GOP ready to push Benghazi case into 2014, beyond

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Steady drips of information about a horrific night in Libya are fueling Republican arguments and ads designed to fire up the conservative base and undercut the Democrats' early favorite for president in 2016.

Strategists in both parties disagree on the issue's power to influence elections next year and beyond. But after eight months of trying, Democrats are still struggling to move past the terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi last Sept. 11 that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

Democrats insist that an independent inquiry, the dismissal of several State Department officials, and nine congressional hearings leave little new to say on the matter. But Friday turned up the sort of nuggets that feed conservative activists' belief that a major scandal may be at hand.

Newly revealed communications show that senior State Department officials pressed for changes in the talking points that U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice used a few days after the Benghazi attacks. These senior officials expressed concerns that Congress might criticize the Obama administration for ignoring warnings of a growing threat in Libya.

The White House has contended it only made stylistic changes to the intelligence agency talking points, in which Rice suggested that spontaneous protests over an anti-Islamic video set off the deadly attack. The new details suggest a greater degree of political sensitivity and involvement by the White House and State Department.

Rice and others eventually acknowledged that the Benghazi assault was a premeditated terrorist attack. Republicans say her Sept. 16 televised remarks were just the start of administration efforts to mislead Americans about what happened.

The incident was heavily politicized from the start, occurring less than two months before President Barack Obama's re-election and while Hillary Rodham Clinton was secretary of state.

The former New York senator and first lady, who infuriates many conservatives, ranks high in speculation about Democrats in the hunt for the 2016 presidential nomination.

Friday brought a fresh round of conservative broadsides against Clinton, Obama and the administration's handling of the Benghazi matter.

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, a possible Republican presidential contender, wrote in The Washington Times restating his view that Obama should have fired Clinton.

Campaigning later in Iowa, Paul said he thinks the attack "precludes Hillary Clinton from ever holding office."

The conservative group American Crossroads released a 90-second video asking if Clinton was "part of a cover-up." The video, like emails and letters from several other groups, asked for political donations.

Benghazi hands Republicans some political opportunities, although none without complications. It may be difficult for average voters to sift through the chronology, assess blame or even follow the logic of GOP arguments.

For instance, claims that Clinton and others ignored calls for greater diplomatic security in Libya might be linked to the four American deaths.

But accusations about the post-attack talking points, which sometimes seem to dominate the current debate, have nothing to do with possibly preventing the deaths, thus robbing them of that moral heft.

Democrats note that an independent inquiry found that the State Department badly mishandled security needs in Libya. But it blamed officials no higher than the assistant secretary of state level.

Republican strategist Kyle Downey said Benghazi has exposed a trove of Democratic vulnerabilities, which might grow as inquiries continue.

He said Republicans should use the findings to challenge the competence, truthfulness and judgment of Clinton, Obama and other administration officials.

Republicans, Downey said, should let the politics play out in terms of which charges gain the most traction.

Some strategists say the Benghazi narrative may prove more valuable for congressional Republicans in next year's elections than in 2016. House Republicans, in particular, can seize on Benghazi to motivate their base and donors, and to fend off possible primary challenges from the right.

Democrats say Republicans are exploiting the Benghazi deaths, and voters won't like it.

"Republicans are a desperate party right now, trying to do whatever they can to dirty up the president to make some gains in 2014, and to dirty up Secretary Clinton because they're terrified she'll walk into the White House," said Democratic consultant Doug Thornell. "This is an attempt to keep their base together and motivated" after Obama's victories in 2008 and 2012.

Thornell predicted Benghazi will prove no more useful as a political "scandal" than did the highly criticized "Fast and Furious" gun-tracking program and the federally subsidized but ultimately doomed Solyndra energy company.

White House press secretary Jay Carney has spent hours trying to dismiss GOP accusations, including those that Obama sought to hide the fact that Islamic terrorists were behind the Benghazi attack.

"The whole effort here by Republicans to find some hidden mystery comes to nothing because the president called it an act of terror," Carney told reporters Friday.

Benghazi may remain a white-hot topic in many conservative regions and talk shows for some time.

At Wednesday's hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., told relatives of the four Americans killed in Benghazi that her constituents "think about you all the time."

___

Follow Charles Babington on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cbabington

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gop-ready-push-benghazi-case-2014-beyond-073214926.html

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Armed man with hostages barricaded inside New Jersey house

By David Jones

NEWARK, New Jersey (Reuters) - An armed man with multiple hostages remained barricaded inside a Trenton, New Jersey, house on Saturday after a standoff with law enforcement negotiators overnight, police said.

Trenton police declined to say how many hostages were inside the home with the man, who has been barricaded there since Friday afternoon, or explain their relationship to him.

The Times of Trenton cited two unidentified law enforcement sources as saying police officers checking on the house had discovered the partially decomposed body of the man's girlfriend, but pulled back when they saw he had a gun.

The newspaper also reported that one of the woman's children was killed and that the man was holding three more of her children inside the house. A fifth child, age 19, was reportedly safe at another location with relatives.

Trenton Police Lieutenant Edelmiro Gonzalez told Reuters late on Friday that officers responding for a wellness check on someone at the house on Friday afternoon had encountered a man who barricaded himself inside.

He declined to confirm the girlfriend's death or whether anyone else in the house had been killed. The identity of the suspect has not been released.

State police said tactical units, including hostage negotiators, canine units and SWAT teams, were on the scene.

FBI Special Agent Barbara Woodruff said federal investigators and hostage negotiators were helping state police.

(Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Mohammad Zargham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gunman-standoff-police-jersey-home-031403915.html

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USC steals 2 star brain researchers from UCLA

In a major case of academic poaching involving crosstown rivals, USC has lured away two prominent neuroscientists from UCLA with a promise to expand their internationally renowned lab that uses brain imaging techniques to study Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, autism and other disorders.

Arthur Toga and Paul Thompson will move to the USC Keck School of Medicine campus next fall, along with scores of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and staffers who now work at UCLA's Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, known as LONI. In establishing a new institute at the USC campus in Boyle Heights, they will also move substantial government and private grants that fund the lab's $12-million annual budget as well as some of the highly sophisticated equipment used to investigate the brain's inner workings.

The new hires mark another chapter in a long Los Angeles rivalry in sports and, increasingly, in academic prestige. It also raises concerns about the ability of financially strapped public universities to fend off raids from deep-pocketed private colleges like USC.

DISCUSSION: Chat with reporters at 9 a.m.

Toga and Thompson said they do not think their departure from UC signifies a brain drain from the 10-campus University of California system, which has grappled with budget cuts over the last four years. They said USC has pursued them for years with offers of larger facilities, additional financial resources and the chance to hire more researchers. They also were impressed with how quickly private universities can make changes compared with state schools.

Scientists around the country said the move would further elevate USC, which recently has hired away professors and researchers from Caltech, Harvard and other prestigious institutions.

"It's a feather in USC's cap," said Dr. Bruce Rosen, director of a biomedical imaging center at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He described the Toga-Thompson group as perhaps the world's premier lab when it comes to finding insights about the brain in massive amounts of data from scans and genetic tests.

The ability to expand at USC "seemed far greater than the opportunities" to do so at UCLA, said Toga, 60, the lab's director. Their new Institute for Neuroimaging and Informatics will have its own customized building and will also have space at a USC facility at Marina del Rey.

The scientists did not divulge details of their new salaries and research funding but said they did not seek a counteroffer. "We did not want to play that game," said Toga, who told UCLA officials of his plans Thursday.

According to a UC website of employee compensation, Toga was paid $1.06 million in 2011, including basic salary and extra money for research work. Thompson was listed at $421,150.

Thompson, 41, said that the main reason for the move was scientific, not financial, especially considering the opportunity to create an institute that blends engineering and medicine.

"USC has stepped up to the plate to do this," Thompson said. "We've been incredibly impressed by the vision and sheer common sense of the people we've worked with and with the efficiency and the ease of getting things done."

Toga said he did not want to disparage UCLA but said private schools "are often a little quicker on their feet."

The move "will invigorate our activities considerably," he said.

UCLA Chancellor Gene Block praised the accomplishments of the LONI scientists and expressed disappointment at their exit.

"I want to stress, though, that the exceptional drive and ingenuity of our faculty, staff and students and the quality of our research infrastructure ensures our continued strength, especially in the field of neuroscience," he said in a statement. "The departure of one lab will not diminish our impact."

John Mazziotta, UCLA's neurology chairman and executive vice dean of its medical school, said he had known for months that Toga was talking to USC and other universities but that Toga had never divulged specifics to allow UCLA to make a counteroffer.

Mazziotta said he will try to retain eight of the faculty at the LONI lab, which he said will continue to operate along with about 100 other campus labs involved in various aspects of neurology and neuroscience.

"It's definitely a loss," he said. "I'd prefer this not to happen for sure. But UCLA still has unbelievable depth and range" in the discipline. Mazziotta said it would be wrong to portray the move as linked to state funding cuts because labs like this rely mainly on outside grants, clinical revenues and donations, not state tax dollars.

But public universities around the nation find it increasingly difficult to retain faculty targeted for recruitment by better-funded private schools, said Ronald Ehrenberg, director of the Cornell Higher Education Research Institute.

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/science/~3/7fl1CixC_Ew/la-me-0510-usc-ucla-brain-research-20130510,0,5498087.story

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Bangladesh garment disaster death toll nears 900

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) ? The death toll from the collapse of a building housing five garment factories has climbed to nearly 900, officials said Thursday, as authorities continue to search for more bodies two weeks after the worst garment manufacturing disaster in the world.

Authorities had recovered 892 bodies from the rubble as of Thursday morning, according to police officials overseeing the recovery of victims from the eight-story Rana Plaza building, located in a suburb of Dhaka, Bangladesh's capital.

Dozens of bodies recovered Wednesday were so decomposed they were being sent to a lab for DNA identification, police said.

Following protests, authorities also began disbursing salaries and other benefits to survivors of the collapse.

Also Wednesday, the European Union's delegation to Bangladesh urged the government to "act immediately" to improve working conditions. Authorities said the government has closed 18 garment factories in recent days for failing to meet work and safety standards.

There is no clear indication of how many bodies still remain trapped in the debris because the exact number of people inside the building at the time of the April 24 collapse is unknown. More than 2,500 people were rescued alive.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association earlier said 3,122 workers were employed at the five factories housed in the building, but it was not clear how many were there during the packed morning shift when it collapsed. Several stores and a bank were also in the building.

Maj. Gen. Chowdhury Hasan Suhrawardy, a top military official in the area, said the operation to recover bodies from the tangle of wreckage could continue for two to three more days before they would ask the local administration to take care of the site.

Suhrawardy said they had to send 36 decomposing bodies to Dhaka Medical College Hospital to collect DNA samples because they were beyond identification. Authorities expected to send more bodies for testing in the coming days, with temperatures in the high 80s Fahrenheit (low 30s Celsius) and rain pouring down.

The disaster is the worst ever in the garment sector, far surpassing fires last year that killed about 260 people in Pakistan and 112 in Bangladesh, as well as the 1911 garment disaster in New York's Triangle Shirtwaist factory that killed 146 workers.

After hundreds of garment workers protested for compensation Tuesday, authorities started disbursing salaries and other benefits.

About 2,000 people gathered at a military athletic field in the Dhaka suburb of Savar on Wednesday to receive their salaries, but the process was slow because many had no identity cards, said Faruk Hossain, an inspector for the Industrial Police.

He said factory supervisors were helping to identify workers who did not have ID cards or other proof that they were employed by the five factories.

Rafiqul Islam, a BGMEA official, said the disbursement would continue in phases.

The workers, many of whom made little more than the national minimum wage of about $38 per month, are demanding at least four months' salary. They had set Tuesday as a deadline for the payment of wages and other benefits.

Local government administrator Yousuf Harun has said no salary remained unpaid except for the month of April and there was an agreement for the workers to receive an additional three months of pay.

The BGMEA said Monday that it was preparing a list of workers employed by the Rana Plaza factories and the process would take a few more days.

Bangladesh earns nearly $20 billion a year from exports of garment products, mainly to the United States and Europe.

William Hanna, head of the EU delegation in Bangladesh, told a news conference Wednesday that the EU would help Bangladesh ensure safe working conditions.

Abdul Latif Siddiqui, head of special Cabinet committee to inspect garment factories that was formed days after the Rana Plaza collapse, told a separate news conference that the government has closed 16 factories in the Dhaka area and two in Chittagong in the last few days for substandard working and safety conditions. He did not say whether the closures were temporary or permanent.

Officials say the owner of Rana Plaza illegally added three floors and allowed the garment factories to install heavy machines and generators, even though the structure was not designed to support such equipment.

The owner and eight other people including the owners of the garment factories have been detained.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bangladesh-garment-disaster-death-toll-nears-900-034852705.html

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Google Translate Android app gets Phrasebook syncing, additional language support for visual translation

Google Translate's truly a wonder of modern technology, with the ability to translate 64 70 languages, whether they are written, spoken or even photographed. Today Google's made it easier than ever to remain mono-lingual when traveling abroad by updating the Translate app for Android with Phrasebook syncing. This new feature lets users save translations of often used phrases and have access to them on any and all of their devices. Additionally, support for 16 new languages for its camera translation feature comes with the new code as well. This means that tourists traveling to Barcelona, Croatia, Slovenia and thirteen other places in Scandinavia and eastern Europe need not pester the locals for help reading street signs to get around. They can be good guests and offer to buy them a beer in their native tongue instead.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Mobile, Google

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Source: Google Translate blog

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/uZFt0zLiTTI/

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Solar plane lands in Ariz., 1st leg of major trip

Solar Impulse co-founder, pilot and CEO Andre Borschberg, left, greets pilot Bertrand Piccard at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, early Saturday, May 4, 2013, after completing the first leg of its coast-to-coast flights across the United States. It is the first time that a solar airplane capable of flying day and night without fuel, will attempt to fly across America. Solar Impulse began its journey Friday in San Francisco in its attempt to reach New York. (AP Photo/Scuteri)

Solar Impulse co-founder, pilot and CEO Andre Borschberg, left, greets pilot Bertrand Piccard at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, early Saturday, May 4, 2013, after completing the first leg of its coast-to-coast flights across the United States. It is the first time that a solar airplane capable of flying day and night without fuel, will attempt to fly across America. Solar Impulse began its journey Friday in San Francisco in its attempt to reach New York. (AP Photo/Scuteri)

Pilot Bertrand Piccard talks about Solar Impulse, the Swiss solar-powered airplane, at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, early Saturday, May 4, 2013, after completing the first leg of its coast-to-coast flights across the United States. It is the first time that a solar airplane capable of flying day and night without fuel, will attempt to fly across America. Solar Impulse began its journey Friday in San Francisco in its attempt to reach New York. (AP Photo/Scuteri)

Solar Impulse co-founder, pilot and CEO Andre Borschberg, left, greets pilot Bertrand Piccard at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, early Saturday, May 4, 2013, after completing the first leg of its coast-to-coast flights across the United States. It is the first time that a solar airplane capable of flying day and night without fuel, will attempt to fly across America. Solar Impulse began its journey Friday in San Francisco in its attempt to reach New York. (AP Photo/Scuteri)

Solar Impulse, the Swiss solar-powered airplane, piloted by Bertrand Piccard, is shown at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, early Saturday, May 4, 2013, after completing the first leg of its coast-to-coast flights across the USA. It is the first time that a solar airplane capable of flying day and night without fuel, will attempt to fly across America. Solar Impulse began its journey Friday in San Francisco in its attempt to reach New York. (AP Photo/Scuteri)

PHOENIX (AP) ? Alone in the single-seat cockpit and high above the American Southwest, pilot Bertrand Piccard could hear only his plane's gear box and the quiet whine of four electric motors. No noisy jet engines.

He's flying Solar Impulse, considered the world's most advanced sun-powered plane.

Piccard piloted the craft for 20 hours, first cruising along the California coast after taking off from Moffett Field in Mountain View near San Francisco just after dawn Friday. He passed over Edwards Air Force Base, where other aviation milestones have been made, and then touched down early Saturday morning at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.

He landed having used only three-quarters of the plane's battery power.

"It's a little bit like being in a dream," Piccard said as he stepped on the tarmac.

The plane's creators, Piccard and fellow pilot Andre Borschberg, said the trip is the first attempt by a solar airplane capable of flying day and night without fuel to fly across America.

But Piccard said Saturday afternoon that even more important than marking another aviation milestone is the hope that the journey will provide an exponential boost for interest in renewable energy and clean technologies.

"If an airplane can fly day or night with no fuel, just on the sun's power, of course it means that everybody in daily life can use this technology for his house, for heating and cooling systems, for lighting, for cars, for trucks. There's so much we can do now to have a cleaner future," Piccard said.

From Phoenix, the aircraft will travel to Dallas-Fort Worth airport in Texas, Lambert-St. Louis airport, Dulles airport in the Washington area and New York's John F. Kennedy airport. Each flight leg will take about 19 to 25 hours, with 10-day stops in each city.

Borschberg is hoping to pilot the last leg, which could afford him the chance to fly past the Statue of Liberty.

The plane, which has previously impressed audiences in Europe, is powered by about 12,000 photovoltaic cells that cover massive wings and charge its batteries.

The delicate, single-seat Solar Impulse flies around 40 mph and can't go through clouds. It weighs about as much as a car, making it vulnerable to bad weather.

Its average speed for the first leg of the trip was about 60 knots with a tail wind, Borschberg said. Ideally, the plane climbs up to about 27,000 feet or so during the day to collect solar and charge the batteries.

Borschberg and Piccard were ready for a series of tours over the next few days to show off the technology to Phoenix school children, university researchers and others.

"There are a lot of people who want to see this airplane," Piccard said.

So how hard is it to fly a solar plane?

Despite the aviation advancements made over the last century, Piccard said he and Borschberg have a lot in common with the early pioneers.

"One hundred years ago, the planes had to fly in good weather and there was only one person on board," Piccard said. "Now we have completely new technology, we fly with no fuel at all. But, of course, we need to fly in good weather and we carry only one pilot on board.

"We're starting a new cycle. It's really the beginning of something new."

___

Montoya Bryan reported from Albuquerque, N.M. Associated Press writer Haven Daley in Mountain View, Calif., also contributed to this report.

___

Online:

http://www.solarimpulse.com

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2013-05-04-US-Solar-Plane/id-48d28865a1354e7da2635ab48a782cf4

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Acer Goes To A Whole New Level Of Crazy With The Aspire R7

Acer just announced the Aspire R7, a strange hybrid of a desktop all-in-one, laptop,?and a tablet that was previously teased in some promotional Star Trek commercials. It’s honestly really, really weird. We always expected that Windows 8 would lead to some really strange convertible touchscreen devices, but the Aspire R7 is a whole new kind of crazy.?The first thing you’ll notice about the Aspire R7 is that Acer seems to have forgotten how laptops are made. The trackpad sits behind the keyboard, which is a bit perplexing until you realize that Acer doesn’t really want you to use the trackpad at all. That’s because the Aspire R7 has something called an Ezel hinge that gives the 15.6 touchscreen display an amazing degree of?flexibility. You can lie the 15-inch, 1080p touchscreen display completely flat with the device, turning the Aspire R7 into an oversized tablet. You can also angle the display so that it sits flush with the keyboard and covers the trackpad completely. I’m honestly not sure why the trackpad is there in the first place. As a whole, the Aspire R7 seems to be incredibly well built. It’s made of some type of aluminum-like material, and there’s virtually no flex to the device. On the other hand, it’s very large and very heavy, which means that it won’t be very portable. It’s probably?one of the nicest pieces of hardware Acer has ever built. But I don’t know who would use something as crazy as this. Other key specs for the R7 include: Intel Core i5 1.8GHz processor, with Turbo Boost to 2.7GHz 6GB Of DDR3 RAM 500GB SATA HD, paired with a 24GB SSD Intel HD Graphics 4000 HD webcam with dual mics 2 USB 3, 1 USB 2 ports 5.3 lbs and 1.1-inches thin Acer also announced the Aspire P3, an?ultra book?convertible with a detachable display, and the Iconia A1, a 7.9 inch Android tablet. But it’s the Aspire R7 that stole the show here. It’ll be available for sale exclusively at Best Buy retail locations starting May 17th, and can be pre-ordered now at the Best Buy online store for $999. (and a friendly shout out to Stefan over at LaptopMemo, who was kind enough to let me borrow his camera for these shots)

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

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