BP shares rise on Gulf settlement news (AP)

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AP - Shares in BP PLC hit their highest level in more than a year Monday in the wake of the oil company's announcement that it had reached a settlement with victims of the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/britain/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120305/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_britain_bp

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Obama administration to offer legal justification for targeted killings ...

By Reuters
Sunday, March 4, 2012 20:48 EST

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? The Obama administration on Monday plans to outline how U.S. laws empower the government to kill Americans overseas who engage in terrorism against their home country, a source familiar with the matter said, months after a drone strike killed a U.S.-born cleric who plotted attacks from Yemen.

Civil liberties groups have been pressuring the administration to offer justification for what has been described as a top-secret ?targeted kill? program in which Americans who have joined al Qaeda or other militants are deemed legitimate targets to be killed overseas.

Attorney General Eric Holder plans to address the issue and the underpinning legal principles for using lethal force during remarks at Northwestern University School of Law on Monday afternoon in Chicago, the source said Sunday on condition of anonymity.

The Obama administration has stepped up using unmanned aerial drones against terrorism suspects including the September killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S.-born cleric who went into hiding in Yemen who had been directing al Qaeda militants to launch several attacks against the United States.

U.S. officials have refused to talk much publicly about the program but some officials said last year that Americans like Awlaki could be placed on a kill or capture list by a secretive panel of senior U.S. government officials which then informs the president of its decisions.

Holder will likely couple the justification with another argument that the administration has repeatedly made about terrorism: both traditional criminal courts and military tribunals work to prosecute terrorism suspects, the source said.

The speech will be the latest attempt by the administration to address the issue, an unusual break from past precedent of eschewing virtually any discussion about the top-secret program.

Defense Department lawyer Jeh Johnson last month referred to the so-called ?targeted kill? program, saying that it pursued legitimate military targets overseas and rejected suggestions that the United States was engaged in assassination.

?Under well-settled legal principles, lethal force against a valid military objective, in an armed conflict, is consistent with the law of war and does not, by definition, constitute an ?assassination,?? Johnson said at Yale Law School.

The American Civil Liberties Union on February 1 sued the Obama administration in federal court, demanding that Holder?s Justice Department release what it believes are legal memoranda justifying targeting Americans overseas using lethal force.

U.S. officials have linked Awlaki to several plots against the United States, including the 2009 Christmas Day attempt by a Nigerian man to blow up a U.S. commercial airliner as it arrived in Detroit from Amsterdam with a bomb hidden in his underwear.

When the bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in a U.S. prison, authorities said that Awlaki himself approved and directed the plot from Yemen.

Civil liberties groups have complained that such militants should be captured and prosecuted in a U.S. courtroom where practical. They also fiercely oppose using military courts for terrorism cases.

The Obama administration has run into difficulties trying prosecute terrorism suspects in the U.S. court system, facing criticism over giving terrorism suspects full legal rights and whether they addressed security for the trials sufficiently.

Republicans in Congress and even some of Obama?s fellow Democrats have demanded that they be tried in military tribunals and blocked moving terrorism suspects from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the federal prison system.

Administration officials have insisted that terrorism suspects can be successfully prosecuted and incarcerated in both legal systems and said that the Abdulmutallab case was an example of the traditional courts working effectively.

(Reporting By Jeremy Pelofsky; Editing by Howard Goller and Doina Chiacu)

Source: Reuters US Online Report Domestic News

Photo by Awlaki_1008.JPG: Muhammad ud-Deen derivative work: Greg A L (Awlaki_1008.JPG) [CC-BY-SA-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

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Source: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/03/04/obama-administration-to-offer-legal-justification-for-targeted-killings-of-americans/

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What you sign away when you book a cruise

WASHINGTON?? It's all fun and margaritas when you first book a cruise. But that "ticket" is actually a contract that can run more than a dozen pages, and gives away more rights to the cruise ship company than you may realize.

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"People will buy the ticket without knowing this, and they won't even look at it before they step on the cruise ship," said Joseph Goldberg, a Harrisburg, Pa.-based consumer attorney who reviewed the ticket contract posted on the Carnival Cruise Lines website for Reuters.

Carnival dominates about half of the cruise market, and its contract, which runs almost 8,000 words and mentions "liability" 20 times, could be considered typical for the industry.

"It's not until something does happen that you find out how stuck you are," Goldberg said.

Something did happen, of course. The Costa Concordia, operated by a company owned by Miami-based Carnival, ran aground in Italian waters on Friday, leaving at least 11 passengers dead and some 24 more missing. That was an extreme and unusual event, likely to have lawyers fighting for years over the various and sometimes contradictory laws, agreements and contracts that may come into play, according to Lewis "Mike" Eidson, a Miami trial lawyer who specializes in representing cruise passengers.

He said he expects to represent Costa Concordia passengers and crew members, and that he will argue that the usual contractual limitations shouldn't apply, because the particulars of this case were so extreme.

But anyone thinking of a nice mid-winter cruise should consider those limitations anyway. If you know what you're signing away, you may be able to protect yourself in the event of lesser tragedies, like lost luggage or a minor injury.

Here are seven rights you sign away when you buy a cruise ship ticket.

• The right to privacy. When you sign the Carnival contract, you give the company the right "at all times with or without notice" to search your bags and personal effects. That's so they can make sure you're not smuggling any firearms, explosives or bourbon (that you didn't buy at their bar) onto the ship.

Furthermore, that contract gives Carnival the right to use pictures and videos of you any way they want. You may not want your office buddies seeing pictures of you in a bathing suit, but that image could make its way into a commercial, without Carnival paying you or getting any additional release signed by you.

• The right to show off your pictures. Just because Carnival reserves the rights to your pictures doesn't mean you can use them yourself, says Goldberg. While the company is unlikely to complain if you adorn your Facebook page with deck pics, passengers who use the tickets do agree that they "will not utilize any photographs ... for non-private use without express written consent of Carnival." So much for that travel blog you wanted to publish.
• The right to be repaid if your jewelry gets stolen or your luggage gets accidentally dropped in the Caribbean. The ticket contract limits the company's liability for lost or damaged bags and their contents to $50 per guest or $100 per stateroom. If your items are worth much more than that, you can buy added coverage by declaring the value of what you are bringing onto the ship and paying 5 percent of its value.

If you're bringing expensive jewelry or other items on board, make a written list of the value, pay the 5 percent and make sure the crew gets a copy of that list, says Goldberg.

• The right to count on that vacation. Carnival can cancel any cruise at any time, according to the contract. It will owe you a refund if the cruise is completely cancelled, or a partial refund if the company changes its mind and leaves you at some port along the way. There's no additional refund in the contract for airfare home. And if you cancel within two weeks of booking? You'll most likely owe full fare anyway, under the contract.
• The right to sue when and where you want. Like most consumer legal contracts these days, the Carnival ticket contract includes an arbitration clause that requires you to submit claims for lost luggage and the like to binding arbitration in Miami-Dade County, Florida. If you do want to file suit for a personal injury, you would be required to do that in the U.S. Federal District Court in Miami.

Furthermore, there are lawsuit deadlines in cruise contracts that many attorneys and passengers aren't even aware of, said Eidson. The contract requires injured parties to notify Carnival within six months and file suit within a year. "The biggest claim in the world could be defeated if you don't file your claim within the year," he said.

• The right to ask for sizeable punitive damages. There are two different kinds of ticket contracts, says Eidson: Domestic ones, which do not cap liability, and international contracts, such as the ones the passengers of the Costa Concordia likely agreed to when they boarded their ship. That contract is subject to an international agreement called the "Athens Convention," which limits liability to about $80,000, according to legal experts. Because of the egregious nature of this case, lawyers like Eidson will seek to blow through those limits by claiming the ship's owners and operators were reckless.
• The right to be legitimately upset. What if you're traumatized by your cruise? Not because the raw bar ran out of shrimp or those margaritas were watery, but because a loved one was injured or killed on the ship. Unless you personally were at risk for the same injury (as would likely be the case in a disaster like the Costa Concordia's accident), you probably waived your right to claim emotional distress in the contract. You could try to take another cruise to calm yourself down, but you might want to bring your lawyer.

Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46030557/ns/travel-cruise_travel/

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Let Lee decode the 2012 campaign for you? (Balloon Juice)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

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CES 2012: Best gaming gadgets

The annual Consumer Electronics Show is a paradise for technology lovers because they get an opportunity to watch several upcoming gadgets at one place. Besides TV, smartphones, tablets and other gadgets, gaming has always remained an integral part of the show. Renowned electronics firm including Sony and Nintendo use the CES to unveil their gaming devices. In 2012 CES also, many companies released their new and interested gaming gadgets. Here is a list of seven most interesting game gadgets of CES 2012. Have a look.

Priced at $80, the iCade Mobile unveiled at 2012 CES is manufactured by Ion Audio. This device is a wraparound controller for the Apple?s hugely successful smartphone iPhone. The use of this gadget converts the iPhone in something similar to an Atari Lynx. The left side of this gaming gadget features a D-pad, while the four-button diamond layout is present on the right side. This gadget is perfect for those iOS gamers, who seek more conventional controls. The system is compatible with more than 100 apps.

Razer?s Project Fiona, unveiled at the 2012 CES is an off-the-beaten-path concept. The makers claim that this gaming tablet, rumored to be priced around $1000, can be used to play several current generation games. Project Fiona is powered by an Intel Core i7 processor. The display of this sleek and stylish tablet gadget is 1280 x 800. It features magnetometer and accelerometers too. Both sides of this gaming tablet feature controllers. This gadget is expected to go on sale by the end of 2012.

This gaming gadget is the world?s first and only purely eye-controlled arcade game. Featuring fast and intuitive gaze interaction, the Tobii EyeAsteroids gives a completely new dimension to arcades as well as gaming. This device allows the user to use their eyes to control the game. Your gaze is understood by the game, which takes the intensity to a completely new world.

Unveiled by Startup Orbotix, the Sphero Robotic Ball is a high-tech gaming gadget, which can be controlled using an iPhone via BlueTooth. The Sphero ball can be used to control two new games named Chromo and Sphere Space Fighter released by the company. You can move the ball using Sphero and control the games by rotating it. The Sphero also works well with the apps developed by third party developers. The Sphero allows users to play up to five games.

This new technology developed by ePawn is still in prototype phase. This technology combines Bluetooth connectivity, touch screens and iPhone in order to help the games experience a unique gaming experience. The sub-LCD tracking layer used in the Arena detects the ePawn tags attached to the game pieces developed by them. It is learnt that the company is planning to hold talks with renowned game development studio Ubisoft to take the technology forward.

Priced at $79.99, the Naga Hex unveiled by Razer is a six-button gaming mouse. All the buttons are arranged in a hexagonal formation on the thumb rest. You can rest your thumb on the rubber nub fitted in the middle. You can also use your thumb as a point of reference. The three interchangeable thumb rests used in this mouse offer different heights to the user. The mechanical buttons fitted in this mouse has a sensitivity of up to 5,600dpi. This one-of-a-kind is compatible with Synapse 2.0 cloud storage released by Razer. It is expected that this mouse will be available for sale at the end of January 2012.

The Ion Wireless Controller is manufactured by SteelSeries in partnership with Zeemote Technology. This controller works perfectly with any computer and does not miss a beat. This controller offers touch screen devices classic and attractive color schemes. The dimensions of this controller with a white LED light are 108mm x 55.5mm x 18mm.

Source: http://www.designbuzz.com/ces-2012-gaming-gadgets.html

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Chris Hemsworth, Elsa Pataky Expecting First Child

The Snow White and the Huntsman actor and his wife Elsa Pataky are expecting their first child, his rep confirms to PEOPLE.

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/ZUYHY_pJjqs/

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Gov't choppers under fire in Mexico drug war (AP)

MEXICO CITY ? The Mexican armed forces and prosecutors have suffered at least 28 gunfire attacks on helicopters in the five years since the government launched an offensive against drug cartels, according to official documents made public Monday.

The attacks show the increasing ferocity of Mexico's drug gangs, and also suggest support for what the Mexican government has said in the past: that 2010 may have been the worst year for the upward spiral in violence.

In the first two years of the drug war, reporting government agencies such as the air force, navy and Attorney General's Office reported no chopper attacks. But in 2008, four helicopters were hit by gunfire, wounding at least one officer aboard.

In 2009, bullets struck six government helicopters in the rotors, side doors or motor compartments. All the craft were apparently able to land safely.

2010 was the worst year for helicopter attacks, with 14 hit and one crew member wounded. Some craft had as many as seven bullet holes in them when they landed, with rounds going through windshields, fuselages, rotors and even landing gear.

In 2011, only three helicopters were hit by gunfire, but the number is almost certainly higher. The federal police refused to release data on attacks on its craft, but publicly acknowledged that on May 24, suspected cartel gunmen opened fire on a federal police chopper, hitting two officers and forcing the craft to land, though officials insisted it had not been shot down.

Federal police said the pilot in that incident landed "to avoid any accident." The Russian-made Mi-17 touched down about 3.5 miles (6 kilometers) from the shooting scene in the western state of Michoacan. Two officers aboard suffered non-life-threatening wounds.

Mexico has long used helicopters in anti-drug operations. While security forces have updated their helicopter fleet in recent years, they has also retired some older craft, so the total number of choppers would not account for the variation in attacks.

The newspaper Milenio originally requested the attack reports through a freedom of information request, and the reports were independently accessed by The Associated Press.

Mexican drug gangs have long strung steel cables around opium and marijuana plantations to try to bring down police and military helicopters. In 2003, in what prosecutors said was the first fatal attack of its kind by drug traffickers in Mexico, gunmen guarding an opium-poppy plantation shot down two police helicopters, killing all five agents aboard.

But those attacks were infrequent compared to what's occurred since 2008.

Overall Drug-related killings rose 11 percent in the first nine months of 2011, when 12,903 people were killed, compared to 11,583 in the same period of 2010, the office said. But the Attorney General's Office found one small consolation: "It's the first year (since 2006) that the homicide rate increase has been lower compared to the previous years."

Drug-related killings jumped by 70 percent for the same nine-month period of 2010 compared to January to September 2009, when 6,815 deaths were recorded.

The carnage continued Monday, when seven gunmen were killed in a pre-dawn shootout with police on a highway in the city of Cuernavaca, south of Mexico City.

A federal police officer was recovering from a gunshot wound to the foot following the confrontation.

The prosecutors office in the central Mexican state of Morelos says the gunmen belonged to an organized crime gang, but did not say which one.

"Organized crime" in Mexico generally refers to drug cartels, and remnants of the Beltran Leyva cartel have been fighting for control of Cuernavaca.

Prosecutors said the gunmen were traveling in three stolen vehicles when police confronted them early Monday.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mexico/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120116/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_drug_war_mexico

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