Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker's full statement

Published: 7:28PM Friday July 05, 2013 Source: ONE News

• 

  Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker - Source: Breakfast

The following is the full statement from Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker.

As difficult as this decision is, I have decided that I am not going to stand for Mayor at the upcoming election in October.

I have to think of my own well-being, and those closest to me, and I don't believe I have the energy to lead this city for another term. I feel exhausted having worked non-stop over the past six years in office and I know that I can't sustain the pressure and stress of this job for another three. The people of this city need a fresh face to lead them over the next three years, when there will be so many great things happening with the rebuild of this city.

I really love the organisation I work for and I'm incredibly proud of this city and the people I work alongside on a daily basis. They've taken a pounding since the earthquakes and they have continued to perform outstandingly against much adversity. I've put my heart and soul in to this job, as I know they have, and I thank them all from the bottom of my heart for their loyalty and support.

It's taken a great deal of self-examination to walk away from this job.

The people of this city have stood beside each other since the

earthquakes and have faced extremely demanding challenges. Their

strength astonishes me and I know they now deserve to move forward with their lives with a new Mayor at the helm. Everyone deserves a fresh start and this city needs to be led by someone who has the energy and drive to take them on this journey.

The future is so bright for this magnificent city and I know there are many tremendous things already starting to happen here. I was born here and truly love this place, so I hope to find a new role where I can continue to contribute to the future of this city.

Copyright ? 2013, Television New Zealand Limited. Breaking and Daily News, Sport & Weather | TV ONE, TV2 | Ondemand

Source: http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/christchurch-mayor-bob-parker-s-full-statement-5490427?ref=rss

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Turkish Hackers Protest Massacre of Uyghurs by Defacing 33 Chinese Government Domains

Back in 2009, Turkey?s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an accused China of genocide for the massacre of 184 Uyghur Muslims from the region of Xinjiang. Prime Minister Erdo?an might not be liked by the Turkish people these days, but many still agree with the accusations he made at the time.

Among them, three Turkish hackers ? Bozkurt97, De4THBLoW & Bozkurt71 ? who have defaced a total of 33 Chinese government domains, HackRead reports.

Most of the hacked sites belong to Huojia, a county in Xinxiang, the Henan province of China. The main huojia.gov.cn and 31 of its subdomains have been defaced to display a protest message.

In addition, the hackers defaced the main website of Yanjin (yanjin gov cn), a county located in the same part of China as Huojia.

?Hacked for Uighur Muslim Turk brothers and all of Turkish world and we will hack your a lot of government and so important websites. Fear From Turks !!? the hackers wrote on the defaced pages.

Currently, all the defaced websites have been taken offline.

Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Turkish-Hackers-Protest-Massacre-of-Uyghurs-by-Defacing-33-Chinese-Government-Domains-365855.shtml

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10 Gorgeous Fireworks Displays That Have Nothing To Do With July 4th

Today, a fraction of the world's population celebrates its independence with shockingly expensive displays involving thousands of pounds of potassium nitrate and sulphur (and many more gallons of beer). But if you're a member of the other 6.7 billion people on Earth, fireworks aren't synonymous with a particular event or celebration.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/tEzm97_nYRc/10-gorgeous-fireworks-displays-that-have-nothing-to-do-663056647

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Instacube delayed, refunds promised once units ship

While Instagram busies itself tackling the world of micro-video, D2M, the company behind Instacube, is struggling to bring its Android-based photo frame to market. Late last month, it took to Kickstarter to update funders on delays, with a message titled, bittersweetly "We're Still Here." The company noted that, due to some last minute manufacturing shakeups, it would be unable to ship the device in July. Earlier today, it used the same forum to expound upon those problems, stating that while "no issue is insurmountable," a fair amount needs to happen before the boxes can begin shipping. One, the right partner needs to be found and two, the company needs more funding. As such, D2M is currently seeking investors and partners for $250,000 to $350,000 in development funds and $600,000 for the first round of production.

Still no firm update on when the Instacube will ship, and while the company did say it will be offering refunds to irritated backers, they'll only be honored once said shipping actually occurs. Oh, and as for Instagram video support? It's a possibility -- just not at launch. Users will have to view videos as stills when the Instacubes first arrive.

Filed under: Cellphones, Displays, Peripherals

Comments

Source: Kickstarter

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/03/instacube-delays/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Paula Deen Cites Prop 8 Ruling in Seeking Lawsuit Dismissal

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/07/paula-deen-cites-prop-8-ruling-in-seeking-lawsuit-dismissal/

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Kim Kardashian Baby Pictures: Not for Sale?!?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/07/kim-kardashian-baby-pictures-not-for-sale/

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YouTube Confirms Renewed VEVO Deal, Takes Stake In Company

YouTube confirmed that it has renewed its deal with music video distributor VEVO. Not only does the deal allow YouTube to keep VEVO's video on its site, but it also requires Google to invest in VEVO. Though terms of the deal have not been disclosed, Billboard estimated in February that it is worth between $40 million to $50 million and would give Google a 7 percent stake in VEVO.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/f0S9XYY9zYE/

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Town board member leads charge to end tax breaks for Medley Centre (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

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Romney Voted Against Running in Family Poll (Taegan Goddard's Political Wire)

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Gay pride parades draw huge crowds after marriage rulings

By Ronnie Cohen

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Dancing, cheering and toting placards, gay rights supporters took to the streets in huge numbers at annual gay pride parades across the United States on Sunday, with attendance boosted by recent Supreme Court rulings in support of same-sex marriage.

Gay pride celebrations were held in San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Seattle, Minneapolis and several other cities by marchers energized by the top court's rulings extending federal benefits to married homosexual couples and striking down a ban on same-sex marriages in California.

In San Francisco, two couples who sued to overturn the California ban led nearly 1 million people in one of the biggest parades in years. Some people carried signs that read "Thank you, Supreme Court!"

The two couples, Kris Perry and Sandy Stier and Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo, got married on Friday, hours after the ban was lifted.

On Sunday, crowds cheered as they rode through the parade in a baby-blue convertible with rainbow-colored cans dragging from the back of the car. Some in the crowd were dressed in rainbow colors, others wore bridal dresses and tuxedos.

In New York, Edith Windsor, whose lawsuit prompted the Supreme Court decision to grant gay couples federal benefits, was among the grand marshals leading New York's Gay Pride march down Fifth Avenue.

Windsor, 84, recalled her late spouse, Thea Clara Spyer, who suffered from multiple sclerosis, before leading the parade to shouts of "Edie!"

"Thea, in her wheelchair, and I would watch the parade together every year," she said.

The annual gay pride parades mark the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. A police raid in 1969 on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York, set off protests that popularized the slogan "Out of the closet and into the streets." The protests are widely credited with ushering in the modern gay rights movement.

Organizers of the gay parades in several cities said they planned for large turnouts after the Supreme Court issued its rulings on Wednesday.

The rulings came amid rapid progress for advocates of same-sex marriage in recent years in the United States and internationally. Opinion polls show a steady increase in U.S. support for gay marriage.

On Sunday, supporters of gay marriage also cheered news that a U.S. Supreme Court justice rejected a long-shot bid to halt same-sex marriages in California.

Justice Anthony Kennedy denied the request from supporters of the California gay marriage ban, known as Proposition 8, which state voters approved in 2008. Same-sex marriage opponents asked the high court on Saturday to overrule a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals order that lifted an injunction barring same-sex unions.

On the streets of New York, many people heralded the rulings.

"It's awesome," said Howard Tran, a 36-year-old pediatric nurse who attended with his husband and their five-month-old twins.

The San Francisco parade was led by a contingent known as Dykes on Bikes, a lesbian motorcycle club.

Raucous cheers from the crowd also went up for California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Kamala Harris, both heterosexual politicians who have expressed strong support of same-sex marriage.

Newsom waved to the crowd as he rode with his wife and two young children in a white BMW with a rainbow striped hood.

(Additional reporting by Noreen O'Donnell in New York; Writing by Kevin Gray; Editing by Tim Gaynor and Stacey Joyce)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gay-pride-parades-draw-huge-crowds-marriage-rulings-005350280.html

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A UK Minister Just Broke the Electric Car Land Speed Record

If there are two things in this world that folks just do not respect, it's the US Congress and the obscene amounts of torque that an electric engine can produce. And like its two-wheeled brethren, the Lola B12 69/EV has more than enough torque to spare. Enough, even, to propel a former UK government official to over 200 MPH and into the history books.

The Lola B12 69/EV is built by Drayson Racing Technologies (as in Lord Drayson?he's also the company CEO and former minister for the Labour government) in Kidlington, Oxfordshire. The firm has been in operation since 2007 and focuses on sustainable automotive technology, demonstrating its latest advancements through the firm's race team.

And to demonstrate the potential of electric vehicles, Dayton just went ahead and set a land speed record last week at RAF Elvington in Yorkshire. There, the Lola B12 69/EV hit a top speed of 204.2 MPH, beating the previous 175 MPH record set in 1974 by a General Electric Battery Box car.

To do so, the Drayson team had to modify an existing Le Mans prototype that used a bio-ethanol engine with a 20 kWh (850 HP) electric power plant and modified the recycled carbon fiber chassis to minimize drag and to get it under the 1,000 kg limit to qualify for the FIA (Federation Internationale de l?Automobile) record.

"What it, I hope, shows to people is just what the future potential of electric cars is,? Drayson told the BBC. ?[It] is a pointer to the future ? the technology that we developed for this car will filter down to the cars we use every day.?

While the presence of Google's Eric Schmidt might lead to dreams of driverless car races, Drayson racing will be sticking with human drivers for the time being. In fact Lord Drayson is working to start up a new FIA Formula E competition (open only to electric vehicles) for the 2014 season. Reportedly the races will be 45 minutes long and won't include traditional pit stops. Since you can't very well recharge or swap a battery in a pit stop, racers will instead hop out of the expired car, run 100 meters (which is going to be hilarious), and get into a freshly charged car. Each racer will race three separate cars and get two pits per race. No word yet on whether they'll be allowed to pit for tire changes.

The races are set to start in London in the fall of next year, followed by Rome, Miami, Beijing, Rio de Janeiro (if Brazilian society hasn't collapsed by then) and three other TBD locales. Hopefully they'll be traveling from venue to venue by more conventional means. [Extreme Tech - BBC]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/a-uk-minister-just-broke-the-electric-car-land-speed-re-613121273

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Thousands rally against Texas abortion bill on first day of new special session

Mike Stone / Reuters

Protesters hold signs and cheer during a protest before the start of a special session of the Legislature in Austin, Texas, on July 1.

By Andrew Rafferty, Staff Writer, NBC News

The Texas Capitol became the center of America's abortion debate again on Monday?as thousands of demonstrators were on hand to voice opposition to Republican-backed legislation that would dramatically limit abortion rights in the state.

The protests came at the start of a special legislative session called by Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry after a bill that would have essentially ban most abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy was halted last week.

The effort was led by Democratic state Senator Wendy Davis, who became a national icon for abortion-rights advocates after standing for?hours to filibuster the legislation.

Related: Rising political star Wendy Davis

"Less than a week ago you were at the crux of a turning point in Texas history, you joined the ranks of brave men and women who love this state and fought for their liberties and preserving Texas values,"?Davis told thousands gathered on the steps of the state capitol in Austin, Texas, on Monday. ?Many wore orange and held "Stand With Wendy" signs.

Eric Gay / AP

Anti-abortion supporters and pro-abortion rights supporters crowd into the rotunda of the Texas capitol, on July 1, in Austin, Texas.

"It was your voices lent to me that made it possible for me to stand those 13 hours," she said.

Also on hand to support Davis was Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks and actress Lisa Edelstein.

On the final day of a legislative session, Davis held the floor for over ten hours to prevent a vote on the controversial bill.

Texas Republicans attempted to use parliamentary maneuvers to pass the bill before the session came to a close, but?protestors?in the gallery shouted so loudly that the lawmakers were unable to hear and the could not pass the bill before the midnight deadline.?

Opponents of the bill view it as a way for Republicans to cripple abortion clinics in the deeply conservative state. Supporters say the measure is an important one to protect the health of women.

A smaller group of the proposed law's supporters were also on hand, many wearing blue and singing "Amazing Grace."

Perry and Texas Republicans have vowed to pass the bill.?

"We will not allow the breakdown of decorum and decency to prevent us from doing what the people of this state hired us to do," Perry said in a statement announcing a second special legislative session.? ??

The abortion bill on Monday was referred to committees for public hearings before the legislature?recessed?for the week. There will be no action on the bill until at least July 9.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663306/s/2e0f7b14/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A70C0A10C19237270A0Ethousands0Erally0Eagainst0Etexas0Eabortion0Ebill0Eon0Efirst0Eday0Eof0Enew0Especial0Esession0Dlite/story01.htm

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Britain turns to Canada for its new banking chief

LONDON (AP) ? It's not often that central bank governors get compared to rock stars.

But for all the buzz being created about the new man taking over as governor of the venerable Bank of England, you would think his name is McCartney, rather than Mark Carney.

"He's got that charisma," said Paul Kavanagh, senior market strategist for Killik & Co. "People will warm to him."

Carney, the former head of the Bank of Canada and the first non-Brit to run the 319-year-old bank, moves into the bank's headquarters in the City of London on July 1. He faces a tough challenge: Helping rescue Britain's economy, which has been foundering since the onset of the 2008 economic crisis. While he won't do it alone, Britain's leaders are hoping he can inject confidence and try new ideas to revive the country's fortunes.

Carney, 48, will certainly be hoping for a calmer time of it than his predecessor, Mervyn King. In his 10 years on the job, King, 65, has had to steer the bank through the financial crisis of 2008, help rescue several major retail banks and try to revive the UK's economy by bringing interest rates down to an all-time low of 0.5 percent and introducing a 375 billion pound ($572 billion) bond-buying program.

The new governor brings an impressive track record. Carney is credited with keeping money flowing through the Canadian economy by acting quickly in cutting interest rates to their lowest level ever of 1 percent, working with Canadian bankers to sustain lending through the crisis and, critically, letting the public know rates would remain low so they would keep borrowing. And it wasn't just that he had good policies ? he sold them to the public in a way everyone could understand.

However, he didn't face the same challenges as Britain. Canadian banks were stronger and didn't dabble in subprime mortgages. None of them needed a bailout. Demand for Canada's energy and mineral exports also helped the country rebound faster than most industrial nations in Western Europe and the United States.

Canada recovered faster than many other countries from the 2008 financial crisis. During 2009, unemployment hit 8.7 percent and gross domestic product shrank 4.2 percent. But it came back.

The Canadian economy expanded 2.5 percent in the first three months of this year, the fastest pace since 2011. Unemployment is now around 7.1 percent.

In contrast, the UK economy grew at 0.3 percent in the same period and its unemployment is stuck at around 7.8 percent.

The new guy from Ottawa is getting hyped as a departure from the quiet, reserved King, who comes from the gray, serious world of central banking.

"If it is your view that central bankers are boring old people, he (Carney) was not." said Benjamin Tal, the deputy chief economist at CIBC World Markets in Canada. "He looks differently. He has all his hair. He speaks in a way that it not typical."

Whereas most central bankers keep analysts busy parsing what they say ? much in the style of former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan ? Carney is known for his wit and informed clarity.

That's considered a golden attribute at the moment, especially for the UK. Public confidence in the country's financial sector has been undermined by scandals related to interest rate-rigging, rogue trading and a lack of accountability.

"We need honest appraisals of what is going on if the public is going to change their opinion," said Cary Cooper, a professor at Lancaster University Management School. "(The public) need someone who is open and honest."

Among those anxious for Carney to succeed is Treasury chief, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, a man so unpopular in Britain that he was booed by the crowds at the 2012 London Olympics. Osborne reportedly wooed the Canadian for more than a year, happy to bear the brunt of the acerbic British media, which would criticize Carney's 874,000 pound ($1.3 million) pay and benefit package at a time when the average public sector employee received a 1 percent pay increase.

Carney's newness to Britain is an advantage: He can play the outsider ? replicating a common trait in business where a new face comes in to offer a fresh approach.

And for the UK, Carney is about as outside as you can get. He was born in Fort Smith, in Canada's remote Northwest Territories. When he was 6, his family moved to Edmonton, where his mother taught school and his father became a professor of education history at the University of Alberta

He got a partial scholarship to Harvard, where he was the backup goalie on the hockey team. Influenced by John Kenneth Galbraith, who pioneered the popular notion that economics should be accessible to the masses, Carney took up economics

But Harvard left him in debt and he opted for a job at Goldman Sachs after graduation in 1988.

"I felt it would be better to work for a few years and pay that off," he told Reader's Digest Canada in 2011 of the "exorbitant amount of money" he owed. But when asked how much, he cheerily replied: "That's a bit personal. But I paid it off ?I'm very trustworthy."

He went back to Goldman after studying at Oxford, where he met his British-born wife, Diana, who specializes in development. They have four young daughters.

Carney's years at Goldman Sachs in London, Tokyo and New York left him comfortable with the Wall Street world ? something that was particularly useful at the Bank of Canada. He understood how markets would respond, and wasn't intimidated when financial titans tried to throw their weight around. His backers like to recall a run-in with JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, who had a heated exchange with Carney after accusing him of pushing "anti-American" bank regulations.

"He more than held his ground," former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin said of the exchange. "Mark won the day clearly."

Carney also solidified his reputation by using "forward guidance," or locking in the interest rate outlook for months in at a time ? the idea being that if people knew rates would remain low they would be more likely to borrow. That helped stimulate spending and economic growth. The U.S. also uses this method, and analysts think Carney might try it in Britain.

But Canadians say it's risky to make too much of Carney's role, saying he's more like Ringo Starr ? someone who was in the right place at the right time. Talented, yes, but anyone would succeed with the Beatles ? and Canada's economy has proved resilient to the global economic downturn.

Canada's conservative banks didn't suffer from the same capital and subprime crises that U.S. and UK banks have ? Carney has not had to rescue a bank during his five years at the Bank of Canada.

Tal, the CIBC economist, said that while Carney was a great central banker, a bit less hype might be in order.

"If there are any expectations of a knight on a white horse who coming to save the British economy, I suggest that they will be disappointed," he said.

But Canadian observers also suggest Britain will note his style ? the events, speeches and press conferences tinged with humor.

"I'm a member of a team, the governing council of the Bank of Canada," Carney said at the University of Alberta in May. "If my legacy turns out to be bad, I'm taking them down with me."

Analysts expect he'll take it slow at first. Britain has a much larger financial sector and remains one of the world's great money centers despite its woes. All that candor may not go over well in London.

"He had no fear about wading into any (economic) subject," said Douglas Porter of BMO Capital Markets in Toronto. "(I) suspect he will be more cautious, at least initially, in England."

__

Associated Press Writer Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this story.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-06-30-Britain-Carney%20Profile/id-a8e9d30f91974cb38811ec2818def07d

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Liver protein crucial for pregnancy

June 30, 2013 ? A protein first shown to function in the liver plays a crucial role in pregnancy in mice and has a key role in the human menstrual cycle, according to researchers at the University of Montreal. Mice that were genetically engineered not to produce the liver receptor homolog-1 (Lrh-1) molecule were unable to create the uterine conditions necessary for establishing and sustaining pregnancy, resulting in the formation of defective placentas. The researchers then showed that Lhr-1 was present in the human uterus and the essential processes related to the success of early gestation.

"We previously showed that Lrh-1 is essential for ovulation. Our newest studies have revealed that it is plays an important role in the uterus, raising the possibility that Lrh-1 deficiency contributes to human gestational failure," explained lead author Bruce Murphy, of the university's Animal Reproduction Research Centre. "We worked with mice before looking at human tissues. I believe it premature to propose determination of Lrh-1 in uterine biopsies as a diagnostic tool, but we are working on determining the receptor's pattern of expression across the menstrual cycle."

The researchers also looked at whether hormone replacement therapy might restore normal uterine functions in the mice. "Progesterone did not make a difference. Although hormone therapy allowed for the embryos to implant, we saw problems with the lining in the uterus, compromised formation of the placenta, fetal growth retardation and fetal death," Murphy said. "However, there are new Lrh-1 agonists and antagonists, currently in clinical trials to treat hepatic consequences of type II diabetes, and thus therapeutic intervention might be possible."

The study was published in Nature Medicine on June 30, 2013, and was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. The US National Institutes of Health funded collaborators at Baylor University that contributed to the study.?

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/XMMTwWhUK3A/130630144447.htm

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Developers Are Lifting The Cloud, Not The Other Way Around

For all the attention this week about the cloud, it’s evident that it is pretty much a distraction when considering what is really happening. Developers are lifting the cloud, not the other way around. The big guns of tech are aligning because they have to. It’s a defensive move to serve their existing customer base. It’s not lke the old kings are showing ?substantial revenue increases for new software licenses. But ?consolidating power to offer legacy technology does show that the cloud is anything you want to call it. In their new definition of the cloud, the IT-heavy enterprise gets a new version of that old-school database to run the software installed ten or 15 years ago. ?An operaitng systgem built for the desktop and client/server age can be recast as a cloud service. Older SaaS companies can work with former on-premise foes and happily proclaim that what worked for the past 14 years will be just fine for another two generations or more. Just like cowbell, there is never enough. But these moves to align CRM and operating systems with legacy databases are not about innovation. They are simply meant to keep the status quo and offer the bread and butter business that have earned them billions in revenue. The real innovation is in the new genre of databases, developer frameworks, ?social coding services and the APIs enriched with context through data analysis. It’s not to say the cloud lacks value. It has plenty of that. The cloud is really all about value. Prices continue to drop for compute and storage. On Joyent, a developer can now pay by the second. But look deep into the infrastructure and there are signs even there of the developer’s work. Hearing more about this idea of the software defined data center? It’s this concept that software, not metal switches, do the work with APIs connecting it all together. The APIs connect networks, data stores, all forms of clients and databases, etc. It’s the act of the network going to the app instead of the other way around. So all the machines and the pipes are getting abstracted and the developer, arguably, is driving that change. The smartphone is a server. As again illustrated by Joyent with Project Manta, the big storage and network machines are now becoming part of the operating system. Compute and storage are coming together and in-memory databases make

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

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7 shot at Brooklyn party; 1 in critical condition

NEW YORK (AP) ? Police say seven people have been shot at a party in Brooklyn, including a woman taken to a hospital in critical condition.

Authorities say shots rang out at a party at a residence at approximately 1 a.m. Sunday. They say the woman and six other people who sustained non-life-threatening injuries have been transported to Kings County Hospital.

Police say there is no immediate word on the extent of the injuries or the identities of those who were hurt.

Police say no arrests have been made.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-06-30-US-NYC-Party-Shooting/id-13ec93b499084deeab2cf416ce31da8c

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Mexican ex-governor Mario Villanueva gets 11 years in US prison for money laundering

By Bernard Vaughan, Reuters

NEW YORK -- A former Mexican state governor was sentenced to 11 years in prison in the United States on Friday after pleading guilty to conspiring to launder millions of dollars in bribes from a notorious drug cartel.

With credit for time served and good behavior, Mario Villanueva, 64, could be released from U.S. custody in two to three years, his lawyer, Richard Lind, said after the hearing. He faces another 23 years in prison in Mexico stemming from similar charges, Lind said.

Mexico's drug war is also part of a drug culture with roots in music, movies and even religion

From 1993 to 1999, Villanueva was governor of Quintana Roo, a state on the Yucatan Peninsula that is home to the popular tourist destination Cancun.

While in office he conspired to launder millions of dollars in bribery payments from the Juarez drug cartel through accounts and shell corporations in the United States and elsewhere, prosecutors said.

He was extradited to the United States in 2010 after serving a six-year sentence in Mexico for money laundering.

"This defendant violated the public trust to enrich himself," Assistant U.S. Attorney Glen Kopp told U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero in New York on Friday.

In a plea agreement last year, Villanueva pleaded guilty to one charge of money laundering conspiracy; he faced a maximum of 20 years in prison.

"I ask for your compassion and your clemency," Villanueva told Marrero, as several of his family members, including his wife and son, looked on.

The Juarez cartel transported more than 200 tons of cocaine into the United States in the 1990s, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan.

Prosecutors said Villanueva reached an agreement with the cartel soon after it established operations in Quintana Roo in 1994. He received payments of between $400,000 and $500,000 for each cocaine shipment that went through the state in exchange for ensuring law enforcement would not interfere.

By late 1995, he began transferring the money to bank and brokerage accounts in the United States, Switzerland and elsewhere in an effort to hide the funds, prosecutors said.

Consuelo Marquez, a Lehman Brothers investment broker, helped set up several offshore corporations for Villanueva to shelter the bribe proceeds, according to the indictment against Villanueva. She also established brokerage accounts for him and conducted a series of wire transfers at his direction, according to the indictment.

Marquez was sentenced to three years of probation and fined $10,000 in 2006 after pleading guilty to money laundering charges.

Villanueva, while under investigation in Mexico, disappeared in March 1999, just before his term as governor expired. He was discovered by Mexican authorities in 2001.

While a fugitive, Villanueva tried to transfer funds in the Lehman accounts to third-party accounts with Marquez's help, according to the indictment.

With his sentence, Villanueva "completes his descent from elected government official to corrupted official to incarcerated felon," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.

The case is USA v. Mario Ernesto Villanueva Madrid, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 01-cr-021.

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Iran's president-elect: Nation voted for change

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? Iran's newly elected president says his election was a vote for change and vows to remain committed to his campaign promises of moderation and constructive interaction with the outside world.

Hasan Rouhani says moderation in foreign policy does not mean surrender or conflict but rather effective and constructive contact with the world. He made the comments in an address to a conference in Tehran Saturday. His remarks were broadcast live on state TV.

Rouhani has already promised greater openness over Iran's nuclear program but at the same time has sided with the hard-line Islamic establishment that refuses to stop enriching uranium.

He believes it's possible to strike a deal that would allow the Islamic Republic to keep enriching uranium while assuring the West it will not produce a nuclear weapon.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/irans-president-elect-nation-voted-change-083803196.html

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Obama recasts chase for Snowden as unexceptional

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The last thing President Barack Obama wants to do is turn Edward Snowden into a grand enemy of the state or a Daniel Ellsberg-type hero who speaks truth to power.

In the shifting narrative of the Obama administration, the man whose leaks of top-secret material about government surveillance programs have tied the national security apparatus in knots and brought charges under the Espionage Act has now been demoted to a common fugitive unworthy of international intrigue or extraordinary pursuit by the U.S. government.

A "29-year-old hacker," in the words of Obama; fodder for a made-for-TV movie, perhaps, but not much more.

"This is not exceptional from a legal perspective," the president said Thursday of Snowden's efforts to avoid capture by hopscotching from Hawaii to Hong Kong to Russia.

"I'm not going to have one case of a suspect who we're trying to extradite suddenly being elevated to the point where I've got to start doing wheeling and dealing and trading on a whole host of other issues simply to get a guy extradited," the president told reporters in Senegal.

It was the second time in a week that the administration had toned down its rhetoric as Snowden remained out of reach and first China and then Russia refused to send him back.

Just Monday, Secretary of State John Kerry was talking tough against China and calling Snowden a traitor whose actions are "despicable and beyond description." By Tuesday, Kerry was calling for "calm and reasonableness" on the matter, and adding, "We're not looking for a confrontation. We are not ordering anybody."

There are plenty of reasons for Obama to pull back, beyond his professed desire to avoid international horse-trading for the leaker.

The president, in his own words, has "a whole lot of business to do with China and Russia." Why increase tensions in an already uneasy relationship when Obama is looking for Russia's cooperation in finding a path to peace in Syria, for example?

In addition, less-heated dialogue could make it easier to broker Snowden's return because, despite the latest shrugs, U.S. officials very much want him.

"There's a lot of signaling going on," said Steve Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy for the Federation of American Scientists. "If the White House were issuing ultimatums, then Russia might feel obliged not to cooperate. But if it's merely one request among many others, that might make it easier to advance to a resolution."

The president also may have a U.S. audience in mind for his comments.

Obama's Democratic base includes plenty of defenders of civil liberties who are sympathetic to Snowden's professed goal of making government more transparent.

Benjamin Pauker, managing editor of Foreign Policy magazine, said the president was loath to elevate Snowden to a state enemy or "an Ellsberg-type truth-teller," referring to the 1971 leaker of the Pentagon Papers, which showed the U.S. government had misled the public about the war in Vietnam.

Ellsberg himself recently called Snowden's revelations the most significant disclosures in the nation's history.

The administration, though, would rather marginalize Snowden, a former National Security Agency systems analyst who is thought to have custody of more classified documents.

"Calling him a hacker, as opposed to a government contractor or an NSA employee, brings him down a notch to someone who's an irritant, as opposed to someone who has access to integral intelligence files," Pauker said. "To externalize him and brand him with a black-hat hacker tag distances him from the government."

The disdainful talk isn't just coming from the White House.

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, called Snowden "a high school dropout who had a whole series of both academic troubles and employment troubles" after a recent closed hearing on the leaks. The committee's top Democrat, C.A. "Dutch" Ruppersberger from Maryland, called Snowden "a legend in his own mind" for claiming to be able to use NSA systems to access any email or phone call anywhere ? something the NSA's director has said can't be done.

There may also be face-saving benefits for Obama in cutting down Snowden, who turned 30 last week. An unsuccessful full-court press for Snowden's return would only show the limitations of Obama's international influence.

It's not the first time a president has tried to reset expectations by first elevating and then playing down the importance of an international fugitive who eluded capture, at least for a time.

President George W. Bush went from putting out a "dead-or-alive" ultimatum for 9-11 terror mastermind Osama bin Laden to dismissing him as "a person who's now been marginalized."

"I just don't spend that much time on him," Bush said in March 2002.

Candidate Barack Obama pledged during the 2008 presidential campaign: "We will kill bin Laden, we will crush al-Qaida. That has to be our biggest national security priority."

By January 2009, just days before his inauguration, Obama was saying: "My preference, obviously would be to capture or kill him. But if we have so tightened the noose that he's in a cave somewhere and can't even communicate with his operatives, then we would meet our goal of protecting America."

As it turned out, he got him.

___

AP Intelligence Writer Kimberly Dozier contributed to this report.

___

Follow Nancy Benac on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/nbenac

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-recasts-chase-snowden-unexceptional-073112725.html

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Clashes as Egypt leader's backers, foes rally

Supporters of Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi fill a public square outside the Rabia el-Adawiya Mosque in Cairo, not far from the presidential palace, during a rally in Cairo, Friday, June 28, 2013. Tens of thousands of backers and opponents of Egypt's Islamist president held competing rallies in the capital Friday and new clashes erupted between the two sides in the country's second largest city, Alexandria, in a prelude to massive nationwide protests planned by the opposition this weekend demanding Mohammed Morsi's removal.(AP Photo)

Supporters of Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi fill a public square outside the Rabia el-Adawiya Mosque in Cairo, not far from the presidential palace, during a rally in Cairo, Friday, June 28, 2013. Tens of thousands of backers and opponents of Egypt's Islamist president held competing rallies in the capital Friday and new clashes erupted between the two sides in the country's second largest city, Alexandria, in a prelude to massive nationwide protests planned by the opposition this weekend demanding Mohammed Morsi's removal.(AP Photo)

Opponents of Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi chant slogans as fire rages at the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in Alexandria, Friday, June 28, 2013. Thousands of backers and opponents of Egypt's Islamist president held competing rallies in the capital Friday and new clashes erupted between the two sides in the country's second largest city, Alexandria, in a prelude to massive nationwide protests planned by the opposition this weekend demanding Mohammed Morsi's removal.(AP Photo/Heba Khamis)

Opponents of Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi chant slogans as fire rages at the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in Alexandria, Friday, June 28, 2013. Thousands of backers and opponents of Egypt's Islamist president held competing rallies in the capital Friday and new clashes erupted between the two sides in the country's second largest city, Alexandria, in a prelude to massive nationwide protests planned by the opposition this weekend demanding Mohammed Morsi's removal.(AP Photo/Heba Khamis)

Supporters of Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi hold a rally in Cairo, Friday, June 28, 2013. Thousands of backers and opponents of Egypt's Islamist president held competing rallies in the capital Friday and new clashes erupted between the two sides in the country's second largest city, Alexandria, in a prelude to massive nationwide protests planned by the opposition this weekend demanding Mohammed Morsi's removal. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)

Opponents of Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi wane national flags as they demonstrate in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, June 28, 2013. Thousands of supporters of Egypt's embattled president are rallying in the nation's capital in a show of support ahead of what are expected to be massive opposition-led protests on June 30 to demand Mohammed Morsi's ouster.(AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

CAIRO (AP) ? The health department says one person has died and at least 85 others were injured in clashes between supporters and opponents of Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.

Thousands of anti-Morsi protesters marched toward the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters Friday, where up to a 1,000 supporters of the president's political group were deployed. Fighting erupted when someone on the Islamist side fired birdshots on the marchers, according to an Associated Press cameraman at the scene. Later, opposition protesters broke into the headquarters and torched it.

The health department reported one death in the fighting, without elaborating. It was not immediately known which side the victim belonged to.

Backers and opponents of Egypt's Islamist president held competing rallies Friday ahead of massive protests planned Sunday demanding Morsi's removal.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-06-28-Egypt/id-7fe6362ca63545d88aec7a3ac0986e25

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Man sought in death of ex-Patriot Hernandez's pal

FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) ? Police say they're seeking another man in connection with the killing of one of former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez's friends.

They've issued an alert and wanted poster for Ernest Wallace, who's considered armed and dangerous. They say he's wanted for accessory after the fact of the murder of semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd last week in North Attleborough, Mass., near Hernandez's home.

State police say they're also looking for a silver or gray 2012 Chrysler 300 with Rhode Island license plates Wallace was seen driving.

Hernandez has been charged with murder for what prosecutors say was Lloyd's execution-style killing. He was denied bail Thursday. His lawyer says he wants to clear his name.

Another man was arrested Wednesday in Hernandez's hometown of Bristol, Conn., as part of the investigation. The Patriots cut Hernandez that day.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/man-sought-death-ex-patriot-hernandezs-pal-021247736.html

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Video: Cramer's Stocks to Watch: BlackBerry

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Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/cnbc/52340247/

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Kerry plunges back into Mideast peace diplomacy

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) ? Secretary of State John Kerry plunged back into the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Thursday, using Jordan as a base for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

In is fifth visit to the region to try to restart peace talks, Kerry held a four-hour dinner meeting with Netanyahu that stretched into Friday morning. He was to have lunch with Abbas on Friday in Amman, and more meetings could be in the offing.

Kerry left Amman on Thursday evening in a convoy of nearly a dozen vehicles for the roughly 90-minute drive to Jerusalem. A Jordanian military helicopter flew over his convoy during the trip, according to a reporter who was allowed to make the trip with Kerry and his delegation.

Netanyahu was about an hour late, apparently telling Kerry that he was delayed because he had been attending a graduation ceremony for Israeli military pilots. They started talking around 9:30 p.m. local time in a suite at a hotel in Jerusalem and ended their discussion around 1:30 a.m. Friday.

There were no immediate readouts of the discussion from Israeli or U.S. officials.

U.S. State department officials say that while there are no scheduled plans for any three-way discussion during Kerry's trip, they are confident that both sides are open to negotiations, or at least sitting down together at the same table to restart talks that broke down in 2008.

Kerry, they say, will continue to try to find common ground between the two sides that would lead to a re-launching of peace talks. On this trip, Kerry is trying to pin down precisely what conditions Abbas and Netanyahu have for restarting talks and perhaps discuss confidence-building measures.

Beyond that, Kerry wants to talk about the positive outcomes, such as enhanced economic growth, of a two-state solution. But at the same time, the secretary, who has long-time relationships with officials from both sides, will remind them of what's at stake if the conflict is left unresolved, they said.

Earlier this month, in a speech to the American Jewish Committee Global Forum in Washington, Kerry warned of serious consequences if no deal is reached.

"Think about what could happen next door," he told the Jewish audience. " The Palestinian Authority has committed itself to a policy of nonviolence. ... Up until recently, not one Israeli died from anything that happened from the West Bank until there was a settler killed about a month ago.

"But if that experiment is allowed to fail, ask yourselves: What will replace it? What will happen if the Palestinian economy implodes, if the Palestinian Security Forces dissolve, if the Palestinian Authority fails? ... The failure of the moderate Palestinian leadership could very well invite the rise of the very thing that we want to avoid: the same extremism in the West Bank that we have seen in Gaza or from southern Lebanon."

So far, there have been no public signals that the two sides are narrowing their differences.

Abbas has said he won't negotiate unless Israel stops building settlements on war-won lands or accepts its 1967 lines ? before the capture of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in a Mideast war that year ? as a starting point for border talks. The Palestinians claim all three areas for their future state.

Netanyahu has rejected the Palestinian demands, saying there should be no pre-conditions ? though his predecessor conducted talks on the basis of the pre-1967 lines, and the international community views the settlements as illegal or illegitimate.

Earlier on Thursday, Kerry talked about the crisis in Syria and the Mideast peace process over lunch with Jordan's King Abdullah II.

In a statement, the Royal Palace said Abdullah told Kerry that he will continue trying to bridge the gaps in the viewpoints of Palestinians and Israelis. But he warned that Israel's "unilateral actions, which include continuous Israeli trespassing on Christian and Muslim holy sites, undermine chances for peace."

On Wednesday, an Israeli planning committee gave the final approval for construction of dozens of new homes in a settlement in east Jerusalem. The announcement, which was made the day before Kerry's visit, appeared to be an Israeli snub at the secretary of state's latest round of Mideast diplomacy.

Officials traveling with Kerry sought to minimize the significance of the announcement, saying the U.S. has repeatedly said that continued construction of settlements were unhelpful to efforts to restart the talks. The settlements are part of the Har Homa area of east Jerusalem. The Obama administration said it was "deeply concerned" back in 2011 when an Israeli planning commission approved 930 new housing units in the Har Homa neighborhood.

The Palestinian side condemned the announcement.

"Such behavior proves that the Israeli government is determined to undermine Secretary Kerry's efforts at every level," said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.

___

Associated Press writer Jamal Halaby in Amman contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kerry-plunges-back-mideast-peace-diplomacy-154841578.html

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Fungal Meningitis Update: Infection Traveled Surprising Route

The fungus responsible for the meningitis outbreak of last year travels an unusual route through the human body ? moving upward through the spinal fluid to reach the brain, then later invading the blood vessels, according to new research.

In efforts to unravel the outbreak of fungal infections due to steroid injections into the spine, which were contaminated by a fungus that rarely infects humans, investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention examined tissue samples from 40 patients, including 16 fatal cases.

They found that the fungus, called Exserohilum rostratum, travels through the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) upward along the spine, to reach the base of the brain where it causes meningitis. CSF is a bodily fluid that fills the space in the spine where the contaminated drug was injected.

Exserohilum rostratum is a black mold commonly found in soil, but little is known about how it develops infections in human, as there had been very few cases reported before the outbreak of 2012.

In most infections, pathogens enter the blood immediately, and travel from one organ to the other. To the surprise of the CDC researchers, Exserohilum seemed to do this in reverse ? infecting the brain first, then entering the blood.

?Because of the site of injection, the fungi entered the CSF and settled down in the base of the brain, where it started invading the vessels,? said study researcher Dr. Sherif Zaki, chief of the Infectious Disease Pathology Branch at the CDC. At the stage where the fungus has reached the blood vessels, it doesn?t have a chance to travel farther, because the disease is fatal, he said.

Another unusual aspect of the infections the researchers found was that Exserohilum didn?t invade the neural tissue of the brain.

?It was more confined to the meninges around the brain, whereas in a lot of fungal invasions, the fungi rapidly invade the brain tissue,? said Dr. Jana Ritter, another researcher in the study. The meninges are the membrane layers that cover the brain.

In conducting autopsies on people who had died from the fungal infection, the researchers saw extensive bleeding and tissue decay around the base of the brain, as well as inflammation and clots in the surrounding blood vessels, according to the report published today (June 26) in The American Journal of Pathology.

?

The CDC investigation follows the nationwide outbreak of fungal meningitis in 2012, in which 745 people were sickened, and 58 died. More than 13,000 people received injections of potentially contaminated steroid drugs made in a compounding pharmacy in Massachusetts. The injections were made to treat back or joint pain. ?[5 Meningitis Facts You Need to Know]

In the months following the outbreak health officials traced the contamination to more than 17,000 vials from three contaminated lots of a steroid drug prepared in a single compounding pharmacy, New England Compounding Center. The drug contained the fungus Exserohilum, which was also identified in the majority of patients.

Although all lots of contaminated vials were recalled, new patients are still being reported. The researchers are investigating how some people who received an injection last year may develop the infection months later.

?Looks like that the fungus can be injected and sit there at the injection site for up to several months. We don?t know yet how it manages to do that,? Ritter said.

Other mysteries also remain. The researchers saw a lack of immune response in some tissue that contained the fungus, which raised the question of ?why, in some particular tissues, the fungus seems to be just sitting there, without having inflammatory cells around it,? Ritter said.

The steroid shots putatively work to alleviate pain by suppressing the immune system, so it is tempting, the researchers said, to attribute this lack of immune response to the effects of steroids. However, studies of other fungal infections in patients whose immune system was compromised by other diseases would contradict this idea.

The new findings give more insights about how the fungus develops the infection, and may help clinicians to better decide which medications to use, and for how long. However, the CDC?s investigation continues, and future studies are needed to better understand human factors that contribute to infection and disease, as well as properties of Exserohilum, the researchers said.
?

Email Bahar Gholipouror follow her @alterwired. Follow?LiveScience?@livescience, Facebook?& Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fungal-meningitis-infection-traveled-surprising-route-134535953.html

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Why Russia evacuated its naval base in Syria

In a surprise move, Russia has pulled all its military and nondiplomatic civilian personnel out of Syria. That includes a complete evacuation of the naval supply station in the Mediterranean port of Tartus, which is often discussed as one of Russia's key reasons for its long and stubborn support of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.

"We have neither servicemen nor civilians in Syria anymore. Or Russian military instructors assigned to units of the Syrian regular Army, for that matter," a Russian defense ministry spokesperson is quoted as telling the Moscow business daily Vedomosti yesterday.

The Tartus naval supply station, Russia's only military base outside the former USSR, has been effectively closed, Russian deputy foreign minister and special Middle East envoy Mikhail Bogdanov confirmed in an interview with a Turkish newspaper. He insisted that the base, which housed about 70 fulltime military technicians to service visiting Russian warships, was of no strategic importance to Russia.

RECOMMENDED: What is Russia thinking on Syria? A brief guide

"It's just a technical facility for maintaining ships sailing in the Mediterranean," he said.

That answer seems a trifle inadequate. The obvious question is: Why abandon Tartus now, given that the Russian naval presence in the Mediterranean has never been so large?

Earlier this month Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia will maintain a permanent naval flotilla in the region for the first time since the collapse of the USSR more than 20 years ago. "This is a strategically important region and we have tasks to carry out there to provide for the national security of the Russian Federation," he said.

The Russian Navy has been holding almost nonstop maneuvers in the eastern Mediterranean for more than a year, and currently has a 16-warship task force in the area.

"The first and likeliest reason for the closure is that Russia doesn't want to risk the lives of 70 military personnel stationed at Tartus," says Vladimir Sotnikov, expert with the official Institute of Oriental Studies in Moscow.

"Now that the battlefield initiative in Syria's civil war is in the hands of the Assad regime, Russia might fear some [rebel] provocations against our people. Another possible reason may be to help promote the Geneva-2 talks. We have information that Russia, the United Nations and the US have agreed to a format for the talks. So, perhaps Russia wants to dispel impression that its position is based on some desire to hold on to this station," Mr. Sotnikov says.

"In any case, Russian ships have the opportunity to go to Cyprus for supplies and maintenance, and it's safer for them to do so right now," he adds.

Russia has also been steadily evacuating the estimated 30,000 Russian citizens living in Syria since early this year, and yesterday the Ministry of Emergency Services reported that it had extracted another 130 Russians from Latakia in northwest Syria and flown them back to Russia.

Other Russian analysts agree that, whatever the reasons for Russia's personnel pullout, it probably doesn't signal any change of the hard, pro-Assad position that Mr. Putin most recently reiterated at last week's G8 summit in Northern Ireland.

"Russia's position hasn't changed. In fact it's getting tougher," says Sergei Strokan, a foreign affairs columnist with the pro-business Moscow daily Kommersant.

"The reasons behind this evacuation probably come down to security. That base's importance has been greatly overrated in Western reporting. It just isn't that big a deal. So, I guess the thinking is, why risk some major incident that the rebels might stage by attacking Russians at this sensitive moment when all the hopes are pinned on a new Geneva peace conference?"

RECOMMENDED: What is Russia thinking on Syria? A brief guide

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/why-russia-evacuated-naval-syria-162410006.html

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