Continue reading On a percentage basis, carriers pay more to subsidize a Samsung model than a Apple iPhone at Phone Arena
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রবিবার, ৩০ জুন, ২০১৩
On a percentage basis, carriers pay more to subsidize a Samsung model than a Apple iPhone
Phone Arena writes, The Apple iPhone has a lot of fans and as comScore's data pointed out, the device has the largest market share of any smartphone in the U.S.; but if you were to ask the stateside carriers about the popularity of the iPhone in the executive suites, the responses would not match the data from comScore's statistics...
Eminem Gets 'Open And Forthcoming' About Addiction In 'How To Make Money Selling Drugs'
Director tells MTV News about Eminem's "arresting" interview in "Drugs" doc.
By James Montgomery
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1709793/eminem-how-to-make-money-selling-drugs-director.jhtml
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Pakistani Christian accused of blasphemy in Canada
ISLAMABAD -- A Christian girl who was accused of burning Islam's holy book in a case that focused international attention on Pakistan's harsh blasphemy laws was forced to move to Canada over security concerns, her lawyer said Saturday.
The girl left Pakistan with her parents, three sisters and a brother on March 14, attorney Tahir Naveed Chaudhry said.
A Muslim cleric who lobbied for her release, Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi, said she had been facing threats and was moving constantly.
"I am sad that this innocent girl had to leave Pakistan. She had been acquitted by the court, and despite that it was not possible for her to live freely," he said.
Canada's immigration service said privacy concerns prevented them from saying whether she was in the country.
The girl was arrested in August in Islamabad after a Muslim cleric accused her of burning the Quran.
The cleric was later accused of fabricating evidence, and the girl was acquitted.
The case received attention in part because of her young age and questions about her mental abilities. An official medical report at the time put her age at 14 although some of her supporters said she was as young as 11. The medical report also said her mental state did not correspond with her age.
The Associated Press is withholding the girl's name because it does not generally identify underage suspects.
Even though the case against her was thrown out, people accused of blasphemy in Pakistan are often subject to vigilante justice. Mobs have been known to attack and kill people accused of blasphemy, and two prominent politicians who have discussed changes to the blasphemy laws have been killed.
Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/06/29/3477018/pakistani-christian-accused-of.html
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Vanderbilt dismisses 4 football players
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -
Vanderbilt has dismissed four football players from the team and kicked them off campus while Nashville police investigate whether a sex crime occurred in a campus dormitory.
The school's public affairs department announced Friday that four players ? none of whom it named ? were suspended from the team. The university issued another release Saturday morning indicating they're removed from the team and on interim suspension from the university "effective immediately, pending further investigation and/or a hearing."
School officials say the players can't return to campus "without explicit permission" from the school's office of student conduct and academic integrity.
Nashville Police Department spokesman Don Aaron said Friday that the university's decision was related to the police investigation.
"The well-being of our students is of paramount concern to us, and we will not tolerate any actions that threaten safety and security," Vanderbilt vice chancellor for public affairs Beth Fortune said in a statement released by the university.
Aaron said the department's sex crimes unit began investigating Wednesday after Vanderbilt police notified them about "a matter that is alleged to have occurred at a Vanderbilt University dormitory."
"This is an open and very much active investigation," Aaron said.
Vanderbilt went 9-4 and beat North Carolina State in the Music City Bowl last year for its best season since 1915.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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বৃহস্পতিবার, ২৭ জুন, ২০১৩
Westinghouse's 84-Inch 4k Touchscreen Makes Windows 8 Feel Epic
Westinghouse Digital's "Digital Whiteboard" is an 84-inch UltraHD monster that runs Windows 8. It costs $15,000, so for starters, this is headed to the lecture halls and boardrooms of the world. Unless you've got dollar, you won't see this beauty in your living room just yet. Which is a shame, because using it is like touching the future.
The Digital Whiteboard's touch technology isn't capacitive like the Perceptive Pixel glory we used for years until Microsoft scooped it up. Instead, it runs a six-point infrared overlay that's baked right into the screen's bezel.
Overall the screen is fairly responsive, and Windows 8 blow-up to that epic size feels so natural that this could the platform the UI was designed for. It's remarkable how those Metro tiles scale up beautifully. But the actual look and feel of apps varies when you scale it up. Common web browsing could have a home on this TV, but firing up the Weather Channel app, made today's isolated T-storms forecast feel especially foreboding.
Of course, this screen is supposed to be more than just a plaything, so Westinghouse has built some pretty rudimentary whiteboard software so that you can, you know, write on the screen like a whiteboard. I was able to easily scrawl out "hello world" using my finger. The UI for the app isn't beautiful or anything, but it'll suffice. If massive touchscreen computers catch-on, a third-party app surely will as well.
And don't be fooled: he screen isn't quite as silky as what you get on your smartphone. There's a slight but noticeable lag on the touch. For all that pixel density, we weren't overwhelmed with the screen's beauty.
Then again, it's a freaking Windows 8 PC at massive proportions, so we're willing to cut the screen some slack.
Source: http://gizmodo.com/westinghouses-84-inch-4k-touchscreen-makes-windows-8-f-584877453
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বুধবার, ২৬ জুন, ২০১৩
Taptu
Taptu is a free online RSS feed reader that also has apps for Android, iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, and Nook. Taptu's identifying feature is that it combines RSS with a magazine-like layout and the option to include feed content from big-name media outlets and your own private social media streams (similar to Feedly, Flipboard for iPad, and the like). You can add vertical columns that hold customized feed streams, much in the way Tweetdeck lets you sort your feeds and alerts into columns. Taptu offers a few great customization features, including the ability to color-code feeds. But the service has wrinkles, enough to put me off from using it as my replacement to Google Reader (I chose G2Reader for personal use). If you like magazine-style content and are stuck on having native mobile apps, though, Taptu could be the right way to go.
Signing Up
Using Taptu requires integrating it with an existing account: Google, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. I'm completely turned off by services that don't allow a simple email or username and password sign up, seeing as I don't know exactly how much of my personal information the service is going to take from my other accounts.
To test the app, I caved and gave it access to my Google account. It connected to find my Google Reader data, although it doesn't automatically display it. Rather, Taptu has you build your feed display from a long list of options, which include an existing Google Reader material you may have, but also incorporates news sites, online magazines, and a whole host of options. You end up selecting which feeds from all these choices you'd like to see in your primary display area. Each item can be color-coded, a nice touch in my book, although folder organization is missing entirely. Instead, you have vertical columns of streams, and my only problem with that is they are harder to organize and see at a glance than a simple folder with items inside it.
Visuals
Taptu definitely has a flashier look than simple RSS feed readers such as The Old Reader, G2Reader, Feedly, or SwarmIQ. It's much more akin in design to something like Flipboard or Pulse.
I can appreciate that some people prefer a graphically rich design, but I almost think of products like these as being something different than RSS feed readers. While I enjoy Flipboard for browsing leisurely from time to time, that's not how I interact with RSS feed content, which instead keeps me abreast of trends. I tend to follow blogs primarily, and I watch a few news sites but mostly to browse headlines, wherein the simplicity of RSS makes sense. I'd rather see a few lines of text when scrolling headlines than glance at inches upon inches of highly designed graphics.
Another flaw: Taptu shows you two share buttons, one at the top left on the banner bar (see the slideshow), and one on the top right of each post, which makes it confusing to know what exactly you might be sharing from the leftmost button. (Answer: Despite their different locations, the both only share the immediate post.)
While testing the app in the Chrome Web browser on Mac OS X, I hit a few instances of buggy displays when trying to connect to my social media feeds (see the slideshow for an example). A pop-up display looked like it was supposed to prompt me to sign into the account in question, but it showed up (multiple times) as translucent or not fully rendered.
These are the kinds of issues and inconsistencies that need to be ironed out before I would seriously consider using Taptu on a regular basis.
Is Taptu for You?
Taptu can't import OPML files, and that was as big a turn-off for me as the inability to sign up using a username and password. A spokesperson from Taptu confirmed that users will not be able to import Google Reader data after July 1, and it's not clear to me whether existing Google Reader integration will continue to work either (it all depends on whether Taptu is pulling data from your Google account all the time or if Taptu imported the data behind the scenes for you).
The free service offers plenty, and could make for a great app to have if you like magazine-style content and exploring online articles more than browsing top headlines and trends from your own tightly managed set of feeds. I also like that Taptu really pushed mobile apps to market, as an increasing number of users rely on their mobile devices more than desktop and laptop computers. Taptu needs to focus more on fixing and improving what it already has on offer rather than beefing up new tools and features. There's still a good deal of ironing that needs to be done, particularly with the interface, to make Taptu more usable and straightforward.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/kp0rfRYw6fk/0,2817,2420938,00.asp
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HBT: Vargas undergoes surgery for blood clot
On the disabled list with a blood clot in his left armpit, Angels left-hander Jason Vargas will undergo surgery to remove the clot and is expected to miss at least three weeks.
Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times reports that Vargas will be completely shut down from throwing for two weeks, but the Angels are hopeful that he?ll be able to return without needing a lengthy minor-league rehab assignment.
Vargas has pitched well for the Angels since being acquired from the Mariners for Kendrys Morales this offseason, starting 14 games with a 3.65 ERA and 62/30 K/BB ratio in 91 innings. And if the Angels don?t climb above .500 soon the impending free agent could be a prime trade candidate next month.
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Trinidad James Responds To J. Cole's Shots On 'Villuminati'
The 'All Gold Everything' MC talks to MTV News about Cole's less-than-flattering shout-out on his Born Sinner track.
By Rob Markman, with reporting by Chris Kim
Trinidad James
Photo: MTV News
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1709530/trinidad-james-j-cole-villuminati.jhtml
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মঙ্গলবার, ২৫ জুন, ২০১৩
Supreme Court punts on affirmative action
The Supreme Court has surprised legal experts by declining to strike down the University of Texas' use of race in undergraduate admissions. On Monday, the justices sent the case back to a lower court for a rehearing, dodging a decision on whether affirmative-action policies at public colleges around the country are unconstitutional.
Justice Anthony Kennedy, the court's conservative-leaning swing vote, wrote the opinion for Fisher v. University of Texas, which was decided 7-1. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the court's liberal leader, dissented, arguing that the lower court's decision in favor of affirmative action should stand. Kennedy said the federal Fifth Circuit must rehear the case to decide whether UT "offered sufficient evidence to prove that its admissions program is narrowly tailored to obtain the educational benefits of diversity." The court also requires the lower court to decide whether the college could use any "race neutral" means of creating a diverse campus before resorting to affirmative action.
"Strict scrutiny imposes on the university the ultimate burden of demonstrating, before turning to racial classifications, that available, workable race-neutral alternatives do not suffice," the justices wrote.
The decision comes as a surprise, since during oral arguments in the case in October, many of the conservative-leaning justices seemed poised to issue a broader ruling invalidating the use of race in admissions. Kennedy has also frequently expressed skepticism of affirmative-action programs.
"Affirmative action lives to see another day," Adam Winkler, a constitutional law expert at UCLA, told Yahoo News. "The Supreme Court seemed prepared to strike a real blow against affirmative action back in October. But the Fisher case reaffirms [previous] Supreme Court cases that allow universities to take race into account."
Abigail Noel Fisher brought suit against the University of Texas after she was denied admission in 2008. UT automatically admits Texans who graduate in the top 10 percent of their high school classes, but fills its remaining seats by judging applicants on a combination of GPA, test scores, race and other factors. Fisher claimed she was discriminated against because she is white when she was denied admission. The college argued that Fisher's GPA and standardized test scores made her inadmissible regardless of her race and that using race as one factor in admission helps it maintain a diverse student body.
The Supreme Court established in 2003 in Grutter v. Bollinger that universities could use race as a factor in admissions as long as they did not use quotas (for example, that 10 percent of the class must be black). The justices said affirmative action was still necessary to counteract the effects of institutionalized racism that had prevented minorities from attending college in the past. The majority wrote that they believed that in 25 years, affirmative action would no longer be necessary and should be stopped. This "sunset" provision was skewered by the four dissenting justices.
The Fisher case was argued 10 months ago, and many legal experts were stumped as to why the justices were taking so long to release an opinion. The court has agreed to hear another case dealing with affirmative action next fall and may issue a broader decision then.
Justice Elena Kagan, a President Barack Obama appointee, recused herself from the case, most likely due to her work on it as solicitor general.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/supreme-court-punts-affirmative-action-case-141850745.html
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Putin says no to US request to turn over Snowden
MOSCOW (AP) ? Russian President Vladimir Putin bluntly rejected U.S. pleas to turn over National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden on Tuesday, saying he is free to travel wherever he wants and insisting that Russian security agencies haven't contacted him.
Snowden is in the transit zone of a Moscow airport and has not passed through Russian immigration, Putin said, meaning he is not technically in Russia.
After arriving Sunday on a flight from Hong Kong, Snowden registered for a Havana-bound flight from Moscow on Monday en route to Venezuela and then possible asylum in Ecuador, but he didn't board the plane.
Snowden's whereabouts since then have been a mystery, and Putin's comments were the first time Russia has made clear it knows where he is.
Speculation has been rife that Russian security agencies might want to keep Snowden in Russia for a more thorough debriefing, but Putin denied that.
"Our special services never worked with Mr. Snowden and aren't working with him today," Putin said at a news conference during a visit to Finland.
Putin said that because there is no extradition agreement with the U.S., it couldn't meet the U.S. request.
"Mr. Snowden is a free man, and the sooner he chooses his final destination the better it is for us and for him," Putin said. "I hope it will not affect the business-like character of our relations with the U.S. and I hope that our partners will understand that."
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday that though the United States does not have an extradition treaty with Russia, it wants Moscow to comply with common law practices between countries where fugitives are concerned.
Putin's staunch refusal to consider deporting Snowden shows the Russian president's readiness to further challenge Washington at a time when U.S.-Russian relations are already strained over Syria and a Russian ban on adoptions by Americans.
A Kremlin decision to provide even temporary shelter and safe transit to Snowden would embarrass Washington. And despite Putin's denial, security experts believe the Russian special services wouldn't miss the chance to question a man who is believed to hold reams of classified U.S. documents and can shed light on how the U.S. intelligence agencies collect information.
Igor Korotchenko, director of the Center for Global Arms Trade and editor of National Defense Magazine, said Snowden would be of particular interest because little is known about digital espionage.
"The security services would be happy to enter into contact with Mr. Snowden," Korotchenko said.
Russia also relished using Snowden's revelations to try to turn the tables on U.S. criticism of Russia's rights record.
Putin compared Snowden to WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, who has been provided asylum in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, saying that both men were labeled criminals but consider themselves rights activists and champions of freedom of information.
"Ask yourself a question: should people like that be extradited so that they put them in prison or not?" he said. "In any case, I would prefer not to deal with such issues. It's like shearing a piglet: a lot of squealing and little wool."
In an apparent reference to claims that Moscow could have played a role in Snowden's exit from Hong Kong, he said that his arrival was a "complete surprise" and dismissed accusations against Russia as "ravings and sheer nonsense."
"He doesn't need a visa or any other documents, and as a transit passenger he has the right to buy a ticket and fly wherever he wants," Putin said.
Russian news media had reported that Snowden remained in a transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, which is separate from the regular departure zones. He has not been seen by any of the journalists that have been roaming the airport in search of him.
Legally, an arriving air passenger only crosses the border after clearing immigration checks.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov rejected the U.S. push for Snowden's extradition earlier Tuesday, but wouldn't specify his whereabouts, saying only that he hasn't crossed the Russian border.
"We consider the attempts to accuse Russia of violating U.S. laws and even some sort of conspiracy, which on top of all that are accompanied by threats, as absolutely ungrounded and unacceptable," Lavrov said. "There are no legal grounds for such conduct by U.S. officials."
U.S. and Ecuadorean officials had said they believed Snowden was still in Russia.
Kerry called for "calm and reasonableness."
"We would hope that Russia would not side with someone who is 'a fugitive' from justice,' " Kerry said at a news conference in Saudi Arabia.
The U.S. has revoked Snowden's passport.
A representative of WikiLeaks has been traveling with Snowden, and the organization is believed to be assisting him in arranging asylum. Assange, the group's founder, said Monday that Snowden was only passing through Russia and had applied for asylum in Ecuador, Iceland and possibly other countries.
A high-ranking Ecuadorean official told The Associated Press that Russia and Ecuador were discussing where Snowden could go, saying the process could take days. He also said Ecuador's ambassador to Moscow had not seen or spoken to Snowden. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.
Ecuador's foreign minister, Ricardo Patino, hailed Snowden on Monday as "a man attempting to bring light and transparency to facts that affect everyone's fundamental liberties."
"We're following all the appropriate legal channels and working with various other countries to make sure that the rule of law is observed," President Barack Obama told reporters.
The Kremlin has previously said Russia would be ready to consider Snowden's request for asylum.
Snowden is a former CIA employee who later was hired as a contractor for the NSA. In that job, he gained access to documents that he gave to newspapers the Guardian and The Washington Post to expose what he contends are privacy violations by an authoritarian government.
Snowden also told the South China Morning Post newspaper in Hong Kong that "the NSA does all kinds of things like hack Chinese cellphone companies to steal all of your SMS data." He is believed to have more than 200 additional sensitive documents in laptops he is carrying.
Some observers said in addition to the sensitive data, Snowden's revelations have provided the Kremlin with propaganda arguments to counter the U.S. criticism of Russia's crackdown on opposition and civil activists under Putin.
"They would use Snowden to demonstrate that the U.S. government doesn't sympathize with the ideals of freedom of information, conceals key information from the public and stands ready to open criminal proceedings against those who oppose it," Konstantin Remchukov, the editor of independent daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta, said on Ekho Moskvy radio.
Putin has accused the U.S. State Department of instigating protests in Moscow against his re-election for a third term in March and has taken an anti-American posture that plays well with his core support base of industrial workers and state employees.
____
Huuhtanen reported from Naantali, Finland. Michael Weissenstein and Gonzalo Solano contributed to this story from Quito, Ecuador.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/putin-says-no-us-request-turn-over-snowden-181414132.html
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Ecuador confirms Snowden seeking asylum there
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) ? Ecuador's foreign minister said Monday his country will act not on its interests but on its principles as it considers an asylum request from National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, wanted for revealing classified U.S. secrets.
Speaking to reporters in Hanoi, Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said he could not comment on Snowden's location after the U.S. fugitive did not board a flight from Moscow to Cuba on which he was booked.
"I cannot give information with respect to that ... we cannot offer specific information about the specific situation of Mr. Snowden at this moment," he said.
Patino did not say how long it would take Ecuador to decide on Snowden's asylum request, which he said "has to do with freedom of expression and with the security of citizens around the world."
Snowden had been in hiding in Hong Kong for several weeks after revealing the spy programs. He flew to Moscow on Sunday and was booked on an Aeroflot flight to Cuba on Monday, but an airline representative said he didn't board the plane and AP reporters on the flight couldn't see him.
Patino said Ecuador was in touch with the highest authorities of Russia about the case.
"The government of Ecuador has maintained a respectful diplomatic contact with the government of Russia and has informed it that Ecuador is considering the petition for asylum on the part of Mr. Snowden," he said.
Patino read a letter from Snowden to Ecuador's president in which he asked for asylum "due to the risk of persecution by the government of the United States and its agents."
Snowden said in the letter that he revealed the information about the highly classified spy programs because the U.S. "is intercepting the majority of communications of the world."
"I have been accused of being a traitor" and "there have been calls for me to be executed or imprisoned," the letter said. He said it was unlikely that he could receive a fair trial.
Patino said Ecuador would not base its asylum decision on its potential to damage the country's relationship with the United States.
"There are some governments that act more upon their own interests, but we do not," Patino said. "We act upon our principles."
He added, "We take care of the human rights of the people."
Anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks earlier said Snowden was bound for Ecuador "via a safe route for the purposes of asylum, and is being escorted by diplomats and legal advisers from WikiLeaks." The organization's founder, Julian Assange, was granted asylum by Ecuador last year and has been staying at the country's embassy in the United Kingdom to avoid extradition to Sweden to face questioning about sex crime allegations.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ecuador-confirms-snowden-seeking-asylum-135822013.html
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সোমবার, ২৪ জুন, ২০১৩
G2Reader
When Google announced it would flip the death switch on Google Reader on July 1, I furiously scoured the RSS feed reader scene to find the best replacement service available. Not long after I landed on G2Reader (free), the search was over. I continued my search, testing several more options, but none ticked all the boxes G2Reader did.
G2Reader is a Web-based RSS feed reader that requires little more than an email and password signup. A big selling point for me is that you can import your Google Reader feeds from the Google Takeout data (for instructions on how to get it, see Get Organized:?Get Off Google Reader). Some other services require you connect them directly to your Google account, which won't work after Google shuts down Reader and didn't necessarily feel very secure to me, especially when an unknown company with no privacy policy or terms of service is behind the app. Maybe that sounds far-fetched, but it was in fact my experience with both Feedly and FeedsBundle.
G2Reader very closely resembles Google Reader in layout and function, although the design is much more stylized than Google Reader's ever was. It's smart and clean, yet simple.
Upon importing data from Google Reader (which you can do via the file called subscriptions.xml that comes in your Google Takeout data), G2Reader keeps all your feed organization intact, so you don't have to muck around moving feeds back into folders and such. G2Reader brought over my Google Alerts, too, and they appear to be updating. That's huge. We'll see if they continue to update correctly after July 1, but for the time being, G2Reader was the only RSS feed reader that correctly imported and implemented my Google Alerts.
One of my favorite features in G2Reader is you can save a list of key words that the app will always highlight for you in the posts that show up in your feed. There's even an API key for your feeds, should you want to do a little programming to extend what your G2Reader feeds can do for you and where you access them.
And, perhaps most impressive of all, G2Reader is available in seven languages: English, Spanish, French, Mandarin (Taiwan/traditional), Russian, Czech, and Slovak. I have friends all over the world who often ask me for software recommendations, and while plenty of them speak and read in English, it's not always their language of choice. Kudos to the tiny G2Reader team for making the app accessible to as many global users as possible.
G2Reader even has some sharing capabilities built in, although not to the extent of The Old Reader, which mimic's Google Reader pre-2011, with the ability to follow other users and be followed in turn. In G2Reader, you can click to open any post to tweet, share on Facebook, or post the link to the post on Google+. If you're looking for real social features, sign up for The Old Reader. It's nearly as impressive as G2Reader in other capacities, too.
There's really only one qualm[a qualm is a doubt the user might have, not a flaw in the app] that might affect whether you think as highly as G2Reader as I do. Updates can lag a little. If you use an RSS reader to monitor breaking news, the latency issue could make G2Reader a no-go. But if, like me, you use it to keep an eye on overall trends or to follow blogs more casually, the speed at which it delivers content isn't a serious issue.
If you're more of a DIY person, definitely explore Commafeed, a source for building your own RSS feed reader that you can host yourself. It's very good, except a little sluggish. We also looked at?TinyTiny RSS, an open-source platform for building your own private RSS feed reader, but found it painfully slow.
G2Reader doesn't have any mobile apps just yet, although according to the team, an Android app is underway. That's a great sign. I'm happy to see a small and dedicated team expanding its service because it gives me hope that other improvements (like speed) could be on the way, too. G2Reader is my new RSS feed reader of choice and an Editors' Choice here at PCMag.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/KyoRXopw3PU/0,2817,2420820,00.asp
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South Africa: Mandela still in critical condition
JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? Nelson Mandela's condition in a Pretoria hospital remained critical for a second straight day Monday, said South Africa's president who described the stricken anti-apartheid hero as being "asleep" when he visited Mandela the previous evening
President Jacob Zuma told at least 60 foreign and South African journalists that doctors are doing everything possible to ensure the 94-year-old's wellbeing and comfort on his 17th day in the hospital. The president repeated some of the content of a presidential statement issued on Sunday and refused to give any details about Mandela's condition, saying: "I'm not a doctor."
"Madiba is critical in the hospital, and this is the father of democracy. This is the man who fought and sacrificed his life to stay in prison, the longest-serving prisoner in South Africa. He is one of those who has contributed to democracy," Zuma said, using Mandela's clan name. "All of us in the country should accept the fact that Madiba is now old. As he ages, his health will ... trouble him and I think what we need to do as a country is to pray for him."
Zuma, who in the past has given an overly sunny view of Mandela's health, briefly described his visit to the hospital in the capital and seeing Mandela.
"It was late, he was already asleep," Zuma said. "And we then had a bit of a discussion with the doctors as well as his wife, Graca Machel, and we left."
Asked why none of Mandela's doctors had been made available for a news briefing, presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said an arrangement had been made in consultation with Mandela's family whereby information would be provided through a "single source in an authoritative way."
"We've come to that arrangement on the basis that we need to respect the privacy of the family, we need to adhere to doctor-patient confidentiality," he said.
"You can be assured that what we are saying is based on agreement with the doctors," Maharaj said. Doctors approve the text of announcements on Mandela's health, and believe some media reporting has transgressed professional ethics, he said.
Mandela, who became South Africa's first black president after the end of apartheid in 1994, was hospitalized on June 8 for what the government said was a recurring lung infection. This is his fourth hospitalization since December.
Mandela was jailed for 27 years under white racist rule and was released 23 years ago, in 1990. He then played a leading role in steering the divided country from the apartheid era to an all-race democracy, becoming South Africa's first black president in all-race elections in 1994.
As a result of his sacrifice and peacemaking efforts, he is seen by many around the world as a symbol of reconciliation.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/south-africa-mandela-still-critical-condition-082546750.html
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Obama to unveil climate plan in Tuesday speech
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama is preparing to unveil his long-awaited national plan to combat climate change in a major speech, he announced on Saturday.
"There's no single step that can reverse the effects of climate change," Obama said in an online video released by the White House. "But when it comes to the world we leave our children, we owe it to them to do what we can."
People consulting with White House officials on Obama's plan, to be unveiled Tuesday at Georgetown University, say they expect him to put forth regulations on heat-trapping gases emitted by existing coal-fired power plans. They were not authorized to disclose details about the plan ahead of the announcement and requested anonymity.
Environmental groups have been pleading with Obama to take that step, but the administration has said it's focused first on controls on new power plants. The Environmental Protection Agency, using its authority under the Clean Air Act, has already proposed controls on new plants, but the rules have been delayed ? to the chagrin of states and environmental groups threatening to sue over the delays.
An administration official said last week that Obama was still weighing whether to include existing plants in the climate plan. The official wasn't authorized to comment by name and requested anonymity.
The White House wouldn't disclose any details Saturday about what steps Obama may call for. But his senior energy and climate adviser, Heather Zichal, said last week that controls on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants would be a major focus. She also said the plan would boost energy efficiency of appliances and buildings, plus expand renewable energy.
Putting a positive spin on a contentious partisan issue, Obama said the U.S. is uniquely poised to deal with the serious challenges posed by climate change. He said American scientists and engineers would have to design new fuels and energy sources, and workers will have to adapt to a clean energy economy.
"We'll need all of us, as citizens, to do our part to preserve God's creation for future generations," Obama said.
Environmental groups have for months been pushing Obama to make good on a threat he issued to lawmakers in February in his State of the Union address: "If Congress won't act soon to protect future generations, I will." Obama's move to take the matter into his own hands appears to reflect a growing consensus that opposition in Congress is too powerful for any meaningful, sweeping climate legislation to pass anytime soon.
"They shouldn't wait for Congress to act, because they'll be out of office by the time that Congress gets its act together," Rep. Henry Waxman, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said in an interview.
Environmental groups applauded the announcement that Obama was finally releasing a plan for executive action, but made clear they want to see firm proposals ? including controls for existing power plants.
"Combating climate change means curbing carbon pollution ? for the first time ever ? from the biggest single source of such dangerous gases: our coal-fired power plants," said Frances Beinecke, president of the National Resources Defense Council. "We stand ready to help President Obama in every way we can."
Another key issue hanging over the announcement ? but unlikely to be mentioned on Tuesday ? is Keystone XL, a pipeline that would carry oil extracted from tar sands in western Canada to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast. A concerted campaign by environmental activists to persuade Obama to nix the pipeline appears to be an uphill battle. The White House insists the State Department is making the decision independently.
Obama's speech on Tuesday will come the day before he leaves for a weeklong trip to three African nations.
___
Online:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcL3_zzgWeU
___
Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-unveil-climate-plan-tuesday-speech-191840941.html
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Taliban kill 10 foreign climbers, Pakistani guide
Pakistani rescue workers unload the casket of a foreign tourist who was killed by Islamic militants from an ambulance to shift in a morgue of local hospital in Islamabad, Pakistan, Sunday, June 23, 2013. Islamic militants wearing police uniforms shot to death foreign tourists and at least one Pakistani before dawn as they were visiting one of the world?s highest mountains in a remote area of northern Pakistan that has been largely peaceful, officials said. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
Pakistani rescue workers unload the casket of a foreign tourist who was killed by Islamic militants from an ambulance to shift in a morgue of local hospital in Islamabad, Pakistan, Sunday, June 23, 2013. Islamic militants wearing police uniforms shot to death foreign tourists and at least one Pakistani before dawn as they were visiting one of the world?s highest mountains in a remote area of northern Pakistan that has been largely peaceful, officials said. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
FILE - In this May 4, 2004 file photo, Nanga Parbat, the ninth highest mountain in the world, is seen from Karakorum Highway leading to neighboring China in Pakistan's northern area. Gunmen wearing police uniforms killed 11 foreign tourists and one Pakistani before dawn Sunday, June 23, 2013 as they were visiting one of the world?s highest mountains in a remote area of northern Pakistan, officials said. (AP Photo/Musaf Zaman Kazmi, File)
Pakistani rescue workers unload the casket of a foreign tourist, who was killed by Islamic militants, from an ambulance to shift in a morgue of local hospital in Islamabad, Pakistan, Sunday, June 23, 2013. Islamic militants wearing police uniforms shot to death nine foreign tourists and one Pakistani before dawn as they were visiting one of the world?s highest mountains in a remote area of northern Pakistan that has been largely peaceful, officials said. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
Pakistani rescue workers unload the casket of a foreign tourist who was killed by Islamic militants, from an ambulance to shift in a morgue of local hospital in Islamabad, Pakistan, Sunday, June 23, 2013. Islamic militants wearing police uniforms shot to death foreign tourists and at least one Pakistani before dawn as they were visiting one of the world?s highest mountains in a remote area of northern Pakistan that has been largely peaceful, officials said. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
ISLAMABAD (AP) ? Islamic militants disguised as policemen killed 10 foreign climbers and a Pakistani guide in a brazen overnight raid against their campsite at the base of one of the world's tallest mountains in northern Pakistan, officials said.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed it carried out the attack at Nanga Parbat to avenge the death of their deputy leader in a U.S. drone strike last month.
The area has largely been peaceful, hundreds of kilometers (miles) from the Taliban's major sanctuaries along the Afghan border. But the militant group, which has been waging a bloody insurgency against the government for years, has shown it has the ability to strike almost anywhere in the country.
The Taliban began their attack by abducting two local guides to take them to the remote base camp in Gilgit-Baltisan, said Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. One guide was killed, and the other has been detained for questioning. The attackers disguised themselves by wearing uniforms used by the Gilgit Scouts, a paramilitary force that patrols the area, Khan said.
Around 15 gunmen attacked the camp at around 11 p.m. Saturday, said the Alpine Club of Pakistan, which spoke with the surviving guide, Sawal Faqir. They began by beating the mountaineers and taking away any mobile and satellite phones they could find, as well as everyone's money, said the club in a statement.
Some climbers and guides were able to run away, but those that weren't were shot dead, said the club. Faqir was able to hide a satellite phone and eventually used it to notify authorities of the attack.
Attaur Rehman, the home secretary in Gilgit-Baltistan, said 10 foreigners and one Pakistani were killed in the attack. The dead foreigners included three Ukrainians, two Slovakians, two Chinese, one Lithuanian, one Nepalese and one Chinese-American, according to Rehman and tour operators who were working with the climbers. Matt Boland, the acting spokesman at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, confirmed that an American citizen was among the dead, but could not say whether it was a dual Chinese national.
The shooting ? one of the worst attacks on foreigners in Pakistan in recent years ? occurred in a stunning part of the country that has seen little violence against tourists, although it has experienced attacks by radical Sunni Muslims on minority Shiites in recent years.
Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan claimed responsibility for the attack, saying their Jundul Hafsa faction carried out the shooting as retaliation for the death of the Taliban's deputy leader, Waliur Rehman, in a U.S. drone attack on May 29.
"By killing foreigners, we wanted to give a message to the world to play their role in bringing an end to the drone attacks," Ahsan told The Associated Press by telephone from an undisclosed location.
The U.S. insists the CIA strikes primarily kill al-Qaida and other militants who threaten the West as well as efforts to stabilize neighboring Afghanistan. In a recent speech, President Barack Obama outlined tighter restrictions on the highly secretive program.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who wants to pursue peace talks with militants threatening his country, has insisted the U.S. stop the drone strikes, saying they violate Pakistan's sovereignty and are counterproductive because they often kill innocent civilians and stoke anti-U.S. sentiment in this nation of 180 million people.
Sharif responded to the attack on the camp by vowing "such acts of cruelty and inhumanity would not be tolerated and every effort would be made to make Pakistan a safe place for tourists."
Officials expressed fear the attack would deal a serious blow to Pakistan's tourism industry, already struggling because of the high level of violence in the country.
The interior minister promised to take all measures to ensure the safety of tourists as he addressed the National Assembly, which passed a resolution condemning the attack.
"A lot of tourists come to this area in the summer, and our local people work to earn money from these people," said Syed Mehdi Shah, the chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan. "This will not only affect our area, but will adversely affect all of Pakistan."
He said the base camp was cordoned off by police and paramilitary soldiers after the attack, and a military helicopter searched the area.
Volodymyr Lakomov, the Ukrainian ambassador to Pakistan, also condemned the attack and said, "We hope Pakistani authorities will do their best to find the culprits of this crime."
Many foreign tourists stay away from Pakistan because of the country's reputation as being a dangerous place. But a relatively small number of intrepid foreigners visit Gilgit-Baltistan during the summer to marvel at the towering peaks in the Himalayan and Karakoram ranges, including K2, the second-highest mountain in the world.
A few try to climb them. The world's ninth-highest mountain, Nanga Parbat is 8,126 meters (26,660 feet) tall and is notoriously difficult to summit. It is known as the "killer mountain" because of numerous mountaineering deaths in the past.
Pakistan has very close ties with neighboring China and is sensitive to any issue that could harm the relationship. Pakistani officials have reached out to representatives from China and Ukraine to convey their sympathies, the Foreign Ministry said.
The government suspended the chief secretary and top police chief in Gilgit-Baltistan following the attack and ordered an inquiry into the incident, said Khan, the interior minister.
The shooting was one of the worst attacks on foreigners in Pakistan in the last decade. A suicide attack outside a hotel in the southern city of Karachi killed 11 French engineers in 2002. In 2009, gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team in the eastern city of Lahore, killing six Pakistani policemen, a driver and wounding several players.
___
Associated Press writer Rasool Dawar contributed to this report from Peshawar, Pakistan.
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Hong Kong silent so far on possible Snowden extradition
HONG KONG (AP) ? Hong Kong was silent Saturday on whether a former National Security Agency contractor should be extradited to the United States now that he has been charged with espionage, but some legislators said the decision should be up to the Chinese government.
Edward Snowden, believed to be holed up in Hong Kong, has admitted providing information to the news media about two highly classified NSA surveillance programs.
It is not known if the U.S. government has made a formal extradition request to Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong government had no immediate reaction to the charges against Snowden. Police Commissioner, Andy Tsang, when was asked about the development, told reporters only that the case would be dealt with according to the law. A police statement said it was "inappropriate" for the police to comment on the case.
When China regained control of Hong Kong in 1997, the former British colony was granted a high degree of autonomy and granted rights and freedoms not seen on mainland China. However, under the city's mini constitution Beijing is allowed to intervene in matters involving defense and diplomatic affairs.
Outspoken legislator Leung Kwok-hung said Beijing should instruct Hong Kong to protect Snowden from extradition before his case gets dragged through the court system. Leung also urged the people of Hong Kong to "take to the streets to protect Snowden."
Another legislator, Cyd Ho, vice-chairwoman of the pro-democracy Labour Party, said China "should now make its stance clear to the Hong Kong SAR (Special Administrative Region) government" before the case goes before a court.
China has urged Washington to provide explanations following the disclosures of National Security Agency programs which collect millions of telephone records and track foreign Internet activity on U.S. networks, but it has not commented on Snowden's status in Hong Kong.
A formal extradition request, which could drag through appeal courts for years, would pit Beijing against Washington at a time China tries to deflect U.S. accusations that it carries out extensive surveillance on American government and commercial operations.
Snowden's whereabouts have not been publicly known since he checked out of a Hong Kong hotel on June 10. He said in an interview with the South China Morning Post that he hoped to stay in the autonomous region of China because he has faith in "the courts and people of Hong Kong to decide my fate." Tsang said in interview broadcast on local television that he could not comment when asked about a local newspaper report that Snowden was in a police "safe house."
Snowden and his supporters have also spoken of his seeking asylum from Iceland.
A prominent former politician in Hong Kong, Martin Lee, the founding chairman of the Democratic Party, said he doubted whether Beijing would intervene at this stage.
"Beijing would only intervene according to my understanding at the last stage. If the magistrate said there is enough to extradite, then Mr. Snowden can then appeal," he said.
Lee said Beijing could then decide at the end of the appeal process if it wanted Snowden extradited or not.
A one-page criminal complaint unsealed Friday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, said Snowden engaged in unauthorized communication of national defense information and willful communication of classified communications intelligence information. Both are charges under the Espionage Act. Snowden also is charged with theft of government property. All three crimes carry a maximum 10-year prison penalty.
The complaint will be an integral part of the U.S. government's effort to have Snowden extradited from Hong Kong, a process that could become a prolonged legal battle. Snowden could contest extradition on grounds of political persecution.
Hong Kong lawyer Mark Sutherland said that the filing of a refugee, torture or inhuman punishment claim acts as an automatic bar on any extradition proceedings until those claims can be assessed.
"Some asylum seekers came to Hong Kong 10 years ago and still haven't had their protection claims assessed," Sutherland said.
Organizers of a public protest in support of Snowden last week said Saturday that there were no plans for similar demonstrations this weekend.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hk-silent-far-possible-snowden-extradition-051344237.html
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Southwest cancels 57 flights after computer glitch
In this Feb. 9, 2012 file photo, a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 waits to take off at Chicago's Midway Airport as another lands. A spokesman for Southwest Airlines says all departing flights have been grounded due to a system-wide computer problem, Saturday, June 22, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
In this Feb. 9, 2012 file photo, a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 waits to take off at Chicago's Midway Airport as another lands. A spokesman for Southwest Airlines says all departing flights have been grounded due to a system-wide computer problem, Saturday, June 22, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
CHICAGO (AP) ? A system-wide computer failure forced Southwest Airlines to ground its entire fleet of airplanes preparing for departures late Friday, and at least 57 flights had to be canceled even after service was fully restored hours later, a company spokeswoman said.
Michelle Agnew told The Associated Press that 43 of the cancellations were flights scheduled for late Friday night departures in the western half of the country. The other 14 were Saturday morning flights scattered across the U.S. because crews were not able to get to airports in time to make the scheduled takeoffs.
An estimated 250 flights ? most of them on the West Coast ? were grounded at least temporarily Friday night. The glitch impaired the airline's ability to do such things as conduct check-ins, print boarding passes and monitor the weight of each aircraft.
Some flights were on the taxiway and diverted back to the terminal after the problem was detected around 8 p.m. PDT Friday, Southwest spokesman Brad Hawkins said. Flights already in the air were unaffected.
Shortly after 11 p.m. PDT, Southwest posted on its Twitter page that "systems are operating and we will begin work to get customers where they need to be. Thanks for your patience tonight."
Agnew said the computer system was "running at full capacity" by early Saturday. Before that, though, officials used a backup system that was much more sluggish.
"Backup systems are in place, not the main system, so it's slower," Hawkins said after service resumed. "But we are able to start launching these flights."
He said cancellations were inevitable because the airline doesn't do redeye flights and by the time the problem was fixed, it was near "the end of our operational day."
The late hour of the disruption meant the computer problem affected far more flights on the West Coast, but Hawkins said at least a few on the East Coast were grounded as well. Southwest, based in Dallas, conducts, on average, 3,400 flights a day.
A spokesman for Los Angeles International Airport said of about 25 inbound and outbound flights remaining Friday, only five departing flights were experiencing delays, of 30 to 80 minutes. At LA/Ontario International Airport (ONT), a total of three flights ? all departures ? were affected.
Four Southwest flights were temporarily held in Seattle, said Christina Faine, a Seattle-Tacoma International Airport spokeswoman.
One flight to Oakland, Calif., had been due to leave at 9:20 p.m. and departed before 11 p.m. Faine said late Friday night that an airport duty manager, Anthony Barnes, told her the others were expected to depart shortly.
Steve Johnson, a spokesman for Portland, Ore., International Airport, said he was not aware of any planes held up there.
___
Associated Press writers Kathy McCarthy in Seattle, Robert Seavey in Phoenix and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
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Kerry seeks to coordinate aid to Syrian rebels
By Lesley Wroughton
DOHA (Reuters) - Washington wants Western and Arab allies to commit to directing all aid to Syrian rebels through the Western-backed Supreme Military Council, a senior U.S. official said before talks in Qatar on Saturday, to try to reduce the power of jihadi groups.
Speaking before U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Doha for the meeting with European and Arab foreign ministers, the official said the United States was also seeking to ensure that aid promises for the tens of thousands of refugees fleeing the conflict are honored.
U.S. President Barack Obama announced last week that Washington would step up military aid to rebels following a series of counter-attacks by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces, including the recapture of a strategic border town in an offensive led by Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas.
Rebels say they urgently need advanced arms, including anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, to stem Assad's advance.
Western countries hope by channeling assistance through the council - the rebel military leadership headed by General Salim Idriss, a former commander in Assad's army - they can reduce the influence in the opposition ranks of radical Islamist groups such as the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.
The meeting in Qatar - a staunch supporter of rebels battling Assad - brings together ministers of 11 countries that make up a pro-rebel alliance - France, Germany, Egypt, Italy, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Britain and the United States.
"The goal of the meeting is to be very concrete about the importance of all assistance, every kind of assistance that is coming from 11 countries," the senior U.S. official told reporters travelling with Kerry.
"It is important that it be fully coordinated and go through only the Syrian opposition Coalition, specifically the Supreme Military Council," the official said.
U.S. LAWMAKERS WARY
Before his departure from Washington, Kerry spent Thursday briefing Congress on the administration's Syria plans, with some lawmakers pressing for the United States to do more and others decrying any deeper involvement in the civil war.
Having withdrawn U.S. troop groups from Iraq and working to wind down American forces in Afghanistan, some lawmakers are wary of getting involved in another costly conflict. Some worry that the weapons could end up in the hands of radical Islamist groups who could one day use them against Western interests.
Until now the United States has been providing non-lethal aid - food and medicine - to the rebels.
The United Nations launched a $5 billion humanitarian aid effort for Syria two weeks ago, its biggest ever. The United States has promised more than $300 million to address the crisis and help neighboring countries cope with 1.6 million refugees who have fled the civil war.
During his trip, which includes seven countries, most of them in the Middle East, Kerry will also raise Washington's concerns in talks in Saudi Arabia on June 25 about the funding of extremist rebel groups in Syria and the presence of foreign fighters from Hezbollah and Iran in helping Assad's forces.
Saudi Arabia recently expanded its weapons supply to the rebels to include anti-aircraft missiles. Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah cut short his holiday to fly home a week ago and warned of "repercussions of events in the region", in an apparent reference to the Syrian crisis.
While in Qatar, Kerry will also meet authorities to discuss the planned talks between the United States and Taliban in Doha, though he will not meet Taliban representatives.
The talks, which will be led by U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan James Dobbins, were to have taken place last Thursday but were temporarily delayed by tensions over the naming of a new Taliban office in Doha which prompted outrage from Kabul.
(Editing by Dominic Evans and Pravin Char)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kerry-seeks-coordinate-aid-syrian-rebels-083445883.html
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Robert Duvall spectator at Bulger trial in Boston
BOSTON (AP) ? Academy Award winner Robert Duvall is one of the spectators at the racketeering trial of reputed gangster James "Whitey" Bulger.
Duvall sat in the back of the courtroom Friday at Bulger's trial in Boston.
The 82-year-old Duvall has had a long television and film career, including starring roles in "The Godfather" and "The Godfather: Part II." In those mob epics, he played Tom Hagen, a lawyer and adviser to the Corleone family.
He won a best actor Oscar in 1984 for his role in "Tender Mercies."
He has been shooting a movie, "The Judge," in Shelburne, Mass., this month. Duvall plays the title character in the film, which also stars Robert Downey Jr., Billy Bob Thornton and Vincent D'Onofrio.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/robert-duvall-spectator-bulger-trial-boston-132814587.html
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Senate immigration deal would double number of U.S. border agents
By Richard Cowan and Thomas Ferraro
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal agents on the U.S.-Mexican border would double to about 40,000 under a deal reached on Thursday in the Democratic-led Senate to draw more Republicans to a landmark immigration bill headed toward anticipated passage.
Some questioned the costs and benefits of up to $50 billion in the extra border security, which also will include high-tech surveillance equipment such as manned and unmanned aerial vehicles, radar and seismic devices.
But concerns were overshadowed by the deal's main goal: win votes for an overhaul of U.S. immigration law that will open a pathway to citizenship for up to 11 million undocumented immigrants.
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid was expected to set a test vote for as early as Monday in a bid to have the deal added to the White House-backed bill in the form of an amendment.
A senior Democratic aide predicted the amendment would get upward of 60 votes in the 100-member chamber, more than enough to clear any procedural roadblocks.
A vote on passage of the bill is expected before the Senate departs at the end of next week for its Fourth of July holiday recess.
Backers are aiming for at least 70 votes on passage to increase pressure on the more resistant Republican-led House of Representatives to give the bill final congressional approval.
Republican John McCain, a member of the "Gang of Eight" senators who wrote the bipartisan bill, voiced doubt about the high cost of additional border security.
"I don't know if it's totally well spent," he said.
But McCain added, "I think it's important that we do this to give people confidence that we have border security, so in that respect it's well spent."
A leading conservative voice embraced the deal.
Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a Cuban-American lawmaker from Florida and another member of the Gang of Eight, said the deal was a "dramatic improvement in border security" during an interview on Fox News.
Rubio, touted as a possible 2016 presidential candidate, had hinged his support on improvements in border security. His endorsement is seen as crucial to winning conservative backing for the biggest changes in U.S. immigration law in a generation.
The proposal would double the overall number of U.S. border patrol agents, according to senior Senate Democratic aides.
That would mean assigning 21,000 new officers to the border with Mexico in an attempt to shut down illegal crossings by foreigners.
"I am now confident ... that the Senate will pass a strong, bipartisan immigration reform bill and that it will ultimately reach the desk of the president for his signature," Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York said.
The immigration bill, which is supported by President Barack Obama, currently calls for adding 3,500 Customs and Border Protection officers by 2017.
Besides doubling the number of border agents, the deal also calls for completing the construction of 700 miles of border fencing or walls, Senate aides said. About 650 miles have been built in one form or another, although some portions will have to be upgraded.
At an estimated price tag of about $40 billion to $50 billon, the amendment would represent a potentially massive investment of federal resources in securing the border at a time when conservatives are complaining about government outlays.
As originally written, the legislation called for about $6 billion in new border security spending.
CRITICS STILL UNHAPPY
Republican Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama mocked the deal even though he has called for tougher border enforcement. He noted that it was drafted after congressional analysts estimated the bill would trim illegal immigration by just 25 percent.
"The bill gets in trouble on the floor and they scurry around to get an amendment to throw 20,000 agents ... somewhere on the border in the future, we promise." Sessions said, adding that such promises have been made in the past but not honored.
Sessions and other conservatives have pushed for delaying any pathway to citizenship for 11 million people until the government virtually eliminates illegal border crossings.
But the Senate repeatedly has repelled such attempts. On Thursday, it voted 54-43 to kill an amendment by Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the second-ranking Republican, which would have delayed permanent legal status for undocumented immigrants until the government met strict border enforcement goals.
On Tuesday, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the Senate's immigration bill would save the federal government nearly $900 billion over 20 years as illegal immigrants became legal, tax-paying residents.
A Democratic aide said those projected savings gave senators the leeway to craft such an expensive border security amendment.
House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican who has promised to consider an immigration bill this year, told reporters the CBO deficit-reduction estimates, if "anywhere close to being accurate, would be a real boon for the country."
While the legislation authorizes the beefed-up security programs, it would be up to Congress in the future to appropriate the funding.
A Senate aide said the newly legalized residents would not get "green cards" allowing permanent resident status until the border security measures were in place.
Gaining permanent resident status would take 10 years under the bill, giving the federal government the time to deploy the added border officers and equipment.
(Additional reporting by Rachelle Younglai and David Lawder; Editing by Fred Barbash and Bill Trott)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senate-immigration-deal-double-number-u-border-agents-030840734.html
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