news on oil spill: July 2013

Monday, July 29, 2013

Snowden's long layover in Moscow airport is over

Edward Snowden has reportedly been granted a temporary document to enter Russia, where his lawyer says he will remain for the foreseeable future.

By Fred Weir,?Correspondent / July 24, 2013

Russian lawyer Anatoly Kucherena speaks to the media after visiting US National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden at Sheremetyevo airport outside Moscow, Wednesday, July 24, 2013.

Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr/AP

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As his lawyer predicted, former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden has reportedly been granted a temporary document that will enable him to leave the legal limbo of Sheremetyevo airport's transit zone and take up residence in Moscow or any other Russian city.

Skip to next paragraph Fred Weir

Correspondent

Fred Weir has been the Monitor's Moscow correspondent, covering Russia and the former Soviet Union, since 1998.?

Friday, July 26, 2013

China's Bo Xilai indicted for corruption, abuse of power

BEIJING: China's once high-flying communist politician Bo Xilai has been indicted for bribery and abuse of power, state media said Thursday, following a scandal that exposed deep divisions at the highest levels of government.

The former party chief of the southwestern city of Chongqing has not been seen in public for more than a year since the controversy surrounding him was exposed, triggering one of China's biggest political scandals in decades.

"The indictment paper was delivered" to a court in Jinan in the eastern province of Shandong, Xinhua said, citing prosecutors in the city.

Bo "took the advantage of his position to seek profits for others and accepted an 'extremely large amount' of money and properties," it said, quoting the indictment.

State media reports had said he would "face justice" for abuse of power, taking bribes and improper sexual relations following his wife Gu Kailai's conviction for murdering a British business associate.

A source with direct knowledge of the case, who requested anonymity, said the trial might begin in mid-August.

News of the proceedings comes at a time when the party's new leadership is trying to show it is cracking down on corruption and government waste.

The downfall of Bo, once one of 25 members of the Politburo of China's ruling Communist Party, exposed corruption allegations and deep divisions at the highest levels of government.

The scandal emerged last year ahead of a once-a-decade leadership transition, in which Bo had been considered a candidate for the Politburo Standing Committee, which currently has seven members and is China's most powerful body.

His downfall was triggered after his police chief and right-hand man Wang Lijun fled to a US consulate in Chengdu city near Chongqing, reportedly seeking asylum. Bo was detained a month later.

He had cultivated an unusually populist public image and led a high profile anti-mafia campaign, which resulted in scores of arrests but led to allegations of torture against suspects.

Bo also revived some elements of 1960s Communist Party culture as part of a "Sing Red" campaign involving massive rallies, which drew comparisons with China's tumultuous Cultural Revolution period.

His attention-drawing approach was controversial among the top communist leadership, but the decision to oust him would have required tough backroom negotiations among the country's top leaders ahead of the power handover, analysts have said.

Bo's wife was given a suspended death sentence last August for fatally poisoning businessman and family friend Neil Heywood. The penalty is normally commuted to a life sentence in China.

Wang was sentenced to 15 years in prison in September for defection and other crimes.

Official media said last year Bo had "borne major responsibility" for the murder of Heywood and had taken "massive" bribes and had indulged in inappropriate sexual relations with "multiple women".

Bo has appointed two lawyers for the trial, both of whom are members of a law firm which has close ties to the ruling party.

His fate has generated widespread speculation, and rumours in January that his trial would open in the southwestern city of Guiyang sent packs of reporters to what turned out to be a quiet courthouse.

The last former Politburo member to be tried for corruption, Chen Liangyu, received an 18-year prison term in 2008.

Source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/china-s-bo-xilai-indicted/755626.html

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Fans will notice positive changes to National Baseball Congress World Series

Terry Newman grew up with the National Baseball Congress World Series. And now, the Wichita pizza man is standing behind it to help keep the tournament here.

Newman?s Papa John?s pizza franchise signed on this week as the title sponsor of the World Series? second week, known as Championship Week. The tournament?s first week, a 16-team showdown to earn two berths in Championship Week, begins at 9 a.m. Friday at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.

?It?s about quality of life,? Newman said. ?This is a big part of Wichita?s sports history. If you look at the history of this tournament and the players it has brought to Wichita, it?s unbelievable. I want this to be around for my boys and my grandkids.?

It?s the latest piece of good news in a frenetic summer of retooling the 79-year-old Wichita college baseball tournament.

In June, the NBC and the city rolled out a new format for the tournament and a redoubled marketing effort in the wake of a winter audit that showed the city-owned tournament was barely profitable and suffering from a lack of exposure. The short-term goal is quality baseball and enhanced attendance.

Fans will notice a lot of changes when they walk through the gate on Friday: There will be a post-season feel around the ballpark, with Lawrence-Dumont decorated like, well, a World Series venue.

They?ll also notice changes on the field and in their pocketbooks, said Casey Walkup, the tournament?s director.

The new first-week format puts a distinct premium on early-tournament matchups, with teams facing must-win first-round games to have any chance of advancing into Championship Week. A first-round loser could have to play seven games to qualify for Championship Week, Walkup said, a potentially destructive road for summer teams typically short on pitching.

On the other hand, a first-round winner who keeps advancing might face only four games to advance to second-week action, Walkup said. And any first-week team advancing with a loss will see its record expunged for Championship Week, going back to 0-0 and on an even keel with the other 15 teams.

There will be seven discount nights in the tournament?s schedule ? five buyout, or free general admission ticket, nights and two Kwik Shop $1 nights. The Kwik Shop nights include a selection of $1 concession and gift shop items that create the tournament?s best value, Walkup said.

?So it?s possible that a family of four could come to a ballgame, get a concession item and a souvenir for $12,? Walkup said.

Several events are tailored for tournament founder Raymond ?Hap? Dumont?s target demographic, kids. There will be fireworks displays Saturday and on championship night ? ?Commercial fireworks, not the junior high stuff,? Walkup said. ?People know what to expect from us there because they?ve seen fireworks at the Wingnuts.?

The ?NBC Stars of Tomorrow Clinic? at 9 a.m. Aug. 6 offers a chance for kids to polish their baseball skills with players from the remaining teams. Cost of the clinic is $35 and includes a free Launch Laser, a $50 hitting tool that helps young hitters get their hands in proper hitting position.

And every night, after the 7 p.m. feature game, kids can come down to the infield and run the bases. All kids wearing their Little League uniforms will be admitted free every night of the tournament ? except fireworks nights ? with a paying adult.

?What we want is to get to the kids who will be playing in the 100th NBC World Series,? Walkup said.

Meanwhile, bolstered by the Go Wichita staff, the NBC crew has enhanced community involvement, lining up corporate sponsors and partnering with hotels and restaurants to help defray expenses for participating teams. By Wednesday, Wichita restaurants had signed up to feed NBC teams before or after games for almost half of the 60 scheduled tournament games; the phone lines are open at the stadium for more hotel and restaurant partners.

In addition, the tournament now has a volunteer committee and filled up quickly with volunteer batboys.

?The results in a pretty short, compacted time this summer have been pretty positive,? said Wichita City Council member Jeff Longwell. ?The vibe around the tournament has been very positive, and I?m confident we?re back on the right track.?

Once the tournament wraps up, Walkup said his staff will put the first year of the new, community-backed format under a microscope.

?We?re going to thoroughly evaluate how it went. We know the first year?s not going to be perfect,? Walkup said.

?We know there may be tweaks to be made, and we respect the tournament and its traditions enough to make the changes that might be needed.?

Newman said he?s ready to hit the ballpark.

?The direction they?re taking and the changes they?re making are great,? he said. ?The tournament wasn?t horrible the years before, but we need these outsiders coming into our town to eat at our restaurants, fill our malls, rent our cars and stay in our hotels.

?A lot of what we do in this community is for kids,? Newman said. ?They deserve to have everything we had. Wichita needs things like the NBC, and there is and will always be a place for it here.?

Source: http://www.kansas.com/2013/07/25/2905306/papa-johns-to-sponsor-second-week.html

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Thursday, July 18, 2013

Either Steve Jobs Didn't Tell Anyone His Master Plan For TV, Or Apple's Executives Discovered His Theory Was Wrong (AAPL)

Asa Mathat | D: All Things Digital

Apple CEO Tim Cook

Before Steve Jobs died he told his biographer, "I finally cracked" the TV market.?

"I?d like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use," said Jobs. "It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with?iCloud.?It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine."

That set the tech world aflame. It suggested Apple was ready to go after the television market and save us from the clunky experiences delivered by cable and satellite companies.?

Two years later, though, and absolutely no change in TV, it's clear Apple wasn't all that close to cracking the TV market.?

In fact, the latest batch of reporting on Apple's attempts to do something in TV makes only one thing clear: Apple has no idea what it's going to do.?

The latest report from Brian Stelter at New York Times says Apple is trying to do a little bit of this, a little bit of that, trying to figure out what's possible and what's impossible.?

Apple is talking to pay-TV distributors like Time Warner Cable about running its channels through its Apple TV box. It's getting individual networks like ESPN, HBO, and Sky News to add applications for the Apple TV.

It's also talking to networks about selling a premium TV service that would let users skip commercials?with Apple kicking the money back to networks.

Apple might run everything through its little streaming box, the Apple TV, or it might sell a full television with its software baked into it.?

There's reports of Apple using Siri to control the TV. There's reports of Apple acquiring the motion technology company that was key for Microsoft's Kinect. There's even talk of Apple developing a wearable iRing to control the TV.?

Some of the reports could be nonsense, but it's unlikely people are just making things up out of thin air. There must be some basis for these stories.?

Add it all up, and it just looks like Apple is trying everything to figure out what it can do with television, which makes Jobs claim that he cracked the tv market all the more curious.?

Either he cracked it and forgot to tell anyone how he cracked it. Or, the current group of executives decided his theory didn't make any sense. Or, the content companies, cable companies, and satellite companies saw his vision and decided they didn't like, so they're doing all they can to block it.?

Whatever the case may be, it's looking like Apple's television isn't coming very soon.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-television-cracked-2013-7

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