Monday, March 25, 2013

How would you change LG's Optimus L7?

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When we placed LG's Optimus L7 into the palm of our reviewer, they found the handset to be stylish, with a cracking display, excellent battery life and a (then) up-to-date version of Android. Sadly, the party ended after that -- with sluggish internals that can't cope with the company's UI tweaks, weak touchscreen and a lackluster camera. But we're fairly sure our review didn't dissuade all of you from buying one of these, so to those people we ask the following: what, if you were Mr. and Mrs. LG, would you have done differently?

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/zxkhytWzD6U/

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Sunday, March 24, 2013

Syria: U.S.-backed rebels behind attacks on Israel

TEL AVIV ? It was the Syrian opposition and not the Syrian government behind the firing Sunday and yesterday at the Israeli border, a top Syrian official claimed to WND.

The Syrian official accused the jihadist opposition of attempting to draw Israel into the conflict to aid the rebels by targeting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

?Why would we fire at Israel?? asked the official, speaking on condition his name be withheld. ?We have no interest in getting Israel to attack the Syrian military.?

The rebels are backed by the U.S. and international community.

The border incidents began Saturday, when a round of gunfire coming from the Syrian side hit an Israeli Defense Forces jeep on routine patrol in the northern Golan Heights. Another round was fired from Syria targeted the same area in Israel today.

The gunfire came from a region on the Syrian side of the border where rebels have been attempting to seize control of a border town these last few days.

Israel Sunday responded with a missile attack that destroyed a Syrian army machine-gun position despite questions about whether the Syrian army was behind the fire into Israel.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya?alon made clear he views Assad bearing the ultimate responsibility for any attacks from his side of the border.

Ya?alon?s office released this statement: ?We view the fire from Syria last night and this morning at IDF troops in Israeli territory as severe. The IDF responded in accordance with government policy. Every breach of Israeli sovereignty and each firing from the Syrian side will be met with an immediate response to silence the source of fire as we identify them. We see the Syrian regime as being responsible for every violation of our sovereignty.?

Today?s round of violence comes as the rebels are reportedly being fingered in last week?s alleged chemical attack in the Syrian town of Khan al-Assal, west of Aleppo.

Britain?s Telegraph reported Sunday the Syrian military is said to believe that a homemade, locally manufactured rocket was by rebels fired, containing a form of chlorine known as CL17, easily available as a swimming-pool cleaner. Syria claims the warhead contained a quantity of the gas, dissolved in saline solution.

Informed Mideast security officials speaking to WND further blamed the rebels for the chemical attack.

The officials said it appears the rebels are attempting to create a humanitarian crisis to precipitate the deployment of NATO to fight the Assad regime.

Globalist doctrine

Any NATO deployment would likely come under the banner of Responsibility to Protect.

Responsibility to Protect, or Responsibility to Act, as cited by President Obama, is a set of principles, now backed by the United Nations, based on the idea that sovereignty is not a privilege but a responsibility that can be revoked if a country is accused of ?war crimes,? ?genocide,? ?crimes against humanity? or ?ethnic cleansing.?

The term ?war crimes? has at times been indiscriminately used by various U.N.-backed international bodies, including the International Criminal Court, or ICC, which applied it to Israeli anti-terror operations in the Gaza Strip. There has been fear the ICC could be used to prosecute U.S. troops.

Billionaire activist George Soros? Open Society Institute is also one of only three non-governmental funders of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, the group that devised the doctrine.

Obama?s national security adviser, Samantha Power, helped to found Responsibility to Protect, which was also devised by several controversial characters, including Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi, a staunch denier of the Holocaust who long served as the deputy of late Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat.

Power, in April, was named the head of the new White House Atrocities Prevention Board.

The Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, founded by Power, had a seat on the advisory board of the 2001 commission that original founded Responsibility to Protect.

The commission is called the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty. It invented the term ?responsibility to protect? while defining its guidelines.

The Carr Center is a research center concerned with human rights located at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Power was Carr?s founding executive director and headed the institute at the time it advised in the founding of Responsibility to Protect. With Power?s Carr Center on the advisory board, the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty first defined the Responsibility to Protect doctrine.

Soros-funded

The Global Centre for Responsibility to Protect is the world?s leading champion of the military doctrine.

Soros? Open Society Institute is a primary funder and key proponent of the Global Centre for Responsibility to Protect. Several of the doctrine?s main founders sit on boards with Soros.

Activists Ramesh Thakur and Gareth Evans, for example, are the original founders. The two sit on multiple boards with Soros.

Board members of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect include former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, former Ireland President Mary Robinson and South African activist Desmond Tutu.

Robinson and Tutu have made solidarity visits to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip as members of a group called The Elders, which includes former President Jimmy Carter.

Annan once famously stated: ?State sovereignty, in its most basic sense, is being redefined ? not least by the forces of globalization and international cooperation. States are ? instruments at the service of their peoples and not vice versa.?

Right to ?penetrate nation-states? borders?

Soros himself outlined the fundamentals of Responsibility to Protect in a 2004 Foreign Policy magazine article titled ?The People?s Sovereignty: How a New Twist on an Old Idea Can Protect the World?s Most Vulnerable Populations.?

In the article, Soros asserted, ?True sovereignty belongs to the people, who in turn delegate it to their governments.?

?If governments abuse the authority entrusted to them and citizens have no opportunity to correct such abuses, outside interference is justified,? Soros wrote. ?By specifying that sovereignty is based on the people, the international community can penetrate nation-states? borders to protect the rights of citizens.

?In particular, the principle of the people?s sovereignty can help solve two modern challenges: the obstacles to delivering aid effectively to sovereign states, and the obstacles to global collective action dealing with states experiencing internal conflict.?

More Soros ties

?Responsibility? founders Evans and Thakur served as co-chairmen on the advisory board of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, which invented the term ?responsibility to protect.?

In his capacity as co-chairman, Evans also played a pivotal role in initiating the fundamental shift from sovereignty as a right to ?sovereignty as responsibility.?

Evans presented Responsibility to Protect at the July 23, 2009, United Nations General Assembly, which was convened to consider the principle.

Thakur is a fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, which is in partnership with an economic institute founded by Soros.

Soros is on the executive board of the International Crisis Group, a ?crisis management organization? for which Evans serves as president-emeritus.

New world order

Doctrine founder Thakur has advocated a ?global rebalancing? and ?international redistribution? to create a ?New World Order.?

In a piece in March 2011 in the Ottawa Citizen newspaper, ?Toward a New World Order,? Thakur wrote, ?Westerners must change lifestyles and support international redistribution.?

He was referring to a U.N.-brokered international climate treaty in which it was argued, ?Developing countries must reorient growth in cleaner and greener directions.?

In the opinion piece, Thakur then discussed recent military engagements and how the financial crisis has impacted the U.S.

?The West?s bullying approach to developing nations won?t work anymore ? global power is shifting to Asia,? he wrote. ?A much-needed global moral rebalancing is in train.?

Thakur continued: ?Westerners have lost their previous capacity to set standards and rules of behavior for the world. Unless they recognize this reality, there is little prospect of making significant progress in deadlocked international negotiations.?

Thakur contended ?the demonstration of the limits to U.S. and NATO power in Iraq and Afghanistan has left many less fearful of ?superior? Western power.?

Source: http://www.wnd.com/2013/03/syria-u-s-backed-rebels-behind-attacks-on-israel/

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Cheap Fishing Reels For Sale

Fishing can become a quite expensive hobby. There are many different pieces of gear that are essential to the sport, and getting them separately can add up to several hundred dollars very quickly. That doesn't include the other smaller accessories and other items that you will need every day as a fisherman.

When it comes to fishing reels, there are so many different brands, styles, models, and price ranges to choose from. It can be very difficult to narrow down your search without a few criteria to help you out. First of all, pick a price range to choose a fishing reel from. They go from 20 dollars for cheap, low quality reels that you can buy from Walmart all the way up to 500 dollars for top of the line reels. Decide on a range that will give you durability and quality while saving you money. Often, a good fishing reel can be had for under 100 dollars, but depending on the type of reel (fly fishing, baitcasting, spinning), this will change.

Once you have narrowed down your price range, it is time to start looking for cheap fishing reels for sale within that range. Read plenty of customer reviews. This will give you insight into what other fishermen liked and disliked about the specific brands and models you are considering. Getting your fishing reels out of season will help you save money. If you are alright with buying a fishing reel used, you will slash the price even more. Ebay and local classifieds will be able to give you the best options for used fishing reels.

Buying used will allow you to get more fishing reel for your money, so you could possibly even step up into another price range.

Good luck finding the right reel to be used on your next brook trout fishing trip.

Source: http://fishing.ezinemark.com/cheap-fishing-reels-for-sale-7d38758161de.html

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Winning $338M Powerball jackpot ticket sold in N.J.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) ? A single ticket sold in New Jersey matched all six numbers in Saturday night's drawing for the $338.3 million Powerball jackpot, lottery officials said. It was the 13th drawing held in the days since a Virginia man won a $217 million jackpot Feb. 6.

Thirteen other tickets worth $1 million each matched all but the final Powerball number on Saturday night. Those tickets were sold in New Jersey and 10 other states. Lottery officials said there was also one Power Play Match 5 winner in Iowa.

The New Jersey Lottery said Sunday that details about the winning ticket would be released Monday, declining to reveal where it had been purchased and whether anyone had immediately come forward. It was the sixth largest jackpot in history.

The numbers drawn were 17, 29, 31, 52, 53 and Powerball 31. A lump sum payout would be $221 million.

Lottery officials said the 13 tickets worth $1 million apiece ? matching the first five numbers but missing the Powerball ? were sold in Arizona, Florida (2), Illinois, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania (2), South Carolina and Virginia.

Powerball said on its website that the grand prize jackpot has now been reset to an estimated $40 million or a lump sum cash amount estimated at $25 million for Wednesday's next drawing.

No one had won the Powerball jackpot since early February, when Dave Honeywell in Virginia bought the winning ticket and elected a cash lump sum for his $217 million jackpot.

The largest Powerball jackpot ever came in at $587.5 million in November. The winning numbers were picked on two different tickets ? one by a couple in Missouri and the other by an Arizona man ? and the jackpot was split.

Nebraska still holds the record for the largest Powerball jackpot won on a single ticket ? $365 million. That jackpot was won by eight workers at a Lincoln, Neb., meatpacking plant in February 2006.

Powerball is played in 42 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The chance of matching all five numbers and the Powerball number is about 1 in 175 million.

Powerball said on its website that the game is played every Wednesday and Saturday night when five white balls are drawn from a drum of 59 balls and one red ball is picked from a drum with 35 red balls. It added that winners of the Powerball jackpot can elect to be paid out over 29 years at a percentage set by the game's rules ? or in a lump sum cash payment.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/winning-338m-powerball-jackpot-ticket-sold-nj-074556709.html

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Slumbering Sun Should Wake Up This Year

The sun should roar back to life sometime in 2013, producing its second activity peak in the last two years, scientists say.

Our star has been surprisingly quiet since unleashing a flurry of flares and other eruptions toward the end of 2011. But this lull is likely the trough between two peaks that together constitute "solar maximum" for the sun's current 11-year activity cycle, researchers say.

"If you look back in history, many of the previous solar cycles don't have one hump, one maximum, but in fact have two," solar physicist C. Alex Young, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., said today (March 22) during a NASA webcast called "Solar MAX Storm Warning: Effects on the Solar System."

"That's what we think is going to happen," Young added. "So we've reached one of those humps, and we think that eventually activity will pick back up and we'll see another hump ? a double-humped solar maximum."

Before the twin peaks scenario began to gain adherents, many researchers had predicted that solar maximum for the current cycle, known as Solar Cycle 24, would come this May. But given how quiet the sun is at the moment, the second hump will likely occur later than that, and it could last into 2014, scientists have said.

Saying the sun is quiet right now, however, does not mean that it's lifeless. Indeed, our star blasted out a huge cloud of superheated plasma known as a coronal mass ejection (CME) on March 15.

This CME delivered a glancing blow to Earth two days later, sparking a mild geomagnetic storm that had no serious effects. Powerful CMEs that hit Earth squarely can spawn serious such storms, temporarily knocking out power grids, GPS signals and radio communications.

But CME effects aren't all negative. They can also supercharge Earth's auroras, also known as the northern and southern lights, giving skywatchers around the world a treat.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter?@michaeldwall.?Follow us?@Spacedotcom,?Facebook?or?Google+. Originally published on?SPACE.com.

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

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/slumbering-sun-wake-134357020.html

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BlackBerry CEO says Samsung?s smartphone security will never be ?top-notch? [updated]

By Julien Pretot PORTO VECCHIO, France, March 23 (Reuters) - Cadel Evans may seem to be past his prime after a mediocre season last year but the Australian still believes he can win another Tour de France despite Team Sky's domination. Evans, the first Australian to win the Tour in 2011, could not repeat the feat in 2012 when he finished seventh overall behind BMC team mate and U.S. prospect Tejay van Garderen, who took fifth place. Sky's Bradley Wiggins took the title but Evans is at pains to point out that his flop was mainly down to illness. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blackberry-ceo-says-samsung-smartphone-security-never-top-164004759.html

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Saturday, March 23, 2013

France confirms death of al-Qaida chief Abou Zeid

This photo taken March 8, 2013 and released on March 14, 2013, by the French Army Communications Audiovisual office (ECPAD) shows French soldiers patrolling in the Mettatai region in northern Mali. France, Mali's former colonial ruler, started the campaign in January, fearing the region was becoming a terrorist haven. But the fighting has grown tougher and French forces aren't ready to pull out yet.(AP Photo/Arnaud Roine/ECPAD)

This photo taken March 8, 2013 and released on March 14, 2013, by the French Army Communications Audiovisual office (ECPAD) shows French soldiers patrolling in the Mettatai region in northern Mali. France, Mali's former colonial ruler, started the campaign in January, fearing the region was becoming a terrorist haven. But the fighting has grown tougher and French forces aren't ready to pull out yet.(AP Photo/Arnaud Roine/ECPAD)

(AP) ? The al-Qaida-linked warlord Abou Zeid was killed in combat with French-led troops in Mali in February, France said Saturday, ending weeks of uncertainty about whether one of the group's leading commanders in the region was dead.

In a statement Saturday the office of French President Francois Hollande said the death was "definitively confirmed" and that the killing "marks an important step in the fight against terrorism in the Sahel."

Chad's president had said earlier this month that Chadian troops killed Abou Zeid while fighting to dislodge his al-Qaida affiliate in northern Mali. French officials have maintained for weeks that the Algerian was "probably" dead but waited to conduct DNA tests to verify.

Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, thought to be 47, was a pillar of the southern realm of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, responsible for the death of at least two European hostages and a leader of the extremist takeover of the north.

The French military moved into Mali on Jan. 11 to push back militants linked to him and others who had imposed harsh Islamic rule and who are seen as an international terrorist threat.

Abou Zeid was killed in operations in the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains in northern Mali in late February, the statement from Hollande's office said.

One analyst warned that Abou Zeid's death will not significantly weaken AQIM, as some analysts predict, and may in fact lead to greater unity among its factions.

Jean-Paul Rouiller, director of the Geneva Center for Training and Analysis of Terrorism, described AQIM's organization as a set of insulated cells under the larger al-Qaida umbrella, which existed independently of each other.

The region of Mali ? known in the group's parlance as the "emirate of the Sahara" ? was divided between units loyal to Abou Zeid and those loyal to his rival, Moktar Belmoktar, the international terrorist who led the attack on the Ain Amenas gas plant that left 36 foreigners dead in Algeria earlier this year.

Chad's military chief has claimed that his troops killed Belmoktar, but France has not confirmed the death and many analysts say they don't believe it.

Rouiller said the likely scenario is that Abou Zeid's longtime associate, Yahya Abou El-Hammam, will take over control of his brigade. For years, Hammam acted as the go-between when Abou Zeid wanted to communicate with Belmoktar, suggesting he likely had a good relationship with Belmoktar.

"Especially if Hammam takes over, there could be a chance for a better coordinated relationship with Moktar Belmoktar," Rouiller said. "In terms of controlling Mali, the death of Abou Zeid could mean more cooperation between the arms of AQIM."

Abou Zeid's brigade, believe to be one of the most violent in al-Qaida's North African franchise, was thought to be holding four French nationals kidnapped two years ago at a uranium mine in Niger. The fate of those hostages, working for French company Areva, was unclear.

Abou Zeid held a Frenchman released in February 2010, and another who was executed that July. He's also been linked to the execution of a British hostage in 2009.

A powerful and shadowy figure, mystery surrounds even his real name. Along with his nom de guerre, Abou Zeid had an alias, Mosab Abdelouadoud, and nicknames, the emir of the south and the little emir, due to his diminutive size. But the Algerian press has raised questions about his legal identity ? Abid Hamadou or Mohamed Ghedir.

He was viewed as a disciplined radical with close ties to the overall AQIM boss, Abdelmalek Droukdel, who oversees operations from his post in northern Algeria.

Abou Zeid fought with a succession of Islamist insurgency movements trying to topple the Algerian state since 1992. He reportedly joined the brutal, and now defunct, Armed Islamic Group that massacred whole villages in northern Algeria, then joined the Salafist Group for Call and Combat that morphed into al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb in 2006.

An Algerian court tried him in absentia in January 2012, convicting him of belonging to an international terrorist group and sentencing him to life in prison.

In the Sahara, Abou Zeid was known to be more brutal toward hostages than Belmoktar, who generally allowed foreigners in his care to receive medicine when needed.

Rouiller says that an analysis done by his center of proof-of-life videos released by AQIM suggests that Hammam and another commander are just as brutal as Abou Zeid was.

______

Associated Press writers Elaine Ganley in Paris and Rukmini Callimachi in Dakar, Senegal contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-23-Mali-Al-Qaida/id-b1a0d8c6bcce4be5b4039a7a953e355f

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