Thursday, December 27, 2012

Three Afghans dead in new blast at U.S. base in Afghan east

KHOST, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed three people in an attack on a U.S. base in Afghanistan on Wednesday, the same base that is believed to be used by the CIA and which a suicide bomber attacked three years ago killing seven CIA employees.

The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in the eastern town of Khost, saying they had sent a suicide bomber driving a van packed with explosives to the base.

"The target was those who serve Americans at that base," said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.

Afghanistan's NATO-led force said the bomber did not get into the base nor breach its perimeter. Police said the three dead were Afghans who were outside the base, which is beside a military airport.

The al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network, widely regarded as the most dangerous U.S. foe in Afghanistan, is active in Khost province, which is on the Pakistani border.

After more than a decade of war, Taliban insurgents are still able to strike strategic military targets, and launch high-profile attacks in the capital, Kabul, and elsewhere.

Three years ago, an al Qaeda-linked Jordanian double-agent killed seven CIA employees and a Jordanian intelligence officer in a suicide bombing at the same base in Khost, known as Forward Operating Base Chapman.

It was the second deadliest attack in CIA history.

Afghan police official General Abdul Qasim Baqizoy, the Khost police chief, said no CIA agents were hurt on Wednesday.

Afghan authorities are scrambling to improve security across the country before the U.S. combat mission ends in 2014.

Besides pressure from the Taliban, U.S.-led NATO forces also face a rising number of so-called insider attacks, in which Afghan forces turn their weapons on Western troops they are supposed to be working with.

On Monday, an Afghan policewoman killed a U.S. police adviser at the Kabul police headquarters, raising troubling questions about the direction of the war.

It appeared to be the first time that a woman member of Afghanistan's security forces carried out such an attack.

On Tuesday, Afghan officials said the woman has an Iranian passport and moved to Afghanistan 10 years ago. There was no suggestion that Iran was involved in the attack on the American.

Officials suspect she may have been recruited by al Qaeda or the Taliban, and had intended to also kill Afghan police officials.

(Reporting by Elyas Wahdat; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/explosion-afghan-city-khost-taliban-target-u-043617090.html

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Obtained The Home Owner Blues? Jazz Your Residence Using ...

Many individuals wonder if they can do home remodeling tasks. People also question if do-it-yourself venture can help to save them a lot of cash. It is possible to, but before the process weigh the options and select the right selection. This article will help you do it alone and when you should get in touch with the professionals.

Position your tv set about the walls. It could free up a considerable amount of place. The recommendations for mounting are quite basic and can be accomplished in under an hour or so.

One way to decrease the garbage you create is always to establish a garden compost pile. It?s easy to begin. Opt for an area with your garden to generate a garden compost heap, and initiate putting together your fruits peels, eggshells, coffee reasons and uneaten veggies in the stack. This keeps your volume of trash can to a minimum and may even lessen your trash expenses if you pay with the compartment or bag.

Your bath room might be redecorated very easily and then in a spending budget-pleasant way. The easiest way to liven up a bathroom is with a new group of shower towels, coordinating shower area curtain and bathtub pad, and also other small, and economical components. The process tends to make your bathroom look better immediately. Plants are an easy way to liven up a toilet, but make sure you choose types which will accept substantial humidity and reduced light requirements.

Take into account the installation of a shower if you have not one at home previously. A shower room is effective in reducing the volume of drinking water employed and is more readily available when compared to a bath tub. Showering for 5 minutes just uses 25 percent of your normal water a tub uses.

It?s crucial that you enjoy yourself when conducting any type of home improvement. Although you have to be cautious, you must also enjoy yourself. Should you aren?t experiencing and enjoying the process, errors are more likely. In these situations, it can be possibly advisable to take into account using the services of a real specialist.

Well before painting in your house, deal with every electrical socket with foil. It?s quicker to use lightweight aluminum foil to shield it from all those unintentional splatters. Clean-up is very easy! Be sure you eliminate and reuse the foil only once the painting has dried up.

If your new home is incorporated in the suburbs flanked by a wooded place, consider the installation of a chain-website link or wood made fencing alongside your backyard. This can always keep interested creatures like skunks, coyotes, and rabbits at bay ? especially if you plan to grow your backyard.

Liven up your home?s access by utilizing new painting and buying a brand new doormat. The entry to your residence helps make an important perception on visitors and guests. Added details such as an attractive welcome mat and a pretty potted vegetation by the front door can create a confident impact in your visitors.

When considering redesigning tasks, consider equipment enhancements that can save you cash. Updating older home appliances will pay will alone by producing vitality price savings after a while. Putting in appliances is rather simple and will make a wonderful home remodeling alternative.

When you are planning a residence enhancement undertaking, make sure to let adequate room for the resulting dirt to build-up. Demolition produces a massive clutter, and it will want a destination to go. Be sure you know how to proceed in regards to the dirt beforehand in order that you don?t end up having a huge stack while you are doing work.

Usually, refacing your units or replacing entrance doors and computer hardware will probably be just the thing your units need to have. Completely changing all of your current kitchen cabinets can cost a ton of money. However, the fee is significantly lowered if you choose to reface the drawer entry doors as an alternative. Your kitchen can look fresh and new so you won?t have to spend a fortune.

As you now have a far better comprehension of the delights of redesigning, you must truly feel more confident inside your capability to complete a venture. Boosting your home might be a great deal of entertaining. Now that you are furnished with the information using this write-up, you are well on your way turning into an old hands at the redecorating online game.

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Source: http://sharebit.net/obtained-the-home-owner-blues-jazz-your-residence-using-these-home-improvement-recommendations/

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Oppo Find 5 to hit more international markets in Q1 2013, adds a $569 32GB model

Oppo's Find 5 to hit several international markets in Q1 2013, adds a $569 32GB model

Ho ho ho! Even on this special day, the folks at Oppo decided to drop a bomb on its "Ofans." According to a fresh teaser on its Facebook page, not only will Oppo be offering the $499 16GB version of the quad-core, five-inch 1080p Find 5 in the US (as we already knew), but there'll also be a 32GB flavor for $569. What's more, the image also lists many additional countries: Canada, UK, Spain, Australia, Germany, France, Belgium, Malaysia, Sweden, Singapore, Finland, Greece, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway, Japan and Hong Kong. Just to be sure, we reached out to Oppo and were told that it's aiming to hit all these markets within Q1 next year; and better yet, it'll try to do that as close to the China launch as possible. Sounds like the company's pushing for a global online retail channel (the blurred out URL probably indicates that it'll be a centralized website), and it'll be interesting to compare its performance to Xiaomi's more humble attempt closer to home.

Update: We've been told that this is only a partial list, so fret not if your country isn't there.

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Source: Oppo (Facebook)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/25/oppo-find-5-international-markets/

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Friday, December 14, 2012

Feuerstein: 'Royal Pains' special a 'movie event'

By Randee Dawn, TODAY contributor

You'd think filming "Royal Pains" in New York's Hamptons seaside community would be one of the easier jobs an actor could get, but appearances can be deceiving, as star Mark Feuerstein noted during his visit to the TODAY plaza Friday.

"We were shooting ... in the summer for winter, so it was 80 degrees and humid, but we were pretending it was freezing," he laughed. "A lot of sweat, a lot of snowflakes falling down your throat, but it looks great."

All in service of the two-hour holiday special edition of "Royal Pains, which airs on Sunday. Feuerstein stayed cagey about the plot, hinting there's "shady dealings" and the long-awaited wedding between his character's brother Evan and fiancee Paige.?

"It is a movie event!" he cried. "It's going to be awesome!

He also stuck around for TODAY's "Take 3" segment, and talked with the anchors about holiday travel madness, Golden Globes hosts Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, unusual baby names and "airport elves."

So check out the videos, and tune into USA Network Sunday at 9 p.m. for the "awesome" movie event!

More in The Clicker:?

Source: http://theclicker.today.com/_news/2012/12/14/15907537-mark-feuerstein-announces-royal-pains-awesome-two-hour-holiday-special?lite

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Minister: Chavez may not be well by inauguration

People, one holding an image of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, gather to pray for him at Simon Bolivar square in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012. Doctors began operating on Chavez in Cuba, his government said, after his cancer reappeared despite a year and a half of surgeries and treatments. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

People, one holding an image of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, gather to pray for him at Simon Bolivar square in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012. Doctors began operating on Chavez in Cuba, his government said, after his cancer reappeared despite a year and a half of surgeries and treatments. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

In this photo released by Miraflores Press Office, Venezuela's Vice President Nicolas Maduro, center, addresses the nation on live television flanked by Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez, left, and National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012. Maduro said that Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez will face a "complex and hard" process after undergoing his fourth cancer-related operation in Cuba on Tuesday. Over the weekend, Chavez named Maduro as his chosen political heir. (AP Photo/Miraflores Press Office, Efrain Gonzalez)

A person holds up images of Venezuela's President Hugo, right, and Venezuela's independence hero Simon Bolivar as people gather to pray for Chavez at Simon Bolivar square in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012. Doctors began operating on Chavez in Cuba, his government said, after his cancer reappeared despite a year and a half of surgeries and treatments. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

A student holds her teacher's hand at the start of the school day at the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela school where a poster of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez hangs on the wall in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012. Chavez was recovering in Cuba on Tuesday after an operation targeting an aggressive cancer that has defied multiple treatments and has prompted the socialist leader to name a political successor. (AP Photo/Franklin Reyes)

A person holds an image of the Venezuelan saint Jose Gregorio Hernadez as people gather to pray for Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez at the Simon Bolivar square in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012. Doctors began operating on Chavez in Cuba, his government said, after his cancer reappeared despite a year and a half of surgeries and treatments. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

(AP) ? The government warned Venezuelans on Wednesday that ailing President Hugo Chavez may not be well enough after his fourth cancer-related surgery in Cuba to be inaugurated on Jan. 10.

Moving to prepare the public for the possibility of more bad news, Vice President Nicolas Maduro looked grim earlier in the day when he acknowledged that Chavez faced a "complex and hard" process after his latest surgery.

At the same time, officials strove to show a united front amid the growing worries about Chavez's health and the country's future. Key leaders of Chavez's party and military officers appearing together on television as Maduro took the lead in giving updates on Chavez's condition.

"We're more united than ever," said Maduro, who was flanked by National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez, both key members of Chavez's inner circle. "We're united in loyalty to Chavez."

Analysts say Maduro could eventually face challenges in trying to hold together the president's diverse "Chavismo" movement, which includes groups from radical leftists to moderates, as well as military factions.

Tapped by the 58-year-old president over the weekend as his chosen political heir, Maduro is considered to be a member of radical left wing of Chavez's movement that is closely aligned with Cuba's communist government.

Cabello, a former military officer who also wields power within Chavez's movement, shared the spotlight with Maduro by speaking at a Mass for Chavez's health at a military base. Cabello, who had accompanied Chavez to Cuba for the operation, denied rumors of the president's demise.

"That man who is in Havana... is fighting a battle for his life, and he said it," Cabello said. He urged the audience to pray and said Chavez is "invincible."

Throughout the day, Venezuelan state television broadcast religious services in which Chavez's supporters prayed for his health, interspersed with campaign rallies for upcoming gubernatorial elections.

On the streets of Caracas, people on both sides of the country's deep political divide voiced concerns about Chavez's condition and what might happen if he died.

At campaign rallies ahead of Sunday's gubernatorial elections, Chavez's candidates urged Venezuelans to vote for pro-government candidates while they also called for the president to get well.

"Onward, Commander!" gubernatorial candidate Elias Jaua shouted to a crowd of supporters at a rally Wednesday. Many observers said it was likely that Chavez's candidates could get a boost from their supporters' outpouring of sympathy for Chavez.

Opposition leader Henrique Capriles, who lost to Chavez in the October presidential election and is running for state office against Jaua, complained Wednesday that Chavez's allies are taking advantage of the president's health problems to try to rally support. He took issue with Jaua's statement to supporters that "we have to vote so that the president recovers."

Information Minister Ernesto Villegas expressed hope about the president returning, but said if Chavez isn't back for his scheduled swearing-in for a new six-year term, "our people should be prepared to understand it."

The constitution says presidents should be sworn in before the National Assembly, and if that's not possible then before the Supreme Court.

Former Supreme Court magistrate Roman Duque Corredor said a president cannot delegate the swearing-in to anyone else and cannot take the oath of office outside Venezuela. A president could still be sworn in even if temporarily incapacitated, but would need to be conscious and in Venezuela, Duque told The Associated Press.

If a president-elect is declared incapacitated by lawmakers and is unable to be sworn in, the National Assembly president would temporarily take charge of the government and a new presidential vote must be held within 30 days, Duque said.

Chavez said Saturday that if such new elections were held, Maduro should be elected president in his place.

Villegas said in a message on a government website that it would be irresponsible to hide news about the "delicateness of the current moment and the days to come." He asked Venezuelans to see any potential delay in Chavez's return as "when we have a sick father, in a delicate situation after four surgeries in a year and a half."

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa also acknowledged the possibility of losing his close ally, while wishing him the best. "Chavez is very important for Latin America, but if he can't continue at the head of Venezuela, the processes of change have to continue," Correa said.

Maduro looked sad as he spoke on television, his voice hoarse and cracked at times after meeting in the pre-dawn hours with Cabello and Ramirez. The pair returned to Venezuela about 3 a.m. after accompanying Chavez to Cuba for his surgery.

"It was a complex, difficult, delicate operation," Maduro said. "The post-operative process is also going to be a complex and hard process."

Without giving details, Maduro reiterated Chavez's recent remarks that the surgery presented risks and that people should be prepared for any "difficult scenarios, which can be faced only with the unity of the people." Still, he expressed optimism Chavez would return home.

The vice president criticized the opposition, accusing it of using Chavez's illness to attack him. Many political adversaries have said the president should be more forthcoming about details of his pelvic cancer.

The dramatic events of this week, with Chavez suddenly taking a turn for the worse, had some Venezuelans wondering whether they were being told the truth because just a few months ago the president was running for his fourth presidential term and had said he was free of cancer.

Lawyer Maria Alicia Altuve, who was out in bustling crowds in a shopping district of downtown Caracas, said it seemed odd how Maduro wept at a political rally while talking about Chavez.

"He cries on television to set up a drama, so that people go vote for poor Chavez," Altuve said. "So we don't know if this illness is for that, or if it's that this man is truly sick."

Chavez announced over the weekend that he needed to have surgery again after tests showed "some malignant cells" had reappeared in the same area of his pelvic region where tumors were previously removed.

Throughout his nearly 14-year-old presidency, Chavez has been loved by some Venezuelans and reviled by others as he has nationalized companies, crusaded against U.S. influence and labeled his enemies "oligarchs" and "squalid ones."

Some Chavez supporters said they find it hard to think about losing the president and are worried about the future.

Others Venezuelans said that while they're sorry about Chavez's health and wish him the best, it isn't a particular concern for them. Many were out buying Christmas gifts and food as they prepared for the holiday season.

"The truth is that I have not paid much attention to the news. I just know the president is very sick and he went to Cuba for an operation," said Gabriela Hernandez, a nurse and opposition supporter. "I hope that he can get better. ... I don't wish for misfortune for anybody."

Omar Mendez, a shopkeeper who said he doesn't support Chavez or the opposition, was among several who worried about the possibility of political upheaval if Chavez doesn't survive.

"Many people don't dare to say it, but they want Chavez's death," Mendez said. "I would say something to those people: They should think hard about the consequences if Chavez does not survive this terrible illness because Chavez's death could bring about an unprecedented political crisis."

___

Associated Press writer Christopher Toothaker contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-12-12-Venezuela-Chavez/id-39baef99cc7f41159f6722efd18d4a69

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Thursday, December 13, 2012

Green Blog: Energy Dept. to Underwrite 7 Wind Projects

The federal government is stepping up its efforts to kick-start the offshore wind industry by awarding $28 million in grants to seven projects that are developing varying kinds of power-generation technology.

The Department of Energy said Wednesday that each developer would receive up to $4 million to complete the engineering, design and permitting phases of their projects in six states. Three of the seven will then be selected to receive up to $47 million over four years, subject to Congressional appropriations, for construction and installation, with the aim of having them begin commercial operation by 2017. So far, no offshore wind farm is operating in American waters.

The projects are in Maine, New Jersey, Virginia, Texas, Ohio, and Oregon. In New Jersey, one project plans to install as many as six direct-drive turbines in state waters three miles off Atlantic City, using a bottom-mounted design that is intended to minimize environmental impacts. In one Maine project, Statoil North America wants to build four three-megawatt turbines on floating structures in the Gulf of Maine near Boothbay Harbor.

The projects that go into commercial operation are expected to be preceded by proposed wind farms off Massachusetts and Rhode Island that have been approved but not yet built. The slow start in the United States contrasts with advances in Europe, where, by mid-2011, 49 wind farms with more than 1,200 turbines were producing 3,294 megawatts for nine national grids, according to the European Wind Energy Association.

The Fishermen?s Energy project in New Jersey is set to be the first demonstration project in the American wind industry, the company said in a statement welcoming the Energy Department?s announcement. It said it would now focus on the final selection of a contractor and hoped to begin construction onshore next year. 2013. By 2014, the company said, it aims to build the first American offshore wind farm connected to the grid.

?This project is the catalyst needed to jumpstart the offshore wind industry in New Jersey, and it sends the right signals to manufacturers that New Jersey is open for business,? said Rhonda Jackson, a spokeswoman for Fishermen?s Energy.

Jim Lanard, president of the Offshore Wind Development Coalition, a trade group, called the awards a ?shot in the arm for the offshore wind industry., ?We fully expect all developers that receive the subsequent rounds of support to be able to get steel in the water,? he wrote in an e-mail.
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In October the Department of the Interior awarded the first lease under its ?Smart From the Start? initiative to encourage offshore wind development. The lease, for some 96,000 acres of ocean off Delaware, gives NRG Bluewater Wind the exclusive right to submit plans for site assessment, construction, or operation, to federal officials.

Steven Chu, the secretary of energy, said the new awards reflected the Obama administration?s ?All of the Above? strategy to diversifying domestic energy sources.

The money ?paves the way to a cleaner, more sustainable and more diverse energy portfolio that develops every source of American energy,? he said in a statement.

Source: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/12/energy-dept-to-underwrite-7-wind-projects/?partner=rss&emc=rss

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