الثلاثاء، 5 أغسطس 2014

meothelioma 21st Century Fox withdraws bid for Time Warner

Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox has withdrawn its bid to purchase US entertainment giant Time Warner for an estimated $80bn (£47bn).
Time Warner rejected Fox's initial offer in July.
The company wrote in a statement that Time Warner had "refused to engage with us to explore an offer which was highly compelling".
It added that the reaction in the company's share price since the proposal was unveiled undervalued Fox.

Twenty-First Century Fox Inc Class B

Last Updated at 05 Aug 2014, 20:12 GMT Twenty-First Century Fox Inc Class B one month chart
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Fox's share price has declined by 11% since news of the takeover was revealed.
Meanwhile shares in Time Warner plunged more than 11% in after-hours trading after the surprise news of the withdrawal was announced.
Altered landscape
A merger between the two giants would have significantly altered the media industry in the US and created one of the world's largest media conglomerates.
Time Warner owns several lucrative cable channels - including HBO, TNT, and TBS - whereas Fox is the owner of the dominant Fox News channel in the US.
The acquisition offer was seen as a way for Fox to stay competitive as other big players in the industry, including Comcast and AT&T, also engage in mergers and take over offers.
As part of the announcement, Fox also said it would authorise a $6bn share repurchase programme.
That pleased investors, who sent shares in the firm up over 7% in trading after markets were closed.

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meothelioma Afghan soldier attack on UK army camp kills US general

A US major-general has been killed in an attack by a man in Afghan military uniform at a British-run military academy near Kabul, US officials say.
Two British soldiers were among the wounded, along with several Americans, a German general and an Afghan general.
Afghanistan's Ministry of Defence said the Afghan soldier who opened fire was shot dead.
The US major-general is the most senior international soldier killed since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
He has been identified as Major-General Harold Greene, US media reported.
He was the deputy commanding general for the Combined Security Transition Command, involved in preparations for the withdrawal of US coalition troops at the end of the year, says the Associated Press.
The BBC understands the shooting at Camp Qargha happened after a dispute broke out.
The attacker was a soldier who was recruited three years ago, Afghan defence ministry sources told the BBC.
Afghan 'Sandhurst'
The incident is said to have occurred late morning or lunchtime after an argument between Afghans and an armed Afghan soldier.
The BBC's David Loyn says the Afghan Ministry of Defence has confirmed that several foreign soldiers have been injured
The Afghan soldier opened fire from a guard post at a large group of senior Afghan and international troops.
By the time he had emptied the magazine of his US-issue M16 rifle, more than a dozen people had been shot, our correspondent says.
Major-General Harold Greene is the most senior US soldier to die in combat since the Vietnam War.
The Afghan commander of the British-led officers' academy, General Gulam Sakhi, was among those wounded.
The training academy is modelled on UK military academy Sandhurst and will be the only British military presence in Afghanistan when operations end this year.

meothelioma Gaza conflict: Kerry urges broader Israel-Palestinian talks

US Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking to BBC HARDtalk: "There has to be a giving on both sides"
US Secretary of State John Kerry has urged Israel and the Palestinians to take advantage of the Gaza truce to move towards broader negotiations.
Mr Kerry told the BBC the situation could concentrate minds on the need to negotiate a "two-state solution".
A 72-hour humanitarian truce is holding in Gaza, halting a four-week conflict that has claimed more than 1,900 lives.
Israel and the Palestinians have sent delegations to Cairo to discuss the possibility of a longer-term truce.
'Greater responsibility'
Mr Kerry, in an interview with Zeinab Badawi for BBC HARDtalk, said the US fully supported Israel's right to defend itself against militant rocket attacks.
Jon Donnison reports from Gaza on the destruction left after the conflict
A humanitarian truce is holding in Gaza - James Robbins looks at whether it represents a victory for Israeli tactics
"No country can live with that condition and the United States stands squarely behind Israel's right to defend itself in those circumstances. Period."
He said that Hamas, which controls Gaza, had "behaved in an unbelievably shocking manner engaging in this activity and, yes, there has been horrible collateral damage as a result".

insurance Double-decker buses collide in New York City's Times Square

At least 13 people were injured when two tourist buses collided in the heart of New York City's Times Square on Tuesday.
Three of the injuries were serious, but not life-threatening. Victims were taken to area emergency rooms, according to ABC7.
Eight pedestrians were hurt, in addition to three people riding the tour buses -- a red Greyline bus and a blue City Sights bus, according to NBC News.
The crash occurred near the TKTS booth, where theatergoers purchase discount Broadway tickets.  A traffic signal was knocked over in the collision, DNA Info New York reports.
Orville Anderson told the New York Times:
“All of sudden we heard this big boom,” he said. “I saw the lightpole coming over and fall down. I looked over and we saw people laying on the ground. It was scary.”

insurance Afghan soldier kills US general, wounds about 15


KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A U.S. official has identified the senior officer killed in Afghanistan Tuesday as Maj. Gen. Harold Greene, the highest-ranking American officer killed in combat since 1970.
Greene was the deputy commanding general, Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan. An engineer by training, Greene was involved in preparing Afghan forces for the time when U.S.-coalition troops leave at the end of this year.
Greene was killed Tuesday in one of the bloodiest insider attacks of the long Afghanistan war when a gunman dressed as an Afghan soldier turned on allied troops, wounding about 15 U.S. and coalition forces. They included a German general and two Afghan generals

Insurance

RAYMONDVILLE, Texas -- Two illegal immigrants from Mexico who were charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of an off-duty U.S. Border Patrol agent in front of his family in Texas have been arrested and deported numerous times, police sources told FoxNews.com.
One suspect has been arrested no fewer than four times for entering the U.S. illegally, according to federal court records. The other has been deported twice after entering the U.S. illegally, sources said.
Gustavo Tijerina, 30, and Ismael Hernandez, 40, were arraigned Tuesday afternoon inside the Willacy County jail library. They were ordered held without bail after being charged with capital murder of a peace officer, attempted murder, and a variety of lesser charges.
The pair, who have been living in Texas illegally, confessed after being interviewed multiple times Monday to killing Border Patrol agent Javier Vega Jr. in front of his wife and two kids and his parents Sunday night while they were fishing in Santa Monica, Sheriff Larry Spence told FoxNews.com.
They finally confessed to the robbery and indicated they knew they had killed someone, but did not know it was an off-duty Border Patrol agent, Spence said in an interview in his office Tuesday morning.
"They do now," he said.
When asked how the suspects reacted when they learned the victim was a Border Patrol agent, Spence said, "shock and concern."
The sheriff said the two suspects were likely connected to cartels or other criminal gangs.
"They claim to have been involved in other incidents, this means you've got stolen vehicles going into Mexico," he said.
"Everything is going to be cartel-related, there's a connection somehow.
"This is not the first episode of border violence in Willacy County but it's the first time someone's been killed," he said.
Tijerina, who according to records was arrested at least four times between 2007 and 2010 for entering the U.S. illegally, and Hernandez allegedly approached Vega and his family and tried to rob them on Sunday night. When Vega pulled out his weapon, the suspects allegedly shot him in the chest, killing him.Vega's father was shot in the hip and is recovering at a nearby hospital.
According to court records, Tijerina, who also goes by the name Tijerina-Sandoval, pleaded guilty to entering the U.S. illegally on July 9, 2007. He was given a 30-day sentence with credit for time served and charged a $10 fee.  
Three months later, on Oct. 4, he was again found guilty of entering the country illegally and was sentenced to 60 days in jail and $10 fee. In a criminal complaint, he said he entered the U.S. on Sept. 1 and was encountered by border patrol agents near Weslaco, Texas, on Oct. 3. He had waded across the Rio Grande River near Progreso, Mexico, court records show.
A year later, on Oct. 25, 2008, he again crossed into the U.S. by wading across the river. On Nov. 18, 2008, he was given 90 days in jail and another $10 special assessment fee.
On Dec. 15, 2009, Tijerina was indicted by a grand jury on charges of entering the U.S. illegally yet again. The indictment says he "had previously been denied admission, excluded, deported and removed, knowing and unlawfully was present in the United States having been found near Edinburg, Texas." Court records say he had not obtained consent from the U.S. attorney general and the secretary of homeland security to reapply for admission into the U.S.
A warrant issued for his arrest said he faced up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
He was held without bond on Jan. 26, 2010. He was given nine months in jail and fined $100.
Sources confirmed that these court cases involved the same Tijerina in custody for killing the Border Patrol agent. They said Hernandez, the other suspect, has been deported twice for entering the U.S. illegally.
Both Tijerina and Hernandez were arraigned on seven charges: capital murder of a peace officer, attempted murder, four counts each of aggravated robbery and one count of tampering with evidence. When asked by the judge if they wanted to notify the Mexican Consulate and if they wanted attorneys, both said yes. Each also wanted to be allowed to call family members.
At 12:45pm, the first suspect, Tijerina, appeared before Judge George Solis. He wore an orange short-sleeve shirt and pants and black flip flops with silver chains around his ankles. His blood-shot eyes bulged in apparent surprise when the judge told him he faced seven different counts.
Tijerina at several points during his arraignment looked around the room and stared at each person, including this reporter and two others, and the county sheriff.
When the charges were being read, Tejerina interrupted to say there was no robbery. Sources told FoxNews.com Tejerina is the one believed to allegedly have fired the shots that killed Vega.
As he was being walked out, he asked if he could have a Bible from the library shelf. He was told he would be brought one later in his cell.
After Tijerina had been escorted out of the small room, Hernandez, thin and lanky and wearing dark green prison garb, was brought in about 1:10pm. He was more vocal than the first suspect. When told of the seven charges he was facing, Hernandez exclaimed "seven charges?" in Spanish.
"I don't understand why I'm being accused of so many things," he told the judge.
Hernandez said he tested negative for gunshot powder. Sources said this suspect’s job in the robbery-turned-murder was to drive the car they planned to steal.
Hernandez said he wanted to tell his wife and his brothers "who live here" what had happened.
"I wish I could let my wife know and my brothers, the ones who are here," he said.
When he was told a lawyer would be provided if he couldn't afford one, Hernandez said, "Yo no tengo deniro. No tengo nada." ("I don't have money, I don't have anything.")

الاثنين، 4 أغسطس 2014

The Pope's 10 tips for happiness



Editor's note: Jay Parini, a poet and novelist, teaches at Middlebury College in Vermont. He has just published "Jesus: The Human Face of God," a biography of Jesus. Follow him on Twitter@JayParini. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) -- Just when I thought my amazement with Pope Francis had run its course, he did it again. In a long interview with an old friend who was writing for an Argentine magazine, the pope put forward a 10-point plan for happiness. From where I sit, it seems, well, pretty damn good if not perfect. Here are Pope Francis' tips for a happy life and my comments on them:
1. Live and let live. It's an echo of the Pope's earlier remark on gays: "Who am I to judge?" Moreover, it's what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount: "Judge not, unless you want to be judged yourself." (Matthew 7:1)
Jay Parini
Jay Parini
2. Give yourself to others. That is, give your money and your time to those in need. Don't just sit around like stagnant water. Give all you have and then some.
3 Move quietly in the world. The Pope quotes from a favorite novel by an early 20th-century Argentine writer, Ricardo Guiraldes, in which the novelist writes that in one's youth, a person is "a rocky stream that runs over everything," but as one gets older, one becomes "a running river, quietly peaceful." It's very like the Native American suggestion that one should walk "in balance and beauty" on the ground, making the least disturbance.
4. Enjoy leisure. The Pope says that consumerism has brought with it unbearable anxieties. So play with your children. Take time off. And don't spend all your time thinking about your next acquisition. Spend your time well, not your money.
5. Sunday is for families. This is actually one of the Ten Commandments. Honor the Sabbath. (Exodus 20:8) Once a week, give a whole day to meditation, worship, family life, tending the needs of the spirit. This is healthy living.
6. Find jobs for young people. Who would have guessed that job-creation would be on list for happiness? But the Pope is right. Honest, simple work for young people is essential to their well-being. Somewhat surprisingly, in this moment in the interview, the Pope connected job creation to the degradation of our environment: "the tyrannical use of nature." He links the lack of good jobs to the lack of respect for ourselves and the Earth itself.
So creating jobs doesn't mean ruining the environment. It doesn't mean, as the politicians chant, "jobs, jobs, jobs." Good and productive labor is valuable, and it doesn't mean you have to have a fancy job description. You don't have to become rich. You can be ordinary. Happiness lies there. Do good work, create good work for others.
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7. Respect nature. This follows from No. 6. "Isn't humanity committing suicide with this indiscriminate and tyrannical use of nature?" the Pope wonders. Not surprisingly, this is what Henry David Thoreau, a founding father of the environmental movement, said. "Most people live lives of quiet desperation," he said. He went into the woods, to Walden Pond, because he wanted "to live deliberately" and to "front only the essential facts of life."
A proper respect for nature means that you can't pollute the air, poison the rivers and chop down the forests indiscriminately without suffering greatly. I suspect that a huge amount of the anxiety and suffering that we see around can be closely traced to our wanton misuse of our resources. Just look at any garbage dump and see what is wasted. In a sense, we've wasted our souls.
8. Let go of negative things quickly. The Pope tells us not to complain about people who annoy or frustrate us, to let go of things as rapidly as we can. I have an old friend who used to say, "Put the bad things in your back pocket and leave them there." This may sound like escapism or putting your head in the sand, but it's more interesting than that. Life throws rotten things our way each day. People say nasty things to us, often about others. This stuff makes them miserable, of course. It makes us miserable, too. Flush it.
9. Don't preach your religion too forcefully. Proselytism brings on paralysis, the Pope tells us. Wow. I'm a Christian myself, and I don't mind saying so. But each person sees the world before them in his or her own way. The Pope says this. As a teaching, it seems to run counter to the so-called Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20). Jesus said to get out there and spread the word. But the Pope takes a relaxed view of this activity, preferring that we should teach by example. Perhaps that really is what Jesus would do?
10. Work for peace. The Pope has preached this message from the beginning of his time as pontiff. He has gone to Jerusalem and worked to bring together Jews and Palestinians. He has prayed for peace and worked for peace. He has listened closely to Jesus, who said, "blessed are the peacemakers."
The Pope asks us to take in refugees, to think innovatively about how to create peace in the world. Jesus, of course, invites us to turn the other cheek when struck. This is a complex teaching. But it's essential to Christian faith. The Pope, once again, calls on us to take the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount seriously. This is very hard but crucial work.
Pope Francis has, in this unlikely venue, given us his own Sermon on the Mount, his Ten Commandments for happiness and inner peace. One can only be grateful for his wisdom, which is rooted in a sincere faith, in hard-earned wisdom, and a very practical knowledge of human needs and potentials.