Miami-based Venezuelans to vote in New Orleans

In this June 26, 2012 photo, Beatriz Olavarria smiles during an interview in South Miami, Fla. Olavarria, who has done election work in the last eight Venezuela elections in Miami, leads a commission to send information to voters and mobilize volunteer observers for the polling stations, as well as volunteer ushers outside the convention center. Venezuela's government closed the Miami consulate and told Venezuelans to vote in New Orleans in the Oct. 7 presidential election. Olavarria is hoping that at least half of the 20,000 Venezuelan voters will make their way to New Orleans. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

In this June 26, 2012 photo, Beatriz Olavarria smiles during an interview in South Miami, Fla. Olavarria, who has done election work in the last eight Venezuela elections in Miami, leads a commission to send information to voters and mobilize volunteer observers for the polling stations, as well as volunteer ushers outside the convention center. Venezuela's government closed the Miami consulate and told Venezuelans to vote in New Orleans in the Oct. 7 presidential election. Olavarria is hoping that at least half of the 20,000 Venezuelan voters will make their way to New Orleans. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

MIAMI (AP) ? By bus and car, commercial flight and charter, U.S.-based Venezuelans are traveling en masse to New Orleans in the coming days, spending hundreds of dollars and in some cases more than a day of their time to cast a vote in their country's presidential election.

The government of President Hugo Chavez earlier this year closed the country's consulate in Miami, where most Venezuelans living in the U.S. have cast ballots in the past. It later said voters would have to travel to New Orleans if they want to participate on Oct. 7.

It's a hardship in terms of time and money for many potential voters. But some, especially those who want to stop Chavez from being re-elected after 13 years in power, are determined to make the trip anyway.

Carolina Guevara, a 21-year-old college student, plans to take the 15-hour bus ride from Miami to New Orleans, an 870-mile (1,400-kilometer) trek.

"We want to demonstrate to the government that even if they put obstacles in our path, we will practice our right to vote," said Guevara, who hopes to return to Venezuela after completing her political science studies at Miami Dade College.

The Venezuelan government closed its Miami mission after the State Department expelled consul Livia Acosta amid an investigation into recordings that seemed to implicate her in an Iranian plot for a cyber-attack against the U.S.

The closure affected nearly 20,000 Venezuelan voters living in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina who had registered to vote at the Miami consulate. Most Venezuelan voters in the United States live in the Miami area and the vast majority of those are critical of the Chavez government.

After the Miami mission closed, Venezuelan election officials said that voters registered there would have to cast ballots in New Orleans, where the next-nearest consulate is located. Venezuelan opposition leaders accused the government of trying to disenfranchise voters, a charge officials denied.

"They tried to do everything possible to prevent us from voting," said Gisela Parra, a former judge who left Venezuela in 2005 after being accused of conspiring against Chavez. "The pressure was such that they had to open a voting center far away, in New Orleans. It's like punishing us."

Parra, who plans to volunteer at the New Orleans voting center, said Venezuelan electoral officials "had the obligation" to make another Miami location available.

But Tibisay Lucena, president of Venezuela's Elections Council, countered that voters registered in Miami "were relocated using the same criteria used inside the country, telling them to go to the nearest polling station."

About 15,800 Venezuelans in the U.S. voted in their country's Dec. 2006 presidential election, three-quarters of them in Miami.

Of the 10,800 Venezuelans voting in Florida, 98 percent cast ballots for the opposition candidate and 2 percent for Chavez. Thirty-four percent of registered voters did not participate, according to figures from Venezuela's Elections Council.

Most Venezuelans in the U.S. are professionals or businesspeople who left their country after Chavez became president in 1999. The number of Venezuelans in the U.S. burgeoned from 91,500 in 2000 to 215,000 in 2010, according to the 2010 Census, with 57 percent of them living in Florida.

Numerous groups surfaced to assist U.S.-based Venezuelan voters, with information distributed on the Internet and social media, as well as at coffee shops and bookstores frequented by Venezuelans.

The groups include Voto Joven and Voto Donde Sea, comprised mostly of young people, and the Mesa de la Unidad Democratica, or Democratic Unity Table, a coalition of political parties backing opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles.

Beatriz Olavarria, who leads a commission created by the opposition alliance to distribute voter information and mobilize observers, said she hopes at least half of the voters registered in Miami will cast ballots in New Orleans. "Something tells me that many people will get on board at the last minute," she said.

Olavarria, who has volunteered in Miami during past Venezuelan elections, created the website www.Miami7octubre.com, to provide information about the New Orleans vote.

The group's major push now is figuring out how to get registered voters to the Louisiana city, where balloting will be held in a convention center. Opposition members complain that voting will not occur inside the mission itself, but Lucena, the electoral council president, said "the rules state that the polling center must be as near as possible to a consulate."

In most cases, traveling from here to New Orleans to vote would require at least one night away from home.

With travel costs a major obstacle for many potential voters, financial adviser Andres Casanova and his childhood friend Andres Morrison are collecting donations to pay for charter planes to ferry Venezuelans to New Orleans.

So far, they have received almost $355,700 in donations, enough to pay for trips for 1,100 voters. But far more people ? as many as 3,000 ? have registered on the organization's website, www.aerovotar.com , for seats assigned on a first-come, first- served basis.

Voto Donde Sea, meanwhile, is collecting donations to subsidize bus fares for voters, said group leader Vanessa Duran.

Milagros and Fernando Nunez Noda are renting a car with another couple to make the trip from Miami.

"We're going no matter what," said Nunez Noda, a journalist and businessman.

"It's like they threw down a challenge," he said of the government's decision to move the balloting to New Orleans. "We will prove our strength."

____

Associated Press writer Jorge Rueda contributed to this story from Caracas.

____

Gisela Salomon at http://www.twitter.com/giselasalomon

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-09-30-Venezuelan%20Voters/id-92e437a0f99c4b7b8916efee79130a2c

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Another big Supreme Court term kicks off Monday

WASHINGTON (AP) ? When last we saw the chief justice of the United States on the bench, John Roberts was joining with the Supreme Court's liberals in an unlikely lineup that upheld President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

Progressives applauded Roberts' statesmanship. Conservatives uttered cries of betrayal.

Now, the Supreme Court is embarking on a new term beginning Monday that could be as consequential as the last one, with the prospect for major rulings about affirmative action, gay marriage and voting rights.

Many people on both the left and right expect Roberts to return to the fold and side with the conservative justices in the new term's big cases. If they're right, the spotlight will be back on Justice Anthony Kennedy, whose vote typically is decisive in cases that otherwise split the court's liberals and conservatives.

But Roberts will be watched closely, following his health care vote, for fresh signs that he's becoming less ideologically predictable.

It may be that the dramatic health care decision presages "some shift in his tenure as chief justice," said Steve Shapiro, the American Civil Liberties Union's national legal director. "Or does it give him cover to continue to pursue a conservative agenda?"

The first piece of evidence could be in the court's consideration of the University of Texas' already limited use of race to help fill its incoming freshman classes, which comes before the court Oct. 10. The outcome could further limit or even end the use of racial preferences in college admissions.

Roberts has expressed contempt for the use of race in drawing legislative districts, calling it "a sordid business, this divvying us up by race," and in assigning students to public schools, saying that "the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race."

The written arguments submitted by both sides in the Texas case leave little doubt that Kennedy, not Roberts, holds the prized vote. The challengers of the Texas program and the university itself cite Kennedy's prior writings on affirmative action a combined 50 times.

The court also is expected to confront gay marriage in some form. Several cases seek to guarantee federal benefits for legally married same-sex couples. A provision of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act deprives same-sex couples of a range of federal benefits available to heterosexual couples.

Several federal courts have agreed that the provision of the law is unconstitutional, a situation that practically ensures that the high court will step in.

A separate appeal asks the justices to sustain California's Proposition 8, the amendment to the state constitution that outlawed gay marriage in the nation's largest state. Federal courts in California have struck down the amendment.

Once again, many legal analysts expect Roberts essentially to be against gay marriage. "The outcome clearly turns on how Anthony Kennedy votes," said Georgetown University law professor Michael Seidman.

The justices may not even consider whether to hear the gay marriage issue until November.

Another hot topic with appeals pending before the high court, and more soon to follow, is the future of a cornerstone law of the civil rights movement.

In 2006, Congress overwhelmingly approved, and President George W. Bush signed, legislation extending for 25 more years a critical piece of the Voting Rights Act. It requires states and local governments with a history of racial and ethnic discrimination, mainly in the South, to get advance approval either from the Justice Department or the federal court in Washington before making any changes that affect elections.

The requirement currently applies to the states of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia. It also covers certain counties in California, Florida, New York, North Carolina and South Dakota, and some local jurisdictions in Michigan and New Hampshire. Coverage has been triggered by past discrimination not only against blacks, but also against American Indians, Asian-Americans, Alaskan Natives and Hispanics.

The court spoke skeptically about the provision in a 2009 decision, but left it mostly unchanged. Now, however, cases from Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas could prompt the court to deal head on with the issue of advance approval. The South Carolina and Texas cases involve voter identification laws; a similar Indiana law was previously upheld by the court.

It is unclear when the justices will decide whether to hear arguments in those cases. Arguments themselves would not take place until next year.

Yet there still is a chance that the court could become enmeshed in election disputes, even before the ballots are counted. Suits in Ohio over early voting and provisional ballots appear the most likely to find their way to the justices before the Nov. 6 election, said Richard Hasen, an election law expert at the University of California at Irvine law school.

Among other important cases already on the court's docket:

? A high-stakes dispute, to be argued first thing Monday, between the business community and human rights advocates over the reach of a 1789 law. The issue is whether businesses can be sued in U.S. courts for human rights violations that take place on foreign soil and have foreign victims.

? A challenge to the use of drug-sniffing dogs in two situations. Florida police used a marijuana-sniffing dog's alert at the door of a private home to obtain a search warrant to look inside the house. The question is whether the dog's sniff itself was a search. A separate case looks at the reliability of animals trained to pick up the scent of illegal drugs.

? A challenge to the detention of a man who police picked up a mile away from an apartment they had a warrant to search. Occupants of a home may be detained during the search for the safety of officers, but this case tests how far that authority extends away from the place to be searched.

? Environmental disputes involving runoff from logging roads in Oregon and water pollution in Los Angeles.

Paul Clement, the Republican lawyer who lost the health care case and could again be before the justices on gay marriage and voting rights, said last term punctured the notion that in close cases, the court goes where Kennedy wants.

"We've all been reminded that's not always the case," he said.

The idea that could be tested this term is whether Roberts' concern for the court as an institution that is apart from politics will influence his votes, or at least his reasoning, in the year's biggest cases.

___

Online:

Supreme Court: http://www.supremecourt.gov

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/another-big-supreme-court-term-kicks-off-monday-122359004.html

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University Researchers Discover Cure for FarmVille Bots [Farmville]

If you are a company who rakes in millions making social games for Facebook, I have good news for you. Researchers at N.C. State University have developed the means of more accurately detecting bot accounts without alerting their owners, so the game's developers can shut them down and kick those freeloading sons of bots out of the cityville.

If you actually play these games, well, sorry, this isn't of much help or use to you. And if you play a bot account, your days are numbered.

The key lies in how this technique analyzes how players move their mouse and click on the screen. Bots give themselves away because they don't show the same range of variability in how they interact with the screen.

"This will allow game designers to differentiate bot accounts from actual human accounts, with confidence, and then cancel the account," said Dr. David Roberts, an assistant professor of computer science at NC State and co-author of a paper on the work.

Roberts said some sophisticated bot programs may feature some interaction variability "but not enough to fool our monitoring technique consistently. If this technique tracks game play for any significant amount of time, it should detect a bot."

Roberts and his research team are optimistic that they'll have agreements to sell this technology to game companies soon. They'll just be paid in Facebook Credits.

Researchers Unveil New Technique to Detect Bots in Casual Online Games [North Carolina State University]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/kotaku/full/~3/Wb51ESZM_BQ/university-researchers-discover-cure-for-farmville-bots

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Celebrate World Vegetarian Day October 1 | Care2 Healthy Living

By Dana Shultz for Diets in Reviews

Vegetarians and those interested in a meat-free diet will have some common ground to stand on this Monday.? October 1 marks World Vegetarian Day, an event founded by the North American Vegetarian Society (NAVS) to raise support and awareness for a vegetarian lifestyle.

The North American Vegetarian Society is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1974. According to their website, the organization has two focuses: To provide a support network for its members, affiliated groups and those who follow a vegetarian diet; and to inform the general public about the benefits vegetarianism provides to ?humans, animals and the Earth.

The group seeks to carry out these goals through various means, including a quarterly magazine, spreading their message via a growing body of publications, holding conferences, and providing resources and information to the media and other organizations that may take interest.

World Vegetarian Day was founded in 1977 and received official endorsement by the International Vegetarian Union in 1978. October 1 may be World Vegetarian Day, but it kicks off Vegetarian Awareness Month, which seeks to create ?a better world because vegetarian diets have proven health benefits, save animals? lives and help preserve the Earth.?

There are numerous ways to get involved in World Vegetarian Day this Monday, including displaying a free poster provided by NAVS in your community and, of course, eating vegetarian. There is also an opportunity for non-vegetarian eaters to win up to $1,000 if they pledge to go meat free in October. Pledging information is available on the World Vegetarian Day website.

In addition to founding World Vegetarian Day, the NAVS also organizes annual education conferences including the Vegetarian Summerfest, which is open to anyone interested in learning more about vegetarianism. The national event attracts 500-600 people of all ages wanting to know more about a vegetarian diet. Information on the topic is provided via lectures, classes and cooking demonstrations. Lecturers include leading figures in health such as top doctors, dietitians, chefs , authors and social activists. Information about this event can be found at the Vegetarian Summerfest website.

If those around you need more persuasion to try a vegetarian diet, there?s plenty of research backing its benefits. In a study conducted by the German Cancer Research Center, men eating a vegetarian diet were shown to have a 50 percent lower risk of early death, and women saw a 30 percent lower risk.?Vegetarians also see lower risks of heart disease, cardiovascular disease and cancer, and typically weigh less and have more energy than meat eaters.

Share this convincing information with your circle of friends and family and ask if they?ll pledge to try out a vegetarian diet in October. If they do, their eating habits will not only benefit the environment and their personal health, but also save animals? lives.

RELATED ARTICLES:
10 Surprising Sources of Vegetarian Protein Sources and How Much Protein You Need
Gallup Asks Americans if They?re Vegan for the First Time
10 Delicious Vegetarian Recipes

Source: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/celebrate-world-vegetarian-day-october-1.html

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Downward sales spiral plagues Europe's automakers

Remy De La Mauviniere / AP

Opel hopes its new model, the Adam, will help to reverse the company's 14-year-long long history of losses in the European marketplace.

By Paul A. Eisenstein, NBCNews contributor

Despite its miniscule size, the new Opel Adam will make a big splash when it debuts at the Paris Motor Show this week.

Named for the German automaker's original founder, Adam Opel, the three-door auto is the first in a wave of 23 new models the manufacturer plans to bring to market during the next four years ? a product assault parent General Motors can only hope will reverse what is now Opel?s 14^th year of sinking deep into the red.

But Opel isn?t the only European automaker in trouble. France?s Peugeot is expected to seek a bailout from the French government. Senior officials at Italy?s Fiat ? partner to Detroit-based Chrysler ? last weekend met with that country?s top government officials to discuss ?strategic options.? And even Daimler AG has cut its earnings forecast and downsized production plans for the rest of the year, warning that the situation in Europe is spiraling downward faster than expected.

The European Automobile Manufacturers Association, or ACEA using its French initials, expects 2012 to bring the market?s worst sales in 17 years.? Industrywide, car registrations dipped 8.5 percent for August. And only Volkswagen, among major manufacturers, posted a sales gain ? largely by including Porsche results in its corporate numbers.?

Sales have been plunging in the southern European markets hardest hit by the Continent?s economic slump, notably Italy and Spain.? But even the economic powerhouse is sliding downward, with ACEA reporting that German registrations dropped 4.7 percent last month.

Jonathon Poskitt, senior automotive researcher with British-based LMC Automotive, says the situation is a ?deteriorating picture? with ?no quick turnaround likely.?

Compared to the U.S. automotive slump of 2008 and 2009, Europe actually isn?t faring so badly. The American market fell from a peak of more than 17 million vehicles in the previous decade to barely 10 million by the time it bottomed out. But there?s a big difference, analysts and industry leaders stress. In the U.S., the industry moved aggressively to respond, largely through factory closings and job cuts. General Motors and Chrysler, in particular, emerged from their own 2009 bankruptcies collectively shuttering a score of assembly and component plants.

By comparison, relatively little has been done in Europe other than sound the alarm. Even before the sovereign debt crisis began, Europe was laden with overcapacity. By some estimates it now has at least eight more assembly plants than are needed.

Fiat did shutter one grossly underutilized facility on Sicily, but other makers are so far only discussing their options.

?I cannot be the guy who cleans up the mess,? Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne recently grumbled, ?but the mess needs to be cleaned up.?

Part of the problem, Marchionne and others complain, is that German manufacturers have resisted calls for a unified response to the European automotive crisis, especially Volkswagen, which has managed to sidestep the worst of the situation ? and which has declared its intent to become one of the world?s largest, if not the top-selling, automakers before the end of the decade's.

But as the situation worsens, some other automakers are being forced to act even if there are dangers associated with moving unilaterally.

Opel is arguably the most troubled of the European marques with various analysts forecasting that losses for the year will come to between $1.5 billion and $2 billion. Morgan Stanley?s influential analyst Adam Jonas last month issued a report arguing that, "We believe the time has come for GM to find a new home for Opel."

For its part, GM continues to put together a rescue plan, one that will see both the addition of new products and the contraction of production and manpower. But the latter goal is limited by both government regulations and union contracts making it extremely difficult to reduce capacity.

GM Vice Chairman Steve Girsky has won some minor concessions from the normally militant union IG Metall, however, by sharing internal data on the crisis but even then, the union will permit the closing of just one plant ? and only in 2014.

Peugeot is also pushing to close a plant, though the French government is warning that such a move might forestall any aid to the fast-sinking maker.

?The pain needs to be evenly distributed across Europe,? said Marchionne, and a number of manufacturers are now calling for the creation of an automotive czar ? not unlike the one who oversaw the GM and Chrysler defaults ? to bring everyone to the table.? But, so far, that idea has gained little traction on the government side.

And so, for the moment, automakers are frantically searching for individual solutions while unions are looking for ways to minimize the impact on their members and national governments continue to drag their feet.

The biennial Paris Motor Show, which begins with two days of press previews today, could thus be critical to everyone.

The new Opel Adam will be just one of at least 50 to 60 new products planned for introduction at what is formally known as the Mondial de l?Automobile. In more normal times, auto shows have a tendency to excite motorists and spur them to head for showrooms. But whether that will happen this year is uncertain. Shoring up the European economy remains a work in progress, at best, and it?s uncertain new sheet metal can offset the impact of the ongoing negative headlines.

Source: http://bottomline.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/28/14112574-downward-sales-spiral-plagues-europes-automakers?lite

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Last Western detainee at Gitmo returns to Canada

TORONTO (AP) ? The last Western detainee held at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay returned to Canada Saturday after a decade in custody and was transferred to a maximum security prison where he awaits parole, Canada's public safety minister said Saturday.

Vic Toews said that 26-year-old Omar Khadr arrived at a Canadian military base on a U.S. government plane early Saturday and was transferred to the Millhaven maximum security prison in Bath, Ontario.

The son of an alleged al-Qaida financier, Khadr pleaded guilty in 2010 to killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan and was eligible to return to Canada from Guantanamo Bay last October under terms of a plea deal. Canada's conservative government took almost a year to approve the transfer.

The U.S. Defense Department confirmed the transfer in a statement and said 166 detainees remain in detention at Guantanamo Bay.

Khadr was 15 when he was captured in 2002 in Afghanistan, and has spent a decade at the Guantanamo prison set up on the U.S. naval base in Cuba to hold suspected terrorists after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He received an eight-year sentence in 2010 after being convicted of throwing a grenade that killed Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer during a 2002 firefight.

"His head is spinning a bit and it's going to be a real adjustment for him, but at the same time he is so happy to be home," John Norris, Khadr's Canadian lawyer, told The Associated Press.

"He can't believe that it is finally true. He simply can't. For very good reason he was quite fearful that the government would not follow through on its word and he's pinching himself right now not believing that this government has finally kept its word," he said.

Norris said Khadr would be eligible for parole as early as the summer of 2013. He said he's been returned to Canada 10 years too late.

Toews said that the U.S. government initiated Khadr's transfer and suggested that Canada had little choice but to accept him because he is a Canadian citizen. It will be up to Canada's national parole board to release him, Toews said.

"Omar Khadr is a known supporter of the al-Qaida terrorist network and a convicted terrorist," Toews said.

Toews called for "robust conditions of supervision" if Khadr is granted parole. Toews said in his written decision that he reviewed all the files forwarded by the U.S. government and said the parole board should consider his concerns that Omar "idealizes" his father and "appears to deny "Ahmed Khadr's lengthy history of terrorist action and association with al-Qaida."

Toews also said that Omar Khadr's mother and sister "have openly applauded" his father's "crimes and terrorist activities" and noted that Omar has had "little contact with Canadian society and will require substantial management in order to ensure safe integration in Canada."

"I am satisfied the Correctional Service of Canada can administer Omar Khadr's sentence in a manner which recognizes the serious nature of the crimes that he has committed and ensure the safety of Canadians is protected during incarceration," Toews said.

Norris said it is regrettable that the minister is trying to influence the parole board.

"Most of what he has said there is simply not true. It's part of the stereotype of Omar that this government has been disseminating from the beginning," Norris said.

He added that once the Correctional Service "will get to know Omar" they will "recommend appropriate conditions."

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government had long refused to request the return of Khadr, the youngest detainee held at Guantanamo. The reluctance is partly due to suspicions about the Khadr family, which has been called "the first family of terrorism."

Defense attorneys have said Khadr was pushed into fighting the Americans in Afghanistan by his father, Ahmed Said Khadr, an alleged al-Qaida financier whose family stayed with Osama bin Laden briefly when Omar Khadr was a boy.

The Egyptian-born father was killed in 2003 when a Pakistani military helicopter shelled the house where he was staying with senior al-Qaida operatives.

The father was arrested in Pakistan in 1995 after a bomb attack targeting the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad, but was released after former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien appealed to Pakistan to give him due process. Canada was embarrassed when he later emerged as a senior al-Qaida figure.

His son, Omar, was found in the rubble of a bombed-out compound badly wounded and near death in Afghanistan in 2002.

Khadr's family did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment about his release. Norris said he told the family Saturday morning that Omar had returned to Canada.

Norris said it's not for him to say whether Omar should live with his family once he's released.

"You can't change the fact that they are his family," Norris said. "They love him and I know that they'll find a way."

Norris said Khadr has received some education in Guantanamo Bay and hopes that will continue so that he's able to reintegrate into the community.

Khadr has claimed in the past that he was abused at Guantanamo, but Canadian Foreign Affairs officials said they accept U.S. assurances that Khadr was treated humanely. Human rights groups and opposition parties in Canada have long criticized Harper's Conservative government for not doing enough for Khadr.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta signed off on Khadr's transfer in April. Panetta said in Ottawa earlier this year that sending Khadr back to Canada would be an important step because it would serve as an example to other detainees who are looking to return to their home countries or other places. Some Guantanamo detainees have been reluctant to agree to plea deals after noting that Khadr had remained in Guantanamo despite being eligible to leave since last October.

Suzanne Nossel, Amnesty International USA Executive Director, said the Guantanamo prison should finally be closed. She said Canada now has a chance to right what she called the many wrongs against Khadr and called for an investigation into Khadr's allegations of torture.

"Given the Obama administration's glacial pace towards closing the U.S.-controlled detention center, little and late though it is, today's news represents progress," Nossell said in a statement. "Khadr was imprisoned at the age of 15, subjected to ill-treatment and then prosecuted in a military commissions system that does not meet international fair trial standards. Growing up in Guantanamo and facing more prison time in Canada, his future remains uncertain."

The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights released a statement calling Khadr's case "one of the ugliest chapters in the decade-long history of Guantanamo."

"Khadr never should have been brought to Guantanamo. He was a child of fifteen at the time he was captured, and his subsequent detention and prosecution for purported war crimes was unlawful, as was his torture by U.S. officials," CCR Legal Director Baher Azmy said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-09-29-Guantanamo-Canadian%20Prisoner/id-035a9a7b3a774d3583c9fd9506462fbe

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Hillary Clinton drops strong hint that Al Qaeda was behind Libya attack

Hillary Clinton told a UN meeting on security in North Africa that the Libya attack points to how several extremist groups ? including an Al Qaeda affiliate ? are destabilizing the region.

By Howard LaFranchi,?Staff writer / September 26, 2012

United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton attends a meeting of the Security Council during the 67th UN General Assembly at UN headquarters Wednesday.

John Minchillo/AP

Enlarge

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday suggested a link between Al Qaeda and the Sept. 11 attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, going further than other Obama administration officials have previously in asserting that the deadly attack involved terrorists.

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Speaking at a special United Nations meeting on instability in the Sahel ? the African region that includes Mali, where Islamist extremists control the north of the country ? Secretary Clinton cited the Libya attack as an example of the kind of action the region?s growing extremist groups are carrying out.

"What is happening inside Mali is augmented by the rising threat from violent extremism across the region,? Clinton said, adding that groups including Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb have launched attacks from northern Mali into neighboring countries.?These same groups, she added, ?are working with other violent extremists to undermine the democratic transitions underway in North Africa, as we tragically saw in Benghazi.?

The White House last week said it was ?self-evident? that the Benghazi attack was ?terrorism,? but Republican critics have said the administration for too long attributed the attack to a spontaneous and unorganized mob. The firebombing of the poorly secured consulate resulted in the death of four US diplomats, including the US ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens.

The head of the US National Counterterrorism Center, Matthew Olsen, also said in congressional testimony last week that the attack was ?terrorism,? and he cited Al Qaeda. But he said only that information suggested individuals involved in the attack might have had some level of contact with Al Qaeda and its affiliates ? in particular, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).?

In his speech to the UN General Assembly Tuesday, President Obama said the attack on Benghazi was an attack ?on America," and he said the US would be ?relentless in tracking down the killers and bringing them to justice," but he provided no insight into who the killers were.

In her comments Wednesday, Clinton said the US is working with a number of countries including Libya to find the perpetrators of the attack, while also ?stepping up our counterterrorism efforts across the Maghreb and Sahel.?

Some intelligence specialists have suggested that the attack could have been the work of Ansar al-Sharia, a Libyan jihadist group. During the chaotic period following Libya?s revolution, the group could have had access to the heavier arms used in the consulate attack.

Libya?s president, Mohamed Magariaf, has insisted that the attack was the work of AQIM. The Al Qaeda affiliate originated in Algeria, but intelligence officials say it has been expanding eastward and southward as instability has seized North Africa and the Sahel.

Clinton made clear in her remarks Wednesday that US concerns about the spread of Islamist extremism in the region predate the Benghazi attack.???

The US, she said, is ?expanding our counterterrorism partnerships to help countries meet their own growing threats.? She added that the US is ?taking aim at the support structure of Al Qaeda and its affiliates ? closing safe havens, cutting off finances, countering their ideology and denying them recruits.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/ni2ZyxwmVew/Hillary-Clinton-drops-strong-hint-that-Al-Qaeda-was-behind-Libya-attack

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Regular Home Improvements For Every Home | EzinePR

Use a flexible container to mix up just enough dry plaster of Paris for your intended use. When you are finished with the job all you have to do is allow the remainder of the plaster to harden, turn the container upside down over a trash can, and flex the sides. The plaster will cleanly separate from the container and you can put the container away to use on the next job.

If a squeaky faucet is driving you crazy, chances are you can use this trick to fix the problem: After taking the handle off, detach the faucet stern and apply a thin coating of commercial lubricant to each pair of threads. After you have reassembled it, the faucet should turn on and off smoothly and squeak-free.

If you are hiring a contractor or landscaper to work on your home improvement project, make sure that they are licensed. If a contractor has a license, it means that they are a legitimate businessman who is skilled in the type of work you require. It also indicates that the contractor follows and is informed about the latest updates in the industry.

Updated homes typically sell faster and for a greater amount of money than those that have had little or no renovations. Updating dark and dated kitchens is by far the best thing that you can do to improve the value of your home. It also is the most sure way to get back the most of your investment.

Newly updated and modern houses sell faster than outdated houses. The biggest thing that people look for in a house is the kitchen. If your kitchen is dark, drab, and outdated, then you should considered doing renovations. Kitchens are a great place to start when trying to improve your home.

There are a few electrical tasks that a non-expert can do around the home. One is replacing a light switch. After you turn off the electricity and remove the cover plate, detach the wires on the old switch and replace them in the same order on the new switch.

One of the biggest causes of failure in a DIY home improvement project is to start more than one project at a time. When you focus your efforts on one area, you end up with better results and a better success rate of finishing your project. Also, you have more usable space while renovating if only one area of the home is in progress at one time.

To seal your home against pesky drafts and keep your warmed or cooled air inside, pick up some foam insulators for outlets and light switches located on exterior walls, especially those on the north side of your home. These inexpensive insulators can save you money on your energy bills and are extremely simple to install.

No matter what your budget is for renovations, plan for 25% more than you?re planning to spend. This will give you wiggle room for unexpected expenses, upgrades, and replacement parts or items. You never know what?s going to happen, but having enough money to cover any problems will give you peace of mind.

When you are making improvements to your home, don?t be afraid to ask for help as soon as you can. The sooner you ask for help, the sooner you can get assistance with your home renovation project. If you wait too long and ask for assistance in the middle of a home renovation project, you may not get the help you need when you need it.

Ceiling fan installation is a fantastic and cost effective home improvement project that you should consider. Ceiling fans are great for circulating the air in the home, and keeping the home cool. They can also help reduce the cost of your electric bills by eliminating the need for air conditioning during the cooler days of the summer.

Don?t overlook the addition of storage space to your new or existing home. Most homes are substantially lacking in storage space. Add built in bookshelves to the living room or dining room. Turn a broom closet near the kitchen into a food pantry. Small changes and additions will really add up.

If you are going to be changing plumbing, such as a sink or pipe, always give yourself extra time in case you need it. If you plan for extra time, you will have backup plans for if you are not able to use the plumbing for longer than expected. You do not want to have to go for extra time without a plan on how to use the water.

Before you begin your next home improvement project, think about how long you would like to stay in your home. If you are planning to move this year, you may have a different budget for improvements than if you were staying for awhile. You would also want to focus on areas in the home, like the kitchen and bathrooms, that buyers think are most important.

Do you now understand what makes home improvement, well, home improvement? Do you know about the different kinds of jobs and equipment now? If you now have an idea of how to answer these questions, then you have read and understand what it takes to create the home of your dreams.

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Source: http://ezinepr.com/uncategorized/regular-home-improvements-for-every-home/

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Scattering moss can restore key carbon sink

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'Looper'-like time travel possible? Maybe

Time travel is a staple of science fiction, with the latest rendition showing up in the film "Looper." And it turns out jumps through time are possible, according to the laws of physics, though traveling into the future looks to be much more feasible than traveling into the past.

"Looper" stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Joe, an assassin who kills targets sent back in time by the mob. Things get complicated when Joe is assigned to kill his future self, played by Bruce Willis. The movie, produced by TriStar Pictures, opened Friday.

In this imagining, time travel has been put to nefarious uses by people operating outside the law. But could such a thing ever happen in real life? [ Gallery: Time Travel in "Looper"]

"It's actually consistent with the laws of physics to change the rate at which clocks run," said Edward Farhi, director of the Center for Theoretical Physics at MIT. "There's no question that you can skip into the future."

However, Farhi told LiveScience, "most physicists think you can go forward, but coming back is much more problematic."

The roots of time travel stem from Einstein's theory of relativity, which revealed how the passage of time is relative, depending on how fast you are traveling. The faster you go, the more time seems to slow down, so that a person traveling on a very fast starship, for example, would experience a journey in two weeks that seemed to take 20 years to people left behind on Earth.

In this way, a person who wanted to travel to a period in the future need only board a fast enough vehicle to kill some time.

1. Science news from NBCNews.com

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"That was a huge thing when Einstein realized the flow of time was not a constant thing," Farhi said.

However, this kind of manipulation only affects the rate at which time moves forward. No matter your speed, time will still progress toward the future, leaving scientists struggling to predict how one might travel to the past.

Some outlandish solutions to Einstein's equations do suggest that traveling backward in time might be possible, but to do so could require about half the mass of the universe in energy, and would likely destroy the universe in the process.

And even if science presented a method for backward time travel, there are troubling paradoxes involved.

"If you could go back in time, you could prevent your parents from getting together and making you," Farhi said. "I think some people might say it ends there." [ Video - Looper Time-Travel ]

Still, since physics doesn't forbid time travel in either direction, the door remains open for future solutions.

"I don't know of a definitive theorem that says it absolutely cannot happen, other than it leads to logical paradoxes and it can also cause the entire universe to collapse," Farhi said.

Follow Clara Moskowitz on Twitter ?@ClaraMoskowitz? or LiveScience? @livescience. We're also on Facebook? and??Google+.

? 2012 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49212676/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Obama, Netanyahu talk Iran after Israeli leader's warning; White House emphasizes co-operation

WASHINGTON - The White House says President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remain in "full agreement" about keeping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.

The Obama administration's account of Friday's phone call between the two offered no mention of Netanyahu's declaration to the U.N. General Assembly. The Israeli leader on Thursday held up an image of a bomb and warned that the world only has until next summer to stop Iran from building one.

Obama has promised that the United States will do what it must to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weaponry, but faces pressure from Netanyahu to be more specific in public about what would cause Washington to intervene.

The White House account emphasized the "close co-operation" between the U.S. and Israeli governments over threats posed by Iran.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-netanyahu-talk-iran-israeli-leaders-warning-white-175801651.html

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Ozone Media Launches Retargeting Service Smarton - MediaNama

Ozone Media, a?digital ad network, has?launched Ozone Smarton, a re-targeting and dynamic banner advertising platform. According to the company,?Ozone Smarton will allow e-commerce merchants to acquire dropped-off and dormant consumers by assembling dynamic banners in real-time and serving them to the re-targeted audience.

It mentioned that?Smarton is powered by predictive algorithms that determine the optimal product to be shown to the re-targeted users, and that it builds intelligence about users who have visited an advertiser?s website and shows them the relevant products in the retargeted dynamic banner ads. It selects the product to be served on dynamic banner in real time, based on its prediction algorithms, to maximize conversion rates and also supports multi-product banners that feature multiple products relevant to the user, according to Ozone.

Senthil Govindan, Associate Vice President of Product & Partnerships at Ozone Media said that the company is?in the process of working with its customers to implement algorithms through the customizable Recommendation Engine which, according to him, will maximize their ability to generate conversions through retargeting. He also added that it ?will soon be able to proactively suggest campaigns that advertisers can run, helping advertisers micro-segment their user base and target them accordingly.

Ozone claims that on Smarton pushed up the conversion rate by three to eight times for the retargeted audience, in initial results.?After e-commerce, Ozone also intends to target the travel segment, followed by?other online verticals where online customer acquisition is important.

How Retargeting Works:?Drop-off visitors are users who visit the advertiser?s site, or a site which sells the advertiser?s products or just a site where the advertiser has advertised, but don?t take any action, and move to another site. For example, if a user visits an e-commerce site and searches for a particular product,but doesn?t make a purchase and switches to another site, the retargeting service will instantly generate banner ads, enabling the company to place them on sites which the user visits. It might even list the the product on top when a user searches for a mobile phone on a search engine and display a different landing page for the user to feature that product.

Although, dynamic retargeting is an effective strategy to attract and retain users but going on an overkill, might end up hurting companies and their brands, since people might find it irritating, and equate it to online stalking.

Other Players:?Vizury Interactive, an online advertising solutions company also offers retargeting solutions. The company?s Visitor Relationship Management(VRM) solution lets advertisers identify drop off visitors, study their online behavior and usage pattern?and target them even when they leave the web site through customized dynamic banner messages for every drop-off user. Last year, online advertising network, Tyroo,?had also launched a?dynamic retargeting?service for?Indian advertisers.?The service allows advertisers to identify drop off visitors, study their online behavior and usage pattern, and target them even when they leave the web site by generating customized, dynamic banner messages.

Ad: Our advertising coverage is brought to you by Indiatimes

Popularity: 1% [?]

Source: http://www.medianama.com/2012/09/223-ozone-media-launches-retargeting-service-smarton/

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Video: Are Brick & Mortar Stores Endangered?

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/49180522/

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Appeal expected in semen-in-water-bottle case

By Jason Kandel, NBCLosAngeles.com

LOS ANGELES -- Attorneys on Thursday are expected to argue a Fullerton man's appeal of his misdemeanor conviction for putting semen in a co-worker's water bottle.

Michael Kevin Lallana said in court documents there is insufficient evidence to support his Feb. 24, 2011 conviction on two misdemeanor counts of battery with sentencing enhancements for committing a crime for sexual gratification.

Lallana is expected to appear on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. before a three-judge panel in an Orange County courtroom, said Gwen Vieau a spokeswoman for the Orange County Superior Court.

---

Also at NBCLosAngeles.com: Man claims bear is terrorizing his family

Lallana's attorney, E. Thomas Dunn Jr., did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

The first incident began when Lallana deposited his semen into the victim?s water bottle when the two worked together at Northwestern Mutual Financial Network in Newport Beach in January 2010.

Lallanos did it a second time in April of that year at a Northwestern branch in Orange. In an interview with police, he told investigators he chose Tiffany G.'s bottle because "she's very attractive," court documents said.

?(She) drank the contaminated water unaware of the bottle?s contents,? prosecutors said in a statement at the time of Lallana?s sentencing. ?She threw the bottle away after tasting the contents and realizing the water was contaminated.?

The second time, prosecutors said, the victim became suspicious of the taste and sent the bottle to a private lab for tests. The lab confirmed the bottle contained semen in June 2010, prosecutors said.

Watch US News crime videos on NBCNews.com

Once confirmed, the victim reported both incidents to police who arrested Lallana at his Fullerton home the next month. Prosecutors said his DNA matched the semen in the water bottle.

Lallana was sentenced to six months in jail and three years of formal probation on April 22, 2011.

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He was ordered to register as a sex offender for life and was ordered to pay $27,411 in restitution to cover the victim?s lost income and therapy costs, prosecutors said.

Lallana was also issued a stay-away order barring any contact with the victim, officials said.

During Lallana?s sentencing, the victim told the court that his acts caused her to go into depression.

?I had to seek counseling to find a way to get through this period in my life,? she told the court. ?The idea that I had Mr. Lallana?s semen in my mouth, without my knowing, against my will, for his sexual pleasure sickens me?I feel that it was a form of rape??

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Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/26/14113760-man-convicted-of-putting-semen-in-co-workers-water-bottle-pursues-appeal?lite

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Google buys wind power for Oklahoma data center

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Motherhood moments | Tucson Writer Editor

Thirty-five years ago tonight I only had to wait another day to see Brook. Bet I can remember every detail of those 24 hours. Trust me. Memories are hard to come by these days, but I?ll bet any mother can recount her labor and childbirth sagas.

Mama Sheila and baby Brook

Even if, like me, ?it?s been 35 years and 31 years since my kids were born.

A few weeks ago I visited with a young friend and her sweet three-week-old son. Holding him, I started swaying to that inner tune that all mothers seem to hear. It just happens. New mother questions flooded back to me ? was my baby making too much noise? Was she hungry? Should I nurse her? Should I hop in the car, get home as quickly as possible to feed her?

I still empathize with new mothers. We always want to have everything go right for our children, whether they?re babies or in their 30s.

Thirty-five years ago tonight we drove to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Hospital in Hanover, N.H., in my 1972 red Toyota. That car had taken me through grad school, ?across the country to Montana to work in the McGovern campaign, back home to New England with a ?Don?t blame me, I?m from Massachusetts? bumper sticker above the ?license plate. Adventures big and small. Distant memories.

But I?ll never forget getting out of that red Toyota on Sept. 24, 1977, around this time of night on a moonlit street in Hanover, N.H. Looking up at the stars.

Source: http://tucsonwritereditor.com/2012/09/25/motherhood-moments/

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WB to bring electricity, sustainable fuels to poor | Eco-Business.com

Pledging assistance toward a problem that affects more than a billion people mired in poverty, World Bank Group President Dr Jim Yong Kim announced today that the World Bank will join a United Nations initiative aimed at increasing the poor?s access to electricity and clean household fuels. The effort also will expand renewable energy and enhance energy efficiency.

Dr Kim will co-chair a multi-stakeholder advisory board with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that will provide strategic guidance to the Sustainable Energy for All initiative, launched by Ban Ki-moon last fall. A UN General Assembly resolution named 2012 as a year devoted to sustainable energy for all.

?Ending poverty and ensuring sustainability are the defining challenges of our time,? Kim said. ?Energy is central to both of them.?

An estimated 1.3 billion people do not have access to electricity, and 2.7 billion depend on wood, charcoal, dung, and coal to cook meals and heat their homes.

Dr Kim praised the UN Secretary-General for ?bold vision and leadership? in taking on the challenge. The Sustainable Energy for All initiative calls on governments, businesses and civil society to achieve three goals by 2030: achieve universal access to energy, including electricity and modern cooking and heating fuels; double the renewable share of power produced and consumed from 15 per cent to 30 per cent; and double the energy efficiency improvement rate.

?Providing sustainable energy for all could be the biggest opportunity of the 21st century,? said the Secretary-General. ?Sustainable energy is the golden thread that connects economic growth, social equity, and a climate and environment that enables the world to thrive. This initiative is bringing together governments, the private sector, and civil society in a partnership that?s delivering real results.?

Dr Kim committed the World Bank Group to mobilize its knowledge and policy expertise to increase the impact of its financing of energy projects, which has been just over $8 billion in each of the past two years.

Specifically, the Bank Group will be providing technical assistance to help several countries develop comprehensive energy access programs. The Bank Group also will seek to leverage additional funds by seeking at least $2 of financing from other sources for every $1 the World Bank provides. It will partner with multilateral institutions, bilateral agencies and private sector investors for more funding.

?This is a grand coalition, like that driving the Millennium Development Goals,? Dr Kim said. ?Donors, middle-income countries, and low-income countries all make commitments tailored to their distinct capacities and resources. Each country, company, organization and industry contributes in its own way?whether it is increased funding, new policy incentives, new methods or technologies, or new partnerships.?

Thus far, 61 countries have opted in to the initiative, while businesses, investors and donors have committed a total of $50 billion towards achieving the initiative?s three goals.

Source: http://www.eco-business.com/news/wb-to-bring-electricity-sustainable-fuels-to-poor/

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UFC 152 photo gallery

Check out pictures from UFC 152 by Tracy Lee. You'll see Jon Jones come back for a win, Evan Dunham's really bloody face, and more.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/ufc-152-photo-gallery-161314828--mma.html

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Curiosity Rover Touches 1st Martian Rock, Makes Longest Drive Yet

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity reached out and touched a Martian rock with its huge robotic arm for the first time, then took off on its longest Red Planet drive to date.

Curiosity spent the past several days investigating a strange pyramid-shaped stone named "Jake Matijevic," testing out some of the gear at the end of its 7-foot-long (2.1 meters) arm. These tools include the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS), which measures elemental composition, and the Mars Hand Lens Imager close-up camera, or MAHLI.

The rover performed these initial "contact science" operations on Saturday and Sunday (Sept. 22 and 23), researchers said. Photos snapped on those days show Curiosity's arm sidled up against "Jake Matijevic," with the arm's turret obscuring most of the 16-inch-tall (25 centimeters) rock.

"I did a science! 1st contact science on rock target Jake," the Curiosity team announced Saturday (Sept. 22) via the rover's Twitter feed @MarsCuriosity, which has more than 1.1 million followers. "Here's an action shot." [Curiosity Mars Rover: 11 Amazing Facts]

Curiosity also zapped "Jake Matijevic" with the laser on its ChemCam instrument, which reads rock composition from the vaporized bits. Comparing the results should help cross-calibrate the two instruments, researchers said.

The ChemCam work wrapped up Monday (Sept. 24), at which point Curiosity embarked on a 138-foot (42 m) drive ? the longest one-day jaunt for the rover since it landed inside Mars' Gale Crater on the night of Aug. 5.

Curiosity is making its way toward a site called Glenelg, which lies 1,300 feet (400 m) from the rover's touchdown site. Before Monday's drive, the mission team had said Curiosity was about halfway to Glenelg.

Scientists will likely soon begin looking for sandy areas to try out Curiosity's scooping system for the first time. The arm will deposit bits of Martian soil into the analytical instruments on the rover's body, which are known as SAM (Sample Analysis at Mars) and CheMin (short for Chemistry & Mineralogy).? ?

The first use of Curiosity's rock-boring drill, which also sits at the end of the rover's arm, will come sometime after that, researchers have said.

While team members are keen to see what Curiosity discovers at Glenelg, the $2.5 billion rover's main destination is the base of Mount Sharp. This odd mountain rises 3.4 miles (5.5 km) into the Red Planet sky from Gale Crater's center, and its foothills show signs of long-ago exposure to liquid water.

Those foothills lie about 6 miles (10 km) away from Curiosity's landing site. The rover ? whose main task is to determine if the Gale area could ever have supported microbial life ? may be ready to turn its wheels toward the interesting deposits near the end of the year, scientists have said.

The rock "Jake Matijevic" takes its name from Curiosity's surface operations systems chief engineer, who died Aug. 20 at the age of 64. Matijevic, who was based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., also worked on all three previous Mars rovers ? Sojourner, Spirit and Opportunity ? NASA officials said.

Follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall or SPACE.com @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook and?Google+.

?

Copyright 2012 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/curiosity-rover-touches-1st-martian-rock-makes-longest-024439778.html

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