Captured Syrian city a test for rebel forces

FILE - In this Tuesday, March. 5, 2013 file citizen journalism image provided by Aleppo Media Center AMC which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows a Syrian man sitting on a fallen statue of former Syrian President Hafez Assad in a central square in Raqqa, Syria. Since Raqqa fell under rebel control last week, opposition fighters have posted guards at government buildings to prevent looting, brought down the price of bread and opened a telephone hotline for residents to report security problems. Raqqa is shaping up as a test case for how rebels will administer their areas. Arabic on the fallen statue reads, "tomorrow will be better." (AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center AMC, File)

FILE - In this Tuesday, March. 5, 2013 file citizen journalism image provided by Aleppo Media Center AMC which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows a Syrian man sitting on a fallen statue of former Syrian President Hafez Assad in a central square in Raqqa, Syria. Since Raqqa fell under rebel control last week, opposition fighters have posted guards at government buildings to prevent looting, brought down the price of bread and opened a telephone hotline for residents to report security problems. Raqqa is shaping up as a test case for how rebels will administer their areas. Arabic on the fallen statue reads, "tomorrow will be better." (AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center AMC, File)

FILE - In this file image taken from video on Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2012 from the Ugarit News, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, Free Syrian Army soldiers seize the main square in the northern town of Raqqa, Syria. Since Raqqa fell under rebel control last week, opposition fighters have posted guards at government buildings to prevent looting, brought down the price of bread and opened a telephone hotline for residents to report security problems. Raqqa is shaping up as a test case for how rebels will administer their areas. (AP Photo/Ugarit News via AP video, File)

FILE - In this Monday, March 4, 2013 file image taken from video obtained from Ugarit News, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, a statue of former Syrian President Hafez Assad is pulled down in a central square in Raqqa, Syria. Since Raqqa fell under rebel control last week, opposition fighters have posted guards at government buildings to prevent looting, brought down the price of bread and opened a telephone hotline for residents to report security problems. Raqqa is shaping up as a test case for how rebels will administer their areas. (AP Photo/Ugarit News via AP video, File)

FILE - In this Monday, March 4, 2013 file image taken from video obtained from Ugarit News, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, Syrians attack a fallen statue of former Syrian President Hafez Assad in a central square in Raqqa, Syria. Since Raqqa fell under rebel control last week, opposition fighters have posted guards at government buildings to prevent looting, brought down the price of bread and opened a telephone hotline for residents to report security problems. Raqqa is shaping up as a test case for how rebels will administer their areas. (AP Photo/Ugarit News via AP video, File)

FILE - In this Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2012 image taken from video obtained from the Ugarit News, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, Free Syrian Army soldiers sit at a check point in Ain al-Arous town in Raqqa, Syria. Since Raqqa fell under rebel control last week, opposition fighters have posted guards at government buildings to prevent looting, brought down the price of bread and opened a telephone hotline for residents to report security problems. Raqqa is shaping up as a test case for how rebels will administer their areas. (AP Photo/Ugarit News via AP video, File)

BEIRUT (AP) ? Since rebels seized the capital of Raqqa province in northern Syria from the government last week, they have posted guards at state buildings, returned bread prices to pre-war levels and opened a hotline that residents can phone to report security issues, anti-regime activists said Sunday.

At the same time, they have killed captured security forces in public squares and driven their dead bodies through the streets. The most powerful rebel brigades in the city are extremist Muslims and include Jabhat al-Nusra, which the U.S. government says is linked to al-Qaida.

As the first major Syrian city to fall entirely under rebel control, Raqqa is shaping up to be the best test case yet for how opposition fighters will administer territory amid Western concerns over who will fill the vacuum if President Bashar Assad is ousted. While the city's new rulers try to govern, they are struggling with the same divisions that have hampered the rebel movement's effectiveness throughout Syria's civil war.

The rising power of Islamic extremists in their ranks also could block them from receiving badly needed aid from countries that support the anti-Assad struggle but fear weapons could fall into the wrong hands. The United States recently promised $60 million in new, non-lethal assistance to the opposition inside Syria, and other powers are considering sending arms. Most of these countries would look askance, however, at rebels who seek an Islamic state or stand accused of war crimes.

Rebels in Raqqa reached via phone and Skype on Sunday acknowledged the strength of Islamic brigades but said these groups didn't seek to impose outside ideologies on the city. "This is not Islamic extremism," said Abu Yazan, a leader in the Islamist Faithful of Raqqa Brigade. "It is these Islamic movements that freed us from the criminal regime."

Over the last year, rebels have greatly expanded the territory they hold in the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo along the Turkish border. In February, they extended their control into Raqqa province, seizing a hydroelectric dam on the Euphrates River. After storming a central prison, they seized most of Raqqa city on March 4, solidifying their control over the next two days.

That made Raqqa, a north-central city of 500,000 people, the first of Syria's provincial capitals to fall entirely under rebel control.

Since then, the city's rebels have been bedeviled by the same problems that have hindered them elsewhere. Most residents fled during the fighting and have stayed away, fearing the government attacks that often follow rebel takeovers.

Two such strikes hit the province on Saturday, killing at least 14 people and leaving dead bodies scattered in the streets, according to activists and a video posted online.

Other videos have surfaced online of government security officers killed after their capture by rebels.

One shot Saturday shows the bodies of three men face down in a public square, their hands bound and their brains blown out.

"The dogs of military security were executed in Clock Square," an off-camera narrator says.

Another video shows rebels driving the dead body of a military intelligence official around town in the back of a truck. At one point, they lay it in a street next to another body. Both have holes in their heads.

A Raqqa activist said Sunday via Skype that military security was notorious for its brutality toward the opposition during the uprising, which began with anti-regime protests in March 2011 and later spiraled into civil war. The U.N. says more than 70,000 people have been killed since.

When rebels entered the city, they surrounded the military security compound and granted safe passage to the 60 officers inside to a nearby airport, he said. On the way to the airport, however, the officers tried to break away, sparking clashes that killed four rebels and nine officers. The rest fled. Rebels then killed them upon capture as punishment, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he attends university in a government-controlled area.

Abu Yazan, the rebel leader, corroborated the story but said only 30 officers were involved. The body displayed in the truck, he said, was an officer named Mohammed al-Ahmed who was known for his brutality.

"Praise God that we killed him," he said. "God willing we have finished with his evil forever."

Other regime officials appear to have been kept alive. Activists have distributed videos of the provincial governor, Hassan Jalali; the branch head of the ruling Baath party, Suleiman al-Suleiman; and the deputy chief of military security, Col. Ahmed Abdullah al-Jadou.

All videos appeared authentic and corresponded to other reporting by The Associated Press.

The activist also said rebels had captured some 50 political security officers, who are now in a local prison.

The Syrian government has remained mum on the situation in Raqqa in recent days. It blames the violence in the country on an international conspiracy carried out by terrorists.

Syria's pro-government al-Watan newspaper denied Wednesday that Raqqa had fallen, while naming officials who had been captured. It said army reinforcements had reached the city and quoted a military official as saying the city would be "freed" in a few days.

Also Sunday, some of the fiercest fighting in a year was reported in Baba Amr, the neighborhood in the central city of Homs that stood for rebel defiance earlier in the war but also for the government's ability to strike back. The Syrian military besieged Baba Amr for a month last year, killing hundreds of people before retaking the area.

Rebels and regime troops clashed again Sunday in Baba Amr as the government shelled and bombed, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group. Amateur video showed clouds of smoke above Homs.

In the Damascus suburb of Harasta, a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at a van carrying preschoolers, according to Syrian state TV and a government official. The attack killed one child and wounded nine, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with briefing regulations.

As some fighters left to attack the remaining regime bases in the province, others have struggled to run the city's affairs.

The Raqqa activist said the city's market opened Sunday, though most residents have not returned. He said rebels had secured enough flour to reopen bakeries and return bread prices to their pre-war level of about 20 cents a bag from about ten times much, he said.

The city currently has two local councils, each run by lawyers who don't like each other, he said.

The city still has about 80 rebel groups, he said, which make coordination difficult. But he said the Faithful of Raqqa Brigade has led efforts to provide security, posting gunmen at government buildings to stop looters.

In a video posted online, the group announced a hotline that residents can call to request assistance. A call placed to the number by an AP reporter was promptly answered by a brigade member.

Abu Yazan, a leader with the group, said he expects they'll get more calls as civilians return to the city.

"The primary goal is to serve the citizen and nothing more," he said.

___

Associated Press writer Albert Aji contributed reporting from Damascus, Syria.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-10-ML-Syria/id-841a960c32ff411d80adf83dce155d38

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Saudi Arabia jails two activists for 10 years

By Lubna Hussain, NBC News

RIYADH -- A Saudi Arabian court has sentenced two prominent political and human rights activists to at least 10 years in prison for offenses that included sedition and giving inaccurate information to foreign media.

Mohammed Fahd al-Qahtani and Abdullah Hamad are founding members of the banned Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association, known as Acpra, that documents human rights abuses.

Qahtani was sentenced to 10 years. Hamad was told he must complete the remaining six years of a previous jail term for his political activities and serve an additional five years.

They will remain in detention until a judge rules on their appeal next month.

Saturday's trial was open to the press and public, in what Saudi activists had described as a step forward for rights even as they decried the verdict.

---

More than 100 people attended the hearing on Saturday morning, mostly supporters and relatives of the defendants. More than 20 security officers were also present in the room, prompting a protest from the defendants' lawyer.?

Politically motivated?
Acpra will also be disbanded and its funds confiscated, the judge ruled.

Last year, a court in Jeddah sentenced Acpra member Mohammad al-Bajadi to four years in prison. Another of the group's founders, Abdulkarim al-Khathar is on trial in Buraidah.

After the verdict, the police cleared the public from the court room as supporters of Qahtani and Hamad shouted that the trial was politically motivated.

On Thursday, an Interior Ministry spokesman said that activists, whom he did not name, had tried to stir up protests in the world's top oil exporting country by spreading "false information" on social media.

Qahtani said in January he had never been to prison but thought he was "psychologically ready" for it, and that his family, who are in the United States where his wife is attending university, were also prepared.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/09/17252619-saudi-arabia-jails-two-activists-for-10-years?lite

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Lizards facing mass extinction

Friday, March 8, 2013

Climate change could lead to dozens of species of lizards becoming extinct within the next 50 years, according to new research published today.

Globally it has been observed that lizards with viviparous reproduction (retention of embryos within the mother's body) are being threatened by changing weather patterns. A new study suggests that the evolution of this mode of reproduction, which is thought to be a key successful adaptation, could, in fact, be the species' downfall under global warming.

Researchers from the University of Exeter and the University of Lincoln investigated the hypotheses that historical invasions of cold climates by Liolaemus lizards ? one of the most diverse groups of vertebrates on earth ? have only been possible due to their evolution to viviparity (live birth) from oviparity (laying eggs). Remarkably, however, once these species evolve viviparity, the process is mostly irreversible and they remain restricted to such cold climates.

By analysing this evolutionary transition in the lizards' reproductive modes and projecting the future impact of climate change, the scientists discovered that increasing temperatures in the species' historically cold habitats would result in their areas of distribution being significantly reduced. As a consequence, if global warming continues at the same rate, viviparous lizards are facing extinction in the next few decades.

Dr Dave Hodgson, from Biosciences at the University of Exeter, said: "Climate change must not be underestimated as a threat to modern patterns of biodiversity. Our work shows that lizard species which birth live young instead of laying eggs are restricted to cold climates in South America: high in the Andes or towards the South Pole. As the climate warms, we predict that these special lizard species will be forced to move upwards and towards the pole, with an increased risk of extinction."

Lead author Dr Daniel Pincheira-Donoso from the University of Lincoln's School of Life Sciences is one of the few people in the world who works on the ecology and evolution of these lizard species. He said: "Lizards' reproduction is largely linked to climatic temperatures and viviparous species are usually found in cold environments. When reptiles initially moved to colder areas they needed to evolve emergency measures to succeed in these harsh places, and we believe viviparity is one of these key measures. However, this transition is mostly one-directional and unlikely to be reversed. Rapid changes in the environment's temperature would demand rapid re-adaptations to secure the species' survival. Through the research we found that over the next 50 years nearly half of the area where these species occur may disappear, causing multiple extinctions due to climate change."

Overall the conclusion is that although viviparity allowed lizards in the past to invade and adapt to live in cold environments, and was therefore a key trait for evolutionary success, it will now ultimately lead to multiple events of extinction.

Dr Pincheira-Donoso said: "These lizards are one of the most diverse groups of animals, and are able to adapt to remarkably diverse conditions. Unfortunately, a reduction in cold environments will reduce their areas of existence, which means that their successful evolutionary history may turn into a double-edged sword of adaptation. Their extinctions would be an atrocious loss to biodiversity."

The paper 'The evolution of viviparity opens opportunities for a lizard radiation but drives it into a climatic cul-de-sac' is published in the latest issue of the peer-reviewed journal Global Ecology and Biogeography and was funded by the Leverhulme Trust.

###

University of Exeter: http://www.exeter.ac.uk

Thanks to University of Exeter for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127191/Lizards_facing_mass_extinction

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Rubio: 'No' on funding resolution unless health care funding is nixed

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio announced Thursday night that he would support a continuing resolution?a spending bill that would keep the government funded through the fiscal year?but only if it strips funding from the Democratic health care law that passed in 2009.

Rubio made the announcement during an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt, saying he will vote for an amendment to the continuing resolution that defunds the Affordable Care Act. But if that doesn't pass, Rubio said, he won't support the final spending package. (With Democrats in control of the Senate, any move to defund the health care law will be rejected.) The House and Senate must come to an agreement on funding levels by March 27, the date that the last stopgap measure expires, or face a government shutdown.

"If that gets onto the bill, in essence if they get a continuing resolution and we vote on [defunding the Affordable Care Act] and we can pass it onto a bill, I will vote for a continuing resolution, even if it?s temporary," Rubio said.

Given Rubio's record of consistently voting against short-term stopgap measures?the only one he supported was when he first joined the Senate?it won't be surprising when he ultimately rejects the continuing resolution.

By declining to support the continuing resolution bill without the amendment, Rubio joins a minority of conservative lawmakers who still refuse to extend funding for the health insurance overhaul.

The move undoubtedly will win him praise from activist groups on the right. By declining to support the continuing resolution bill without the amendment, Rubio joins a minority of conservative lawmakers who still refuse to extend funding for the health insurance overhaul. (Earlier this week, the Republican-led House passed its own version of a continuing resolution that funded the law, and only 14 House Republican opposed it.)

Rubio's decision offers clues that he intends to brand himself as a more of a principled conservative ideologue on this issue than a pragmatist deal maker, a distinction that will matter if he decides to enter the Republican presidential primary in 2015.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/rubio-vote-no-continuing-resolution-unless-health-care-202855803--politics.html

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Watch Oz The Great And Powerful Online

Caroline Gluck is Oxfam's field-based humanitarian press officer, currently based in Amman, Jordan, as part of Oxfam's emergency response to the crisis in Syria. Before joining Oxfam, she worked for the BBC and was based in Asia as a correspondent for more than a decade.

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Thailand should brand itself Asean's leader - The Nation

Home ? business ? Thailand should brand itself Asean's leader

KWANCHAI RUNGFAPAISARN
CHAOWARAT YONGJIRANON
THE NATION March 7, 2013 1:00 am

"Thailand has a beautiful culture and is one of the major Buddhist countries in Southeast Asia. The country is religious-oriented and has a good harmony and principles of good living. These should be the selling points of Thailand," he said.

"You need to think about Asean in branding the country and think about what should be the brand idea behind Thailand. You need to find out the best way to brand Thailand," he said.

Kotler, an 81-year-old distiguished professor at the Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University in the US, has been dubbed "the father of marketing management" and is the author of the book "Marketing 3.0". He spoke at the exclusive training session on "Values Driven Marketing" held yesterday by the Krungthep Turakij newspaper and TV channel.

Revealing the global trends of the growing middle class, consumer empowerment and the rise of "Chindia" (China and India), he said business momentum would gravitate to where the growth is.

Up to now, multinational corporations from the "triad" powers of Europe, the US and Japan had created most of the new products. However, there are now emerging multinationals from China, India, Brazil, Russia, Turkey, South Africa, Thailand and Mexico. They have strong ambition, vision and confidence and want to become global giants themselves, Kotler said.

"Traditional marketing is dead," he said, pointing to the changes taking place in which companies can no longer rely on the traditional four Ps of marketing - product, place, price and promotion. Instead of sales-oriented strategies, Kotler said companies need to have a real purpose that sets their brand apart from others, creating genuine brand loyalty and ultimately contributing back to society to spur demand for their products.

Asia has adapted Western ideas to become a marketing powerhouse, with such countries as Japan and South Korea leading the pack in creating a culture of consistent improvement or what Kotler called "creative destruction".

One such brand that has exceeded expectations is Samsung, which has built itself up from being a parts supplier to electronic brands of the West to become a leading producer of smart phones and televisions. For every product, Samsung assigns a team to "creatively destroy" by looking for flaws and finding out how the product can be better developed. Kotler sees Samsung as a "mega-brand" that will continue to lead.

"Samsung is not afraid of Apple," says Kotler. Instead he says, the company is more concerned about China producing cheaper options. An example is Japanese car brand Toyota facing competition from cheaper brands in India and China.

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Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Thailand-should-brand-itself-Aseans-leader-30201427.html

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N. Korea threat of nuclear attack not easily dismissed

The communist nation of North Korea threatened this morning to launch a pre-emptive strike, after accusing the United States of using military drills in South Korea as preparation for its own nuclear strike.

By Robert WindremSenior investigative producer, NBC News

Thursday?s announcement by North Korea that it could launch a pre-emptive nuclear attack against the United States in the face of new U.N. sanctions is a predictable escalation of the isolated nation?s increasingly aggressive stance toward Washington over the past year. But experts note that Pyongyang?s recent advances in its nuclear weapons and missile programs mean that such bellicose rhetoric cannot be taken lightly.

ANALYSIS

The escalation of the North?s oratory began not long after the country?s 28-year-old leader, Kim Jong Un, ?took over from his late father, Kim Jong Il, on Dec. 28, 2011. It has been accompanied by two space launches ? one successful ? and a third nuclear weapons test.

?It is not unusual for the North to make threats against the U.S., Japan or South Korea. And on occasion -- as in the case of the 2010 artillery barrage of Yeonpyeong Island and an earlier attack on a South Korean gunboat -- it has carried out these threats. ?It has never taken any military action after threatening the United States, however.

---

Some analysts have suggested that the latest round of threats is intended to show that the young Kim will continue his father?s legacy of hostility toward the U.S.

To what end?

North Korea has long wanted the U.S. to sit down with its negotiators to hammer out an agreement to end the Korean War, which ended in 1953 not in a peace treaty but in a truce.

The North would like to gain concessions from the U.S. in such a negotiation, but its escalating threats and rhetoric have the opposite effect: ?The Obama administration, like preceding administrations, has steadfastly refused to negotiate with Pyongyang.

KCNA / Reuters

This picture, released Tuesday by North Korea's official KCNA news agency, is said to show a rally by citizens and soldiers to support a statement by the Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army that it will scrap the armistice signed in 1953 that ended a three-year war with South Korea if the South and the United States continue with annual military drills.

The problem is that North Korea, which has long taken a backseat in U.S. councils to the Middle East, does have military capabilities that could at the very least threaten U.S. interests in North Asia.

According to a recent analysis, North Korea has a weapon stockpile that could threaten both Japan and South Korea and, in longer term, the United States. Some of the weapons have already been deployed, say U.S. officials, who spoke to NBC News on condition of anonymity. Moreover, the North has begun research into more advanced and dangerous weapons, possibly even thermonuclear weapons, they say.?

At the high end of the stockpile range, U.S. officials and other researchers said North Korea may already have up to "a few dozen" nuclear weapons that could be fitted atop its vast fleet of ballistic missiles. Those missiles are limited to an intermediate range, capable of hitting targets in Japan, South Korea or elsewhere in the northern Pacific, including U.S. military bases as far south as Guam, the officials believe.

Related story: UN passes sanctions despite North Korea threat of 'pre-emptive nuclear attack'

The U.S. believes the space launch tests are part of a development plan for an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of reaching the continental United States with a payload of several hundred kilotons ? 10 to 20 times the size of the bombs that destroyed the Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

U.S. officials publicly express confidence that the national missile defense system based in Alaska would be able to shoot down any incoming North Korean ICBM.

?I can tell you that the United States is fully capable of defending against any North Korean ballistic missile attack,? White House spokesman Jay Carney said Thursday in response to a question about the North Korean threat.

?He also said the U.N. sanctions will make it harder for Pyongyang to continue to make progress on its weapons and missiles.?

?North Korea ? will now face new barriers to developing its banned nuclear and ballistic missile programs,? he said. ?Resolution 2094 increases North Korea's isolation and demonstrates to North Korea's leaders the increasing costs they pay for defying the international community.??

For the past several years, the U.S. also has been monitoring North Korean research into thermonuclear weapons ? hydrogen bombs and bombs known as boosted-fission weapons, in which plutonium and uranium are combined for a higher energy yield. (The problem is that if the North conducted a test and claimed that it was thermonuclear, the U.S. would have difficulty determining if the North was telling the truth. The test site at Kilchu is far enough inland that the U.S. would not have access to the particulate matter needed to make an accurate determination, experts say. )

David Guttenfelder, AP's chief Asia photographer, was given unprecedented access on his 2011 journey to Pyongyang and areas outside the nation's showcase capital.

David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, or ISIS, a nonpartisan nuclear arms research group, said last year that any tests in the future may also be about ensuring the reliability of North Korea's current weapons design.

"Once you get beyond a dozen, it makes sense to test type and reliability of your weapons," he said. Albright said then that his group's estimate of North Korea's weapons stockpile is a bit less than those provided by the U.S. officials, but that ISIS, too, believes Pyongyang has "missile-deliverable weapons."

The design of the weapons is believed to be based on Chinese models (as were the first generation Pakistani nuclear weapons). The design is basic, and was developed in the 1960s with help from the Soviet Union, which used it to produce a whole line of nuclear warheads.

While some analysts suggested that the North planned its December rocket launch to gain attention ahead of the presidential election in South Korea , some in the U.S. non-proliferation community think otherwise. They expect that once the North feels comfortable with its ICBM technology, it will deploy the missiles.? They point to the Musudan intermediate range missile which was tested in middle of the last decade, then deployed ? presumably with nuclear warheads ? and aimed at Japan.

Once the North has confidence in the long-range missile based on the space rocket, U.S. officials believe they will deploy it as well, making North Korea the third nation to have nuclear weapons targeted at the United States, after Russia and China.

Many in the Obama administration see that as a more frightening prospect than Iran gaining nuclear weapons, believing that Tehran is a rational actor that will serve its own national interest and preserve the regime, compared to successive generations of North Korean leaders who have shown that they are unpredictable and erratic.

But would it force the U.S. to conduct face-to-face talks with the North? State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in December that the North has a better option.

Referring to Kim Jong Un, Nuland said: "He can plot a way forward that ends the isolation, that brings relief and a different way of life and progress to his people, or he can further isolate them with steps like this. He can spend his time and his money shooting off missiles, or he can feed his people, but he can't have both."

NBC News' Shawna Thomas contributed to this report; this piece is an updated version of a post originally published on Dec. 13, 2012.

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Source: http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/07/17225444-north-korea-threat-of-nuclear-attack-against-us-not-easily-dismissed?lite

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'The Bible' a big ratings winner

NEW YORK (AP) ? In the latest television ratings, the Bible is hot and aspiring pop stars are not.

The History network's first installment of the miniseries "The Bible" was seen by 13.1 million people Sunday. The series, produced by the husband-and-wife team of Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, will air in four more installments concluding March 31, Easter Sunday.

Meanwhile, both episodes of "American Idol" last week had their smallest audiences since joining Fox's regular schedule more than a decade ago, the Nielsen company said.

"The Bible" appears to be a hit along the lines of History's "Hatfields & McCoys" miniseries last spring. The first episode aired twice Sunday, for a total audience of 14.8 million people. Mostly due to curiosity about the series, History's website had its most visited day ever on Sunday, said Nancy Dubuc, president of entertainment and media for the A&E networks.

"Clearly, the passion for this project has resonated with our viewers and across the nation," Dubuc said. "We are thrilled, and the story is only just beginning."

Another cable favorite, "The Walking Dead" on AMC, reached 11.3 million people Sunday. Both shows had larger audiences than anything on broadcast television, and appeared to contribute to some lousy numbers for the big networks.

ABC heavily promoted the two-hour debut of the drama "Red Widow," but only 7.1 million people sampled it. The 7.4 million viewers for ABC's "Once Upon a Time" on Sunday was nearly four million lower than its season average. Donald Trump returned to the airwaves Sunday and no one noticed: the debut of a new season of "The Apprentice" had 5.2 million viewers.

The A&E Network favorite, "Duck Dynasty," appears to be exploding in popularity, with two episodes exceeding 8.5 million viewers on Wednesday.

By the standards of most programs, the 13.3 million and 12.6 million people who tuned in to "American Idol" last week would be more than satisfying. But they were a measure of the show's continued erosion, something fresh judges Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban haven't been able to stop.

Fox notes that the period between auditions and when fans begin voting for contestants traditionally represents a lull for the show.

"'American Idol' is in its 12th season and it's consistently a top 5 show on television this year," said Mike Darnell, head of Fox's alternative programming. "How many shows in TV history can make that claim? 'Idol' was the No. 1 show with younger viewers this week and we've lowered the show's median audience age by almost four years."

Darnell's latter point is important: along with the show itself, the "Idol" audience had been aging, and that costs Fox advertising revenue.

CBS won the week with an average of 9.1 million viewers in prime time (5.9 rating, 10 share). Fox averaged 6.6 million viewers (4.0, 6), ABC had 6.1 million (3.9, 6), NBC had 4.1 million (2.7, 4), the CW had 1.2 million and ION Television 1.1 million (both 0.8, 1).

Among the Spanish-language networks, Univision led with a 3.7 million average (1.9, 3), Telemundo had 1.4 million (0.7, 1), UniMas had 570,000 (0.3, 1), Estrella had 210,000 and Azteca 100,000 (both 0.1, 0).

NBC's "Nightly News" topped the evening newscasts with an average of 9 million viewers (6.0, 11). ABC's "World News" was second with 8.5 million (5.7, 11) and the "CBS Evening News" had 6.9 million viewers (4.7, 9).

A ratings point represents 1,147,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 114.7 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

For the week of Feb 25-March 3, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: "NCIS," CBS, 20.69 million; "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 17.02 million; "American Idol" (Wednesday), Fox, 13.3 million; "American Idol" (Thursday), Fox, 12.56 million; "60 Minutes," CBS, 12.02 million; "Castle," ABC, 10.77 million; "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 10.69 million; "Golden Boy," CBS, 10.56 million; "Modern Family," ABC, 10.53 million; "2 Broke Girls," CBS, 10.41 million.

___

ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co. CBS is owned by CBS Corp. CW is a joint venture of Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS Corp. Fox and My Network TV are units of News Corp. NBC and Telemundo are owned by Comcast Corp. ION Television is owned by ION Media Networks. TeleFutura is a division of Univision. Azteca America is a wholly owned subsidiary of TV Azteca S.A. de C.V.

___

Online:

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bible-big-ratings-winner-200710314.html

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Beanie Sigel gets 6 to 23 months in Pa. drug case

MEDIA, Pa. (AP) ? Rapper Beanie Sigel was sentenced Wednesday to six to 23 months in prison after pleading guilty to a narcotics possession charge in a Philadelphia suburb.

Sigel, whose real name is Dwight Grant, entered the plea to a misdemeanor count of illegal possession of Percocet, a painkiller, The Delaware County Daily Times (http://bit.ly/169dIDU) reported. Sigel has been behind bars since his Aug. 29 arrest following a traffic stop in Tinicum Township just hours after the release of his latest solo album, "This Time."

Defense attorney Carson Morris called his client a successful entertainer who had made some mistakes, but said "he's ready to go ahead and put that behind him and move on with his life."

"Mr. Grant has been a successful entertainer and musician in the Philadelphia community for decades," Morris said. "Obviously, he's had an incredible amount of success and opportunity in his life. He's also made some mistakes, which have ended up putting him in custody. He's ready to go ahead and put that behind him and move on with is life."

Co-defendant Gerald Andrews, 41, who was driving, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a firearms charge and was sentenced to 2? to 5 years, which Judge Michael Coll noted was well below the usual range.

Sigel is also facing a two-year federal sentence for tax evasion. Federal prosecutors said he owed more than $700,000 for the tax years 1999 through 2005.

Morris said the plea agreement called for the drug sentence to run at the same time as the federal sentence. Coll said he couldn't dictate what the federal court would do, but he wished Sigel luck and asked if the two cases would significantly impact his career.

Morris said Sigel has recently experienced serious financial problems, mainly due to the tax issue.

"He has a lot of catching up to do, but he also has a lot of talent and a lot of opportunity, hopefully," Morris said. "So the prospect is that he can get out and move on and start doing something productive with his life."

___

Information from: Delaware County Daily Times, http://www.delcotimes.com

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-03-06-People--Beanie%20Sigel/id-0d0637b6ed0140fa9103bb5270585660

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Putting HiFi into cochlear implants

Mar. 5, 2013 ? Imagine suddenly being able to hear the words and tone of the person across the table from you in a crowded restaurant when once you only heard overwhelming noise. Or speaking on the telephone with confidence because what you hear is now crisp and clear. Longtime cochlear implant users are reporting such dramatic improvements in their hearing, thanks to new image-guided programming methods developed by Vanderbilt University researchers.

Using Vanderbilt's patent-pending nonsurgical process, audiologists are able to fine-tune and customize cochlear implant programming, providing improved sound quality and clarity. "Our automated image-guided programming method can dramatically improve a person's hearing with a cochlear implant, even if implantation happened a long time ago. Study subjects have called it life-changing," said Benoit M. Dawant, the Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Engineering and director of the Vanderbilt Initiative in Surgery and Engineering (ViSE). "This is an excellent example of collaborative effort between engineering and medicine that ViSE promotes."

More than 200,000 people worldwide have cochlear implants and the number of newly implanted recipients is increasing dramatically each year. All recipients from the newly implanted to the long-term user could experience better hearing with Vanderbilt's new programming process.

Cochlear implants provide hearing restoration to people with severe-to-profound hearing loss. The devices use a combination of surgically implanted electrodes that stimulate auditory nerve pathways and an external sound processor worn behind the ear to provide hearing sensations. Although cochlear implants are considered standard-of-care treatment for severe-to-profound hearing loss, the quality of hearing is not on par with normal fidelity and a number of recipients may experience only marginal hearing restoration.

Vanderbilt's interdisciplinary research team sought to improve those results by drawing on the work of students, professors and medical professionals from the Vanderbilt University School of Engineering, School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center. In addition to Dawant, the team included Ren? H. Gifford, audiologist and assistant professor of hearing and speech sciences; Robert F. Labadie, associate professor of otolaryngology and associate professor of biomedical engineering; and Ph.D. student Jack H. Noble, now graduated and a research assistant professor in electrical engineering and computer science.

Cochlear implants use from 12 to 22 electrodes, depending on the device manufacturer. Although the implanted electrodes can be seen on a CT scan, the nerve cells they stimulate are not easily identified due to their locations and microscopic size (on the order of one millionth of a meter). Traditionally, all the electrodes are turned on and programmed to stimulate any surrounding nerve cells. This one-size-fits-all approach can result in less-than-clear hearing when adjacent electrodes stimulate the same region of nerve cells. Complicating the challenge is that each person's anatomical structure varies and thus every implant must be programmed -- commonly termed as "mapped" -- in a comprehensive, time-consuming process postoperatively.

Vanderbilt's research project included several stages. One was to determine a reliable method of locating spiral ganglion nerve cells (which connect to the auditory nerve) by mapping the corresponding external cochlear anatomy using a statistical shape model and to determine the position of the electrodes with respect to these nerve cells. Achieving this, the next step was to develop a technique that would use the information to generate a customized plan for postoperative cochlear implant programming that could be implemented by individual audiologists in almost any patient.

The new automatic technique uses patients' pre- and postoperative CT scans to determine the location of the implanted electrodes and where overlap is occurring, possibly causing interference in the transmission of signals. The image-guided strategy and software, which Noble developed as a Ph.D. student, then pinpoint which electrodes can be turned off without loss of hearing fidelity -- and in fact, improving it. An audiologist uses this programming plan to create a revised custom map for that person's needs. The process is completely noninvasive -- no surgery is required -- and can be accomplished in one office appointment.

The new programming seeks to improve sound quality and spectral resolution (frequency selectivity). "Spectral resolution is basically your ability to take a complex sound and break it down into its individual components," Gifford said. "It's something we do very well with the normal-hearing ear and it's something that the electric-hearing ear with an implant does poorly."

"If you can improve one's spectral resolution, what that typically translates to is better speech recognition in noise," Gifford said. "That's the holy grail of research. There have been no consistently significant improvements in spectral resolution for implant patients since the introduction of CIS [a speech-coding strategy] in 1991."

Participant Kelly Harris said the reprogramming improved her hearing so much, it was almost as great as getting the implant in the first place. "I love it. When I left the clinic the day Ren? changed the program, I immediately knew I could hear better," Harris said. "Before the reprogram, I never knew which direction sound came from. Just last night, my friend thought my TV was making a noise and I knew that it was coming from the other direction. I am also hearing lots more soft sounds and even more music."

Ally Sisler-Dinwiddie, herself an audiologist, has had cochlear implants in both ears since 2006. The study focused on adjusting her right implant, which provided poor results before the study. "The overall sound quality of my right ear used to be somewhat monotone -- anytime someone talked, it sounded like they had a mouth full of marshmallows," Sisler-Dinwiddie said. "While the overall volume of my right ear was always balanced with my left ear, it lacked the crispness and clarity that my left ear was always right on target with." She said it's like the difference between night and day since she participated in the study. "I can tell speech is clearer and a lot more crisp. I can now pick out the intonation in one's voice with my right ear alone," she said. "My confidence has soared since the moment I realized I'm actually able to understand speech in a noisy restaurant without relying on my left ear anymore."

The project continues to enroll new study participants. Currently, they are recruiting adults, although Gifford, who is also director of pediatric audiology and audiology director of the cochlear implant program at Vanderbilt, said that she believes children in particular will benefit from the new programming because it can be mapped with or without responses from the patient.

Cochlear implant recipients can find additional information at vanderbilt.edu/CAOS/research-projects/.

Harris said she has encouraged several people to try the reprogramming. "They should know that it only takes a short time to do this reprogram and if they are not hearing well with their current processor, they should give it a try," Harris said. "A lot of people don't want their programs messed with. I really understand this feeling -- usually I am very cautious about changes, but this one worked out to my advantage."

Gifford said that if patients try the new mapping and don't like the results, they can have their old programs put back on the implant.

The research is supported by the National Institute of Health, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders and National Center for Advancing Translational sciences (NIH/NIDCD R21DC012620, R01DC008408 and R01DC009404 grants and UL1TR000011 grant).

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Vanderbilt University. The original article was written by Nancy Wise.

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Le petit juriste | How to best combat spam?

Introduction

The problematic of unsolicited bulk email, commonly referred to as ?spam? is, an ever-increasing worrying and probably one of the largest issue on the Internet. Nowadays, does the email spam still concern a lot of people considering that newest generations communicate with instant messaging system, through Facebook or Tweeter, via their iPhone? According to the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email, the answer is yes and the conclusions of a recent study confirm that email is still the top online activity, all generations considered. Furthermore; a recent Nielsen study shows that the first activity on mobiles devices is emailing and not social networking. One step further, in a Radicati Group report, the number of email users is forecasted to attain 1.9 billion by 2013. Because email has still significance, the spammers still value this communication tool.It is therefore crucial to find ways which permit to battle this security and privacy threat. In March 2011, spams represented 79.6 % of the emails traffic in the USA, against 79.1 % for the UK and 80.2 % in the Netherlands. Clearly, spam exceeded the stage of simple online annoyance. In spite of technological advancements, it is expected by 2014 that 19 % of email transferred to users? mailboxes will nevertheless be spam.

Although the definition of spam can be broad and that spam can encompass numerous sorts of messages, the present work will mainly focus on ?unsolicited commercial email?. Spam must be battle on all fronts. This is why, from a manifold perspective, the present work will argue what are the optimal ways to defeat spam.

USA?s legislation, global definition, social networks

1. Legal perspective

As many lawyers would agree, the legislative framework is probably not the best manner to cure spam. Indeed, the ?legislation is a blunt instrument with which to beat junk email?.¹

Worldwide, lots of anti-spam legislations have been designed. Even worst, the CAN-SPAM Act (CPA) has the criticized opposite effect of making spam legal instead of prohibiting it. Nonetheless, one interesting clause, highly supported by Lessig, considers the establishment of a report mechanism. Individuals who help chasing breaches of the Act become entitled to perceive a reward. However, Tompkins and Handley argue that such a system would cause people breaching laws and could be an encouragement for hackers to violate people?s privacy.

The USA?s legislation is very weak, too superficial according to Mozena. It is totally antagonist to the EU one, as well as to the legislation in Australia and China, where spamming is not legal. Besides laws, it is thought that self-regulation system is not the adequate solution to circumvent spam, where it seems now clear that it cannot play an important role anymore and should be substituted by binding laws in order to prevent marketer?s? abusive practices.

The main shortcomings of the regulations may be mainly explained as follow. Firstly, there is no global definition of what constitutes a spam. According to Starr, the central elements to define spam, i.e. unsolicited, bulk and commercial, are not adaptable to fit in a global spam explanation. Furthermore, Van Alstyne stresses that ?recipients themselves do not agree on what constitutes spam?.²

Secondly, the law is restricted to a single jurisdiction. Indeed, EU laws are only applicable within the Union and the vast majority of spams emanates from outwith, which inevitably leads to a chaotic enforcement of anti-spam regulations. Indeed, about 90 % of EU spam troubles come from the USA where spamming is legal. Meanwhile, cybercriminals do not have boundaries and may even remote spamming, through a network of ?zombie? computers.

Noteworthy, even if sender and recipient of email spam are both living in the same country or state, it does not automatically implies that the domestic law will apply, as it is very plausible that the email was dispatched via a server situated elsewhere.

Nevertheless, it is reasonable to argue that the Canadian Anti-Spam legislation (Bill C-28) will constitute an effective law, taking the best from the EU 2009 Directive and the USA Act. Embodying an opt-in regime, the bill provides for drastic penalties applicable to spammers. However, online, the identity of spammers is not easily detectable and fake identities can be used. Interestingly, the bulk character of the email spam would be irrelevant as the law would apply as soon as a single email is forwarded.

In conclusion, Starr is right when saying that ?at best, anti-spam laws are ineffective; at worst, they cause more problems than spam itself?.³ Only when a regulation of global significance will be designed or when worldwide laws will be consistent, the law will stop constituting a utopic instrument to eradicate spam. Additionally, such law(s) would need to call for transborder enforcement, key feature the international scene is currently lacking of. Besides, cross-border prosecution can be arduous where 88.2 % of all spam is sent from botnets of ?zombie computers?, where identity of the real sender is hidden. So, the spam issue encompasses more than just some loopholes in the global legislative framework(s). The willing to find a global consensus will always face two issues: either adopting a consumer-oriented law generally characterised by an opt-in system, such as the EU and Canadian laws, or a business-focused law generally characterised by an opt-out regime, such as the CPA. Basically, balancing interests are at stake. Undertakings need to be allowed to freely send advertisement emails but consumer?s privacy and consent should be preserved. Ultimately, it is wise to mention that ?criminalization requires a clear definition of the crime and an ability to catch the criminal. Neither is possible with spam?.

2. Technological perspective

To solve the spam problem, why not just stop using emails, mobile phones, the Internet? Let?s face it; nobody wants to go back in time. Yet, according to a 2003 study, more and more people are tempted to partly or completely give up the use of email because of spam.

The elementary step to curb spam is the use of a content-base or Bayesian filter by the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and the end-users. This allows solving the issue respectively uphill and downhill. However, spam filters are not foolproof and legitimate emails may seem for the filters to be unsolicited and sometimes may still be returned to the expedient without the receiver having knowledge of them. The main drawback of filters is highlighted by Loder et al: the ?language plasticity permits an escalating arms race in which one side seeks better ways to block unwanted access and the other seeks better ways to gain it?.⁴ Yet, the Guardian stated in 2004 that dispatching unsolicited email was more difficult nowadays, where spammer must ?play dirty? in order to fool filters.

Just to mention it, the black and whitelists registries system are usually not effective as spammer can buy inexpensive new identities or forge others? identities (spoofing). Interestingly, a September 2011 study empirically reveals that a Support Vector Machine, developed to distinguish end-user and legitimate mail servers machines, greatly surpasses current largely employed blacklists, where filtering accuracy is drastically improved.

3.1. Spamgourmet

One valuable manner to eliminate spam is to utilise a free of charge discardable email address instead of one?s real email address. This is the method employed by Spamgourmet. It is thought this website provides for an effective solution to avoid spams. This was even advocated at the ABA TECHSHOW 2011. It offers disposable and time limited email addresses through a very simple functioning. A temporary address is created to receive a number of messages predefined by the user, and once the quota is exceeded, messages sent to that address will be automatically deleted. In practice, the user needs to register on spamgourmet.com. It will be asked to provide a username and a valid email address (protected address) where an activation link will be sent. Then, Spamgourmet will transmit the messages dispatched to the user?s disposable addresses to the protected address. After registration, the user disposes of the discardable addresses which will self-destroy after a period of time. Those addresses will always have the same format:

oneword.x.your_username@spamgourmet.com

?Oneword? stands for a simple word allowing the user to remember where a given address was used. ?X? reveals the number of times (maximum 20) Spamgourmet may receive emails using this address before it destroys them. ?Username? is self-explaining. The advantage of Spamgourmet is that the user does not have to come back on the website to create a disposable address before being able to actually using it, as opposed to other websites supplying the same service.

3.2. Camouflage of an email address

If a user prefers to conserve its ?real? email address, more relatively sophisticated ways exists in order to dissimulate an address from spam robots. For instance, the ?@? symbol may easily be replaced by the term ?at? or a hexadecimal code; image containing an email address can be used instead of plain text too. It is thought that the latter, functioning on the same principle as the (Re)Captcha, is the most secured solution from a layman perspective. An alternative manner, but requiring a more in-depth knowledge of the internet, is to utilise a JavaScript.

One current trend of spammer is to use social networks such as Facebook and Twitter or fora. Indeed, every user of these networks is an easy spam target as spam robots continually scan these platforms to gather emails. Therefore, an effective way to receive less spam could be to use the Scr.im website solution. It protects an email address against spam, making it accessible through a safe and short personalised URL address. Concretely, instead of giving an address under its traditional format such as ?xxx@hotmail.com?, the user provides a personalised web link obtained thanks to Scrim into the following format: http://scr.im/1?2. Subsequently, everyone wishing to send an email to a ?Scrim? address?s user has to enter the proposed URL which will unmask, after a basic test spam devices are not able to cross, the user actual address. Eventually, this free device retains the address imperceptible and blocks spam.

To conclude, contrary to the law, technology has no boundaries. According to Grimes, the ?the final solution that seems to have the best chance according to most experts is a technological solution?.⁵

3. Economical perspective

According to Van Alstyne, ?the two most common? perspectives referred above did (and will) have only a limited success. A step further, McCullaghn affirms that ?spam is not primarily a technological or legal problem: it?s an economic one?.⁶ Indeed, as long as there will remain a mutual interest both for spammers and anti-spammers for the spams to survive, no concrete answer to spam can be framed. On one hand, spammers? aim is attracting people with their advertisements. On the other a proportion of their opponents seem to be relatively happy with that. In fact, it is thought that undertakings vendors of anti-spam equipment have a genuine economic interest that spam keeps spreading on the Net. For instance, according to a Radicati Group study, the foreseen email security market share, where anti-spam products represents an important segment, will grow to attain in 2014 more than 7 billion US dollars, which is far superior than what the spammers will earn.

Spam is a parasite advertisement in the sense that it switches the costs of the operation on the targets? shoulders, costing IPSs and the Internet users? resources and time. Indeed, sending a single or bulk email(s) is cheap and therefore the low costs engaged can easily be recovered even if only a portion of emails provides economic results. Until the end of this scheme, spammers will evermore have a pecuniary interest into spamming, as only a few purchases is necessary for spam to be a lucrative activity.

Therefore, why a sort of payment system is not in place? In an experimental survey, where an example of a market mechanism is used to deploy human attention, it was held that by imposing postage fees for emails, senders will be more selective and smaller quantities of message will be sent. Although the authors acknowledge that this solution has potential they also point out that it still needs to be fully attained. Indeed, its first challenge is the tough task to change people?s minds on the way to charge for something which has been free from decades. The second is devising the adequate manner of the pricing mechanism. But the major counter-argument to impose such a payment system, which will arguably prevail for a long time, is that it would represent a huge ?technological step backward? as well as express a ?tacit admission of defeat? to the spam threat, regardless of the smallness of the payment. Nonetheless, it is thought that Kraut et al are right when arguing about the pricing mechanism that ?given sufficient societal benefits, the shift is possible? as it was the case when people shifted from ?free broadcast TV to fee-based cable and pay per view TV?.

Another instrument to allocate human attention is the ?selling interrupt rights? mechanism devised by Fahlman and explored in a more superficial way in Ayres and Nalebuff book. Based on the same pricing email idea, this mechanism provides for that when a sender wishes to interact with someone via emails, he must pay a fee for disturbing this potential customer. When the recipient is willing to contract or not, he will either drop the fee or solicit it. Similarly as the above pricing system, sender?s emails would therefore be very targeted. Fahlman?s scheme is thought to be at least as captivating as the aforementioned one, probably even more.

Eventually, it should be clearly kept in mind that sending bulk unsolicited emails is an ill-advised practice not to be used by undertakings, where a ?wealth of information? may bring on a ?poorness of attention?,⁷ what should contravene the ?freedom of commercial speech? advocates by Weintzen.

4. Conclusion

?Two years from now, spam will be solved?.⁸ The famous Gate?s quote in 2004, where he underestimated the spam issue, without taking into account that the anti-spam solution will not be found soon and solely in the technology. In spite of the numerous interesting suggested solutions/initiatives, it is careful to realize that a conclusive way to eradicate spam cannot yet be foreseen.

Implementation of anti-spam laws within diverse jurisdiction and anti-spam alliances shaped by leading IT undertakings have not contributed to a curtailment regarding spam. At most, a multidisciplinary approach should be able to lessen the spam problematic. Indeed, according to Cowper, ?a global problem needs a global solution?.⁹ Through this work, it has been demonstrated that ?there?s not one single way to eliminate the problem [?] only a combination of initiatives?.¹⁰ Therefore any manner to stem spam will encompass a key concept: the international multidisciplinary cooperation.

The present work was limited to three perspectives: legal, technological and economic. Further researches should focus on the social, educational, ethical and environmental perspectives of spam.

Garry Trillet
LL.M. student in European and international Intellectual Property law at CEIPI
University of Strasbourg

Source: http://www.lepetitjuriste.fr/propriete-intellectuelle/how-to-best-combat-spam?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-to-best-combat-spam

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Vatican takes first steps running pope-less church

Faithful watch a giant screen showing Pope Benedict XVI in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican,Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013. The 85-year-old German Pope Benedict is stepping down on Thursday evening, the first pope to do so in 600 years, after saying he no longer has the mental or physical strength to vigorously lead the world's 1.2 billion Catholics. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)

Faithful watch a giant screen showing Pope Benedict XVI in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican,Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013. The 85-year-old German Pope Benedict is stepping down on Thursday evening, the first pope to do so in 600 years, after saying he no longer has the mental or physical strength to vigorously lead the world's 1.2 billion Catholics. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)

Nuns wait for Pope Benedict XVI to greet the crowd from the window of the Pope's summer residence of Castel Gandolfo, the scenic town where he will spend his first post-Vatican days and make his last public blessing as pope,Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

In this photo provided Friday, March 1, 2013 by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican Secretary of State, at center with red skull cap, officially takes over the vacant See as camerlengo, chamberlain, before sealing Pope Benedict XVI's apartment, after Benedict left the Vatican, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013. Benedict XVI became the first pope in 600 years to resign Thursday, ending an eight-year pontificate shaped by struggles to move the church past sex abuse scandals and to reawaken Christianity in an indifferent world. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano, ho)

In this photo provided Friday, March 1, 2013 by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican Secretary of State, at center with red skull cap, officially takes over the vacant See as camerlengo, chamberlain, before sealing Pope Benedict XVI's apartment, after Benedict left the Vatican, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013. Benedict XVI became the first pope in 600 years to resign Thursday, ending an eight-year pontificate shaped by struggles to move the church past sex abuse scandals and to reawaken Christianity in an indifferent world. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano, ho)

In this photo provided Friday, March 1, 2013, then Pope Benedict XVI is saluted by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, left, as leaves Piazza San Damaso inside the Vatican to board a car which will take him to a helipad where he will depart to the pontiff's summer residence of Castel Gandolfo, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013. Benedict XVI left the Catholic Church in unprecedented limbo Thursday as he became the first pope in 600 years to resign, capping a tearful day of farewells that included an extraordinary pledge of obedience to his successor. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano, ho)

VATICAN CITY (AP) ? The Vatican took the first steps of governing a Catholic Church without a pope on Friday, making some ceremonial and practical moves to formalize the end of one pontificate and prepare for the conclave to start the next.

Benedict XVI's 8 p.m. resignation Thursday opened what is known as the "sede vacante" or "vacant see" ? the transition period between papacies when a few key Vatican officials take charge of running the church.

The dean of the College of Cardinals formally summoned his fellow "princes" of the church to Rome for an initial pre-conclave meeting on Monday ? something of a formality given that many of them are already here. But in a letter Friday, Cardinal Angelo Sodano also made clear that the conclave date won't be set until they have all arrived, meaning it may still be some time before a date is settled on.

Separately, the deputy to the camerlengo ? who administers the Vatican during the transition ? took symbolic possession of one of the papal basilicas in Rome. For obvious reasons, the camerlengo will not take possession of the main papal residence outside Rome ? Castel Gandolfo ? since that is Benedict's current retirement home.

In one of his last acts as pope, Benedict loosened the rules on the timeframe for the camerlengo to take possession of papal holdings, precisely to allow him to live out his first few months in retirement in what is an official papal residence.

Here are the top figures who will run the church in the coming days:

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THE CAMERLENGO: Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

The camerlengo, or chamberlain, takes over the day-to-day running the Holy See as soon as the papacy ends. He places the seal on the pope's study and bedroom, and takes possession of the Apostolic Palace, "safeguarding and administering the goods and temporal rights of the Holy See" until a new pope is elected. On Thursday night, Bertone sealed the papal apartment, which will not be reopened until a new pope is elected.

Benedict in 2007 gave the camerlengo job to Bertone, 78, a natural choice, given that Bertone is currently the Vatican No. 2 as secretary of state and runs the Vatican bureaucracy anyway. A priest of the Salesian order, Bertone was trained as a canon lawyer and taught in various Roman universities for several years before coming to work for the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger at the Vatican's doctrine office in 1995.

As secretary of state, Bertone has had Benedict's unwavering trust, but his legacy has been mixed. He had no diplomatic training coming into the Holy See's most important diplomatic and administrative post, and critics blame the gaffes of Benedict's papacy and the current state of the Vatican's dysfunction on Bertone's managerial shortcomings. The 2012 leaks of papal documents appeared aimed at undermining his authority further, by exposing the power struggles and turf battles that festered under his watch. In his last speech as pope, however, Benedict singled Bertone out for thanks.

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THE DEAN OF THE COLLEGE OF CARDINALS: Cardinal Angelo Sodano.

The dean is the senior member of the College of Cardinals, the so-called "princes" of the church whose main task is to elect a pope. The dean oversees the pre-conclave meetings, at which the problems of the church are discussed, and has duties inside the conclave itself, including asking the newly elected pontiff if he accepts the job. But Sodano is 85 and cannot vote, so some of those duties will shift to the sub-dean.

Burly and sociable, the Italian Sodano was Pope John Paul II's longtime secretary of state. As dean, he spoke on behalf of all the cardinals in giving a final farewell to Benedict on Thursday, thanking him for his "selfless service."

Still, Sodano and Benedict were known to have clashed when Benedict was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, particularly over the scandal-plagued Legion of Christ religious order. Sodano was a chief backer and protector of the Legion's late founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel, even though the Vatican had known for years of solid allegations that he was sexually molesting his seminarians. Within Benedict's first year in office, Maciel was sentenced by the Vatican to a lifetime of penance and prayers for his crimes. That same year Benedict named Bertone to replace the retiring Sodano as secretary of state.

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THE MASTER OF LITURGICAL CEREMONIES: Monsignor Guido Marini.

The master of liturgical ceremonies runs the religious side of the conclave and the installation Mass for the new pope, all of them carefully choreographed rituals. He is by the side of the dean when the newly elected pope is asked if he accepts the election. And as the main witness and notary, he draws up the formal document certifying the new pope's name and that he has accepted the job.

Benedict appointed Marini to the job in 2007, replacing Monsignor Piero Marini who for two decades was Pope John Paul II's right-hand man for all things liturgical. The shift was intentional. Under Guido Marini, papal Masses became far more reverent, with more Latin, Gregorian chants and the use of heavy silk-brocaded vestments of the pre-Vatican II church.

In changes introduced just before he resigned, Benedict made clear he wanted this more traditional vision of his papacy carried forward for the installation of a new pope. He called for the rites of installation to be separate from the liturgy itself and for the cardinals to make a public pledge of obedience to the new pope during the Mass. Previously, their pledge of obedience was done in private in the Sistine Chapel immediately after the election.

In keeping with Benedict's classical musical tastes, the new rites also allow for more flexibility in musical choices rather than the modern selections previously in favor. The aim, Marini recently told the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, is to make "the most of the rich musical repertoire of church history."

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THE PROTO-DEACON: Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran.

The proto-deacon's main task is to announce to the world that a pope has been elected. He shouts "Habemus Papam!" ("We have a pope!") from the balcony overlooking St. Peter's Square after the white smoke has snaked up from the Sistine Chapel chimney. He then introduces the new pope ? in Latin ? along with the name the pope has chosen.

The French-born Tauran is a veteran Vatican diplomat who served in the Dominican Republic and Lebanon. He currently heads the Vatican's office for interreligious dialogue ? in other words the Vatican's primary point man for Catholic-Muslim relations. Benedict appointed him proto-deacon in 2011.

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Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-01-Vatican-Pope/id-6c6a917d57f54fc8bea53636bcfc0cbf

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