Monday, 29 October 2012

Consumers, farmers squeezed as grain giants tighten grip

LONDON (Reuters) - A global race for grain trading power is putting more of the world's vital cereals in the hands of fewer companies, with a string of recent acquisitions raising fears that consumers will pay even more for their food, while farmers are squeezed.

Archer Daniels Midland last week bid for Australia's last independent grain handler GrainCorp , the latest in a series of moves by grain trading heavyweights to grab a larger slice of a booming market as developing economies seek food security.

The four "ABCD" firms - ADM, Bunge , Cargill and Louis Dreyfus - dominate global grain trading along with top global commodities trader Glencore and Japan's Marubeni , both of which have made major acquisitions in the last few months.

With food price volatility increasingly coming to the fore, most recently in the wake of drought in the U.S. and other key producing regions, concern is growing among importers about extra upward pressure on prices.

"The increasing concentration of power in the global grain market is not healthy. This will lead to grain prices being controlled by top trading companies," said Rusman Heriawan, deputy agriculture minister of Indonesia, Asia's top wheat importer.

The United Nations sounded alarm bells on market volatility this summer as corn alone surged around 40 percent in less than a month. Soybeans hit record highs, while wheat also shot up dramatically, reviving memories of the 2007/08 food crisis.

"So-called grain majors account for about 75 percent of the global grain market. If they keep on merging with other grain companies, there is the possibility of a monopolistic situation," said Han Sukho of the grains division at the Korea Rural Economic Institute.

"This will make things difficult for importing countries like South Korea. We might have to pay more than what things actually cost," the assistant director of the state-run think-tank added.

South Korea is a major importer of both wheat and maize.

OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY

After a doubling in quarterly profits helped by the impact of drought on the grain trade, Bunge Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Alberto Weisser said on Thursday that he expected industry consolidation to continue.

"I do believe that we will have more consolidation because the market has shown that it is necessary to have large companies" with geographically diverse assets and strong balance sheets "to operate and serve the market in these volatile times," he said. "We are part of it."

Lee Gaus, vice president of International Futures Group, said there were some benefits from the consolidation for the grain trading companies, who will have more flexibility from expanded networks.

But consumers will feel the impact if importers and supermarkets are subject to higher prices, as the flexibility of supply reduces.

"There are efficiencies that are gained when you have this kind of consolidation. But, on the other hand, there's a danger in a situation where you have more and more controlled by fewer and fewer," he said.

"Ultimately this hurts the consumer. I don't know any time that you can concentrate so much leverage in so few hands that it doesn't eventually impact the consumer," Gaus added.

Gaus also saw the consolidation as a threat to producers who are faced with fewer potential buyers for their crops - meaning that they might be forced to accept lower prices for their produce.

Farmers are often dependent on the grain trading companies for their seed and fertilizers as well as providing a buyer for their crops.

"It (grain market consolidation) has a negative impact, both on the many producers that feed into this very small number of traders and on the other end on their customers and ultimately consumers," said Jodie Thorpe, policy adviser for Oxfam.

ADM, through the acquisition of GrainCorp, will join Cargill and Glencore, both of whom have already made major acquisitions in the world's second largest wheat exporter.

"If GrainCorp is swallowed up by U.S. giant Archer Daniels Midland, all bulk grain exporting capacity in South Australia, Victoria, NSW and Queensland will be foreign owned," said Warren Truss, leader of the opposition National Party.

"We are rapidly descending into a state where farmers will toil in their paddocks while post-farm gate profits from Australia's A$9 billion-a-year grain crops will be counted in multi-national boardrooms," he added.

Australia is a key exporter of wheat to China, where demand is expected to rise sharply in coming years.

"Such consolidation would result in lower prices for Australian farmers if those farmers are not big enough to compete," said Zhong Funing, director at the International Research Centre for Food and Agricultural Economics at Nanjing Agricultural University.

"China could also lose its access to relatively cheap Australian wheat. China's grain imports are definitely on the rise. There is limited scope for expanding the farmland while demand growth is coming largely from the livestock industry."

(Additional reporting by Karl Plume in Chicago, Eunhye Shin in Seoul, Niu Shuping in Beijing, Yayat Supriatna in Jakarta, James Grubel and Maggie Lu-YueYang in Canberra; Editing by Veronica Brown and Will Waterman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/consumers-farmers-squeezed-grain-giants-tighten-grip-092106063--finance.html

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Friday, 26 October 2012

1,000 Days | A Definite Cure for Malnutrition

It has been said that hundreds of thousands of dollars and equally as many hours have been spent searching for a cure for malnutrition. The good news is that a cure has been found ? it?s called FOOD!

Every day of the year my thoughts turn to countries where food is a precarious commodity. These are countries where we should concentrate our efforts on sustainable solutions rather than short-term fixes.

I work in the Central Plateau of Haiti, which suffers from the highest rate of malnutrition in the country. Families struggle to provide their children with just one meal a day. I?ve witnessed mothers walking barefoot for days across mountains with a baby dying from malnutrition in their arms, looking for help. Throughout Haiti, one of every three children under five years old suffers from malnutrition ? and that was before the 2010 earthquake.

2012-10-25-zanmi1.jpeg
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Zanmi Agrikol is the agricultural arm of Zanmi Lasante (Creole for ?Partners In Health?). As an organization dedicated to breaking the cycle of poverty and disease, we have chosen to reach out to families who have children in special programs for severe malnutrition and are being treated with Ready to Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF). We believe that by getting to the root causes of malnutrition we can help create effective and sustainable change.

Haiti is a rural country with the potential for its people to become prosperous and well-fed. Unfortunately, the lack of education and environmental management has led to depleted, non-productive soil. Erosion has taken away much of the arable land. Cutting trees for charcoal causes deforestation, which leads to mud from the barren hillsides sliding into the sea and taking with it the last vestiges of green and growth.

Our programs at Zanmi Agrikol educate farmers about new and proven ways of planting, conservation, reforestation, and animal husbandry. We?re introducing improved strains of crops and vegetables not previously available, teaching families the all-important building blocks of good nutrition, explaining what foods should be given to children each day, and underlining the importance of sustainable farming with seasonal management. Animals, such as goats, provide stopgap funding during times of crisis, including crop failure due to drought or floods. Animals are a kind of ?living bank? and are integral to any program dealing with food security.

Through our Family Assistance Program we are empowering families to grow their own food, and through their own efforts combat the crisis that so often takes the lives of their children. Our program gives families, tools, seeds, trees, education, and a goat. Seeds are returned after the first harvest with a small amount of interest to introduce business principles.

A baby goat is also handed on to another family, encouraging the principle of ?helping thy neighbor.? The circle is enlarged, and will continue to grow.

We want to enable each family to produce sufficient food for themselves, and enough excess to take to market. Improving the quality of local markets can significantly strengthen communities. Fruit trees are being planted in great quantities, particularly the hugely popular mango. Their increased yields are allowing families and communities to form cooperatives and combine their goods in order to access larger markets.

By the way the local markets are quite something to visit with everything, including the kitchen sink, being available ? goods being spread out mostly on the ground in large and small quantities and varying degrees of quality. Clothing, furniture, chairs, hats, millions of second hand shoes, alcohol, dried fish, spices and condiments, fruits, meat and poultry both alive and otherwise, adding to the joyous cacophony of sound, and of course the produce of the local farmers being proudly displayed!

2012-10-25-zanmi2.jpeg
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Thanks to our Family Assistance Program, more food is now becoming available, children are going to school with food in their tummies, and we are starting to see huge differences in class participation and performance. We are also working on small school vegetable gardens to help supplement the one meal given to students and underline, once again, the importance of fresh food.

Our programs can be easily ?transplanted? to other communities and areas where children are suffering from malnutrition and lack of food. To be able to expand this program what we need is more participation and more funding to help more families grow real food. Our pilot program started with just 20 families and to date we have enrolled and helped more than 1,500 families. If we count about 10 members per family, that amounts to having touched nearly 15,000 hungry people. The restoration of pride and dignity to families once bowed down under the weight of desperation and hopelessness is wonderful to witness. We are now seeing heads held high and positive attitudes toward a changing future.

This post originally appeared on the Global Motherhood blog.?

Source: http://www.thousanddays.org/2012/10/a-definite-cure-for-malnutrition/

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Tuesday, 23 October 2012

EU wants more indie films released online

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Home Prices Up 11 Percent - Speaking of Real Estate

Home sales dropped a bit over the last month but they remain strong compared to this time last year and price gains remain robust.

NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun released NAR?s September 2012 existing-home sales figures on Friday last week, and they?re down 1.7 percent from August figures, to an annual sales pace of 4.75 million units. That?s still 11 percent above where they were last year, suggesting that the long-term upward trend continues.

The upward trend of prices continues as well. The median price, at $183,900, is up a strong 11.3 percent from year-ago levels. Part of that increase stems from the mix of houses being sold today. We?re seeing fewer distressed sales as a percentage of the market, and prices are reflecting that more favorable mix. But Yun said on Friday that the increase is also reflective of genuine price appreciation. Indices that look at price changes of the same assets over time, like Case-Shiller and the Federal Housing Finance Agency price index, are showing similar price increases. So, the gains aren?t just from a change in the mix of homes being sold; they?re also from asset appreciation, Yun said.

Two other notable data points from Friday?s release:

1. Inventory is dropping, so you can expect upward price pressure to continue. The supply of homes available for sale is now at 5.9 months, the first time in a number of years the number has dropped below 6 months. Total inventory stands at 2.32 million units.

2. Time on market has dropped to a median 70 days, with roughly a third of all sales closing in 30 days or so. At this time last year, the median time on market was more than 100 days, so the trend is positive.

You can learn more in the 5-minute video from Yun?s press conference above.

Access NAR?s news release on the latest figures.

Source: http://speakingofrealestate.blogs.realtor.org/2012/10/22/home-prices-up-11-percent/

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Country living down to a tee: ?4million manor house with nine bedrooms, six bathrooms... and an 18 hole golf course

  • The unidentified owner has enjoyed having the course to himself since he designed it a decade ago
  • Picturesque course boasts the longest recorded golf hole in Britain
  • Prospective owners will also get stables, a heated swimming pool and a separate two-bed cottage

By Steve Nolan

|

A dream home for golf fanatics has gone on sale for ?4 million complete with its own championship length 18-hole course.

The unidentified owner designed the course himself after moving into historic Idehill Manor in Devon 10 years ago and it boasts the longest recognised golf hole in Britain - a 740 yard par six.

He has enjoyed the luxury of having the challenging course to himself on a daily basis, with family and friends occasionally joining him by invitation.

A rural residence, the only one with a championship size golf course in the grounds, has gone on sale for ?4 million

A rural residence, the only one with a championship size golf course in the grounds, has gone on sale for ?4 million

Idehill Manor in Devon, complete with its own private golf course designed by its unidentified owner

Idehill Manor in Devon, complete with its own private golf course designed by its unidentified owner

The stunning course at historic Idehill Manor boasts the longest recognised golf hole in Britain - a 740 yard par 6.

The stunning course at historic Idehill Manor boasts the longest recognised golf hole in Britain - a 740 yard par 6

Now aged in his 70s, the retired businessman is looking to downsize from the 16th century nine-bed manor house that was once owned by King George II and latterly by the Earl of Ilchester.

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The grade II listed property, that comes with 51 acres of grounds with 'views to die for' according to the brochure, also includes a two bed yeoman's cottage complete with separate entrance.

It has gone on the market for ?3.95 million.

At the moment a local greenkeeper is employed by the owner to maintain the course - the fairways and greens are cut once every fours days.

The main house has six reception rooms, a snooker room, a heated swimming pool and original beams and fire places. The largely thatched building also features six bathrooms with the master bedroom overlooking the pool and adjoining sun terrace.

The owner, a golfing fanatic, designed the 18 hole course himself after moving into the manor 10 years ago and has enjoyed the luxury of having the challenging course to himself on a daily basis.

The owner, a golfing fanatic, designed the 18 hole course himself after moving into the manor 10 years ago and has enjoyed the luxury of having the challenging course to himself on a daily basis

Whoever snaps up the property can enjoy a swim after a round of golf as the manor also boasts its own swimming pool

Whoever snaps up the property can enjoy a swim after a round of golf as the manor also boasts its own swimming pool

The pensioner, who shares the property in Farway, near Honiton, with his wife, said he will be sad to leave the home.

He said: 'It is the only private championship-length golf course on the British Isles and it does have the longest hole in the country as well.

'We bought the house 10 years ago. I?m a keen golfer and I had 50 acres of land to myself so it made sense.

'I designed the course myself and the first tee is only 100 yards from the main entrance.

The interior of the manor is as breathtaking as the exterior as this above-par kitchen shows

The interior of the manor is as breathtaking as the exterior as this above-par kitchen shows

'The course extends to three sides of the house and is very sympathetic to the landscape, which is one of the reasons why it doesn?t have any bunkers.

'The other reason is due to maintenance, as you don?t have to worry about cutting around them.

'The best time to play is at 7am on a Sunday when all you can hear are the birds and sheep.

Estate agents should have no trouble selling the manor which is beautifully decorated throughout

Estate agents should have no trouble selling the manor which is beautifully decorated throughout

'You don?t have to worry about waiting your turn to play or other golfers whistling a shot past your head.

'We do have to down-size. It is a big place and looking after the course is a big job.

'I would hope that whoever buys it will keep the course but it is up to them.

'I would have thought it would appeal to somebody who has a lot of money, who is a keen golfer and who wants to live in a lovely house that used to be owned by a King.

The new owner of Idehill Manor in Devon can also enjoy a game of snooker inside

The new owner of Idehill Manor in Devon can also enjoy a game of snooker inside

'There is great kudos in being able to say to friends or business clients "come and have a game on my golf course".'

PLENTY FOR YOUR MONEY?

What you get for ?3.95 million if you buy grade 2 listed Idehill Manor:

  • Nine bedrooms
  • Six reception rooms
  • Six bathrooms
  • A heated swimming pool and sun terrace
  • 51 acres of land with a championship size 18-hole golf course
  • A snooker room
  • Stabling for four plus horses
  • A separate two-bedroom yeoman's cottage

The golf course extends to 6,117 yards and is a par 73. There are four par threes, 10 par fours, three par fives and a par six.

The owner plays off a handicap of eight strokes over the par but his best score is 79.

One of his favourite holes is the 15th, which has a tall oak tree 100 yards in front of the green and requires an accurate tee shot either side of it.

The property is being sold by Exeter-based estate agents Jackson-Stopps and Staff.

Agent Graham Dixon said: 'It is very rare for a property with its own private golf course to come on the market.

'It is undulating countryside and there are some pretty special views to be had when going round the course.'


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Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2221805/Country-living-tee--4million-manor-house-bedrooms-bathrooms--18-hole-golf-course.html?ITO=1490

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Monday, 22 October 2012

Employ These Tactics For Successful Web Marketing | Eric Chua ...

In this day and age, it is more important than ever to develop and implement an effective and appealing Affiliate marketing strategy. Not bothering to make and follow a plan can keep you from reaching your full potential online. Read this article for tricks about using Web marketing effectively.

If you can?t afford a marketing consultant, research on your own. Find some free internet resources about checking up on the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. Consider joining an online business community and other online social groups that will benefit your business.

How good is your service or product? If your product is inferior, internet promotion cannot make it a success. If your product is the greatest ever, people will flock to it.

TIP! Knowing what your competition is up to is a necessity if you want to stay ahead of them. If you check out your competition, you can find what you need to do.

Make sure to give your customers opportunities to easily buy similar products to the one they have just purchased. As an illustrative instance, if your site sells shoes and a customer purchases a pair of boots, provide them with links to the other boots you offer. By linking the products you advertise to the items your customer has purchased, you may increase your profits.

While web marketing has some commonality with other strategies, it differs in some substantial ways. For example, you may find that search engines are no longer paying attention to your title tags. If this happened, you would need to be prepared to consider your other options, such as a viral video marketing effort.

Capitalize on the mobile marketing revolution. Text notifications are a great way to let your visitors know there is a promotion on. This is a newer method of advertising that will give you assistance in your online marketing campaign.

TIP! It is helpful to have a 500 error page that is user-friendly. This could happen if a database code written by you decides to just quit working.

Take the necessary time to learn about web design. There is a wealth of information on the Internet to help you learn CSS, HTML, and other web design specifics. Spend 30 minutes per day educating yourself on web design and, in a matter of weeks, you?ll be able to apply what you?ve learned to your website.

Avoid spam if it?s possible. While it might seem like a good way to reach many people, they are not nearly as effective as you think. Actually, impersonal advertising will turn off people giving them the opposite effect you intended to give.

TIP! Is there a service you can offer your customers free of charge? You will get visitors to your site due to your free offer and many may stay for a time if the site interests them. You could, for instance, offer free samples, discounts, free tools and items your readers can download.

Consider creating a web page for comments and customer reviews of your products and services. Customer?s post their real experiences with your product and these can make new sales, at the same time they are increasing your presence on the Internet with more content.

Just about all cell carriers permit you to have dedicated numbers for each use on the same phone. It is important, therefore, that you take the necessary steps to get a number.

Upload a viral video. Be sure you include appropriate tags, too. Be sure to include a link that leads to your site in the video?s description. This will have a big impact on the amount of people who visit your website.

TIP! Have special promotions to attract more visitors to your website. Offer certain e-books or products for steep discounts for one or two days.

Make sure you follow up with your customers. To see how your products are being perceived, try to get your customers to complete surveys.

Try using words like ?simple? and ?easy? in your Internet campaign. People do not like products that seem overly complicated, so adding tag lines like ?easy to use? or ?easy to order? will entice customers to try out your product. This is a great way to increase business.

If you?re going to rely on claims in marketing your product, make sure they are claims you can prove. People aren?t going to believe you if you say that French course you?re pitching helped improve your French, but they might believe you if you show them a video of you speaking French using examples from the course. This illustrates why you need to sell any products you have used if possible.

TIP! Email marketing is an important, beneficial tool. Be certain to protect them! Avoid using those free email services since they tend to delete all the old messages.

To succeed in website marketing you must invest the time and effort that would be required in any other job. Choose a trustworthy admirable online mentor. Many people who are well versed in internet promotion provide free services or services for a small fee. Design a strategy that makes sense for your business, and see it through. While progress may be limited in the beginning, perseverance will show results in the end.

Now that you?ve learned a little bit more on online marketing and how to approach it, figure out how to use that in your own advertising campaign. With a little effort and patience, the steps you take through web marketing are sure to lead to a more successful business.

Join me on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/maynaseric

Source: http://www.maynaseric.com/employ-these-tactics-for-successful-web-marketing

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Chance of agreeing on Syria ceasefire small: Arab official

DUBAI (Reuters) - A Muslim holiday this week provides only a small window of hope for agreement on a ceasefire between Syria's rebels and the government of President Bashar al-Assad, a senior Arab League official said on Tuesday.

United Nations and Arab League envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi has been pushing for a temporary ceasefire to mark the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha, which will begin on Friday and last over the weekend.

But Ahmed Ben Hilli, deputy secretary-general of the Arab League, told Reuters: "Until now the hope is weak ...

"The indications that are now apparent and the government's reaction ... do not show any signs of a real desire to implement this ceasefire," he said on the sidelines of a conference in Dubai.

"We are days away from Eid. We hope the situation changes and the government and opposition respond even a little bit to this door for negotiations."

Separately, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged the Syrian government and all opposition groups to accept Brahimi's proposal, calling it "a necessary step toward a long-term ceasefire and the launch of a political process aimed at providing for a Syrian democratic renewal".

Like Assad, Russia has laid most of the blame for the continuing violence on the rebels, who it says are aided by encouragement and weapons from abroad.

In Damascus on Sunday, Assad told Brahimi the key to any political solution was to stop the arming of the rebels.

Human rights activists say the conflict, which has drawn in regional and international powers backing different sides, has killed more than 30,000 people since protests against Assad erupted in March last year.

(Reporting by Amena Bakr in Dubai and Steve Gutterman in Moscow; Writing by Andrew Hammond; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chance-agreeing-syria-ceasefire-small-arab-official-092003071.html

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Epson PowerLite 1761W Multimedia Projector


The Epson PowerLite 1761W Multimedia Projector is modestly priced for an ultra-light WGXA data projector, yet provides superb data and video image quality and solid connectivity choices. It succeeds the now discontinued Epson PowerLite 1775W Multimedia Projector as Editors' Choice. Though it lacks a few features of the Epson PowerLite 1776W , which is replacing the Epson 1775W in Epson's product line, in our testing it showed slightly better image quality and it sells at a much lower price.

The 1761W has a rated brightness of 2,600 lumens, and has native WXGA (1,280 by 800) resolution, compatible with widescreen laptops with a 16:10 aspect ratio. Its light engine employs the 3LCD technology that Epson helped develop.

This all-black projector measures a slim 2.1 by 11.5 by 8.3 inches (HWD) and weighs 3.7 pounds. Is similar in form to the Casio Slim XJ-A246 ($1,499.99 direct, 3.5 stars), which has almost identical dimensions but is a bit heavier, at 5 pounds.

The 1761W has both zoom and focus wheels behind the lens. The focus wheel was responsive, and I could easily get a sharp image. The projector comes with a soft carrying case, which features several pouches and a messenger strap.

The 1761W has the ports that count for a portable data projector: VGA, HDMI, RCA video, audio in; a type B USB port for keyboard and mouse control; and a type A USB port for running a presentation off a USB thumb drive. It also has a second type A USB port, behind a screw-off cover, specifically for its included wireless LAN module.

Data Testing
I tested the 1761W from about seven feet away, where the image filled our test screen (about 70 inches diagonal). The image was bright enough to tolerate a fair amount of ambient light without degradation, and wasn't notably fainter than the Epson 1776W.

Data image quality, as tested using the DisplayMate suite, was very good for a business projector. Type in our text testing was readable at all sizes, though slightly blurred at the smallest size. The only issue worth mention was a very slight tinting in a few white and gray backgrounds?it was somewhat less apparent than similar tinting with the Epson 1776W, and is unlikely to bother anyone if they even notice it.

Video and Sound
Video quality was above average for a data projector, good enough for video clips of any length as part of a presentation, or even to show movies with. It did very well in capturing detail in dark scenes, but there was a modest loss of detail in some very bright scenes. As an LCD-based projector, it's immune to the distracting rainbow effect frequently seen in DLP projectors.

Audio from the 1-watt speaker is of modest volume, adequate for use in a small to mid-sized classroom or conference room, and sound quality is reasonably good.

Bulb Life
The 1761W has a lamp life of up to 4,000 hours. That's good for a data projector, although a far cry from the Casio XJ-A246, whose hybrid LED-laser light engine's bulb can last up to 20,000 hours, essentially the lifetime of the projector.? The 1761W, though, offers better data and video image quality (the latter free from the rainbow artifacts seen in the Casio XJ-A246's video), at a much lower price.

The Epson 1761W is a superbly sleek and light data projector, with very good data and video image quality. Data images showed less tinting than those from the Epson 1775W. Though not quite as bright as the Epson 1775W and Epson 1776W, which are rated at 3,000 lumens, the 1761W's test image stood up to a good amount of ambient light without notable degradation. The 1761W provides Wi-Fi connectivity, though it lacks the 1776W's Quick Connect ad hoc wireless key that facilitates connection. It also makes do with automatic vertical keystone correction, rather than the 1776Ws vertical and horizontal correction plus Auto Screen Fit. But neither of those features is critical, and with the Epson PowerLite 1761W Multimedia Projector you get slightly better image quality and most of the fixings for a much lower price, making it a new Editors' Choice.

More Projector Reviews:
??? Epson PowerLite 1761W Multimedia Projector
??? Epson PowerLite 1776W Multimedia Projector
??? Casio XJ-H2650
??? Casio Slim XJ-A146
??? ViewSonic PJD5133
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/tXlxDTkgmig/0,2817,2411146,00.asp

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Sunday, 21 October 2012

George McGovern dies; lost 1972 presidential bid

FILE - In this July 14, 1972 file photo, Sen. George S. McGovern makes his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Miami Beach. At left is his running mate, Sen. Thomas F. Eagleton of Missouri, and at right, convention chairman Lawrence F. O'Brien. A family spokesman says, McGovern, the Democrat who lost to President Richard Nixon in 1972 in a historic landslide, has died at the age of 90. According to the spokesman, McGovern died Sunday, Oct. 21, 2012 at a hospice in Sioux Falls, surrounded by family and friends. (AP Photo)

FILE - In this July 14, 1972 file photo, Sen. George S. McGovern makes his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Miami Beach. At left is his running mate, Sen. Thomas F. Eagleton of Missouri, and at right, convention chairman Lawrence F. O'Brien. A family spokesman says, McGovern, the Democrat who lost to President Richard Nixon in 1972 in a historic landslide, has died at the age of 90. According to the spokesman, McGovern died Sunday, Oct. 21, 2012 at a hospice in Sioux Falls, surrounded by family and friends. (AP Photo)

FILE - In this July 14, 1972 file photo, Sen. George S. McGovern with his wife, Eleanor, and Sen. Thomas F. Eagleton with his wife, Barbara Ann, stand before the Democratic National Convention delegates who chose them to try to capture the White House from President Richard Nixon in Miami. A family spokesman says, McGovern, the Democrat who lost to President Richard Nixon in 1972 in a historic landslide, has died at the age of 90. According to the spokesman, McGovern died Sunday, Oct. 21, 2012 at a hospice in Sioux Falls, surrounded by family and friends. (AP Photo)

FILE - In this undated file photo, Sen. George McGovern sits in the cockpit of a training plane. A family spokesman says, McGovern, the Democrat who lost to President Richard Nixon in 1972 in a historic landslide, has died at the age of 90. According to the spokesman, McGovern died Sunday, Oct. 21, 2012 at a hospice in Sioux Falls, surrounded by family and friends.(AP Photo, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 23, 1984 file photo, Rev. Jesse Jackson, left, and former Sen. George McGovern both gesture during the Democratic presidential debate in Manchester, N.H. A family spokesman says, McGovern, the Democrat who lost to President Richard Nixon in 1972 in a historic landslide, has died at the age of 90. According to the spokesman, McGovern died Sunday, Oct. 21, 2012 at a hospice in Sioux Falls, surrounded by family and friends.(AP Photo, File)

FILE - In this March 10, 1969 file photo, Rosalie Bryant holds her two year old son, Gregory Michael as she talks to Senators George McGovern, D-S.D., right and Jacob Javits, R-N.Y., in Immokalee, Fla. A family spokesman says, McGovern, the Democrat who lost to President Richard Nixon in 1972 in a historic landslide, has died at the age of 90. According to the spokesman, McGovern died Sunday, Oct. 21, 2012 at a hospice in Sioux Falls, surrounded by family and friends.(AP Photo/Jim Bourdier, File)

(AP) ? George McGovern once joked that he had wanted to run for president in the worst way ? and that he had done so.

It was a campaign in 1972 dishonored by Watergate, a scandal that fully unfurled too late to knock Republican President Richard M. Nixon from his place as a commanding favorite for re-election. The South Dakota senator tried to make an issue out of the bungled attempt to wiretap the offices of the Democratic National Committee, calling Nixon the most corrupt president in history.

But the Democrat could not escape the embarrassing missteps of his own campaign. The most torturous was the selection of Missouri Sen. Thomas F. Eagleton as the vice presidential nominee and, 18 days later, following the disclosure that Eagleton had undergone electroshock therapy for depression, the decision to drop him from the ticket despite having pledged to back him "1,000 percent."

It was at once the most memorable and the most damaging line of his campaign, and called "possibly the most single damaging faux pas ever made by a presidential candidate" by the late political writer Theodore H. White.

After a hard day's campaigning ? Nixon did virtually none ? McGovern would complain to those around him that nobody was paying attention. With R. Sargent Shriver as his running mate, he went on to carry only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia, winning just 38 percent of the popular vote in one of the biggest landslides losses in American presidential history.

"Tom and I ran into a little snag back in 1972 that in the light of my much advanced wisdom today, I think was vastly exaggerated," McGovern said at an event with Eagleton in 2005. Noting that Nixon and his running mate, Spiro Agnew, would both ultimately resign, he joked, "If we had run in '74 instead of '72, it would have been a piece of cake."

A proud liberal who had argued fervently against the Vietnam War as a Democratic senator from South Dakota and three-time candidate for president, McGovern died at 5:15 a.m. Sunday at a Sioux Falls hospice, family spokesman Steve Hildebrand told The Associated Press. McGovern was 90.

McGovern's family had said late last week that McGovern had become unresponsive while in hospice care, and Hildebrand said he was surrounded by family and lifelong friends when he died.

"We are blessed to know that our father lived a long, successful and productive life advocating for the hungry, being a progressive voice for millions and fighting for peace. He continued giving speeches, writing and advising all the way up to and past his 90th birthday, which he celebrated this summer," the family said in the statement.

A funeral will be held in Sioux Falls, with details announced soon, Hildebrand said.

A decorated World War II bomber pilot, McGovern said he learned to hate war by waging it. In his disastrous race against Nixon, he promised to end the Vietnam War and cut defense spending by billions of dollars. He helped create the Food for Peace program and spent much of his career believing the United States should be more accommodating to the former Soviet Union.

Never a showman, he made his case with a style as plain as the prairies where he grew up, sounding often more like the Methodist minister he'd once studied to become than longtime U.S. senator and three-time candidate for president he became.

And he never shied from the word "liberal," even as other Democrats blanched at the word and Republicans used it as an epithet.

"I am a liberal and always have been," McGovern said in 2001. "Just not the wild-eyed character the Republicans made me out to be."

McGovern's campaign, nevertheless, left a lasting imprint on American politics. Determined not to make the same mistake, presidential nominees have since interviewed and intensely investigated their choices for vice president. Former President Bill Clinton got his start in politics when he signed on as a campaign worker for McGovern in 1972 and is among the legion of Democrats who credit him with inspiring them to public service.

"I believe no other presidential candidate ever has had such an enduring impact in defeat," Clinton said in 2006 at the dedication of McGovern's library in Mitchell, S.D. "Senator, the fires you lit then still burn in countless hearts."

George Stanley McGovern was born on July 19, 1922, in the small farm town of Avon, S.D, the son of a Methodist pastor. He was raised in Mitchell, shy and quiet until he was recruited for the high school debate team and found his niche. He enrolled at Dakota Wesleyan University in his hometown and, already a private pilot, volunteered for the Army Air Force soon after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

The Army didn't have enough airfields or training planes to take him until 1943. He married his wife, Eleanor Stegeberg, and arrived in Italy the next year. That would be his base for the 35 missions he flew in the B-24 Liberator christened the "Dakota Queen" after his new bride.

In a December 1944 bombing raid on the Czech city of Pilsen, McGovern's plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire that disabled one engine and set fire to another. He nursed the B-24 back to a British airfield on an island in the Adriatic Sea, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross. On his final mission, his plane was hit several times, but he managed to get it back safety ? one of the actions for which he received the Air Medal.

McGovern returned to Mitchell and graduated from Dakota Wesleyan after the war's end, and after a year of divinity school, switched to the study of history and political science at Northwestern University. He earned his master's and doctoral degrees, returned to Dakota Wesleyan to teach history and government, and switched from his family's Republican roots to the Democratic Party.

"I think it was my study of history that convinced me that the Democratic Party was more on the side of the average American," he said.

In the early 1950s, Democrats held no major offices in South Dakota and only a handful of legislative seats. McGovern, who had gotten into Democratic politics as a campaign volunteer, left teaching in 1953 to become executive secretary of the South Dakota Democratic Party. Three years later, he won an upset election to the House; he served two terms and left to run for Senate.

Challenging conservative Republican Sen. Karl Mundt in 1960, he lost what he called his "worst campaign." He said later that he'd hated Mundt so much that he'd lost his sense of balance.

President John F. Kennedy named McGovern head of the Food for Peace program, which sends U.S. commodities to deprived areas around the world. He made a second Senate bid in 1962, unseating Sen. Joe Bottum by just 597 votes. He was the first Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from South Dakota since 1930.

In his first year in office, McGovern took to the Senate floor to say that the Vietnam war was a trap that would haunt the United States ? a speech that drew little notice. He voted the following August in favor of the Gulf of Tonkin resolution under which President Lyndon B. Johnson escalated the U.S. war in the southeast Asian nation.

While McGovern continued to vote to pay for the war, he did so while speaking against it. As the war escalated, so did his opposition. Late in 1969, McGovern called for a cease-fire in Vietnam and the withdrawal of all U.S. troops within a year. He later co-sponsored a Senate amendment to cut off appropriations for the war by the end of 1971. It failed, but not before McGovern had taken the floor to declare "this chamber reeks of blood" and to demand an end to "this damnable war."

President Barack Obama remembered McGovern in a statement Sunday as "a statesman of great conscience and conviction."

"He signed up to fight in World War II, and became a decorated bomber pilot over the battlefields of Europe," the president said. "When the people of South Dakota sent him to Washington, this hero of war became a champion for peace. And after his career in Congress, he became a leading voice in the fight against hunger."

McGovern first sought the Democratic presidential nomination late in the 1968 campaign, saying he would take up the cause of the assassinated Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. He finished far behind Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, who won the nomination, and Minnesota Sen. Eugene McCarthy, who had led the anti-war challenge to Johnson in the primaries earlier in the year. McGovern later called his bid an "anti-organization" effort against the Humphrey steamroller.

"At least I have precluded the possibility of peaking too early," McGovern quipped at the time.

The following year, McGovern led a Democratic Party reform commission that shifted to voters' power that had been wielded by party leaders and bosses at the national conventions. The result was the system of presidential primary elections and caucuses that now selects the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees.

In 1972, McGovern ran under the rules he had helped write. Initially considered a longshot against Sen. Edmund S. Muskie of Maine, McGovern built a bottom-up campaign organization and went to the Democratic national convention in command. He was the first candidate to gain a nominating majority in the primaries before the convention.

It was a meeting filled with intramural wrangling and speeches that verged on filibusters. By the time McGovern delivered his climactic speech accepting the nomination, it was 2:48 a.m., and with most of America asleep, he lost his last and best chance to make his case to a nationwide audience.

McGovern did not know before selecting Eagleton of his running mate's mental health woes, and after dropping him from the ticket, struggled to find a replacement. Several Democrats said no, and a joke made the rounds that there was a signup sheet in the Senate cloakroom. Shriver, a member of the Kennedy family, finally agreed.

The campaign limped into the fall on a platform advocating withdrawal from Vietnam in exchange for the release of POWs, cutting defense spending by a third and establishing an income floor for all Americans. McGovern had dropped an early proposal to give every American $1,000 a year, but the Republicans continued to ridicule it as "the demogrant." They painted McGovern as an extreme leftist and Democrats as the party of "amnesty, abortion and acid."

While McGovern said little about his decorated service in World War II, Republicans depicted him as a weak peace activist. At one point, McGovern was forced to defend himself against assertions he had shirked combat.

He'd had enough when a young man at the airport fence in Battle Creek, Mich., taunted that Nixon would clobber him. McGovern leaned in and said quietly: "I've got a secret for you. Kiss my ass." A conservative Senate colleague later told McGovern it was his best line of the campaign.

Defeated by Nixon, McGovern returned to the Senate and pressed there to end the Vietnam war while championing agriculture, anti-hunger and food stamp programs in the United States and food programs abroad. He won re-election to the Senate in 1974, by which point he could make wry jokes about his presidential defeat.

"For many years, I wanted to run for the presidency in the worst possible way ? and last year, I sure did," he told a formal press dinner in Washington.

After losing his bid for a fourth Senate term in the 1980 Republican landslide that made Ronald Reagan president, McGovern went on to teach and lecture at universities, and found a liberal political action committee. He made a longshot bid in the 1984 presidential race with a call to end U.S. military involvement in Lebanon and Central America and open arms talks with the Soviets. Former Vice President Walter Mondale won the Democratic nomination and went on to lose to President Ronald Reagan by an even bigger margin in electoral votes than had McGovern to Nixon.

He talked of running a final time for president in 1992, but decided it was time for somebody younger and with fewer political scars.

After his career in office ended, McGovern served as U.S. ambassador to the Rome-based United Nation's food agencies from 1998 to 2001 and spent his later years working to feed needy children around the world. He and former Republican Sen. Bob Dole collaborated to create an international food for education and child nutrition program, for which they shared the 2008 World Food Prize.

Clinton and his wife, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said in a statement Sunday that while McGovern was "a tireless advocate for human rights and dignity," his greatest passion was helping feed the hungry.

"The programs he created helped feed millions of people, including food stamps in the 1960s and the international school feeding program in the 90's, both of which he co-sponsored with Senator Bob Dole," they said, adding, "We must continue to draw inspiration from his example and build the world he fought for."

McGovern's opposition to armed conflict remained a constant long after he retired. Shortly before Iowa's caucuses in 2004, McGovern endorsed retired Gen. Wesley Clark, and compared his own opposition to the Vietnam War to Clark's criticism of President George W. Bush's decision to wage war in Iraq. One of the 10 books McGovern wrote was 2006's "Out of Iraq: A Practical Plan for Withdrawal Now," written with William R. Polk.

In early 2002, George and Eleanor McGovern returned to Mitchell, where they helped raise money for a library bearing their names. Eleanor McGovern died there in 2007 at age 85; they had been married 64 years, and had four daughters and a son.

"I don't know what kind of president I would have been, but Eleanor would have been a great first lady," he said after his wife's death in 2007.

One of their daughters, Teresa, was found dead in a Madison, Wis., snowdrift in 1994 after battling alcoholism for years. He recounted her struggle in his 1996 book "Terry," and described the writing of it as "the most painful undertaking in my life." It was briefly a best seller and he used the proceeds to help set up a treatment center for victims of alcoholism and mental illness in Madison.

Before the 2008 presidential campaign, McGovern endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination but switched to Barack Obama that May. He called the future president "a moderate," cautious in his ways, who wouldn't waste money or do "anything reckless."

"I think Barack will emerge as one of our great ones," he said in a 2009 interview with The Associated Press. "It will be a victory for moderate liberalism."

___

Online:

McGovern Center for Leadership and Public Service: http://www.mcgoverncenter.com

___

EDITOR'S NOTE ? Walter R. Mears, who reported on government and politics for The Associated Press in Washington for 40 years, covered George McGovern in the Senate and in his 1972 presidential campaign.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-10-21-Obit-McGovern/id-a20f9d2a51774b07af5cf63ca8df3c36

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Can be bribed with food: And to think I didn't use to like wine - Pasta ...



When I was younger I didn?t like wine. In fact, I didn?t like alcohol of any kind and I was the girl drinking her strictly non-alcoholic apricot juice in the corner on Saturday nights out. This, obviously, will come as a shock to anyone who has had the pleasure of dining with me in the past 11 years as I don?t go anywhere without my trusted white wine. And I know that makes me sound like an alcoholic but I can assure you I?m not; I just realised one day I really-really like white wine. Red not so much. I?m, however, no wine expert and stick to regular choices like a Sauvignon Blanc, a Gavi or a bottle of Lugana (but mostly when I go visit my parents in Italy because here I find it difficult to justify spending ?13 on a bottle of it every week) and let?s not mention prosecco which I find the most gentle lunching companion.? And so I was very excited to be contacted by Cantina Orsolani who are based in Piedmont to create a couple of recipes to go with a selection of their wines. All whites. Win.

Orsolani sent me 3 wines: a spumante, a dry white and a dessert wine. I found the dry white not to my taste but that?s very much a personal opinion rather than a reflection on the wine itself whilst the other 2 were delicious and matched what would be my usual choices. The first one I tried and cooked alongside (and my personal favourite) was a Cuvee Tradizione Caluso spumante that I happily gulped down during one of the last warm days of the year alongside a plate of pasta dotted with spicy anchovies, courgettes and lemon zest. The spumante was light and refreshing against the citrus and saltiness of the anchovies: to me a perfect and simple pairing.?

What made this bowl of pasta even more exciting was the use of The Best spicy anchovies in the world (by the Italian brand Rizzoli) which dad and I love to eat just on crackers when the fancy takes us so, you know, they?re ace.

Note to self: always have spumante alongside spicy anchovies.

Penne with spicy anchovies, courgette and lemon zest
Serves 2

250gr penne
2 small courgettes diced
2 garlic cloves crushed
Zest of 1 lemon
1 90gr tin of anchovies in chilli oil (try to get Italian ones, even if not Rizzoli!) roughly chopped
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsps water the pasta has been cooked in
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook the pasta to package instructions.

Whilst the pasta cooks, heat the olive oil in a frying pan at medium heat for a couple of minutes and add the garlic cloves. Sautee the garlic for 2 minutes, add the courgettes and sautee for another 2 minutes.

Add the lemon zest, anchovies (make sure to keep the chilli oil aside!) and pasta water, increase the heat and cook for a minute. Taste and add salt if necessary. Turn the heating off.

Drain the pasta when ready and mix in the frying pan over a low heat for a minute topping it with the chilli oil from the anchovies.


Sprinkle with black pepper and Buon Appetito!

Source: http://www.canbebribedwithfood.com/2012/10/and-to-think-i-didnt-use-to-like-wine.html

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Draft order would give companies cyberthreat info

FILE In this Oct. 10, 2012 file photo, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta speaks at NATO headquarters in Brussels. The military is ready to retaliate if the nation is hit by cyber weapons, according to Panetta, as an executive order is being prepared for President Barack Obama?s signature directing U.S. spy agencies to share the latest intelligence about cyber threats with the companies operating electric grids, water plants, railroads and other vital industries to help protect them from electronic attacks. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)

FILE In this Oct. 10, 2012 file photo, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta speaks at NATO headquarters in Brussels. The military is ready to retaliate if the nation is hit by cyber weapons, according to Panetta, as an executive order is being prepared for President Barack Obama?s signature directing U.S. spy agencies to share the latest intelligence about cyber threats with the companies operating electric grids, water plants, railroads and other vital industries to help protect them from electronic attacks. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)

(AP) ? A new White House executive order would direct U.S. spy agencies to share the latest intelligence about cyberthreats with companies operating electric grids, water plants, railroads and other vital industries to help protect them from electronic attacks, according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press.

The seven-page draft order, which is being finalized, takes shape as the Obama administration expresses growing concern that Iran could be the first country to use cyberterrorism against the United States. The military is ready to retaliate if the U.S. is hit by cyberweapons, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said. But the U.S. also is poorly prepared to prevent such an attack, which could damage or knock out critical services that are part of everyday life.

The White House declined to say when the president will sign the order.

The draft order would put the Department of Homeland Security in charge of organizing an information-sharing network that rapidly distributes sanitized summaries of top-secret intelligence reports about known cyberthreats that identify a specific target. With these warnings, known as tear lines, the owners and operators of essential U.S. businesses would be better able to block potential attackers from gaining access to their computer systems.

An organized, broad-based approach for sharing cyberthreat information gathered by the government is widely viewed as essential for any plan to protect U.S. computer networks from foreign nations, terrorist groups and hackers. Existing efforts to exchange information are narrowly focused on specific industries, such as the finance sector, and have had varying degrees of success.

Yet the order has generated stiff opposition from Republicans on Capitol Hill who view it as a unilateral move that bypasses the legislative authority held by Congress.

Administration officials said the order became necessary after Congress failed this summer to pass cybersecurity legislation, leaving critical infrastructure companies vulnerable to a serious and growing threat. Conflicting bills passed separately by the House and Senate included information-sharing provisions. But efforts to get a final measure through both chambers collapsed over the GOP's concerns that the Senate bill would expand the federal government's regulatory power and increase costs for businesses.

The White House has acknowledged that an order from the president, while legally binding, is not enough. Legislation is needed to make other changes to improve the country's digital defenses. An executive order, for example, cannot offer a company protection from liabilities that might result from a cyberattack on its systems.

The addition of the information-sharing provisions is the most significant change to an earlier draft of the order completed in late August. The new draft, which is not dated, retains a section that requires Homeland Security to identify the vital systems that, if hit by cyberattack, could "reasonably result in a debilitating impact" on national and economic security. Other sections establish a program to encourage companies to adopt voluntary security standards and direct federal agencies to determine whether existing cyber security regulations are adequate.

The draft order directs the department to work with the Pentagon, the National Security Agency, the director of national intelligence and the Justice Department to quickly establish the information-sharing mechanism. Selected employees at critical infrastructure companies would receive security clearances allowing them to receive the information, according to the document. Federal agencies would be required to assess whether the order raises any privacy or civil liberties risks.

To foster a two-way exchange of information, the government would ask businesses to tell the government about cyberthreats or cyberattacks. There would be no requirement to do so.

The NSA has been sharing cyberthreat information on a limited basis with companies that conduct business with the Defense Department. These companies work with sensitive data about weapon systems and technologies and are frequently the targets of cyberspying.

But the loss of valuable information has been eclipsed by fears that an enemy with the proper know-how could cause havoc by sending the computers controlling critical infrastructure systems incorrect commands or infecting them with malicious software. Potential nightmare scenarios include high-speed trains being put on collision courses, blackouts that last days or perhaps even weeks or chemical plants that inadvertently release deadly gases.

Panetta underscored the looming dangers during a speech last week in New York by pointing to the Shamoon virus that destroyed thousands of computer systems owned by Persian Gulf oil and gas companies. Shamoon, which spreads quickly through networked computers and ultimately wipes out files by overwriting them, hit the Saudi Arabian state oil company Aramco and Qatari natural gas producer RasGas.

Panetta did not directly connect Iran to the Aramco and RasGas attacks. But U.S. officials believe hackers based in Iran were behind them.

Shamoon replaced files at Aramco with the image of a burning U.S. flag and rendered more than 30,000 computers useless, Panetta said. The attack on RasGas was similar, he said.

A spokeswoman for the National Security Council, Caitlin Hayden, said the administration is consulting with members of Congress and the private sector as the order is being drafted. But she provided no information on when an order would be signed. "Given the gravity of the threats we face in cyberspace, we want to get this right in addition to getting it done swiftly," she said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-10-20-Cybersecurity%20Order/id-00ab805884ac487b86a4d894e4d5e00b

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Saturday, 20 October 2012

Defense wants 9/11 trial televised globally from Guantanamo

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - The death penalty trial of five Guantanamo prisoners accused of plotting the September 11 attacks is so important that it should be televised to the public, defense lawyers argued on Friday.

The issue was discussed on the final day of a week-long pretrial hearing for the alleged mastermind of the hijacked plane attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and four co-defendants accused of providing money, training and travel assistance to the hijackers.

The five, who could face execution if convicted of charges that include murder and terrorism, skipped Friday's session after the judge declined their request for a recess on the Muslim holy day.

Currently the public can watch closed-circuit broadcasts of the Guantanamo war crimes court proceedings - but only at a 200-seat theater at Fort Meade, a U.S. Army base in Maryland.

Closed-circuit viewing sites at a handful of other military bases in the eastern United States are restricted to relatives of the 2,976 people killed in the hijacked plane attacks and to the firefighters, police officers and other "first responders" who gave aid and searched for victims at the crash sites in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

In hearings at the remote Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba, lawyers for some of the defendants argued that those viewing sites should be opened to the general public. But lawyers for others said the trial should be televised globally to anyone who wants to watch.

"If these proceedings are fair, why is the government afraid to let the world watch?" asked Marine Major William Hennessy, an attorney for Walid Bin Attash, a Yemeni accused of training two the hijackers at an al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan.

"The government admits that these are historic proceedings," Hennessy noted.

He acknowledged that the rules give the U.S. defense secretary sole authority to decide whether to televise the trials, but suggested the judge could make the decision in the interests of ensuring the accused get a fair trial.

The judge, U.S. Army Colonel James Pohl, did not immediately rule on the request but appeared skeptical.

"I can look at any rule, any statue and say ?I wouldn't have done it that way'? Is that what you want a judge to do, really?" he asked Hennessy. "I would have to conclude that the lack of public television means the accused is getting an unfair trial?"

The prosecution said the U.S. public's constitutional right to an open trial had been satisfied by the Fort Meade viewing site, and that no one who wanted to watch the hearings there had been turned away.

Officials at Fort Meade have said during previous hearings that only a few dozen people turned up to watch, and that most of them were journalists, or lawyers assigned to other Guantanamo cases.

(Editing by Tom Brown and David Brunnstrom)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/defense-wants-9-11-trial-televised-globally-guantanamo-200902347.html

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Video: Dissecting Google's Weakness

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/49478325/

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GOP Money Edge, PAC's Big Checks, Lugar's Role (WSJ)

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Friday, 19 October 2012

Rover Curiosity eats first Martian dirt

Fri Oct 19, 2012 1:27am EDT

(Reuters) - NASA's Mars rover Curiosity tasted Martian dirt for the first time on Thursday, testing equipment needed to assess if the planet most like Earth in the solar system has or ever had the ingredients for microbial life.

The sampling of about a baby aspirin's worth of Martian sand was slightly delayed while scientists puzzled over unusual brightly colored flecks in the hole carved out by Curiosity's scoop.

Initially, the team believed the bright flecks were shed by the rover, similar to bits of plastic debris discovered last week.

"The science team started to classify these sort of differently, calling them 'schmutz,'" Curiosity lead scientist John Grotzinger, with the California Institute of Technology, told reporters in a conference call.

"We had a lot of fun with that, labeling them and comparing, but in the end it turns out we really feel this is a different sort of particle," he said.

While not completely ruling out the chance that the flecks are rover debris, most of the team now believes they are naturally occurring, perhaps a mineral that was fractured by the rover scoop.

To be on the safe side, scientists commanded Curiosity to dump that sample and collect sand from another site for processing in the onboard laboratory. The aim is to get an ingredient list of minerals in the Martian soil.

"We got to believing there were things around us and began to look at everything through that lens," said mission manager Richard Cook, with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

"We definitely are more aware of what's out there now and are more careful about everything we look at," Cook said.

In August, Curiosity landed inside a 96-mile-wide (154-km-wide) impact crater near the Martian equator on a $2.5 billion, two-year mission to determine if Mars had the chemistry to support and preserve microbial life.

The mission is NASA's first astrobiology initiative since the 1970s-era Viking probes.

(Editing by Kevin Gray and Mohammad Zargham)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/scienceNews/~3/mKw9o97xgyo/us-space-mars-idUSBRE89H1P520121019

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Obama-Romney Debate a Chance to Delve Into Global Energy

While President Obama and Mitt Romney have done plenty of sparring over domestic energy-policy? issues?such as gasoline prices and who would drill more on public lands?they should both be prepared in Monday?s foreign-policy debate to lay out how they?ll take on the fundamentals of a rapidly changing world energy economy.

The global energy landscape confronting the next president is very different from the one that faced the candidates battling for the White House just four years ago?and it raises a host of complex new foreign-policy questions.

?You have to go back a long time to find a four-year period where the energy scene has changed so dramatically,? said Michael Levi, an energy-policy expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. ?We don?t just have shifting views on old policy debates, we have debates on issues that didn?t exist four years ago. Because of the political and economic situations, we?ve only been talking about energy domestically, but we haven?t scratched the surface internationally.?

Among the new international energy challenges facing the next president: Asia?s growing thirst for oil means that for the first time in history, developing economies such as China and India will consume more energy than the developed world?and compete aggressively with the U.S. for finite oil resources. The new explosion in U.S. natural-gas production offers opportunities for U.S. companies abroad?and raises questions as companies consider exporting the resource. Melting Arctic sea ice is opening up a new rush to drill for oil in the treacherous north?and possibly setting the stage for future environmental catastrophes. And underlying it all is the increasingly urgent problem of climate change caused by burning the coal, oil, and gas that fuel the global economy?but which scientists say could soon lead to catastrophic extreme weather, rising sea levels, and other disasters.

In a speech on Thursday on ?Energy Diplomacy in the Twenty-First Century,? Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spelled out many of those changes and said that her successor will need to place global energy policy at the heart of U.S. foreign policy.

?Energy will be one of the profound issues shaping the 21st century, and we are changing our foreign policy to reflect that,? said Clinton, who has said she expects to retire as the nation?s top diplomat no matter who wins the presidential election.

?Today, energy cuts across the entirety of U.S. foreign policy. It rests at the core of geopolitics. It?s an issue of wealth and power?. It is a matter of national security and global stability. It is at the heart of the global economy and is key to economic development. It?s even an issue of democracy and human rights,? she said.

While energy resources have long played a role in global conflict and diplomacy, their role is increasing and changing.

?This is a moment of profound change ... it raises complex questions about the direction we?re heading,? Clinton said.

Over the last year, Clinton has significantly elevated the role of energy as a driver of foreign policy. Last year, Clinton created the State Department?s Bureau of Energy Resources, charged with forging energy-driven foreign policy around the globe. In the coming weeks, she said, she will be sending out policy guidance to U.S. embassies to elevate reporting on energy and increase outreach to international energy partners.

Among the biggest changes: While the U.S. was the world?s biggest energy consumer and fossil-fuel polluter throughout the last century, China surpassed it in that role two years ago. Studies show that as China, India, and other developing nations continue to grow in the coming decades, the energy resources they choose could have a profound effect on the fate of the global economy?and the planet.

Growing Asian economies are fueled by an increasing appetite for oil, which could send demand and prices higher, dramatically increasing the pollution that causes climate change. It will be essential for the United States and its corporations, Clinton said, to be involved in driving the choices of new global energy consumers.

?The transformation to cleaner energy is central to the 21st-century economy,? she said. ?1.3 billion people don?t have access to energy?we have the technology and know-how that can help people leapfrog to energy that is reliable and affordable but also clean and efficient.?

Meanwhile, U.S. businesses are benefiting from a surge in domestic natural-gas production brought about by breakthroughs in ?fracking? technology. That boom could have a major impact on the world?s energy future, because natural gas has only about half the carbon emissions of coal. Today, U.S. companies are now working in China and Europe to help those countries develop shale gas, which could also help the U.S. achieve strategic geopolitical goals. Russia, the chief supplier of natural gas to Europe, has long wielded that resource as a power lever. But the State Department has created new initiatives for U.S. companies to help European countries develop their own natural-gas resources, which could limit Russia?s power. That?s good for the U.S., but it could also increase environmental concerns about the impact of fracking on water quality.

Another change to the global energy picture: Melting sea ice due to climate change has opened up the Arctic Ocean to oil drilling, and countries are rushing to be the first to exploit the resource. ?The Arctic is a frontier of oil and gas?and also a potential catastrophe. It?s critical we act now to set the rules of the road.? Clinton said. ?Four years ago, these issues didn?t have much currency, but now they?re seen as increasingly important.?

No matter who is the next president, the problem of climate change will need to be confronted. Many U.S. politicians, including Romney, have questioned whether oil and gas emissions contribute to climate change, but those views are out of step with the research of thousands of scientists across the globe. Meanwhile, more leaders in other nations are growing increasingly frustrated with the United States for failing to enact climate policy. Next month, at an annual United Nations summit on climate change, it?s expected that the U.S. will once again come under fire from the rest of the world for dragging its feet on the issue.

Although Obama and Romney have sparred repeatedly over domestic energy issues on the campaign trail, they have said little about how they would approach energy as a foreign-policy matter, let alone lay out how they would address climate change. But both of those issues will be at the heart of the nation?s foreign-policy future, and Monday?s debate provides an opportunity for some serious discussion.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-romney-debate-chance-delve-global-energy-190211842--politics.html

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