yoy. The Springs recorded 11 per cent growth, reaching Dh10,750 per square metre, a 25 per cent annual growth rate, while Arabian Ranches saw Q2 increase of 10 per cent, 19 per cent yoy. Units are now selling at Dh11,850 per square metre.
JLT office prices double
The office sector showed continued growth in the second quarter with rents in Jumeirah Lake Towers rising 75 per cent to Dh1,125 per square metre, a 110 per cent yoy increase.
Dubai Investments Park rose 33 per cent to Dh650 per square metre, a 50 per cent yoy increase. Business Bay saw an increase of 27 per cent, a 36 per cent annual increase, with prices averaging Dh1,025 per square metre. ? Emirates 24|7 2013
International City rents rise 11%, Dubai Marina 8% in Q2: Asteco
"Residents will be priced out of established communities to more affordable, less developed areas due to the rent rises with landlords controlling terms of rents and payment," the property management company said in its second-half report on Dubai real estate.
"Rental growth is not expected to slow down as improving market conditions fuel residential demand. The gap between asking rents and existing rates is likely to grow as new tenancy contracts are not protected by the rental cap law."
The increase in rents will also lead to more relocation to budget-friendly neighbouring emirates. Rents in the Northern Emirates are lower than the peripheral localities in the emirate.
International City beats Marina
Rents in International City grew at a faster rate than Dubai Marina in the second quarter, Asteco said.
Annual rental for a two-bedroom unit rose 11 per cent to Dh42,500 in the second quarter, a 27 per cent annual increase, while Dubai Marina grew 8 per cent, 20 per cent year-on-year (yoy) with two-bedroom apartment now leasing on average for Dh110,000 per year.
Among the villa developments, the Springs and the Meadows were the top performers on the rental side, recording 10 per cent and 8 per cent increases, respectively, over the last three months with average annual rents up 35 per cent and 17 per cent, respectively.
A three-bedroom villa in The Springs is currently renting for Dh160,00 per annum, while a similar same unit in Meadows leases for Dh240,000 per year.
Jumeirah Village tops villa community
Apartment sales prices rose by average 12 per cent with y-o-y growth standing at a 38 per cent. In comparison, average villa sales prices rose 8 per cent, registering a 24 per cent increase.
Discovery Gardens jumped 17 per cent to Dh7,550 per square metre in the second quarter, 75 per cent yoy. The Greens saw a 15 per cent growth with average prices at Dh12,400 per square metre, an annual increase to 44 per cent. Downtown Dubai increased 18 per cent (38 per cent yoy) remaining the most expensive area in Dubai to buy an apartment. The average price is Dh17,750 per square metre.
The best performing areas for villa sales were Jumeirah Village which rose 25 per cent to Dh8,100 per square metre, a 40 per cent increase yoy. The Springs recorded 11 per cent growth, reaching Dh10,750 per square metre, a 25 per cent annual growth rate, while Arabian Ranches saw Q2 increase of 10 per cent, 19 per cent yoy. Units are now selling at Dh11,850 per square metre.
JLT office prices double
The office sector showed continued growth in the second quarter with rents in Jumeirah Lake Towers rising 75 per cent to Dh1,125 per square metre, a 110 per cent yoy increase.
Dubai Investments Park rose 33 per cent to Dh650 per square metre, a 50 per cent yoy increase. Business Bay saw an increase of 27 per cent, a 36 per cent annual increase, with prices averaging Dh1,025 per square metre. ? Emirates 24|7 2013
? Copyright Zawya. All Rights Reserved.
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Adm. William McRaven Shields Files About Raid On Osama bin Laden's Hideout From The Public
WASHINGTON ? The nation's top special operations commander ordered military files about the Navy SEAL raid on Osama bin Laden's hideout to be purged from Defense Department computers and sent to the CIA, where they could be more easily shielded from ever being made public.
The secret move, described briefly in a draft report by the Pentagon's inspector general, set off no alarms within the Obama administration even though it appears to have sidestepped federal rules and perhaps also the Freedom of Information Act.
An acknowledgement by Adm. William McRaven of his actions was quietly removed from the final version of an inspector general's report published weeks ago. A spokesman for the admiral declined to comment. The CIA, noting that the bin Laden mission was overseen by then-CIA Director Leon Panetta before he became defense secretary, said that the SEALs were effectively assigned to work temporarily for the CIA, which has presidential authority to conduct covert operations.
"Documents related to the raid were handled in a manner consistent with the fact that the operation was conducted under the direction of the CIA director," agency spokesman Preston Golson said in an emailed statement. "Records of a CIA operation such as the (bin Laden) raid, which were created during the conduct of the operation by persons acting under the authority of the CIA Director, are CIA records."
Golson said it is "absolutely false" that records were moved to the CIA to avoid the legal requirements of the Freedom of Information Act.
The records transfer was part of an effort by McRaven to protect the names of the personnel involved in the raid, according to the inspector general's draft report.
But secretly moving the records allowed the Pentagon to tell The Associated Press that it couldn't find any documents inside the Defense Department that AP had requested more than two years ago, and could represent a new strategy for the U.S. government to shield even its most sensitive activities from public scrutiny.
"Welcome to the shell game in place of open government," said Thomas Blanton, director of the National Security Archive, a private research institute at George Washington University. "Guess which shell the records are under. If you guess the right shell, we might show them to you. It's ridiculous."
McRaven's directive sent the only copies of the military's records about its daring raid to the CIA, which has special authority to prevent the release of "operational files" in ways that can't effectively be challenged in federal court. The Defense Department can prevent the release of its own military files, too, citing risks to national security. But that can be contested in court, and a judge can compel the Pentagon to turn over non-sensitive portions of records.
Under federal rules, transferring government records from one executive agency to another must be approved in writing by the National Archives and Records Administration. There are limited circumstances when prior approval is not required, such as when the records are moved between two components of the same executive department. The CIA and Special Operations Command are not part of the same department.
The Archives was not aware of any request from the U.S. Special Operations Command to transfer its records to the CIA, spokeswoman Miriam Kleiman said. She said it was the Archives' understanding that the military records belonged to the CIA, so transferring them wouldn't have required permission under U.S. rules.
Special Operations Command also is required to comply with rules established by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that dictate how long records must be retained. Its July 2012 manual requires that records about military operations and planning are to be considered permanent and after 25 years, following a declassification review, transferred to the Archives.
Also, the Federal Records Act would not permit agencies "to purge records just on a whim," said Dan Metcalfe, who oversaw the U.S. government's compliance with the Freedom of Information Act as former director of the Justice Department's Office of Information and Privacy. "I don't think there's an exception allowing an agency to say, `Well, we didn't destroy it. We just deleted it here after transmitting it over there.' High-level officials ought to know better."
It was not immediately clear exactly which Defense Department records were purged and transferred, when it happened or under what authority, if any, they were sent to the CIA. No government agencies the AP contacted would discuss details of the transfer. The timing may be significant: The Freedom of Information Act generally applies to records under an agency's control when a request for them is received. The AP asked for files about the mission in more than 20 separate requests, mostly submitted in May 2011 ? several were sent a day after Obama announced that the world's most wanted terrorist had been killed in a firefight. Obama has pledged to make his administration the most transparent in U.S. history.
The AP asked the Defense Department and CIA separately for files that included copies of the death certificate and autopsy report for bin Laden as well as the results of tests to identify the body. While the Pentagon said it could not locate the files, the CIA, with its special power to prevent the release of records, has never responded. The CIA also has not responded to a separate request for other records, including documents identifying and describing the forces and supplies required to execute the assault on bin Laden's compound.
The CIA did tell the AP it could not locate any emails from or to Panetta and two other top agency officials discussing the bin Laden mission.
McRaven's unusual order would have remained secret had it not been mentioned in a single sentence on the final page in the inspector general's draft report that examined whether the Obama administration gave special access to Hollywood executives planning a film, "Zero Dark Thirty," about the raid. The draft report was obtained and posted online last month by the Project on Government Oversight, a nonprofit watchdog group in Washington.
McRaven, who oversaw the bin Laden raid, expressed concerns in the report about possible disclosure of the identities of the SEALs. The Pentagon "provided the operators and their families an inordinate level of security," the report said. McRaven also directed that the names and photographs associated with the raid not be released.
"This effort included purging the combatant command's systems of all records related to the operation and providing these records to another government agency," according to the draft report. The sentence was dropped from the report's final version.
Since the raid, one of the SEALs published a book about the raid under a pseudonym but was subsequently identified by his actual name. And earlier this year the SEAL credited with shooting bin Laden granted a tell-all, anonymous interview with Esquire about the raid and the challenges of his retiring from the military after 16 years without a pension.
Current and former Defense Department officials knowledgeable about McRaven's directive and the inspector general's report told AP the description of the order in the draft report was accurate. The reference to "another government agency" was code for the CIA, they said. These individuals spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter by name.
There is no indication the inspector general's office or anyone else in the U.S. government is investigating the legality of transferring the military records. Bridget Serchak, a spokeswoman for the inspector general, would not explain why the reference was left out of the final report and what, if any, actions the office might be taking.
"Our general statement is that any draft is pre-decisional and that drafts go through many reviews before the final version, including editing or changing language," Serchak wrote in an email.
The unexplained decision to remove the reference to the purge and transfer of the records "smells of bad faith," said Steven Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists. "How should one understand that? That adds insult to injury. It essentially covers up the action."
McRaven oversaw the raid while serving as commander of the Joint Special Operations Command, the secretive outfit in charge of SEAL Team Six and the military's other specialized counterterrorism units. McRaven was nominated by Obama to lead Special Operations Command, JSOC's parent organization, a month before the raid on bin Laden's compound. He replaced Adm. Eric Olson as the command's top officer in August 2011.
Ken McGraw, a spokesman for Special Operations Command, referred questions to the inspector general's office.
The refusal to make available authoritative or contemporaneous records about the bin Laden mission means that the only official accounts of the mission come from U.S. officials who have described details of the raid in speeches, interviews and television appearances. In the days after bin Laden's death, the White House provided conflicting versions of events, falsely saying bin Laden was armed and even firing at the SEALs, misidentifying which of bin Laden's sons was killed and incorrectly saying bin Laden's wife died in the shootout. Obama's press secretary attributed the errors to the "fog of combat."
A U.S. judge and a federal appeals court previously sided with the CIA in a lawsuit over publishing more than 50 "post-mortem" photos and video recordings of bin Laden's corpse. In the case, brought by Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group, the CIA did not say the images were operational files to keep them secret. It argued successfully that the photos and videos must be withheld from the public to avoid inciting violence against Americans overseas and compromising secret systems and techniques used by the CIA and the military.
The Defense Department told the AP in March 2012 it could not locate any photographs or video taken during the raid or showing bin Laden's body. It also said it could not find any images of bin Laden's body on the USS Carl Vinson, the aircraft carrier from which he was buried at sea. The Pentagon also said it could not find any death certificate, autopsy report or results of DNA identification tests for bin Laden, or any pre-raid materials discussing how the government planned to dispose of bin Laden's body if he were killed. It said it searched files at the Pentagon, Special Operations Command headquarters in Tampa, Fla., and the Navy command in San Diego that controls the Carl Vinson.
The Pentagon also refused to confirm or deny the existence of helicopter maintenance logs and reports about the performance of military gear used in the raid. One of the stealth helicopters that carried the SEALs in Pakistan crashed during the mission and its wreckage was left behind.
The Defense Department also told the AP in February 2012 that it could not find any emails about the bin Laden mission or his "Geronimo" code name that were sent or received in the year before the raid by McRaven. The department did not say they had been moved to the CIA. It also said it could not find any emails from other senior officers who would have been involved in the mission's planning. It found only three such emails written by or sent to then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and these consisted of 12 pages sent to Gates summarizing news reports after the raid.
The Defense Department in November 2012 released copies of 10 emails totaling 31 pages found in the Carl Vinson's computer systems. The messages were heavily censored and described how bin Laden's body was prepared for burial.
These records were not among those purged and then moved to the CIA. Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. James Gregory said the messages from the Carl Vinson "were not relating to the mission itself and were the property of the Navy."
___
AP Intelligence Writer Kimberly Dozier contributed to this report.
___
Follow Richard Lardner on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rplardner
Related on HuffPost:
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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/08/bin-laden-raid-files-hidden_n_3559948.html
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Saturday, July 6, 2013
PM Nawaz invites Chinese companies to invest in Pakistan energy sector
Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has invited Chinese companies to invest in energy sector in Pakistan.
The heads of Gezhouba? China Engineering Corporation and Huawei Technologies held meetings with the prime minister.
Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has urged Chinese companies to seize attractive investment opportunities in Pakistan and make investment particularly in energy sector in the country.
He was talking to heads of Gezhouba company? China Engineering Corporation and Huawei Technologies? who called on him on board bullet train? by which he traveled from Beijing to Shanghai to attend an energy conference on Saturday.
The Prime Minister invited China's Gezhouba company to launch more power projects in Pakistan. He assured that the government will provide every possible facility to Chinese companies.
Gezhouba President apprised the Prime Minister that his company is working on Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project? to be completed in 2016.
Nawaz Sharif asked the China Engineering Corporation to help Pakistan convert furnace oil power projects on coal.
He also invited the Chinese company to set up 1?000 megawatts power plant at Jamshoro in Sindh Province.
President of Huawei Technologies informed the Prime Minister that his company had started business in Pakistan 19 years ago and has so far trained 4?000 Pakistani engineers in various disciplines.
The Prime Minister asked the company president to launch more projects in Pakistan and the government will provide all necessary facilities to it.
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Falklands? on-shore storage for construction of oil flow lines to develop Sea Lion project
According to the latest edition from the Penguin News, Ken Humphrey of Premier Oil said this week that the work would require a site (approx 220.000 square meters) with access to the sea and about 6.5 kilometres of fairly flat land for the large steel pipes to be constructed on. A decision is to be made early next year.
Several sites had been sourced and consequently whittled down to two and land owners had been approached said Mr Humphrey who added that the concept paper had been provided to the Falklands? government for the idea to be explored in principle.
Falklands onshore was being considered because it was problematic to tow the large pipes for more than a thousand miles, said Mr Humphrey. The pipes which could be up to 6.5 kilometres long connect the floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel to the Sea Lion reservoir.
Mr. Humphrey described the Falklands project as more challenging than other developments because it was the first to take place and therefore the regulatory and approval regime was evolving and also because of the remoteness and lack of infrastructure.
It is currently estimated that the Sea Lion field has recoverable oil resources of between 300 and 350 million barrels. Mr Humphrey said that 2013 will see work continue on technical studies and engineering and logistical support and infrastructure options.
It is expected that in 2014 a field development plan will be presented. With first oil expected in 2017, Mr Humphrey said that ?the development of the Sea Lion field by Premier Oil would be a 5 billion dollars project with thousands of people around the world involved?.
?
Last October the Falkland Islands government approved changes to Rockhopper?s production licence interests to permit the assignment of 60% of Rockhopper?s licenses to Premier Oil and the approval of Premier Oil to become the operator of the licenses.
Premier said it would partner Rockhopper paying an initial 231 million dollars in cash as well as providing around 770 million to help build infrastructure for the development of the Sea Lion field 2010 oil discovery in the north Falkland basin. (PN and MP).-
?
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Google powers Cambridge computer initiative | Business Weekly ...
The Centre for Computing History in Cambridge has announced an educational partnership with US powerhouse Google. This will involve an exciting new initiative to introduce computer programming to children across the UK.
Museum director Jason Fitzpatrick explains: ?Our primary purpose with the Road Show is to expose students to the beauty and joy of computing. This will include a fresh and unusual, multi-faceted introduction to coding. We?ll be working with the National STEM Centre when the whole venture kicks off in the autumn at York University.?We?re very grateful to Google whose generosity has made the whole enterprise possible. With their help and that of other supporters like Samsung we hope to reach as many children as possible.?
Google?s funding occurs as schools across the country face a radical overhaul of the ICT curriculum, due to come into force in September 2014. The restructuring of the subject, which will affect children from the age of 5 upwards, will see the term ICT replaced with computing and a much stronger emphasis placed on the principles of computer science and practical programming.
Fitzpatrick welcomes the changes: ?Just using a computer is only a small part of the picture. So much of the joy comes through direct experience of writing programs, persevering to overcome problems and finally producing code that works. The real transformative and empowering experience comes when one learns how to turn ideas into code.?
The Computing History Road Show will introduce children to programming in several practical and fun ways using both vintage machines and Raspberry Pi. Fitzpatrick says: ?We aim to put the pizzazz into programming and cool into computing! In our programming workshops we introduce children to BASIC, one of the friendliest programming languages ever invented. They use this on vintage BBC Micro machines.
?There are several reasons for our choice of machine. Not least, it?s fun for children to encounter these machines, learn about their capacity and where they fit into the history of computing. However, where coding is concerned the BBC Micro has two key virtues: its lack of speed and the direct connection it has with the user. Students encounter an unfamiliar screen full of text where they can see their instructions happening for real.
?They quickly discover that however simple a program appears it doesn?t mean the underlying code is plain or obvious. The BBC Micro also offers an unforgiving programming environment. Get something wrong and the program will display an error message or crash!
?With BASIC if you make a mistake it takes time to go back and fix it. You can?t just take out sections and move them around as you can with Scratch.?
At the other end of the scale, the Road Show will fast forward with Raspberry Pi and Python workshops. The Raspberry Pi is an inexpensive, credit card sized computer that plugs into a TV or a keyboard and is ideal to help children learn programming skills. Python is considered a good programming language for novices to tackle.
Fitzpatrick added: Our coding workshops won?t just be about children learning to program though; the entire experience has been designed to hone their reasoning and analytical skills, as well as encourage them to see that computational thinking provides unique insights far beyond the subject.
?We want to break down the perceived complexity of computers into easily understood components that children feel they can master. We want to demonstrate the enormously creative processes behind making electronic circuits and writing computer programs.?
Peter Baron, director of external relations for Google says: ?We?re delighted to support this innovative programme, bringing a hands-on experience of computer science to children in areas of the UK beyond easy reach of a computing museum.?
? PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS: A moving experience for Jason Fitzpatrick, Bruno Janson of sponsor company ARM and Dr Hermann Hauser, patron of the Centre for Computing History
Source: http://www.businessweekly.co.uk/hi-tech/15583-google-powers-cambridge-computer-initiative
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Dell Looks To Smartwatches And Wearable Tech, But That's Just Another Boat To Miss
Dell is reportedly investing in wearable tech, with an eye to developing smartwatch devices, according to a report from The Guardian. Dell itself is saying that it's looking closely at the wearable tech trend, with the aim of predicting what personal computing will look like in five years' time. It's a smart move sure, but also an obvious one: if there's a computer company out there with an R&D department that isn't at least exploring wearables, they should probably just pack it in.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/MWTujavkQjw/
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Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Pixate Raises $3.8M Series A From Accel Partners To Bring CSS Styling To Android And Mac App Development
Pixate has closed a $3.8 million Series A round from venture capital firm Accel Partners. The Palo Alto-based plans to expand its engineering and support teams in order to build Android and Mac versions of its platform, which allows developers to style apps using CSS. It will also increase the quality of its support and improve developer resources and release the full version of Pixate Engine for free.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/_KI73kBFuPg/
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Access Hollywood section
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Source: http://www.today.com/id/7358550/ns/today-entertainment/
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How to Grow a Human Heart
Nature has a nice dive into the scientific quest to grow complex organs like a human heart. No, it hasn't been done yet?but it's surprisingly within reach.
Right now, researchers are trying to marry two different scientific accomplishments: growing healthy, beating heart cells and growing simple hollow organs like bladders. The idea is to try to get a healthy beating heart to grow itself around structural shell. The best shell right now is a human heart from a recently dead body.
Using a chemical bath, researchers wash away any living cellular material, leaving behind a shell of structural protein. Imagine you're gutting an old building and leaving behind just the walls. Once you've got the old and unwanted cellular material, the scientists simply redecorate the place with healthy cells matched to the patient's immune system. Poof, a new healthy heart that won't be rejected by the transplant patient's body. Easy.
OK, so that simplified explanation makes a complicated procedure sound like knitting a scarf from a pattern. As the story points out, growing a heart you can transplant into a human body is still basically fantasy. The organ would have to be flawless. As one scientist says, there's no room for error. Still, goals like growing pieces of damaged organs could actually result in treatments in the foreseeable future.
A bioengineered valve, for example, may last longer than mechanical or dead-tissue valves because they have the potential to grow with a patient and repair themselves. And other organs may not need to be replaced entirely. ?I'd be surprised if within the next 5?7 years you don't see the patient implanted with at least part of an artery, lobes of a lung, lobes of a liver,? says Badylak.
Beat on, science, beat on. [Nature]
Source: http://gizmodo.com/how-to-grow-a-human-heart-660942226
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Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Microsoft and Nokia launch Music Mix Party, let friends share a streaming Xbox playlist (video)
We've seen a few attempts at shared audio streaming, but many of these depend on specialized apps or hardware. Microsoft and Nokia could clear that hurdle with their newly launched Nokia Music Mix Party, which leans on what many of us have at home. Xbox 360 owners with an Xbox Live Gold subscription just have to visit a website that starts an artist-based streaming playlist with a custom QR code; after that, anyone in the room with a mobile device can scan the code and vote on which songs should play next. The service is free to use during July, although we don't yet know if and how pricing will change afterward. Is Mix Party simple? You bet -- but it could keep guests happy at future shindigs, even if they don't care for our tastes in music.
Source: Nokia Music Mix Party, Exploring IE
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A calculator to estimate the likelihood of antidepressant response
July 1, 2013 ? As in any other field of medicine, when a depressed person visits a psychiatrist for treatment of depression, they like to be informed of the odds that they will respond to the medication they are prescribed. Unfortunately, there has been no precise way to predict antidepressant response in individual patients.
It would be very nice to have an equation that would enable doctors to predict the likelihood that individual patients would respond to specific treatments. Accurate predictions are likely to be challenging. The ability to accurately predict the likelihood of antidepressant response for individual patients could be an important step in developing individualized treatment plans.
The effectiveness of antidepressant medications varies tremendously across patients and the overall effectiveness of current medications is lower than previously expected. For example, the largest antidepressant trial ever conducted -- the NIMH STAR*D study -- provided somewhat discouraging news about the effectiveness of antidepressants. Only 30% of patients responded to their initial antidepressant and after one year and up to four different treatments, 30% of patients did not achieve remission.
In this issue of Biological Psychiatry, Dr. Roy Perlis at Massachusetts General Hospital has taken an important step toward this objective.
He gathered data collected from the STAR*D study and used multiple prediction models to identify statistical patterns. Using the best-performing model, he then generated an online risk calculator and visualization tool that provides a graphical estimate of an individuals' risk for treatment resistance.
"To address the needs of individual depressed patients, we will need to find ways to design psychiatric treatments to respond to the differences among patients with depression. The 'depression calculator' that emerges from the STAR*D trial is one step forward in this effort," said Dr. John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry. "To do better than this, we will need to include biomarkers that may serve the function that blood tests and blood pressure measurements serve in other areas of medicine."
Perlis agrees, commenting that "There has been great emphasis on the discovery of biomarkers to help predict clinical outcomes. No doubt this effort will succeed eventually. On the other hand, it's entirely possible that clinical features can help get us part of the way there -- that clinical features can help make useful predictions."
"The analogy I would draw is the Framingham score for predicting cardiovascular risk. It's far from perfect, and there's plenty to criticize -- but it has at least spurred efforts to use prediction in a clinical setting. It has also provided a platform to which biomarkers can be added, as they are identified," he added.
In the meantime, the whole point of providing a clinical calculator online is to allow clinicians to try it out -- to see what could be done, if the will and the resources were there.
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Britain 'under attack' in cyberspace
1 July 2013
Last updated at 00:55 ET
Britain is under daily attack in cyberspace according to British intelligence
Britain is seeing about 70 sophisticated cyber espionage operations a month against government or industry networks, British intelligence has told the BBC.
GCHQ director Sir Iain Lobban said business secrets were being stolen on an "industrial scale".
Foreign hackers have penetrated some firms for up to two years, he said.
And he denied that his organisation had broken the law in receiving information from the Prism spy programme.
Sir Iain told BBC Radio 4: "People are going after intellectual property and then seeking to translate it into national gain.
"We started a couple of years ago thinking this was going to be very much about the defence sector but really it's any intellectual property that can be harvested."
Foreign intelligence services are behind many of these attacks, according to Britain's Security Service MI5.
British businesses are waking up the threat of cyber espionage. Sir Michael Rake, chairman of BT and president of business lobby group CBI, has been warning fellow businessmen about the dangers. "These threats are real, they're sophisticated, they do financial and reputational damage," he told the BBC.
"There's been a lot of concern around espionage in gaining information of advanced planning and design and it is critical because one of our big strengths in the UK is our design capabilities," he added.
The job of the Security Service MI5 involves dealing not just with terrorist threats but also cyber attacks.
"There are now three certainties in life - there's death, there's taxes and there's a foreign intelligence service on your system," explained MI5's head of cyber (who asked not to be named), in his first public interview inside MI5's Thames House headquarters.
MI5's origins are as a counter-espionage agency - catching foreign spies - and that is still what it tries to do in cyberspace.
"There are hostile foreign states out there who are interested in a company's mergers and acquisitions activity, their joint venture intentions, their strategic direction over the next few years and that information would be valuable to that country's state owned enterprises," he said.
So who is behind these attacks? Both MI5 and GCHQ said they knew who was behind the attacks but neither was willing to say.
"We're sure we know who it is," argued Sir Iain, saying only that in many cases attacks are "state sponsored".
"Attribution can be very hard and it's very difficult to do attribution in real time but over a period you can build up a pretty strong idea," he explained.
'Political game' Continue reading the main story?Start Quote
End Quote Michael Hayden Former Director of America's spy agency the NSAWe steal secrets too? but we steal only those things that keep British or American subjects safe and free?
Foreign Secretary William Hague also declined to point the finger now but did not rule out doing so in the future. "That's not been our approach so far. But that might have to change if things get worse," he told the BBC.
Washington has taken a different approach. Both the administration and Congress are explicit about what they see happening to American companies.
"Blueprints for their products that make them successful are being stolen at a breath-taking pace, taken back to China, repurposed and then they re-engineer it and then compete against those companies with those products which they've stolen," Congressman Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee told the BBC.
"I stand back in awe as a professional at the breadth, depth, sophistication and persistence of the Chinese espionage effort against the United States of America," Michael Hayden, former director of America's spy agency the NSA said.
That is, of course, a slightly disingenuous answer since most experts believe that the NSA (along with GCHQ) is amongst the most adept and busy of all global spy agencies when it comes to stealing the secrets of other countries.
Hayden however draws a distinction. "We steal secrets too? but we steal only those things that keep British or American subjects safe and free. We don't steal things to make Americans - or in GCHQ's case British - subjects rich. The Chinese do."
The view from Beijing is very different. It sees America using the charge of economic espionage to distract from its own aggressive cyber activities - ranging from traditional espionage to preparing for cyberwar.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry invited me in to talk to the country's lead negotiator on cyber issues. "China is one of those countries suffering most by hacker attacks," Dr Huang Huikang argued. "They are misunderstanding what happened in China and sometimes we think this is a political game. It's not true and not fair to China."
China is watching the Pentagon grow its cyber command five-fold to nearly 5,000 personnel and also worries at the way in which American corporations still play a dominant role in the internet globally.
"Getting hold of technological secrets so that you can learn from another country is nothing new," says Professor Xu Guangyu, a former general in the People's Liberation Army. "It happened well before the advent of cyberspace. The main thing is that the control of cyberspace is too concentrated in the hands of the United States."
China's argument has been bolstered by Edward Snowden's leaked documents which portray a huge level of espionage against Chinese (and other) computer networks and information flows.
The interview with GCHQ's director was conducted before Snowden's documents began to emerge. A number of his revelations concerned the work of GCHQ including its receipt of information from major technology companies through America's Prism programme.
In a statement after the revelations, Sir Iain said that GCHQ did not circumvent the law and worked under a robust framework. "I can say that any data obtained by us from any other nation which involves individuals in the UK is subject to proper UK statutory controls and safeguards," he told the BBC.
"The secret intelligence provided by all the UK security and intelligence agencies is vital to defeating terrorism and maintaining Britain's broader national security. Acquiring it in ways that somehow evade UK law would be a contradiction in terms."
Under Attack - The Threat From Cyberspace is broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Monday 1 July at 20:00 BST.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23098867#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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Monday, July 1, 2013
U.S. seeks to calm European outrage over alleged spying
By Jeff Mason and Mark Felsenthal
DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - President Barack Obama tried on Monday to reassure European allies affronted by reports of U.S. spying by suggesting all the world's intelligence services were involved in finding out the thinking of opponents and allies alike.
The European Union has demanded the United States explain a report in a German magazine that Washington was spying on the bloc, calling such surveillance shocking if true.
French President Francois Hollande said the alleged action was intolerable and could hinder U.S. relations with Paris and the EU. "We want this to stop fast," he said.
Obama, on a visit to Tanzania, promised to supply all the information requested by European allies regarding the spying allegations, which he said Washington was still evaluating.
"Every intelligence service, not just ours, but every European intelligence service, every Asian intelligence service, wherever there's an intelligence service, here's one thing they're going to be doing: they're going to be trying to understand the world better and what's going on in world capitals around the world from sources that aren't available through the New York Times or NBC News," Obama said.
"If that weren't the case, then there would be no use for an intelligence service. And I guarantee you that in European capitals, there are people who are interested in - if not what I had for breakfast - at least what my talking points might be should I end up meeting with their leaders. That's how intelligence services operate."
His secretary of state, John Kerry, who is in Brunei for an Asian security conference, said the United States was not alone in using "lots of activities" to safeguard its security.
Revelations about the U.S. surveillance program, which was made public by fugitive former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, have raised a furor in the United States and abroad over the balance between privacy rights and national security.
The Guardian newspaper said on Sunday the United States had also spied on non-European allies, including Japan, South Korea and India - all represented at the Asian security conference.
Kerry confirmed that EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton had raised the issue when he met her in Brunei. He said he had yet to see details of the newspaper allegations.
"I will say that every country in the world that is engaged in international affairs and national security undertakes lots of activities to protect its national security and all kinds of information contributes to that. All I know is that it is not unusual for lots of nations," Kerry told a news conference.
Several EU policymakers said talks on a U.S.-EU free trade deal should be frozen until Washington clarified its activities.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has asked officials to carry out a security sweep of EU buildings, said Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen, spokeswoman for the EU's executive body.
Martin Schulz, president of the EU Parliament, said the United States had crossed a line.
"I was always sure that dictatorships, some authoritarian systems, tried to listen ... but that measures like that are now practiced by an ally, by a friend, that is shocking, if it is true," Schulz said in an interview with France 2 radio.
STRONG TIES, SNOOPING CONCERNS
Obama emphasized that U.S.-European ties were strong.
"The Europeans are some of the closest allies that we have in the world. And we work with them on everything, and we share intelligence constantly," he said.
"I've asked my team ... to evaluate everything that's being claimed. When we have an answer, we will make sure to provide all the information that our allies want."
Officials in Japan and South Korea said they were aware of the newspaper reports and had asked Washington to clarify them.
A U.S. State Department spokesman said talks with allies about the issue were already underway.
In an article that sparked EU outrage, Der Spiegel said on Saturday that the National Security Agency (NSA) bugged EU offices and gained access to EU internal computer networks.
On Sunday the German magazine reported that the U.S. agency taps half a billion phone calls, emails and text messages in Germany in a typical month, much more than any other European peer and similar to the data tapped in China or Iraq.
Hollande said he had told Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius to contact Kerry for an explanation and that Fabius would also meet the U.S. ambassador in Paris "to make the point that we cannot tolerate this kind of behavior between allies and friends".
The French president said France and the EU, if not all U.S. partners, would need guarantees on the spying issue before going ahead with negotiations and dealings with the United States.
"We know there are systems that need to be monitored, notably in the battle against terrorism, but I don't think this risk exists within our embassies or the European Union," he said.
A Mexican official said Washington should apologize.
"In my view, the first thing should be to offer an apology to the countries affected," said Gabriela Cuevas, head of the Mexican Senate's foreign relations committee.
In Berlin, German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger said the spying reports recalled Cold War hostilities. "It goes beyond any imagination that our friends in the United States view the Europeans as enemies," she said.
Peer Steinbrueck, Social Democrat candidate for German chancellor, said the EU and European parliament should halt trade talks with Washington until "these activities are ruled out" in future.
The European Commission was cagy on whether the row would affect the EU-U.S. free trade talks set to begin in Washington on July 8. Spokeswoman Hansen said: "All I can say is we are very much focused on the question of these allegations and we are looking for a clear statement from our American partners."
Snowden is now holed up at an international airport in Russia, from where he has applied for asylum in Ecuador.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow would never hand Snowden over, but that if he wanted to stay in Russia he must "stop his work aimed at harming our American partners".
(Additional reporting by Lesley Wroughton in Brunei, Adrian Croft in Brussels, Pierre-Henri Allain in Paris, Catherine Hornby in Rome, Alissa de Carbonel in Moscow, Noah Barkin in Berlin, Paul Eckert in Washington, Simon Gardner, and Simon Gardner in Mexico; Writing by Stuart Grudgings and Jeff Mason; Editing by Alistair Lyon and Andrew Heavens)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/eu-confronts-u-over-surveillance-reports-013124266.html
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