‘Here’s to Never Growing Up’ singer tells MTV News about her upcoming celebration with Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger.
By Christina Garibaldi
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1707673/avril-lavigne-wedding-plans-chad-kroeger-nickelback.jhtml
Remember that web browser that was found hiding in the Nook’s search function? It’s time could be nigh. According to a leaked memo acquired by TechCrunch, Barnes & Nobel will be updating the Nook Simple Touch and Simple Touch with Glowlight with an email app, web browser and an updated store next month. The update will reportedly be sent over the air starting on June 1st and rolling out to all devices in the following weeks. The idea isn’t too far fetched — the Simple Touch is running a skinned version of Android. Nook owners not willing to wait for the official patch can always root the device of course, which comes with some peripheral advantages. Check out TechCrunch for a look the full memo.
Source: TechCrunch
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By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The U.N. Security Council is considering a plea from senior U.N. aid officials to demand aid access in war-torn Syria, a move that could lead to a showdown between Russia and Western states over humanitarian cross-border deliveries, U.N. diplomats say.
As neighboring Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq struggle to cope with the influx of Syrian refugees that the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday has surpassed 1.5 million, U.N. officials have told the Security Council there are millions more people in need of aid inside Syria.
But such a battle over a new resolution in the 15-member council, which has long been deadlocked over how to act on Syria’s two-year civil war, will likely be left until after a planned Syria peace conference in Geneva next month, U.N. diplomats said.
Russia, a close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and China have used their veto power three times to prevent Security Council against Assad that was backed by the remaining three veto powers – the United States, Britain and France.
“The key element (of a humanitarian resolution) would be insisting on cross-border access,” said a senior Security Council diplomat, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
“We don’t want to open up divisions (between the permanent five council members) … just before Geneva,” he said. “If (the Western council members) are going to have that battle with the Russians then it may be better to have it after Geneva.”
Western leaders have been cautious about the prospects of the Syria conference in Geneva achieving any breakthrough, and Russia’s desire that Iran should attend has complicated matters.
The Syrian conflict started with mainly peaceful protests against Assad, but turned into a civil war in which the United Nations says at least 70,000 people have been killed. Islamist militants have emerged as the most potent anti-Assad rebels.
Jordan recently invited the Security Council to visit and see first-hand the Syrian refugee crisis it was struggling to deal with, but diplomats said Russia had blocked the trip.
CROSS-BORDER ACCESS QUICKER
John Ging, director of operations for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said the Syrian government had refused to aid access across rebel-controlled borders and that violence, bureaucracy and checkpoints meant aid was barely trickling through to those in need.
“You should have full access by whatever routes, by whatever means are most effective to save the lives of the people who need to be saved,” a visibly frustrated Ging told reporters in New York after returning from Syria last month.
“You cannot negotiate 54 checkpoints between Damascus and Aleppo every day with the quantities of aid that Aleppo needs. But you can drive it in the one hour from Turkey pretty efficiently and pretty effectively,” he said.
Diplomats said Assad’s government’s opposition to cross-border humanitarian access in areas controlled by rebels was over concerns that weapons could be smuggled more easily to opposition forces.
U.N. aid chief Valerie Amos painted a dire picture when she briefed the Security Council on April 18 about families burned in their homes, people bombed waiting for bread, children tortured, raped and murdered and cities reduced to rubble.
The bleak assessment motivated the otherwise paralyzed council to reach a agreement on a non-binding statement that demanding an end to the escalating violence and condemning human rights abuses by all sides.
The statement also “underlined the need to facilitate the provision of humanitarian assistance through the most effective ways, including where appropriate across borders in accordance with guiding principles of humanitarian assistance.”
The senior U.N. diplomat said that since Russia had agreed to the reference to cross-border aid access in that statement and because Amos had requested the council’s help, it would be “quite difficult for the Russians to hold out against it” in a resolution on the humanitarian situation in Syria.
(Editing by Eric Walsh)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-n-security-council-mulls-syria-cross-border-221808448.html
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AP:
Democrats consider Republican Gov. Rick Scott to be one of the most vulnerable incumbent governors facing re-election next year, which gives them hope they can put one of their own in the governor’s office for the first time since January 1999.
Read the whole story at AP
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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/12/rick-scott_n_3263511.html
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In this Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012 photo, a flock of Geese fly past the smokestacks at the Jeffrey Energy Center coal power plant as the suns sets near Emmett, Kan. Worldwide levels of the chief greenhouse gas that causes global warming have hit a milestone, reaching an amount never before encountered by humans, federal scientists said Friday, May 10, 2013. Carbon dioxide was measured at 400 parts per million at the oldest monitoring station in Hawaii which sets the global benchmark. The last time the worldwide carbon level was probably that high was about 2 million years ago, said Pieter Tans of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
In this Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012 photo, a flock of Geese fly past the smokestacks at the Jeffrey Energy Center coal power plant as the suns sets near Emmett, Kan. Worldwide levels of the chief greenhouse gas that causes global warming have hit a milestone, reaching an amount never before encountered by humans, federal scientists said Friday, May 10, 2013. Carbon dioxide was measured at 400 parts per million at the oldest monitoring station in Hawaii which sets the global benchmark. The last time the worldwide carbon level was probably that high was about 2 million years ago, said Pieter Tans of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The old saying that “what goes up must come down” doesn’t apply to carbon dioxide pollution in the air, which just hit an unnerving milestone.
The chief greenhouse gas was measured Thursday at 400 parts per million in Hawaii, a monitoring site that sets the world’s benchmark. It’s a symbolic mark that scientists and environmentalists have been anticipating for years.
While this week’s number has garnered all sorts of attention, it is just a daily reading in the month when the chief greenhouse gas peaks in the Northern Hemisphere. It will be lower the rest of the year. This year will probably average around 396 ppm. But not for long ? the trend is going up and at faster and faster rates.
Within a decade the world will never see days ? even in the cleanest of places on days in the fall when greenhouse gases are at their lowest ? when the carbon measurement falls below 400 ppm, said James Butler, director of global monitoring at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Earth Science Research Lab in Boulder, Colo.
“The 400 is a reminder that our emissions are not only continuing, but they’re accelerating; that’s a scary thing,” Butler said Saturday. “We’re stuck. We’re going to keep going up.”
Carbon dioxide stays in the air for a century, some of it into the thousands of years. And the world carbon dioxide pollution levels are accelerating yearly. Every second, the world’s smokestacks and cars pump 2.4 million pounds of the heat-trapping gas into the air.
Carbon pollution levels that used to be normal for the 20th century are fast becoming history in the 21st century.
“It means we are essentially passing one in a whole series of points of no return,” said Michael Mann, a climate scientist at Pennsylvania State University.
Princeton University climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer said the momentum in carbon dioxide emissions has the world heading toward and passing 450 ppm. That is the level which would essentially mean the world warms another 2 degrees, what scientists think of as dangerous, he said. That 2-degree mark is what much of the world’s nations have set as a goal to prevent.
“The direction we’ve seen is for blowing through the best benchmark for what’s dangerous change,” Oppenheimer said.
And to see what the future is, scientists look to the past.
The last time the worldwide carbon level probably hit 400 ppm was about 2 million years ago, said Pieter Tans of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
That was during the Pleistocene Era. “It was much warmer than it is today,” Tans said. “There were forests in Greenland. Sea level was higher, between 10 and 20 meters (33 to 66 feet).”
Other scientists say it may have been 10 million years ago that Earth last encountered this much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The first modern humans only appeared in Africa about 200,000 years ago.
Environmental activists, such as former Vice President Al Gore, seized on the milestone.
“This number is a reminder that for the last 150 years ? and especially over the last several decades ? we have been recklessly polluting the protective sheath of atmosphere that surrounds the Earth and protects the conditions that have fostered the flourishing of our civilization,” Gore said in a statement. “We are altering the composition of our atmosphere at an unprecedented rate.”
Carbon dioxide traps heat just like in a greenhouse. It accounts for three-quarters of the planet’s heat-trapping gases. There are others, such as methane, which has a shorter life span but traps heat more effectively. Both trigger temperatures to rise over time, scientists say, which is causing sea levels to rise and some weather patterns to change.
When measurements of carbon dioxide were first taken in 1958, it measured 315 ppm. Some scientists and environmental groups promote 350 ppm as a safe level for CO2, but scientists acknowledge they don’t really know what levels would stop the effects of global warming.
The level of carbon dioxide in the air is rising faster than in the past decades, despite international efforts by developed nations to curb it. On average the amount is growing by about 2 ppm per year. That’s 100 times faster than at the end of the Ice Age.
Back then, it took 7,000 years for carbon dioxide to reach 80 ppm, Tans said. Because of the burning of fossil fuels, such as oil and coal, carbon dioxide levels have gone up by that amount in just 55 years.
Before the Industrial Revolution, carbon dioxide levels were around 280 ppm, and they were closer to 200 during the Ice Age, which is when sea levels shrank and polar places went from green to icy. There are natural ups and downs of this greenhouse gas, which comes from volcanoes and decomposing plants and animals. But that’s not what has driven current levels so high, Tans said. He said the amount should be even higher, but the world’s oceans are absorbing quite a bit, keeping it out of the air.
“What we see today is 100 percent due to human activity,” said Tans, a NOAA senior scientist. The burning of fossil fuels, such as coal for electricity and oil for gasoline, has caused the overwhelming bulk of the man-made increase in carbon in the air, scientists say.
The world sent 38.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the air in 2011, according international calculations published in a scientific journal in December. China spews 10 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the air per year, leading all countries, and its emissions are growing about 10 percent annually. The U.S. at No. 2 is slowly cutting emissions and is down to 5.9 billion tons per year.
The speed of the change is the big worry, said Pennsylvania State’s Mann. If carbon dioxide levels go up 100 ppm over thousands or millions of years, plants and animals can adapt. But that can’t be done at the speed it is now happening.
___
Online:
NOAA monitoring at Mauna Loa: http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/weekly.html
Seth Borenstein can be followed at http://twitter.com/borenbears
Associated Press
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AP
The Buccaneers at all times made it clear that they wanted cornerback Rond? Barber to return for a 17th season.? And that they were in no hurry whatsoever for him to make a decision.
And then as Barber took his time to make a decision, the Buccaneers signed safety Dashon Goldson in free agency, traded for cornerback Darrelle Revis, reworked the contract of cornerback Eric Wright, and drafted cornerback Jonathan Banks in round two.
So in the aftermath of free agency and the draft, the message became more and more clear.? Sure, the Bucs would have given Rond? a spot on the roster, but they wouldn?t necessarily have given him a spot on the field.
To his credit, Barber isn?t complaining.? While he has said that he would have returned if the team had made a Favre-style pitch (our words, not Barber?s), Barber has not hinted at any concerns regarding the changes the Bucs made to the secondary while Barber was making up his mind.
?We had some discussions about what [my role] might be but I went into last year under the same circumstances,? Barber told Erik Kuselias on Thursday night?s edition of Pro Football Talk.? ?I knew they were going to make some moves in free agency.? They were going to go get a cornerback that they thought was going to be a starter and that my role was going to change and it would work itself out and they were very open about it and they were the same way this year.? So if I would?ve came back I?m not sure where I would?ve fit into that puzzle when we signed two pretty outstanding players, Goldson at safety and Revis at corner.
?Eric Wright signed another deal to come back or restructured his deal to be back with us so I?m not sure where I would?ve fit in.? It would have played itself out and I?m sure if I would?ve decided to continue to play I would?ve been happy with whatever role that I would?ve landed in but as it stands nobody has to worry about that decision.? It was time for me to move on.? It was a personal decision, there were a lot of factors that weighed into it but I?m happy to be going on to what?s next for me.?
Barber also continued to take the high road on a separate topic.? Twin brother Tiki remains confounded by the fact that people hate him but love Rond?.
?He asked me that question this morning,? Rond? said of Tiki.? ?I didn?t give a good answer this morning and I probably can?t give a good answer now but you know he played in a city that honestly loves to hate their athletes after their done.? They want to prop you up and they also want to bring you down.? I lived in a city that celebrates unconditionally their heroes.? Tampa?s a small town or at least has a small town feel and when you become one of their icons; you?ll always be an icon.? It?s not necessarily that way up there.?
That?s not entirely accurate, as Gantt pointed out on Thursday.? The two brothers handle their business differently.? Indeed, what would Tiki have done if instead of grandstanding his retirement in a way that undermined the Giants? 2006 season he waited until the offseason to make a decision and meanwhile the Giants signed, traded for, and drafted three other running backs?
Tiki would have been, yes, flabbergasted.
He?ll likely be even more flabbergasted if Rond? ultimately thrives as a member of the media in his post-football life.
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His voice choked to a hoarse whisper, a former top diplomat in Libya walked lawmakers Wednesday step by step through the harrowing Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, and the moment he learned the extremists had killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens.
Stevens had gone missing and was thought to be in a hospital held by extremists hostile to the United States, Gregory Hicks, the former deputy chief of mission in Libya, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday.
At 3 a.m., according to Hicks, Libya?s prime minister called. ?I think it’s the saddest phone call I’ve ever had in my life,? Hicks said softly but clearly. ?He told me that Ambassador Stevens had passed away. I immediately telephoned Washington that news afterwards.?
Hick?s recollections were not the only emotional moment in the early part of the hearing. Eric Nordstrom, a former regional security officer in Libya, teared up and his voice broke as he told the packed committee room that he wants the full story to come out. “It matters,” he said. “It matters.”
Lawmakers holding the contentious session listened quietly. But in the opening moments of the hearing, they had wasted no time before trading partisan barbs?accusing each other of dark political motives, bad faith and just plain making stuff up.
Republican Rep. Darrell Issa, the committee chairman, started the session?the first to get testimony from an eyewitness on the ground in Libya?by describing the administration?s version of the events as ?their facts.? Issa accused the State Department and the White House of refusing to provide witnesses and documents to his committee.
Issa said he had invited the authors of the State Department-commissioned independent probe into the tragedy, retired diplomat Tom Pickering and retired Adm. Mike Mullen, to testify and that they refused.
Issa vowed to ?make certain that our government learns the proper lessons? from the deaths of Stevens and three other Americans, and ensure that ?the right people are held accountable.?
Rep. Elijah Cummings, the panel?s top Democrat, used his opening statement to offer a rebuttal of what he denounced as ?irresponsible allegations? that the administration withheld military assets that might have made a difference. He accused Issa of suggesting a high-level ?conspiracy? grouping top military officers who have testified that the Pentagon did everything it could.
?I am not questioning the motives of the witnesses,? Cummings said. ?I am questioning the motives of those who want to use their statements for political purposes.?
The hotly anticipated hearing, which drew an army of reporters to the hearing room, was unlikely to shift the partisan battle lines on Benghazi. But it was expected to tackle some thorny questions. All sides agree that heavily armed assailants stormed the U.S. facility in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012, and, in two separate attacks hours apart, killed Stevens and the three other Americans.
But did President Barack Obama?s administration do everything it could to save Americans? Did senior aides try to cover up findings that the strike was the work of terrorists? Should former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, widely expected to be a presidential contender in 2016, pay a price? Or is this a Republican fishing expedition unfairly using the tragic death of four Americans for political gain?
In addition to Hicks and Nordstrom, the committee heard from Mark Thompson, the State Department?s acting deputy assistant secretary for counterterrorism.
Among the key points in their testimony:
- Thompson testified that he had urged the deployment of an elite response team?known as FEST?but was rebuffed by the White House. Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah called the motivation for that decision one of the ?mysteries? that need to be solved.
- Hicks said he spoke by telephone with Stevens shortly after armed men stormed the compound. ?Greg, we?re under attack,? Stevens said, according to Hicks. Hicks said American officials in Libya concluded from unspecified Twitter feeds that Islamist extremists, or terrorists, were carrying out the attack.
- Hicks also slammed U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice?s appearance on Sunday news shows days after the attack, when she linked it to anger in the Muslim world at an Internet video denigrating Islam that was getting significant media attention at the time. ?I was stunned. My jaw dropped,? Hicks said in response to a question from Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C. ?I was embarrassed.?
- Later, unidentified Libyans called to say Stevens was with them and American staff should come get him. ?We suspected that we were being baited into a trap,? Hicks said. ?We did not want to send our people into an ambush.? The Americans stayed put.
Republicans have waged an aggressive media campaign over the past week?releasing snippets of testimony and interview transcripts coupled with predictions that the hearing will offer blockbuster revelations.
But there?s cause for skepticism, and not just because GOP lawmakers seem to make these kinds of predictions regularly.
First, the independent investigation commissioned by the State Department has already delivered a blistering indictment of how top officials mishandled repeated warnings about extremist threats in Benghazi. That particular “system failure” has amply been documented.
Second, charges that the Obama administration could have deployed military assets that might have made a difference have been explored in previous hearings?and dismissed by the Pentagon.
Hicks will reportedly testify that the military opted against sending a second special forces rescue team while the fighting raged. It’s not clear that the team would have arrived in time to make a difference?and administration officials say there were “Black Hawk Down”-style concerns about dropping more Americans into an uncertain conflict.
Still, Republicans argue, the people who made the decision about the deployment couldn’t have known the gesture would be futile.
The “after” part, though, has gotten progressively more interesting.
Republicans have charged that the Obama administration misled Americans by suggesting the Benghazi assault was tied to anger in the Muslim world over an Internet video denigrating Islam that was getting significant media attention at the time. The administration, Republicans insist, wrongly portrayed the attack as a demonstration that had gotten out of hand rather than an act of terrorism. Why? To protect Obama’s re-election campaign claim that al-Qaida was on the run.
The flap has already cost Rice, who withdrew her name from consideration as Clinton’s successor. The White House has repeatedly dismissed GOP attention to Rice’s TV appearances as an “obsession” over “talking points” on Sunday shows. (Does that mean that if Obama misspoke in his State of the Union, the White House would shrug it off as “canned comments to Beltway insiders”?)
As it happens, the administration knew the Benghazi assault was terrorism from the start, even though its public message changed several times.
But the real problem with the Republican claim that the administration tried to cover up the terrorist nature of the Benghazi assault is that Obama himself called it terrorism in a Rose Garden appearance shortly after the assault. There, the president tied Benghazi in with the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and said the country would never bow in the face of “acts of terror.”
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/benghazi-hearing-promises-partisan-fireworks-144356871.html
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