Egypt braces for a decisive showdown in the streets

Both supporters and opponents of President Mohamed Morsi agree that he faces a defining moment as streets fill with protesters calling for his resignation.?

By Kristen Chick,?Correspondent / June 30, 2013

Women attend a rally to support Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi in Nasr City, Cairo, Sunday. Thousands of opponents and supporters of Egypt's Islamist president began massing in city squares in competing rallies Sunday, gearing up for a day of massive nationwide protests that many fear could turn deadly as the opposition seeks to push out Mohammed Morsi.

Virginie Nguyen Hoang/AP

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Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians poured into the streets in the capital and around the country to call on their first freely elected president to resign, in a move that many on both sides of the stark political divide feel could be decisive for Egypt's future.

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Protesters at the presidential palace in the capital chanted "Leave! Leave!" and carried signs against the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist organization of which President Mohamed Morsi is a former leader.?They hoped to force Mr. Morsi to leave power just as they toppled former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.?

They say Morsi, who took office one year ago after winning an election by a razor-thin margin, has acted undemocratically and sought to increase his power while failing to solve the mounting crises in Egypt. Many have been pushed to the street by growing anger over electricity cuts, fuel shortages, food price increases, and a lack of security.

Yet the president's supporters ? and thousands of them have gathered at a mosque in Cairo since?Friday?to counter-protest ? say the demonstrations against the president are supported by members of the former regime, who are attempting to oust a democratically elected president against the will of the people. They accuse the opposition of encouraging violence and hoping for a coup.?

One side sees the protests as Egypt's last chance to save a transition that had gone badly awry, while the other side sees them as a threat to Egypt's young democracy.?

"This is our last chance to rescue Egypt," says Mohamed Fouad, a protester at the presidential palace who holds a sign that says "get out!"

Some fear the protests may cause the bitter rift between the president's supporters and opponents to erupt into wider violence. That divide has been growing since the president granted himself immunity from the judiciary in November and used the power to push to a vote a new constitution written by a committee whose majority were Islamists.?

A sheikh at Al Azhar, the seat of Sunni Muslim learning, last week warned about a slide into civil war. And the military, which stepped in to take control when former President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in 2011, warned that it will not stand by if chaos engulfs the nation.

The?Sunday?headline in opposition daily Shorouq captured the tension hanging over Cairo: ?Egypt awaits her fate,? it read.

The violence has already begun in the Nile Delta region, where several people have died in recent days in clashes between pro-and anti-Morsi protesters. One of them was 21-year-old American Andrew Pochter, who was working as an intern at an American development organization, teaching English to students. He was stabbed to death, apparently while observing a protest in Alexandria?Friday. Several local offices of the Muslim Brotherhood have been torched in the Delta. Videos of protests there appear to show some Morsi opponents carrying guns and knives.

At the demonstration in support of Morsi in Cairo, men wore helmets and carried sticks and shields, which they say they would use to defend themselves if attacked.?

"We cannot allow thugs and corrupt members of the former regime to oust Egypt's democratically elected leader," says Said Ahmed, one of the helmet-clad defense crew. "The ballot box has spoken. Will they do this to every president if they are not happy with everything he does? This is not democracy."

Looking for a new leader

But at the presidential palace, protesters say Morsi has betrayed those who voted for him. Samia Awad, a mother who came to the protest with her children, says she voted for Morsi last year but now is deeply disappointed. "He hasn't done anything for Egypt. Everything is worse," she says. "We want a leader who will offer us a life, who will move the country forward. This doesn't mean we will oust a new president every year. If anyone comes and does something for the country, we will support him. We want security, we don't want this chaos we are living in."

Many protesters say they feel Morsi is working for the benefit of the Muslim Brotherhood, and not in the interests of the people. Mostafa el Ghobashy says he wants Morsi to step down, and a presidential council to take his place. He also wants a new constitution to be written. Concessions by Morsi won't make him happy, he says. "The time for that had passed. We asked for that many times, and he didn't answer. He didn't listen to the people."

Some palace protesters brought up the violence in December, when the Brotherhood sent its members to disperse opposition protests at the presidential palace and eleven people were killed in the ensuing clashes.?

Cairo braces for clashes

In the days leading up to?Sunday, apprehension gripped the Egyptian capital as residents worried about what the protests would bring. Some Cairo residents stocked up on food, bottled water, and cash. Some stores ran out of supplies, and banks lowered daily ATM withdrawal limits. Away from the protests?Sunday, Cairo's streets, normally full of traffic, noise, and pedestrians, were almost deserted, and eerily quiet. The American embassy issued a travel warning for Egypt and announced it would be closed?Sunday?and?Monday.

Leaders of the petition drive that called for today's anti-Morsi protests, called Tamarod, or ?Rebel,? say they gathered 22 million signatures asking the president to resign. That number cannot be verified.?

What is clear is in the year since he was elected, Morsi has alienated many who voted for him. Some are angry at what they call autocratic moves and attempts to consolidate power while refusing to give concessions to the opposition. And Egypt's economic woes have mounted, putting financial pressure on citizens, as his government has failed to conclude a crucial loan deal with the IMF.

The president's supporters note that he has faced many hurdles ? he has struggled to control the security forces, and they say he faces a judiciary and media determined to thwart his moves, while the political opposition refuses dialogue.

But Morsi is not the only one facing opposition. Anti-American sentiment has also grown in Egypt as many of Morsi's opponents view the US as unquestioningly supporting Morsi or engaging in a conspiracy to bring him to power. At the palace, protesters carried signs demanding the expulsion of the American ambassador, Anne Patterson.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/Nzrc_0ekmZo/Egypt-braces-for-a-decisive-showdown-in-the-streets

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Syrian rebels threaten to target Shi'ite villages in Aleppo

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebels in the northern province of Aleppo on Monday threatened to seize two Shi'ite Muslim villages that back President Bashar al-Assad unless they surrendered to the opposition.

Activists say both Nubl and Zahra villages had been reinforced by Assad's allies in the increasingly sectarian war, among them fighters from Iran and Lebanon's powerful Shi'ite guerrilla group, Hezbollah.

"We announce our intention to liberate Nubl and Zahra from the regime and its shabbiha (pro-Assad militia), and from the Hezbollah and Iranian elements," the rebels said in an Internet video.

The 27-month-old conflict, which pits mostly Sunni insurgents against Assad, from an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, has already killed more than 100,000 people and driven 1.7 million Syrians to seek refuge in neighboring countries.

Assad's forces, spearheaded by Hezbollah, have made a number of gains since they seized the border town of Qusair last month. There have also been heavy clashes in Aleppo and surrounding districts, fuelling expectations that Assad aims to re-establish control of Syria's largest city.

On Sunday rebels shot down a helicopter close to Nubl, which activists said had been carrying supplies to the villages. Authorities in Damascus said they were taking Education Ministry employees to supervise school exams. Seven employees and the helicopter crew were killed, they said.

A video released by activists a few weeks earlier showed an army officer apparently recruiting Shi'ite villagers in Zahra and Nubl to form fighting units to support the army against the rebels.

"PREVENT A SINGLE DROP OF BLOOD"

"In order to prevent a single drop of blood from being spilled and to find a peaceful solution, we have set the following conditions," the video statement by the rebels said.

Among the demands were the surrender of Assad's forces and their weapons, followed by a power sharing deal between the locals and the rebels.

"If there is no response (to rebel demands for surrender) there will be a major military operation on those two villages," the statement said.

The sectarian nature of the conflict has set regional Sunni Muslim powers - notably Gulf Arab states and Turkey - against Assad's Shi'ite Iranian and Hezbollah allies in a deepening proxy war on Syrian soil.

Deputy U.S. Secretary of State William Burns, speaking at the end of a visit to neighboring Lebanon, condemned Hezbollah's military intervention in Syria.

"Despite its membership in the Lebanese government, Hezbollah has decided to put its own interests and those of its foreign backers above those of the Lebanese people," Burns said.

"We condemn in the strongest terms Hezbollah's actions in Syria. They ... stand in direct violation of Lebanon's disassociation policy (from Syria) and place the future of Lebanon at risk."

Hezbollah's role in Syria, along with Sunni Islamist fighters smuggled over the border to fight for the Syrian rebels, has exacerbated sectarian tensions in Lebanon which is still scarred by its own 1975-1990 civil war.

Fighting has broken out in the Mediterranean cities of Tripoli and Sidon, while rockets have been fired at a Hezbollah district of southern Beirut and in the Bekaa Valley.

Saudi Arabia, which has accelerated armed support for the rebels according to Gulf sources, urged the European Union on Monday to arm Syrian rebels without delay.

Riyadh and its partners in the Gulf Cooperation Council also called on the United Nations Security Council to meet to prevent a massacre in the central city of Homs, where Assad's forces have been waging an assault on rebel-held districts.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported heavy army bombardment and clashes with rebel fighters for a third day in the contested city, which sits on an axis connecting Damascus to the heartland of Assad's minority Alawite sect in the hills overlooking the Mediterranean.

It said neither side appeared to be gaining any ground.

(Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/assads-forces-battle-tighten-control-central-syria-090118241.html

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Microsoft preps standalone gold Xbox 360 controller, brings new glitz to old consoles

Redesign notwithstanding, the Xbox 360 is clearly in its twilight years. Wouldn't it be nice to give the system a retirement gift? Microsoft thinks so, as it just unveiled a stand-alone gold version of its Chrome Series controller. The wireless gamepad shares the same transforming D-pad as past special editions, but ups the flashiness by a factor of ten -- and won't require that you buy a Star Wars-themed console at the same time. Microsoft ships the $55 gold controller worldwide this August, although it will only be available at a handful of stores, including GameStop and the Microsoft Store in the US.

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals, Microsoft

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'The Killing' keeps it all in the family

TV

Will Harris TODAY contributor

1 hour ago

Carole Segal / AMC

Danette Leeds (Amy Seimetz) and Bullet (Bex Taylor-Klaus) on "The Killing."

It was all about family on AMC?s ?The Killing? this week, with virtually every key storyline revolving around motherhood, fatherhood, or the effect that moms and dads have on their kids ? and vice versa, for that matter ? even when they don?t realize it. That?s not to say that there weren?t other key developments, including the abrupt disappearance of Angie at the end of the episode and the sudden decision to consider Pastor Mike as a suspect, but this was an installment that was about more than just the flashy moments.

Too Little, Too Late?
Despite last week?s ominous conclusion, Danette Leeds managed to move fast and escape from Joe Mills, but she?s so crazed when she arrives at the police station that she?s taken into custody. When Linden arrives, she tries to stay angry at her, but she quickly realizes that Danette?s finally ? if belatedly ? become legitimately worried about her daughter, which is particularly depressing given that the transition has come at a point where the likelihood of Kallie still being alive is dropping ever lower all the time. The depth of Danette?s concern becomes evident when she even goes so far as to reach out to Bullet and asks her for help in her search, resulting in a bit of bonding between them, but when Bullet says, ?She?ll be all right,? and Danette says, ?Yeah,? it?s painfully obvious that neither of them believes it.

Goodbye, Alton; Hello, Dad
In the wake of being granted forgiveness by his siblings for having killed his parents, Alton decides that he?s had just about as much prison as he can take, and Seward, in a slightly twisted yet strangely heartfelt gesture, stands by and lets his friend ?escape? by hanging himself in his cell. With family on his mind, Seward requests a visit with his father, who ? shocker! ? is also in jail. Although viewers finally learn who hooked Seward up with the razor blade a few episodes back (now there?s a dad who knows how to pick gifts for his kid), the visit proves a waste of time for Seward, who seems reasonably horrified to discover that his father thinks he?s actually been a pretty decent parent, having taught his son how to be a man, snapping back at his dad on the way back to his cell, ?Dying in an orange jumpsuit doesn?t make you a man!?

Proud Moments in Parenting
Speaking of Sewards and their kids, Linden?s been called out for having visited Seward?s son at his school, but in the process of getting an earful from the boy?s foster parents, she picks up on a piece of information that hadn?t previously emerged in their investigation: Young Adrian has long had a tendency to sleep in the closet. Putting two and two together, Linden and Holder rush off to commit a ?class-A felony? (Holder?s words) by breaking into the former crime scene, but the end result is the discovery that Adrian saw his mother?s murderer?and it wasn?t Seward. In a desperate attempt to get access to what Adrian knows, since Skinner?s not having any of it, Linden visits Seward and begs for his assistance, admitting that she realizes he?s innocent of his wife?s murder. He snaps and storms away, screaming, ?You came to this realization three years after the fact, just 12 days before I hang? Jesus!?

Well, he has a point.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/killing-keeps-it-all-family-6C10501511

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Observing live gene expression in the body

June 30, 2013 ? Most of our physiological functions fluctuate throughout the day. They are coordinated by a central clock in the brain and by local oscillators, present in virtually every cell. Many molecular gearwheels of this internal clock have been described by Ueli Schibler, professor at the Faculty of Science of the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland. To study how the central clock synchronizes subordinate oscillators, the researcher's group used a variety of genetic and technological tools developed in collaboration with a team of UNIGE physicians. In this way, the scientists were able to directly observe the bioluminescence emitted by 'clock genes' in mice for several months. This biotechnology is applicable to numerous sectors of biomedical research, which attracted the attention of the editors from the journal Genes & Development.

In mammals, there are many behaviors and biological functions that are regulated by internal clocks. Most of our cells have one, made from a family of 'clock genes', whose cyclic activity reaches a specific peak in 24 hours. These local oscillators are synchronized by a central 'pacemaker' in the brain which adjusts to light.

The firefly lights the way

The use of genetic engineering techniques enabled the study of molecular mechanisms that activate clock genes directly in cultured mammalian cells: "We have coupled several of these genes to that of luciferase, the enzyme used by the female firefly for producing green light to attract males," explained Ueli Schibler, member of the National Research Center Frontiers in Genetics. When a specific clock gene is activated in a cell that was transformed in this way, the light signal emitted can be measured using a highly sensitive bioluminescence detector. However, this device, which is capable of detecting signals on the order of a few photons, cannot be used for studying whole organisms. The contribution of Andr? Liani's mechanical workshop, along with Jean-Pierre Wolf's and Luigi Bonacina's teams from UNIGE's Group of Applied Physics, was thus essential. These scientists developed a customized device that can accommodate mice for several months: "We equipped it with reflective walls to deflect photons toward a highly sensitive photomultiplier tube to capture bioluminescence," says Andr? Liani.

Follow the daily expression of clock genes live?

In collaboration with the University of Ulm and the Center for Integrative Genomics (CIG) of Lausanne, the biologists studied how the central clock synchronizes subordinate oscillators in mice. Various clock genes, coupled with the luciferase gene for light emission, were inserted into liver cells using a molecular vector. The time these rodents spent in the bioluminescent device allowed to demonstrate that the central clock generates signals, some of which act directly on the liver oscillators, and others which synchronize them indirectly by controlling the cycles of food intake.

?or the effect of a medication in mice

"This technology enables a drastic reduction in the number of mice needed for this type of experiment, and furthermore, it is applicable to many areas of biomedical research," says Camille Saini, researcher in the Department of Molecular Biology at UNIGE and first author of this article. These complementary genetic and engineering technology tools could be used to directly follow certain biochemical effects of metabolites like cholesterol or glucose, as well as the response to potential treatments of diseases such as hypercholesterolemia or diabetes. Monitoring the response to various hormones, neurotransmitters and other biochemical messengers is also part of this application range.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/FYzWz1mbXwg/130630225411.htm

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Why Facebook Needs Trending Links

Facebook is not working on an RSS product, we hear, but it still has a huge and truly social opportunity in news discovery. Facebook could turn what links we share with friends into an automatic Digg for the world. Over a billion people are on Facebook, and many share links to news stories and offsite content along with their commentary. Yet rather than post publicly like on Twitter, most posts are shared semi-privately with friends and acquaintances.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/myvbA1AVhok/

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Snowden blames Obama for trying to block his efforts to find asylum

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, charged with leaking secret U.S. surveillance information, said the Obama administration was denying him his right to seek asylum, according to a statement released by the WikiLeaks organization on Monday.

"It is being reported that after promising not to do so, the President ordered his Vice President to pressure the leaders of nations from which I have requested protection to deny my asylum petitions," Snowden said in a statement published on the WikiLeaks website, referring to President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. "This kind of deception from a world leader is not justice, and neither is the extralegal penalty of exile."

The United States has been on an international manhunt for Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor who faces espionage charges for leaking classified information about secret U.S. phone and Internet surveillance activity. He is believed to be holed up in the transit area of a Moscow airport.

"Although I am convicted of nothing, (the Obama administration) has unilaterally revoked my passport, leaving me a stateless person," Snowden said in a statement posted online by anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.

"Without any judicial order, the administration now seeks to stop me exercising a basic right. A right that belongs to everybody. The right to seek asylum... Their purpose is to frighten, not me, but those who would come after me."

A Russian official on Monday said Snowden has applied for political asylum in Russia and Reuters saw a letter Snowden sent to Ecuador, thanking it for helping him get to Russia and examining his asylum request.

In the statement dated July 1 and signed "Edward Joseph Snowden," he blamed the Obama administration for adopting "the strategy of using citizenship as a weapon" in its efforts to block his search for asylum and said he was "unbowed in his convictions."

Snowden is traveling with Sarah Harrison, an activist with WikiLeaks. The group's founder Julian Assange has been granted asylum in Ecuador's London embassy, where he has been for just over a year.

(Reporting by Alina Selyukh; Editing by Will Dunham and Eric Walsh)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/snowden-blames-obama-trying-block-efforts-asylum-223233399.html

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