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2011年4月29日星期五
Culture of complicity linked to devastated by the nuclear power plant
Masataka Shimizu, center, President of the Tokyo Electric Power and leaders of society knelt to ask forgiveness of the residents to shelter in Kōriyama.
TOKYO - Light of fierce insular nature of the nuclear industry of the Japan, it may be normal that an outsider exposed the cover-up of more serious security in the history of the Japanese nuclear. It took place at Fukushima Daiichi, Japan plant has struggled to get under control since last earthquake and tsunami.
Kei Sugaoka, a nuclear inspector, said regulatory problems at the Fukushima Daiichi plant 11 years ago. Finally, a survey revealed that executives of the Tokyo Electric Power had engaged in a cover-up.In 2000, Kei Sugaoka, an inspector nuclear Japanese-Americans who had worked for General Electric to Daiichi, said principal regulator of the Japan on a dryer nuclear believed that cracked steam was being concealed. If the presentations, the revelations could have forced the operator, Tokyo Electric Power, to do what the utilities want less to: undertake costly repairs.
What happened then was an example, critics have said since then, collusive ties that bind the nuclear nation enterprises, regulators and politicians.
Despite a new law shielding Blowers, the regulator, the nuclear and industrial safety agency, disclosed the identity of Mr. Sugaoka at Tokyo Electric, effectively rejecting the industry. Instead of immediately deploy its own investigators to Daiichi, the Agency has asked the company to inspect its own reactors. Regulators allowed the company to keep operating its reactors over the next two years, even if, a survey revealed in the end, its managers had actually hidden other, more serious problems, including cracks in the shrouds covering the reactor cores.
Investigators can take months or years to decide what extended security problems or low regulations contributed to the disaster to Daiichi, the worst of its kind since Chernobyl. But as the unrest in the plant and the fears of radiation continue to shake the nation, the Japanese raise more and more the possibility that a culture of complicity is particularly vulnerable plant to the natural disaster that struck the country on March 11.
Already, many Japanese and Western experts argue that incompatible, non-existent or unpatrolled regulations played a role in the accident - including low dikes which has failed to protect the plants against the tsunami and the decision to put diesel backup generators that supply the cooling system of the reactors at the ground levelwhich makes it very vulnerable to flooding.
An extension of 10 years for the oldest reactors of Daiichi suggests that the regulatory system was allowed to remain lax by politicians, bureaucrats and industry leaders firmly focused on the expansion of nuclear energy. Regulators approved the extension beyond 40 years under the reactor just a few weeks before the tsunami, despite warnings about the safety and subsequent admissions of Tokyo Electric, often referred to as Tepco, it did not conduct inspections appropriate critical equipment.
The mild punishment for previous offences of security has reinforced the belief that the main actors of nuclear power are more interested in protecting their interests to increase the security. In 2002, after finally, concealment of Tepco, became public, its President and the President resigned, only to give advisory positions to the company. Other frameworks have been demoted, but later took jobs in companies doing business with Tepco. Still other received cuts tiny pay for their role in the cover-up. And after a closure and temporary repairs to Daiichi, Tepco resumes operation of the plant.
In a telephone interview from his home in the Bay of San Francisco, Mr. Sugaoka said, "I support nuclear energy, but I want to see a total transparency."
Revolving door
To the Japan, the web of connections between the nuclear industry and the representatives of the Government is now commonly called the "village of nuclear power". The expression refers to the transparent, collusive interests that underlie the thrust of the institution to increase nuclear power despite the discovery of fault lines active under plants, new projections on the size of the tsunami and a long history of cover-ups of security problems.
Panetta and Petraeus online for high security posts
Left, Stephen Crowley / the New York Times. Luke Sharrett/The New York TimesLeon e. Panetta, left and General David Petraeus H...
WASHINGTON - President Obama is expected this week in the name of Leon e. Panetta, the Director of the CIA, as Secretary to the defence and the General David Petraeus h., top commander U.S. Afghanistan, Director of the C.I.A.administration officials said Wednesday.
Appointments, put in motion by the imminent retirement of the Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates are part of a significant rearrangement of the national security team Mr. Obama which will include several new assignments in the closest of his diplomatic circlemilitary and intelligence advisers.
Mr. Gates should resign this summer.
Changes at the top of the team of the national security of Mr. Obama long been expected.
Shortly after Mr. Gates leaves, the term expires for the Chairman of the joint staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, who, as Defense Secretary, was appointed by President George w. Bush. And Secretary of State James b. Steinberg announced that he leaves for University work - remove a crucial player in the efforts of Mr. Obama to handle the rise of China.
But the role of Mr. Gates is the most critical. It is often alloyed with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton - who said that she intends to leave the administration when this mandate ends - including persuade them to Mr. Obama to start the military build-up in Afghanistan in 2009. Together, they have won many battles, but they clearly separate the month last on military intervention in Libya.
In the name Mr. Panetta, the Pentagon, Mr. Obama is to select an official of the already confirmed firm with close ties to the White House and the Capitol. By selecting General Petraeus, who at the beginning at least do not have a strong relationship with the White House of Obama, the President is maintaining a military leader of prestige which has a thorough knowledge of intelligence in Afghanistan and Iraq in recent years.
The President is also likely soon to propose the veteran diplomat Ryan c. Crocker as the next Ambassador of United States in Afghanistan. This approach would be, at least together during a period of time, Mr. Crocker, former Ambassador of the Iraq, with General Petraeus, with whom he worked closely in Iraq in the Bush administration.
Q + A - what is happening to the Japan damaged nuclear power plant? -Reuters
(Updates with water treatment)
By Mayumi Negishi
(TOKYO, April 27, Reuters) - Japanese engineers were struggling to take control of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power, 240 km (150 miles) North of Tokyo, which was severely damaged by the earthquake on March 11 and the tsunami.
Two of six reactors at the plant, operated by the Tokyo electric power (TEPCO) Co, are considered to be stable, but the other four are volatile.
Here are a few questions and answers about efforts to end the nuclear crisis the worst of the world since the 1986 Chernobyl accident:
What is going on?
Workers are trying to fill the reactors with enough water to bring the nuclear fuel rods in a "cold case", in which the water cooling is less than 100 degrees Celsius and reactors are considered stable.
TEPCO has been pouring water in vessels of reactor containing sticks since the disaster to cool the as an emergency measure. [ID: nL3E7FI0C7]
In a further step towards a cold closed, TEPCO fills the containment vessel - a steel shell and concrete that houses the reactor vessel - with water in a water called procedure to the Tomb. He began by increasing the amount of water being poured into the reactor n ° 1.
System, which works like a radiator in a car cooling at the same time that it will work to restore reactors. TEPCO said mounting a separate external cooling system is also a possibility.
For reactors as No.2, who is suspected of having a damaged containment vessel, TEPCO said he hoped seal articles damaged with cement to prevent water pumped into leaking.
WHAT IS HINDERING THE OPERATION?
The large amounts of runoff from the TEPCO a pumping water in to prevent overheating of fuel rods and nuclear fusion. The operator estimates the amount of water in the Daiichi plant contaminated tonnes approximately 87,500.
TEPCO plans to begin a system to treat contaminated water of operation in June. The system, developed by Toshiba, of Kurion, Areva (CEPFi.PA), and Hitachi-GE nuclear energy closes U.S., would adsorb and isolate radioactive elements, and then the treated water may be reused to cool the reactors.
Radioactive materials isolated would remain in the nuclear power plant for the moment.
For the moment, TEPCO was transfer of radioactive water that has accumulated in the building of the reactor in the reservoirs and storage at the plant, but the process was progressing very slowly.
Storage on the site of many tanks were damaged by the tsunami and earlier authorities in April, made a decision to pump water contaminated with lower levels of radiation in the ocean to secure storage space. Which has since ceased, but could resume if they run out of storage again.
In the meantime, the radiation continues to infiltrate the TEPCO nuclear complex in the sea and in the air, but at much lower levels than at the height of the crisis in mid-March.
To contain the contamination, workers have tried pouring glass liquid to stop a leak and spraying the ground with the sticky resin to radiated capture dust. They are also nitrogen injection in
to prevent new explosions of hydrogen would be spread highly radioactive in the air.
THIS COULD BE HOW LONG?
On 17 April TEPCO announced a timetable for its operations. In the first three months it intends to cool the reactors and spent fuel stored in some of them at a stable level and reduce radiation leaks. [ID: nL3E7FH03J]
TEPCO hope then make reactors to a cold case in another period of three to six months.
But some experts said that the process could take more time. TEPCO himself said constants replicas, power outages, high levels of radiation and the threat of explosions of hydrogen are the factors that could impede his work.
Weather conditions, as the rainy season approaching and typhoons and lightning during the summer, could also pose problems.
WHAT ARE THE RISKS?
The risk is the radiation continues to infiltrate, or burst, each time a pipe or pressure leaks forces workers to vent steam. Water leaking in nuclear pressure receptacles could find its place in soil and ocean, while the tips of radiation could contaminate crops on a large area.
The risk that the spent fuel pools could enter in a chain reaction is low, as long as the temperature indicators are accurate. But some more contaminated runoff may have to be disposed in the sea, if the workers run out of space to store water.
There is also a low risk of an explosion of steam corium, particularly in the reactor n ° 1, which is the oldest of the plant and who believes having a weak point.
If workers are unable to continue a jet of water operations, and nuclear fuel manages to melt through the bottom of the reactor and fall into a swimming pool with water below, this would result in a burst of high temperature and a sudden release of a huge amount of explosion of hydrogen which could violate the containment vessel.
Should any worst case produce, high levels of radiation up to 20 km (12 miles) around the site could be dispersed, making it impossible to bring the cold without great sacrifice shutdown reactors.
THE SITE WILL BECOME A NO-MAN LAND?
Very probably, Yes. Even after a cold there is tonnes of nuclear waste sitting on the site of nuclear reactors.
Burying concrete reactors make safe work and live a few kilometres away from the site, but is not a long-term solution for the disposal of spent fuel, which will decay and emit radiation over thousands of years.
Nuclear fuel irradiated at Fukushima was damaged by sea water, kind of recycling, it is probably not an option, while transport elsewhere it is little likely due to the opposition proposal bring.
Experts say that cleaning will take decades. (Other reports by Shinichi Saoshiro and Yoko Kubota;) (Editing by Alex Richardson)
The Guantánamo files: the detainees lawyers can click on the disclosure of Documents
It is, except for lawyers representing prisoners.
Monday, hours after WikiLeaks, The New York Times and other news organizations began to publish that the online documents, the Department of Justice has informed Guantánamo defence lawyers who remain legally classified documents even after that they were made public.
Because lawyers have security clearances, they are obliged to treat the files easily accessible "in accordance with all relevant and guarantees safety precautions" - handle, for example, in government facilities secure, said the notice, registry of the Ministry of security.
It is only the latest absurd challenge posed by floods of classified documents obtained by WikiLeaks during the past year: reports of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; the land cables the State Department; and now the military of the past or present risks of assessments of 700 prisoners at Guantanamo.
Joseph Margulies, a Northwestern law professor representing Abu Zubaydah, the inmate accused of being a terrorist facilitator who was among by the Central Intelligence Agency, said that he could not comment on the newly disclosed his client assessmentwhich is displayed on the website of the time.
"Everyone can talk about it," said Mr. Margulies. "I can't talk about it".
The category of ballooning of documents classified by public-but a confused of officials and led to an unusual series of positions of government agencies and those who work with them.
In December, Columbia University warned international relations students commenting on the documents released by WikiLeaks online or connecting their likely to jeopardize their chances of obtaining a Government position. The same month, the United States of Agency for International Development told workers that the viewing of documents on a computer at work or home (not classified) might violate safety rules that govern their jobs. In February, a unit of the Air Force has warned that employees and their family members could be prosecuted under the Espionage Act for review the WikiLeaks documents at home.
Some of these warnings were quickly amended or withdrawn after attract ridiculous public. But the general principle that leaks files remain classified remains in force, with different consequences.
Some foreigners for asylum in the United States tied the diplomatic cables printed from the Internet that describe the repression in their country of origin - requiring the Department of Homeland Security to store their applications in special chests and cumbersome security rules apply.
Employees of the State Department said that they read a leak of cables on newspaper Web sites at home instead of may disorder are viewable at work. A journalist from the Times who appears with a head of the Department of State on a recent Panel was advised not to show cables leaks as slide - official has been banned from watching.
But the ban to Guantánamo lawyers has serious consequences, said Mr. Margulies, who wrote a book on Guantánamo and has represented five prisoners. Decisions on the subject that gets released were influenced by politics and the pressure of the public as well as by legal standards, he said.
"It is important to be able to use these documents to shape and inform the debate on the public square," he said. If an assessment of the risk of leakage contains clearly false accusations of a prisoner, a lawyer should be able to respond publicly, he said.
On Tuesday, Attorney General Eric h. Holder Jr. has told reporters that he considered that the dissemination of classified documents Guantánamo, prepared under the Bush administration, to be "deplorable". And he said that the Obama administration would not in public, even with deletions, its own evaluations of 240 prisoners who were still in Guantánamo, when he took office in 2009.
The new files, Mr. Holder said, "involve a wide range of information gleaned from a wide range of sources, some are classified".
"However,", he added, "" I would be concerned about the information that was incomplete.""
During this time, Dean Boyd, a spokesman for the Department of Justice, said that the Department strives to respond to questions by lawyers for the Guantánamo detainees on restrictions on the use of disclosure of documents.
"We are working through these issues now," said Mr. Boyd. "We want simply to ensure that any information published by WikiLeaks is managed properly."
Nuclear nightmare America - RollingStone.com
Five days after a huge earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, triggering the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, nuclear regulatory agency came before Congress bearing the good news of America: don't worryIt cannot happen here. In the aftermath of the disaster in Japanese, Germany officials moved quickly to close old plants for inspection and implement new plants of licences on China hold. But Gregory Jaczko, the President of the nuclear regulatory Commission, reassured legislators that nothing in the reactors at Fukushima Daiichi justified any immediate change in US nuclear plants. Indeed, 10 days after the earthquake in Japan, NRC extended the licence of the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor age of 40 years - a twin of virtual of Fukushima - for another two decades. The renewal of the licence has been granted even if the reactor cooling tower was literally falling down, and the plant on several occasions had a leak of radioactive liquid.
Worst Nukes America: 14 nuclear "about correctness" in 2010
Perhaps Jaczko tent simply prevent a panic on a large scale on the dangers of U.S. nuclear plants. After all, there are now 104 reactors scattered across the country, generating 20 per cent of American power. Each of them have been designed in the 1960s and 1970s and are almost the end of their life expectancy. But there was a problem with the testimony of Jaczko, according to Dave Lochbaum, Senior Advisor to the Union of Concerned Scientists: key elements of what the Chief NRC said Congress were "a baldfaced lie."
This article appears in the edition of May 12, 2011, of Rolling Stone magazine. The issue is now available on newsstands and will appear in the archive online April 29.
Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer, says that the Jaczko knows full well that what the NRC calls "defence in depth" reactors at the U.S. has been seriously compromised over the years. In some places, fuel spent highly radioactive is stored in what amounts to swimming pools located next to the reactors. In other places, changes in the reactor cooling systems have made the most vulnerable to a collapse of the base if something goes wrong. A few weeks before Fukushima, Lochbaum a report circulated widely pointed out risky performance of NRC, describing 14 serious "near-miss" events at nuclear plants last year only. The Indian Point reactor just north of the city of New York, federal inspectors discovered a containment system of the water that had been leaking for 16 years.
The Gulf oil spill: A year later, "nothing of fundamentally changed."
As head of the NRC, Jaczko is the top cop on the beat nuclear, the guy responsible for maintaining the fleet of the nation of aging nukes running safely. A Democrat baldness, age 40 with large ears and a Professor of physics, brilliant air high school, Jaczko oversees an agency of 4,000 with a budget of $ 1 billion. But the NRC has long served as little more than a dog lap industry nuclear, eager to crack down against unsafe reactors. "The Agency is a wholly owned subsidiary of the nuclear industry, said Victor Gilinsky, who served in the commission in the Three Mile Island meltdown in 1979.". Even President Obama denounced the NRC during the 2008 campaign, calling it a "moribund agency which must be overhauled and became a captive of the industries it regulates.
In the years ahead, nuclear experts warn, the consequences of inaction of the Agency could be disastrous. "NRC has developed constantly the benefits of the industry over the public safety," said Arnie Gundersen, a former leader of turned nuclear whistleblower. "Therefore, we have Fukushimas of a dozen of waiting to happen in America."
Policy RS daily: rolling stone, and editors on political news
House Professor G.O.P. Members Face voter anger budget
About the same time in Wisconsin, representative Paul d. Ryan, the architect of the Republican budget proposal, is facing a packed town meeting, occasional boos and a skeptical public as he tried to draw on the justification of his party for the redesign of the programme of health insurance for retirees.
In a church theater here Tuesday evening, a meeting between representative Allen b. West and some of his voters begins on a chaotic note, with the members of the audience quickly on their feet, some heckling him and others vociferously defending him. "You're not going to intimidate me", said Mr. West.
After 10 days of trying to sell components on their plan to overhaul Medicare, Republican House in several districts appear to be more and more concerned about issues and defensive anger, in which voters and a barrage of new attacks from Democrats and their allies.
The new approach proposed Medicare - a key piece of a budget that Republican leaders have hailed as a brave effort to budgetary problems in the long term of the nation - has been a constant theme in town-hall-style sessions and other public gatherings during a break from the Congress two weeks which have provided the first opportunity for legislators to assess the reaction of the plan.
An example of the response appeared Tuesday as representative Daniel Webster, a freshman Republican from Florida, before a crowd of turbulent at a packed city to Orlando meeting where some people, apparently organized or encouraged by Liberal groupsbrandished signs saying "Hands off health insurance" and demanded that it rather "tax rich."
Mr. Webster, shown in the video station WFTV, sought to defuse the situation by saying that any change was years of absence and that current retirees would not see a difference. "Not a senior citizen is harmed by this budget", he said, noting that her granddaughter again was "seeking a bankrupt country."
Under the Republican proposal, Medicare would be converted to a program that would subsidize health coverage for retirees than provide coverage directly, a change which say many Democrats might leave the elderly people with inadequate health care as costs rise in the long term. The Republican budget would also be Medicaid, who pays for the nursing home residents with low income, transform a grant to States program, raising the possibility that States, under pressure from budget, would be reduced on the cover.
Democrats face political pressure as well to show that they can bring spending under control and slow the growth of the national debt, and there are cracks in the party to back tax increases and raise the ceiling of the national debt without concrete measures to bring down the budget deficit.
Before the release of the proposal of Mr. Ryan, Republican expressed their confidence that public opinion had turned in their favour, and on Tuesday House leaders sought to reassure Republicans that their approach to budget should ultimately carry the day. Led by Chairman John a. Boehner of Ohio, Republicans held a conference call, urging the members of the House to tell voters that he is plan expenditures of the administration of the cost of jobs Obama and ration health care.
Officials familiar with the call said that the legislators met did not appear alarmed by the response that they, and that Mr. Ryan told his Republican compatriots, he succeeded in making the case that Medicare would make bankruptcy without intervention. Mr. Ryan said with his voters that those 55 or Medicare currently would be still covered under the existing program.
But news reports noted that Mr. Ryan himself face a mixed Tuesday response that it has held meetings strained with the voters, of which some were repressed due to the overflow crowds. This is another indication that the Republicans still have a huge sale work to do on their budget, especially for older voters tend to turn out to vote at rates higher than younger people.
"I think that what we have right now working on Medicare are a bunch of clowns, Washington", said Robert Murphy, 73, a retired to Fort Lauderdale. "I think that they should leave Medicare." "But I know that they can not leave the way it is."
Meeting of the West Mr. Tuesday night here, it takes only written questions submitted by the public. Motions have been largely friendly, but some people pipe noisily on Medicare, accusing him of making misleading remarks. Several were escorted out by security.
Democrats and their allies are stepping up their efforts to organize opposition at public events. They hope to put the Republicans on their heels as Republicans had Democrats at town-hall-style angry meetings conducted during the review of the right to health.
"We have said from the moment where the gavel came down on the vote at the end of Medicare us would hold responsible for every day in every sense,", said the representative Steve Israel of New York, Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "It is precisely what we do." We encourage everyone to attend these meetings. ?
Democrats and other interest groups are mobilizing a campaign that includes automatic telephone calls, radio and commercials on television and events to keep the pressure on Republicans.?The Americans United for change, a Liberal Group, was automated in 23 districts Republican House calls and commercials in four districts of Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, in which an advertiser said that a budget approved by the Assembly is tantamount to "ending the Medicare therefore millionaires can obtain tax relief."
Republicans began to strike this week, with efforts in the districts of conservative Democrats to change the object of the Medicare Federal overall spending. A new advertising radio against Representative Mike Ross, Democrat of Arkansas, paid for by the Republican National Committee, tells Arkansans that he would continue "to spend your money recklessly."
When they begin a long battle for public opinion on budget issues, many Republicans say that much of the outrage at their meetings comes liberal democratic plants sent by MoveOn.org and other groups.
"My town halls are being disrupted by the Democrats,", said representative Lou Barletta of Pennsylvania, whose meetings have been peppered with complaints about Republican policies. "They are apparently sent to us to do so." I'm not sensing that the public in General is angry on Medicare reform. When I explain that the people over 55 years of age are not affected it is almost a sigh of relief. "He added:"I will not do something different." ?
Jennifer Steinhauer reported Fort Lauderdale and Carl Hulse in Washington.
Panetta and Petraeus for top security posts - New York Times Online
Left, Stephen Crowley / the New York Times. Luke Sharrett/The New York TimesLeon e. Panetta, left and General David Petraeus H... WASHINGTON - President Obama is expected this week in the name of Leon e. Panetta, the Director of the CIA, as Secretary to the defence and the General David Petraeus h., top commander U.S. Afghanistan, Director of the C.I.A.administration officials said Wednesday.
Appointments, put in motion by the imminent retirement of the Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates are part of a significant rearrangement of the national security team Mr. Obama which will include several new assignments in the closest of his diplomatic circlemilitary and intelligence advisers.
Mr. Gates should resign this summer.
Changes at the top of the team of the national security of Mr. Obama long been expected.
Shortly after Mr. Gates leaves, the term expires for the Chairman of the joint staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, who, as Defense Secretary, was appointed by President George w. Bush. And Secretary of State James b. Steinberg announced that he leaves for University work - remove a crucial player in the efforts of Mr. Obama to handle the rise of China.
But the role of Mr. Gates is the most critical. It is often alloyed with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton - who said that she intends to leave the administration when this mandate ends - including persuade them to Mr. Obama to start the military build-up in Afghanistan in 2009. Together, they have won many battles, but they clearly separate the month last on military intervention in Libya.
In the name Mr. Panetta, the Pentagon, Mr. Obama is to select an official of the already confirmed firm with close ties to the White House and the Capitol. By selecting General Petraeus, who at the beginning at least do not have a strong relationship with the White House of Obama, the President is maintaining a military leader of prestige which has a thorough knowledge of intelligence in Afghanistan and Iraq in recent years.
The President is also likely soon to propose the veteran diplomat Ryan c. Crocker as the next Ambassador of United States in Afghanistan. This approach would be, at least together during a period of time, Mr. Crocker, former Ambassador of the Iraq, with General Petraeus, with whom he worked closely in Iraq in the Bush administration.
Beatification of John Paul II packs hotels in Rome - USA Today
Comment by Barbara Lollis, USA TODAY
Reports of Bloomberg hotels of Rome are in high demand this weekend as visitors descend on the Italian capital for the beatification of John Paul II, Pope born in Poland, who died five years ago.
Population of the city will go growing by about 1.1 million people across the world, said history. The ceremony will take place on Saturday, may 1.
Rooms, however, are always available and a special website has been in place for the pilgrims on last minute search for accomodation.
Comparison site hotel Trivago says that the current price for a one night hotel stay at Rome weekend is $370 - higher than the rate of all night $ 310 currently sought by the hotels in London, where people are brought together for the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton vendrediRapports International Business Traveler.
The application of milling means that some hotel Rome attempt to flee with double their prices - and much more, says Bloomberg.
Police intervened, closing six hotels and the issuance of $438,000 to fines for practical and tourist scams, said the story.
A hotel was added eight beds of small rooms, Ansa news wire reported last week.
Despite the crowds, Rome will always be people from home that are underway for other reasons. On the website of the British of TripAdvisor, there is a set of forum discussion dedicated to finding ways to avoid the crowds in Rome on 1 May.
Readers: Have you never reserved a stay at the hotel in a city at a huge event that you were not attend? How it goes?Posted Apr 27 2011 2 H 24Manager takes over State and cuts, which do not a city
But, as of this month, they are literally powerless and hold no power to make decisions. PAS even on potholes.
The city is now led by Joseph l. Harris, accountant and auditor of kilometres later, one of a small group "managers of emergency" sent by the State as firefighters to extinguish the flames financial in the most troubled cities of Michigan.
In Benton Harbor, where records show, finance have had down in a morass of commingled funds, puzzling accounting and expenditures unchecked, Mr. Harris was given sweeping new powers under the legislation of the recent state that managers of emergency as he said was necessary to deal with extreme situations.
Critical say the new powers granted by the new Republican leaders of the State, are average of Michigan shrinking benefits for public workers and undermine the strength of unions, just as officials tried in Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin.
Managers of emergency of appointed by the State of Michigan have the power to cancel collective agreements, giving the State, in the eyes of some, the opportunity to overwrite any local union treats for the repair of budget.
"The dictatorship, plain and simple," said Dennis Knowles, a Commissioner of the city who was sitting in a dark, especially empty Office City Hall the other day.
But Mr. Harris insisted that the policy and the future of collective bargaining had no impact on everything he does.
"I'm looking for what is good for Benton Harbor, nothing more, nothing less,", said Mr. Harris. "And until you can break the contracts, your hands are tied."
Only four entities in Michigan, including the Detroit public schools system, currently are deemed sufficient distress to require monitoring by managers of emergency. But some economists predict that these ranks increase, taking into account reductions in aid of State tax revenues and stagnant.
Now, managers fighting intensifies around the State. Last week, Detroit pension funds filed a lawsuit against the Governor Rick Snyder and others challenging the extent to which, according to the prosecution, gives managers who arrive with "tsar-like powers".
Others see new career opportunities: last week, 400 people participated in a training session for two days on emergency managers in a Radisson Hotel in Lansing. Some were local leaders to prevent their cities of requiring one such financial supervision, while others hope to become managers of emergency.
Around the nation, the States have long had a range of methods - appointed receivers monitoring tips - to the stage where the cities are at the edge near bankruptcy. A financial control Board has helped pull New York City at the precipice, in the 1970s. But the powers and functions of these bodies vary widely, as do the views on knowledge if they contribute to long term.
Few places with title of serious financial difficulties as Benton Harbor, a town of about 10,000 people next to Lake Michigan, where it is estimated that almost half of the population were living below the poverty line.
A financial study assigned by the State in 2009 found that the city had mismanaged the federal tax arrears. He inappropriately borrowed money to manage shortfalls in others, and its accounting was negligence.
And if last year, the administration of the predecessor of Mr Snyder, Jennifer M. Granholm, a Democrat, sent to Mr. Harris, former Auditor General Detroit and its former Financial Director.
Mr. Harris began to pay debts, laid off workers and to consider a plan to merge the fire and police services in a single unit where firefighters could respond finally burglary calls and police officers could extinguish fires.
A girl of Gaddafi, an overview within the Bunker
"To make them ready," she said, "because in times of war you never know when a rocket or a bomb could hit you, and this will be the end."
In a rare interview with her here charitable foundation, Mrs. Kadhafi, 36, a lawyer trained at the Libya who once worked on the team for the legal defence of Saddam Hussein, provided an overview in the fatalistic mindset of the family more and more isolated in the heart of the battle for the Libyathe bloodiest arena in democratic uprising that is sweeping across the region.
She dismissed the rebels as "terrorists" but suggested that some former Qathafi officials who are now on the Board of Directors the opposition still "stay in touch with us." She pleaded for dialogue and spoke of democratic reforms. But she dismissed the rebels as unfit for such negotiations because of their use of violence, discarded personal barbs Obama the President and the Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and at one point, appeared to denigrate the basic idea of electoral democracy.
After organizing the interview last week, spoke of Ms. Qathafi for more than an hour Sunday afternoon just hours before NATO intensified its air strikes with an attack that has disrupted the State television and another compound of the Libyan leader to Tripoli. Ms. Kadhafi, one of the many informal and sometimes rival Qathafi families power brokers who dominate the political and economic life of the Libya, said that the crisis had fired the family together "" as a hand"."
Ms. Qathafi said that she and her seven brothers "have a dialogue between the United States and the exchange of views" before anyone takes a major step in their common defence. She acknowledged that she had seen news reports that his brothers and sisters had proposed to relieve their father of power in a transition under the direction of his brother Seif el-Islam, but she declined to comment on the details.
Also conspicuously, she declined to answer when asked whether Abdel Fattah Younes, a top rebel military official page who was a Minister of the Interior for a long time, was among the leaders who had kept contact with Qathafi family.
"They tell us that they have their own families, girls, sounds, spouses and they fear for their, and this is why they have taken these positions," she said of these rebel leaders. "There is many members of the Council who have worked with my father for 42 years and was faithful to him." Do you think they would go just like that? ?
Instead of mistrust in anger and vows of retribution by his father and his brother Seif, Ms. Qathafi focused on the manner in which the West would have street chaos it predicts funnel a post-Qathafi Libya. When pressed repeatedly about how his family could stay in power, has said several times, "we have great hope in God."
Ms. Qathafi appeared in public, twice since the bombings began, before the cheers of the crowd to colonel compound, but she rarely speaks in public. In the interview, she wore tight jeans, Gucci shoes, and a light scarf which does not cover her blonde hair long. Sometimes she laughs at his fate, recalling how the Organization of the United Nations, after "begging" be an Envoy for peace in the past, has now returned to the International Criminal Court. His staff presented an illustrated biography titled "Princess of peace".
She said his experience as a volunteer on the defence of Saddam Hussein offered relevant parallel team.
She said "the opposition in Iraq said the West when you come to the Iraq they will welcome you with roses,". "Almost 10 years later they receive the Americans with bullets and believe, the situation in Libya will be much worse.
She taunted President Obama and Mrs. Clinton, saying that Mr. Obama had "achieved nothing for the moment" and that she asked a question to Ms. Clinton laughingly: "why did not leave the White House when you discovered on the cheating of your husband?".
Even if she objected to American leaders, she asked several times for talks. "The world must come together at a round table," she said, "under" the auspices of international organizations.
At the same time, she rejected any form of dialogue with the Libyan rebels who now control half East of the country; its commercial centre, Misurata; and the towns of West mountain of Zintan and Nalut, dismissing the "terrorists" who "are just struggle for the sake of fighting."
Under the informal leadership of his brother Seif, she said, the Libyan Government was about to unveiling of a constitution as a step towards democratic when reform "this tragedy which has passed and spoiled things.".
At the same time, she also turned in derision and perhaps misunderstood the ideas of basic checks and balances and public liability in an electoral democracy. "Let me say something on Western elections they say are a democratic system of decision,"she volunteered, referring to the handwritten notes she had prepared for the interview."." In an election where one candidate won with 50% of the vote and another lost with 48%, she asked, "do you call this democracy?" This voice? "What happened to 48 percent who said 'no'?"
She complained of the "treason" of the Arabs, which his father had supported the causes and the Western allies to which he gave of his weapons of mass destruction. She asked "Is this the reward we get?". "". This would lead all countries that have weapons of mass destruction to keep them or to do more, so they will not meet the same fate as the Libya. ?
Without Colonel Gaddafi, it predicts, illegal immigrants from Africa would pour into Europe, radical Islamists would establish a base on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and Libyan tribes would turn their weapons on one another.
Citing Libyan intelligence unconfirmed reports, she said that the hungry rebels of weapons had actually sold weapons to Islamist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah. "" When my father was here, see how secure Europe was and how safe Libya? "".She asked.
Ms. Qathafi initially denied reports of a few nights two months ago, when the demonstrators returned to the streets of Tripoli and almost every major city, taking down posters Qathafi and combustion of police stations. Then said that journalists had seen the evidence, it was argued that the destruction proved that they were not the civilian demonstrators but "saboteurs."
It also appears to reject the accounts of the witnesses of the forces of Colonel Gaddafi shooting of the demonstrators. "I am not sure that this happened," she said. "But say that this was the case: he has a limited scope."
As the State of mind of his father, she said with a laugh that he was not worried at all. "It is so high that the world knows him," she said. "It is quite certain that the Libyan people is faithful to him."
His family always hoped, she said, to return to its previous position, what she calls "a return to normal." But, she added, "of course we can accelerate that if NATO will stop bombing us."
Economic scene: accounts Bernanke
Wednesday at 2: 15 pm, Ben Bernanke is going to do something that FED previous Presidents considered to be a very bad idea. It will hold a press conference.
Mr. Bernanke has spent much of his academic career, arguing that the Fed should be less opaque and, as President, he put his ideas into action. It is now time for those of us in the media to support our end of the market. In the spirit of democratic accountability, we must ask difficult questions - and we should not let him get away with hiding and half-answers that the members of Congress are too often fed Presidents in their appearances on Capitol Hill.
More than any other that the other is shouting for an answer only one question: why has Mr. Bernanke decided to accept the generalized unemployment for many years, even if he thinks he has the power to reduce it?
The Fed forecasts suggest that the unemployment rate fall below 5% for perhaps another five or six years. Mr. Bernanke believes that the Fed "retains considerable power" for faster unemployment, despite the fact that its benchmark interest rate is zero, as discussed previously. However, it has been reluctant to use this power.
It is difficult to be fair somewhere. Several other voting members of the Fed's monetary policy Committee - and some prominent members of Congress - oppose aggressive action, because they fear it will set off inflation. But these critics still worry about inflation. They were wrong again and again over the past two years. More important still, they are not enough power to prevent Mr. Bernanke to continue the policy that he considers is better.
If the decision by the Fed to allow unemployment high for an extended period is based on his shoulders.
As he explained several times, the Fed has alternatives. He could announce that he would retain his rate of reference zero for a few years, which would probably keep long-term rates. One could say that he was comfortable with higher inflation for a limited period, seen how low inflation since 2007 and how the high unemployment rate is. Above all, Mr. Bernanke could clear it considers the years of widespread unemployment unacceptable.
He does the did not, and it has yet to offer a satisfactory explanation.
Instead, he said that more aggressive action brings risks. And he does. Low interest rates are likely to trigger inflation, seduce millions of homes and businesses to borrow money and causing the economy to overheat. Rising inflation could, among other things, increase the rate of borrowing for the Government of the United States and the mounting deficit.
But keep in mind that only about each decision entails certain risks. Simply stating that a more aggressive action brings risks is not a good argument against this option.
Sometimes, as economists describe choices in terms of a concept called value expected. The expected decision value is the relative risk of each possible result multiplied by the benefit (or cost) of this result. If you are an investment that has a 90 percent of breaking even and a chance to 10 percent of win you $5,000, the expected value is $ 500.
Now extend this concept to the Fed's decision. The consequences of being too aggressive and creating an inflationary spiral are undoubtedly serious. But the odds appear still fairly low. Put the two together and you get a cost, which is not high enough to be dictating the policy of the Fed.
One of the best guides to future inflation is recent core inflation - that is, inflation, excluding food and energy prices, which bounce around a lot and often do translate not in big changes in other prices. Despite the rise in core inflation, it has even increased at an annual rate of only 2% in the last three months. Only a few other times in the last 40 years has been so low.
This should not be surprising. After all, the economy is felt as if he is about to overheat?
The cost expected the rate of unemployment, on the other hand, is stiff. On the one hand, the chances that unemployment will remain a problem are close to 100%. The debate is whether the country will be back to full employment in four years or ten years.
On the other hand, the consequences of high unemployment are also terrible. With fewer jobs, States and cities are tax revenues. Families lose their savings. The health of the people may deteriorate. For the long-term unemployed, the financial damage can be permanent. "If things go and they just sit at home or work very irregular," Mr. Bernanke himself said last year, "when the economy gets back to a more normal state, they will be able to find the good work."
Unemployment creates political problems, too. Historically, it has tended to make people less willing to help their fellow citizens, as Economist Benjamin Friedman wrote. It is difficult to imagine a grand political compromise - on the deficit, for example - in a country in anger.
Mr. Bernanke is an admirable public official in many respects. He was quietly heroic during the worst days of the financial crisis. In making the more open Fed, he took the rare step for a politician: voluntarily giving a portion of his power.
Nevertheless, his performance on the job last year was distorted. The Fed has badly overestimated the strength of the economy in 2010 and took too much time to correct his error. Despite his fundamental belief in letting the facts guide decisions, Mr. Bernanke has let himself be influenced mainly by a group of colleagues who see inflation always and everywhere in the world as a threat and unemployment as a mere nuisance.
The Wednesday Press Conference offers a chance to ask accounts. The country Fed - a scholar leader Ben Bernanke, formerly of Princeton - expect nothing less.
E-mail: leonhardt@nytimes.com. Twitter.com/DLeonhardt
DealBook: & J to buy Synthes 21.3 billion.
Johnson & Johnson said Wednesday he had agreed to buy medical equipment manufacturer Synthes 21.3 billion in cash and in shares, in one of the largest transaction ever in the health care sector.
Johnson & Johnson is offer 159 Swiss francs ($ 181.30) a share of Synthes, an American Switzerland of the company which manufactures bone implants and surgical instruments and specializes in the treatment of trauma.
The bid is composed of 55.65 francs cash and Frank consisting of a value of common shares of Johnson & Johnson. It represents a premium of 22 percent in francs 130.60 that Synthes rated on 14 April, before the reports of the agreement first emerged.
"It's a pretty fair price," said Lisa, Clive Bedell, Sanford c. Bernstein analyst, in London. "For j. & it is much." Trauma is one of the few med-tech markets where they did not have a company among the three. ?
The two boards of directors were approved unanimously in the transaction and a group of shareholders led by Synthes founder and President, Hansj?rg Wyss, and other directors, are committed to vote their shares in support of the agreement, the companies said.
Mr. Wyss control 47% of Synthes, a game which will be a little more than 10 billion dollars when the transaction closes. In the Declaration of the companies, he was pleased to see his "professional life will continue as part of Johnson & Johnson.".
Its support for the agreement, combined with the size of its game, make it unlikely that the shareholders at a higher price would be able to block the bid.
Synthes will be merged with the unit of Johnson & Johnson DePuy companies to become the largest company of medical devices in the group, which specializes in orthopedics.
"Orthopaedics is a significant and growing $ 37 billion global market and represents a vector of growth for Johnson & Johnson," William c. Weldon, head of Johnson & Johnson, said in the statement.
This agreement, which will be Johnson & Johnson largest ever, should close in the first half of next year, pending the approval of regulatory agencies, in the United States and Europe and Synthes shareholders.
In the acquisition of Synthes, Johnson & Johnson will be combining the second and third companies for implants linked to the spine in the world, which could attract the attention of regulators and require a divestiture.
"Antitrust authorities watch this on a product by product line base line," said Ms. Clive. "It could happen that they let you this intact GB."
The agreement is set to have an "impact dilutive modestly" on the result by action Johnson & Johnson, the company said.
Johnson & Johnson hired Goldman Sachs as its financial advisor and Cravath, Swaine & Moore as a lawyer, while Synthes committed Credit Switzerland as Advisor and Shearman & Sterling as a lawyer.
Libya United Nations investigators to probe violations of the rights - Reuters
By Guy Desmond
TRIPOLI. Wed, April 27, 2011 9 pm EDT
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - a team of investigators from the United Nations, the answers sought Wednesday to Libyan officials on allegations of forces loyal to Muammar al-Gaddafi had committed violations of human rights.
The three members of the inquiry commission has met with Libyan officials and said it would be an urgent need for access to prisons, hospitals and regions of the country where it suspects violations of rights are underway.
"We have a number of issues related to indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas, victims among civilians, torture and the use of other issues and mercenaries," said Cherif Bassiouni, an Egyptian legal expert and member of the commission.
"The commission of inquiry is here to inform and to find, with the Libyan Government, what is its position in several types of violations that...". "(we) discovered during our investigation on the ground", he told journalists after talks with Libyan officials.
Asked what the United Nations team access should be given by the Libyan authorities, Bassiouni, said: "we know still." We said everything in writing and verbally stated and we intend to push for it. ?
The Organization of the United Nations, Western Governments and some Arab States accuse Libyan leader Mu'ammar al-Gaddafi ordered its security forces of killing hundreds of civilians who raised in protest against its rule in four decades.
Libyan officials deny killing civilians, saying that security forces were forced to act against armed bands and al-Qaeda sympathizers who, say, trying to take control of the oil exporting country.
Bassiouni said that he would also use the delegation to Tripoli to raise the issue of foreign journalists held in Libya.
Libyan authorities hold two journalists from U.S., a Spanish, a South African and a Canadian, according to the Committee based on the United States for the protection of journalists in. Officials say that they contain only journalists if they are illegally in the country.
"I... have them (the Libyan Government) gave a list of all the foreign journalists who are in detention,"Bassiouni said."".
"We requested the opportunity to visit them and to ask why they are not be released.". I hope that this initiative will impact on journalists. ?
The commission of inquiry was set up in February by the UN Human Rights Council and is due to present his report on the violations of the rights in Libya in June.
Bassiouni, said the commission has already carried out investigations on the ground in Libya is controlled by the rebels, as well as on the borders of the Libya and was also planning to travel to Tripoli.
(Written by Christian Lowe.) (Editing by Sophie hares)
New Art of Lincoln Center: the lawn maintenance
The House of Pierre behemoths such as the Metropolitan Opera House and Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center has increased itself a parable of green which opened the year last campus redevelopment project. And these days, as owners around the world, Lincoln Center is engaged in the joys and headaches of this suburb sacre du printemps: lawn care.
"It is not as simple as keeping a clean glass wall,", said Peter main Flamm, Director of the Lincoln Center real estate, planning and logistics. "It requires attention and love and care."
The lawn of EUR square feet - at the top of the new restaurant Lincoln, on the Esplanade of the North, along the West 65th Street - had a rough start. He was forced to close two weeks after the opening last June because of mysterious brown spots that proved be dehydration caused by problems of irrigation. It has approximately reopened a week later and remained open until November.
"Are from seeds you get on any project,", said Frank s. Rossi, a scientist of lawn grass and associate professor in the Department of horticulture of Cornell University, who was the guru of the lawn of the Lincoln Center and was a consultant for the lands of the New York Yankees. "Ninety-five per cent of the lawn is not differently handled than any lawn in the Hamptons or Scarsdale".
This season, Lincoln Center is committed to doing things. It is reactivation of improvement of sprinkler systems. fertilization, sowing and mowing the lawn with a value greater than three inches, to minimize the crab grass growth, and the grubs; and aerate the soil and by adding more land. The lawn is scheduled to reopen to the public on May 11.
"I think that this season we will see in full capacity with all functional, all in place," said Elizabeth Diller, whose architecture firm, Diller Scofidio & Renfro, designed the lawn and the rest of the redevelopment of Lincoln Center. "" "". Less than a month, he should be kind of great. "Like all good-looking lawn".
But Lincoln Center is not really like any beautiful lawn - not only because that the grass is held in place by a carpet of cellular polyethylene perforated, known as a geoweb, in addition to its roots, but also because hundreds of thousands of people tromp, picnic and spread around it.
"I do not think they appreciate how popular the thing would be,", said Mr. Rossi, also an expert on golf course maintenance. "You can barely see the grass because there are so many people".
Finally, Ms. Diller would like to see the lawn to remain open throughout the year, but you realize that this could be bad for the grass, not to mention pocketbook of Lincoln Center, if a disputed person decided to drag onto it, skis or sled, after a snowfall.
"I am a little concerned about it get too popular", said Ms. Diller. "It must be lush and wonderful and always feel that you can have a corner of the Earth".
Officially called the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination lawn after its principal funder, the grass is more disputed by its versatile identity of ceiling of restaurant, public park and sustainable roof. "It's got be right there with the most unusual lawns, in the world," said Adrian Benepe, Commissioner of the city parks.
Of course, the lawn consumed a prodigious amount of psychic energy and expertise agricultural long before it opened. The firm Diller has conducted research on more robust herbs which could withstand rigorous winters in New York and New York hard accusing a traffic. (The architects settled on mixed with Bluegrass fescue.) The firm has drawn on its experience of design of an exhibition of 1998, "The American Lawn: Surface of everyday life," at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal.
In Jersey City, the architects built a mock-up of the scale of the lawn in Lincoln Center studied through the seasons, tests of the various species of grasses. And they enlisted Mr. Rossi - a k a Dr. Turf, said Ms. Diller - who wrote the end operation and lawn maintenance manual.
Mr. Rossi, stated that the grass was also chosen because it can withstand the "heat island effect," caused by concrete and glass, surrounding and requires less water, fertilizer and pesticides than regular lawn.
"If you take the right grass from the outset on your lawn, you inherently have to do less of it," he said. "Therefore the owners must take account for the time and effort, that we have taken to obtain the good grass." It starts with getting the right grass. ?
Nokia to cut 7,000 jobs in relocation costs reduction
BERLIN - Nokia cellular phone manufacturer leader of the world, said Wednesday that it would slash about 7 000 jobs in a more profound than expected reductions in spending program.
12% Reduction in the market of the global work of Finnish society will help operating costs trim 1 billion euros, or $ 1.47 billion, or a reduction of 17%, at the end of 2012. Analysts had expected job cuts of between 5,000 and 6,000.
Stephen Elop, the former leader of Microsoft who becomes Chief Executive Nokia in September, said that the cuts and reorganization are necessary to prepare for the Nokia for its partnership with Microsoft. Nokia provides finally gradually operating system Symbian, as it rolls on smartphones running Microsoft Windows software phone next year.
"With this new focus, we also must face reductions in our labour market," said Mr. Elop. "It is a difficult reality, and we work closely with our partners and employees to identify programs for long-term reuse."
Nokia said in a statement that the reductions would be achieved by eliminating 4,000 jobs, mostly in England, the Denmark and the Finland and the transfer of 3,000 employees responsible for Accenture's Symbian operating systemconsultant in global technology companies.
The company, which is based in Espoo, Finland, employed 59,080 in its business of cellular telephony at the end of 2010. The figure excludes the Nokia Siemens Networks, its joint-venture, personnel network and Navteq, a U.S. company data mapping it is also the owner.
Nokia, has produced 108.5 million mobile phones last year, provision of 32 per cent of the world market, but the company this year ceded lead in cellular telephony revenues to Apple, the manufacturer of the iPhone, Strategy Analyticsa research firm.
In addition to the job cuts, which will become official following negotiations with the representatives of the hand of work, Nokia said that it expected strengthen its research and development division so that each site has a mission and a clear role. Nokia has mobile phone R & D sites in Finland, China, India, Germany, England, Denmark and San Diego.
Some sites will increase, others will diminish and some will be closed due to the reorganization, Nokia said, without providing further details.
"This move was widely anticipated and follows the Nokia need to reduce its cost structure," said Michael Schroder, an analyst from FIM Bank, a private bank in Helsinki."
Failure of Nokia to capitalize on the smartphone boom has cost of the market share of Finnish society and prestige as the Centre of gravity in its industry moved equipment and communication software and applications.
The boom is still going strong, said Ericsson, the world leader in wireless network equipment, on Wednesday, as it reported that demand for mobile broadband lifted its own sales of 17 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier and 53 billion SEK, is $ 8.7 billion.
Profit at Ericsson, based in Stockholm, more than tripled to 4.1 billion crowns of 1.3 billion kroner a year earlier, which the company attributed to the reduction of costs and greater profitability in its networks business.
Most of the demand came from the United States and the Canada, said Ericsson, where wireless operators such as Verizon Wireless, AT & T and Rogers Communications are expanding the capacity of their networks 3 G and installing again, fasternetworks based on a technology called long term evolution to manage traffic.
Ericsson, said the level of data traffic on the global mobile networks in the world, has doubled in 2010 from 2009 and will continue to double each year for the next years.
Apple iPhone Alter data collection
Phones do not store the locations of their users, but a list of Wi - Fi hotspots and towers of cell in their region, the company said.
This list, downloaded from Apple, phone assistance discover its location without having to listen to the signals of the GPS satellites. That means navigation applications can present a location of the phone more quickly and more accurately, he said.
With regard to the data storage for up to the year, it is a bug, Apple said. It is not necessary to store data for more than seven days, and Apple said it would limit the size of the file with a software update in the coming weeks.
He said that he would stop also save the file from the phone to the computer of the user, a practice that has raised concerns. Computers are much more vulnerable to attempts to remote hacking than mobile phones.
A third planned correction is to stop the download of the file for phones, all of which have the "location Services" disabled, Apple said, and to encrypt the file on those where it is turned on.
Statement on Wednesday was first Apple overall response to the reports. The data file has been discovered by researchers and released last week and drew attention to the Congress.
Yemeni block port protest against the agreement with the resignation of Saleh - Ha'aretz
Tens of thousands of Yemenis intensified protests Wednesday by blocking access to a key as mediators of Gulf port appeared close to sealing an agreement for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to relinquish power.
The demonstrators distrust plan of the Council of the Gulf Cooperation, supported by the Government and the opposition group main, because it gives Saleh, a window of long months to resign and grants him and his family immunity from prosecution.
"People want a beginning, not an initiative," the demonstrators shouted outside Red Sea port of Hodeida, where ongoing marine operations not affected.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh of the Yemen
Clashes flared in South Yemen between security forces and demonstrators hostile to the Government which has blocked roads with burning tires.
A protester and a soldier were killed, said hospital and local officials. Earlier reports put the toll at two soldiers.
The agreement to end political crisis of the Yemen was to be signed in Riyadh Sunday, three months after that Yemenis first took to the streets to demand the overthrow of the Saleh, inspired by the revolts that toppled leaders in Egypt and Tunisia.
The balance of power has tipped against Saleh, who was an ally key to West against al-Qaida, after weeks of violence, military defections and political reversals.
Hodeida, organizer of the demonstration Abdul Hafez Muajeb said the coast guard welcomed protesters and had raised a banner saying they would not use weapons against the people.
"We close the port because its revenues are used to finance the thugs," said manifesting Muaz Abdullah, referring to the civil security men that often use daggers and bats to disperse demonstrations.
The participation rate large demonstrations show capacity of mainly young demonstrators, including students, tribes, and activists, to act as deal with potential spoilers of the Gulf. They have promised to stay in the streets until their demands are met.
It is not clear that parties of the opposition, composed of the Islamists, Arab nationalists and leftists who have been in recent years, in and out of Government could halt the protests even if necessary for the transition agreement.
Washington and neighbors oil giant Saudi Arabia want the impasse resolved. They fear that a descent more bloodshed in the State of the Arabian peninsula would offer more room for a wing based at the al-Qaeda Yemen to operate.
Violence torches
The agreement of the Gulf provides Saleh to appoint a Prime Minister of the opposition, which would then form a Government of transition before the presidential election two months after his resignation. But the window of a month for Saleh to resign sparked fears that may offer potential sabotage times.
Mohammed Basindwa, a senior leader of the opposition considered top candidate, the head of a transitional Government said he only expected an agreement to be signed without further negotiations, and said Saleh was not expected to attend the meeting in Riyadh.
Saleh, who ruled for 32 years, would sign the agreement in Sanaa, while the opposition would sign in Riyadh in the presence of a delegation from the Government, said Basindwa.
Requested A will it was confident Saleh would resign after window day the30, Basindwa, said: "the United States and the European Union and the Gulf States ensure that all parties will paste to implement the agreement."
Other clashes broke out in the main town in the South of Aden, the closure of young demonstrators tried to enforce a general strike that paralyzed the city of port that most businesses and schools, said a local government official.
Strikes are also underway in Taiz, which saw some great anti-Saleh events, and Ibb, South of Sanaa.
Elsewhere in the South, armed men killed more than two dead soldiers and injured five in an attack on a military control post which was attributed to al-Qaida loyalist, said a local official.
About 130 protesters were killed, as swept disorders, to the Yemen where about 40 percent of its 23 million people live on e2 per day or less, and a third face chronic hunger.
Number of deaths of victims of NATO to the Kabul airport shooting rises to 9 - Xinhua
(Kabul, April 27, Xinhua) - dead of-led NATO International Assistance Security Force (ISAF) in the shootout at Kabul airport on Wednesday reached nine, a statement of the published military alliance said here.
"Eight soldiers of the International Assistance Force to the security and civilian of the ISAF die after a shooting here today," confirmed the statement.
However, he did not identify the nationalities of the victims, saying that it is the policy of the ISAF to postpone casualty identification procedures to the competent national authorities.
In the previous statement, the alliance has developed the number of victims has suffered in the incident which happened in the Afghan Air Corps just six soldiers from 11: 00 local time.
Earlier, the Afghan Defence Ministry confirmed in a statement this shooting between an Afghan driver and his colleagues abroad to Afghan Air Corps which located in the western part of Kabul airport left a number of dead and wounded.
Afghan Ministry of defence in the statement also noted that more details would be published after the end of the investigation.
Meanwhile, Taliban militants, fight against Afghan troops and NATO-led by Afghanistan claimed responsibility, saying the incident by a Loyalist Taliban nine foreigners and five Afghan soldiers were killed.
Special report: Afghanistan Situation
Sinai blast cuts gas Israel
Jerusalem - Explosion early Wednesday on a gas pipeline in the Northern Sinai Peninsula cut off supplies of Egyptian natural gas in Israel for the second time, this year, according to Egyptian and Israeli officials in what many here suspected of was an act of sabotage by Bedouins of the or of Palestinians.
The explosion came the Cairo authorities began to investigate public suspicion of corruption and mismanagement by the former Government of Mubarak in its exports of gas agreement with Israel. It also generated renewed in Israel calls for the country reduce its dependence on external sources and accelerate the development of its own newly found gas fields.
"Regional instability is likely to continue in the short term, and we need to reach energy independence," Danny Ayalon, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Israel, said in a statement.
Details of the who led the attack remains unclear. Egyptian security officials said a package containing TNT caused the explosion. There was no immediate report of casualties and it was not known repair how long would take.
Gas flow rate of the main terminal at Port said on the Mediterranean coast, has been closed to smother the flames shot as high as 65 feet, Associated Press reported.
While the inspection of the site, Abdul-Wahab Mabrouk, the Governor of the Northern Sinai, said that the explosion also damaged a local power plant and that gas leaks were forced to evacuate their homes, according to The A.P.
Egyptian gas represents about 40% of the Israel gas needs. Uzi Landau, the Israeli national infrastructure Minister, told Army Radio Wednesday that there was enough gas in the pipeline for the next few days, after which the Israel electricity company, which is almost entirely owned by the State, would lead to a solution.
Israeli officials stated that the shortfall may be offset by the use of renewable alternatives such as coal and diesel, as well as the natural gas Israel has already produced.
"We always have this option," said Maya Etzioni, spokesman for the Ministry of National Infrastructure. "We will not be left without electricity."
Mr. Landau also told the Army Radio that Israel had authorized forces Egyptian additional security to enter the Sinai to repair the pipeline, beyond the number of forces normally allowed under the terms of the peace treaty of 1979 between the two countries in the region.
Egyptian officials, said that supplies of Egyptian gas in Jordan were also interrupted by the explosion on Wednesday.
Israel gas exports have been at the heart of the review of the public in Egypt since the pipeline opened in 2008. The price at which the Egypt sells gas in Israel has never been officially announced, but it is widely accepted to be sold at a preferential rate, and there was widespread speculation of corruption and graft surrounding the secret agreement. Week last the Egypt Prosecutor began questioning the former President Hosni Mubarak, with six other former officials, on gas exports.
The Egypt in Israel gas supply closed for more than a month after four armed men stormed a terminal on 5 February gas North Sinai and trigger explosives there.
In the Sinai Bedouin tribes have long has complained of discrimination by the Egyptian authorities and confronted with the Egyptian security services, such as mass demonstrations spread earlier this year, toppling Mr Mubarak.
Mona El-Naggar contributed reporting from Cairo.
Assign nations of Syrian EU sent the Suppression - BBC News
April 27, 2011, update 13 h 23 GMT United Nations calls for the countries of the EU of Syria abuse investigationsFive called the Syrian ambassadors to condemn the recent violent repression of Damascus on anti-government protestersFrance said.
Paris said that the diplomatic action was jointly conducted by the France, Great Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Earlier, A Chief, Ban Ki-moon condemned the Syria for the use of tanks with live bullets against the demonstrators.
There are reports of shooting later in the southern town of Deraa, where rally first exploded last month.
Most tanks are supposed to be directed to city - where army troops attacked demonstrators Monday.
Over 450 people around the Syria were killed since the start of the demonstrations for democracy nearly six weeks ago.
The Government of President Bashar al-Assad disputed Western opinion that events have been non-violent.
In a statement made by the official news agency, he said that he sent troops in several towns on the request of the citizens who are concerned with the "armed extremists". Opposition leaders say that the protests are peaceful.
"Snipers" of Deraa Top French diplomat Hervé Ladsous met with Syrian Ambassador Lamia Chakkour Wednesday, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
He said that Paris expressed "firm condemnation of the escalation of the repression by the Syrian authorities against the population."
The communication has been "part of a movement coordinated with Britain, Germany, Spain and Italy."
The envoys are also EU must gather in Brussels Friday to discuss imposing sanctions on the Syria.
During this time, in Deraa, sources reported sporadic firing and explosions Wednesday.
Images displayed on the internet showed Syrian tanks into the city to reinforce the troops moved two days ago.
Amnesty International cited eyewitnesses as saying that the army were taking injured residents lying in the streets and that others were trying to save them.
But with communications apparently cut from Deraa, it's hard, it is certain that what is happening there, the BBC Jim Muir at Lebanon nearby, said.
Elite army units have also moved into the Duma, a suburb of Damascus, our correspondent adds.
He adds that there are also reports of arrests, widespread opposition figures in the country.
Despite repression, protest organisers have called the sit-in Thursday to commemorate those who were killed. Friday - the traditional day of protest - had been designated as a "day of rage".
453 Now reaches A number of deaths since the start of the unrest, said the Syrian human rights observatory.
"Refusal of fire".On Wednesday, a human rights activist said it has documented the cases of a soldier shot dead by the army for refusing to fire on the demonstrators in Baniyas.
The army has blamed Islamic radicals for his death, but the lament at the funeral of the soldier "openly accused the security forces of shooting that soldier", Wissam tariff, Director of the Syrian Insan human rights organization, told the BBC.
The 15-nation United Nations Security Council should address the issue of the Syria again later Wednesday.
A draft text - proposed by the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Portugal - condemns violence against civilians and supports the appeal of Mr. Ban for an independent "transparent" death investigation in demonstrations.
The Syrian Envoy to the United Nations, Bashar Jaafari, said Damascus was able to conduct its own investigation and that "nothing to hide".
The BBC, Barbara Plett, at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York, says that it will be difficult for members of the Security Council to agree.
China and the Russia veto power holders are especially careful because they are unhappy with the intervention in Libya, she said.
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Party head of Sarkozy: France can not afford to support Tunisian migrants... - the Canadian Press
Party head of Sarkozy: France can not afford to support Tunisian migrants, seek jobsBy Associated Press - 47 minutes ago
PARIS - The leader of the Conservative Party of French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that France can not afford to take in the waves of North African migrants, job search, but that the closure of the borders of Europe would be a "joke".
Jean-Francois Cope argues that revisions to the system open-borders of Europe are based on the economy, step of xenophobia.
Cope, in an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press, asked, "do we have the means to absorb immigration job-related?". The answer is not much. ?
France and the Italy have disagreed on how to deal with more than 20 000 Tunisian illegal immigrants who entered the European Union via the small Italian island of Lampedusa in recent weeks. Most want to reach France, former colonial leader of Tunisia, where they can speak the language and have friends or family.
Copyright ? 2011 the Canadian Press. All rights reserved.BP earnings Down higher oil prices despite
LONDON - BP said Wednesday that its earnings fell in the first quarter of the previous year after selling assets to pay for the impact of the oil spill in the Gulf of the Mexico.
Gains were 5.48 billion over the first three months of this year, down from 5.6 billion in the same period last year. British oil giant set aside $ 384 million for the response to the oil spill in the first quarter.
BP has sold more than 24 billion dollars of assets to raise funds to cover the costs of oil spill. Accordingly, and including losses of production of the accident in the Gulf, production fell by 11% in the first quarter, compared to 2010.
Like its rivals, BP was assisted by the high price of oil last year, which, according to some analysts could more easily sell assets to strike agreements of cooperation in India and Russia. But an agreement with Rosneft the Russia exploration was put on hold earlier this year after legal campaign current Russian partners of BP, and there are signs a jump in the price of oil by more than 30 per cent last year could begin to reverse.
Oil companies may find it difficult to repeat their growth high profit of last year, as oil prices began to fall because of the signs that the slowdown in demand. The prices for motorists is wrong request as many consumers decided to drive less then that begins the period of vacation was occupied.
BP is the first largest stock oil companies to report first-quarter figures. Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil are defined to give their gains Thursday update.
In total, BP has set aside $ 41 billion to cover costs related to the oil spill in the Gulf of the Mexico one of the most ever. BP continues to try to obtain regulatory approval to resume drilling in the Gulf of the Mexico.
BP said it expects that the sale of the refineries and pipelines to the United States to be completed during the next two months. The fields in the company already sold in Pakistan, the Viet Nam and Argentina and plans to bring the total product of assignments to $ 30 billion.
BP shares were little changed in trade early on Wednesday in London.
The Caucus: "Long-form" certificate of birth of the Obama out
President Obama has posted a copy of his birth certificate "long-form" in the State of Hawaii, hoping to finally put an end to a theory of historical conspiracy among some conservatives who stated that he was not born in the United States and that it was not a President legitimate.
The birth certificate, which is available on the website of the White House, shows that Mr. Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii) and it is signed by the representatives of the State and his mother.
"President believed that distraction over his birth certificate is not good for the country", the White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer wrote on the Web site Wednesday morning. On the site, Mr. Pfeiffer said that Mr. Obama had authorized officials in Hawaii to release the document widely.
In a statement to the press on Wednesday morning, Mr. Obama said that he decided to publish the document to put an end to the "déconne" on his birth that threatened to divert the serious problems facing the country.
"During the last years of two and a half years, I watched with bewilderment," he said in brief remarks. "I was intrigued by the degree to which this thing just kept continuous.".
Mr. Obama said there would be a "segment of the people for whom, any that we have, this issue will not have to rest." But he said that he was "speaking to the vast majority of the American people and to the press." We have time for this kind of déconne. ?
President said he decided to release "long-form" birth certificate two weeks ago, after reporting on the controversy dominate a week in which the Republicans come out their budget for 2012 and Mr. Obama delivered a speech on the debt of the country.
"This will generate discussions huge and serious, important debates," Mr. Obama said these issues. "This is how democracy is supposed to work."
But he added that "we will not be able to do so, if we are distracted." We will not be able to do so if spend us time to disparage each other. We will not be able to do so if we just make up stuff and argue that the facts are not facts. ?
It also requested, without using names, Republicans such as Donald Trump, who have repeatedly raised the issue of the certificate of birth, saying that the political process must ignore the "Carnival and the Carnival Barkers."
The contention that Mr. Obama was not born to the United States and therefore did not meet the constitutional requirement for election to the Presidency, since years and has long been rebutted. But it has recently gained the attention of the public after Mr. Trump, real estate magnate, raised questions that it explores or not to run for President.
In a Wednesday morning press conference, Mr. Trump claimed to force the hand of Mr. Obama, saying that "I believe that I have accomplished something of really, really important." But he said the document published Wednesday should be examined for authenticity.
"I hope that this is the case," he said. "We have to look at." Many people have to look at. I hope that this is true, and the reason for which I hope its true is because we have real problems in this country. ?
Appearance by Mr. Obama television - even if Mr. Trump was set out in New Hampshire - offers a contrast to the White House, which is eager to portray the President as that which focused on the serious problems facing the country.
As he began his comments, the Chairman joked on the willingness of the networks to break into their normal programming to carry the press conference of Mr. Trump. But Mr. Obama was eager to make clear that Republicans that persist in the review of his birth certificate does not face more serious problems of the nation.
White House officials had years wanted ignore questions on the birth of Mr. Obama, pointing to a shorter form regularly presented by the representatives of the Hawaiian as sufficient to put an end to these questions.
In July 2009, Robert Gibbs, the White House at the time press officer, rejected the "made-up nonsense fictional whether if the President was born in this country."
But the so-called birther controversy continued as evidenced by polls which offers a large number of people stated that they were not convinced that Mr. Obama is in fact born in the country.
Many skeptics suggested that Mr. Obama could not produce the "long-form" birth certificate because they assumed that there was not. The decision of the White House to produce the document is an effort to refute these accusations.
Gunman kills the troops of the NATO to Kabul airport
Kabul--NATO members eight service and a contractor were shot and killed by an army officer Afghan, on Wednesday, while participating in a meeting of foreign and Afghan officers on the military side of Kabul International AirportAccording to statements by Afghan and NATO spokesman.
The filming took place at a meeting between American and Afghan officials, said colonel Bahader, a spokesman for the Afghan Army Air Corps. NATO did not confirm the nationality of the soldiers. None of the dead were Afghan troops, said General Mohammed Zahir Azimi, a spokesman for the Afghan Defence Ministry.
The gunman, according to senior aid to the Afghan army, was an old officer named Hamid Gul, who had been trained in 30 years when the Soviet Union occupied the country. The Afghan army refused to speculate on his motives. "You can read the mind of a person,", said Colonel Bahader, who like many Afghans, uses only one name. He described a chaotic scene in which some soldiers and officers flee dam bullets, jumping from second and third floor windows.
"They had suffered minor injuries, and some were injured with broken glass," said.
The Taliban claim responsibility for the attack, but identified the assailant as a Taliban militant of a district of Kabul Province named Azizullah. A spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said in a telephone interview that the aggressor "" lived in Kabul and he is wearing an Afghan military uniform, and when it short of ammunition, he was killed by foreign and Afghan soldiers. ""
In April, five Americans were killed when a suicide bomber detonated his charge at a joint meeting of Afghan-NATO to an Afghan army base in the Province of Laghman. Last November, six border police officers were killed by an officer of the ROE Afghan army. It was the fourth incident in the past two weeks, in which a person wearing a uniform of the Afghan security force attacked with in a Government compound.