Spy Shots: Mysterious small Ford spied in Germany

Our spy photographers have just popped off a few shots of something curious. This little runabout was spotted in Germany out testing with a current-generation Ford Fiesta. We're fairly confident the machine is a Ford, but exactly which Ford model is up for debate. The hatchback could be the next-generation Ka, but we've also heard that the Blue Oval supermini might not get a replacement. Our shooter says the five-door is a bit smaller than the current Fiesta, though there is a chance that this rig is just an engineering mule for drivetrain development. Then again, it could be a model built specifically for the South African market or China, or not a Ford at all.

Whatever it is and wherever it's headed, you can check out in the gallery for a closer look before heading into Comments to weigh in with your best guess.

Source: http://ca.autoblog.com/2013/06/30/mysterious-small-ford-spied-in-germany/

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Facebook implements new policy to crack down on objectionable ad material

No one really likes ads, but for better or worse, they're a sort of necessary evil when it comes to, you know, making money online. And while Facebook's not likely to stop sprinkling your stream with paid content, the social network announced a new plan today to tackle some of the more...questionable content that's made its way onto the site. Starting Monday, the service will implement a new review process for deciding which Pages and groups will get their own accompanying ads. That process will be manual to start, with an automated version in the future. Facebook plans to have all the offending violent, graphic and sexual content removed by the end of next week.

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Source: Facebook Newsroom

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/96py3ecUK54/

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From Egypt petition drive, a new grassroot wave

CAIRO (AP) ? Teenager Gehad Mustafa wears an ultraconservative veil over her face and was raised in a family of staunch Muslim Brotherhood supporters. Yet for the past weeks, she has been walking though chaotic street markets and crowded subway stations, collecting signatures on a petition demanding Islamist President Mohammed Morsi step down.

The months-long petition campaign by the group "Tamarod," Arabic for "rebel," is now culminating in nationwide protests Sunday in which the opposition hopes to bring out millions to force Morsi out of office, a year after his inauguration.

But Tamarod's organizers say they are not stopping there. No matter what happens on Sunday, they say they have created through their petition drive a real grassroots network, an opposition version in the spirit of the Islamists' expert street organizing, and have brought forth a sort of second generation of street activists, like Mustafa, after the first that led the revolt against autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

They want to use that network going ahead, to keep the public involved and to pressure the secular and liberal opposition parties, who the activists say have wasted opportunities through infighting and fragmentation, to get their act together.

On a recent day, Tamarod's main office, steps away from Cairo's Tahrir Square, was bustling with several dozen volunteers as young as 13 and as old as their 50s and 60s. University professors, government employees, students and housewives sipped tea, smoked and chatted while going through the organization's prize possession: the sheaves of signed petitions still coming in from around the country, filling the office.

The pages of signatures, they say, are proof of how deeply the country of 90 million has turned against the Muslim Brotherhood. They plan to announce their full count ahead of Sunday's protests but have claimed to have as many as 20 million signatures, which they collate, confirm and record in a database in a precise operation, knowing their count will be questioned.

Among the volunteers was 17-year-old Mustafa. She said she turned against Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood after the first protesters were killed under his administration in late 2012. "I saw the reality," she said. "You told us that the blood of the martyrs will not go in vain. But there were more ... falling under your rule."

She joined Tamarod, which launched in late April, and volunteered to canvas the street for signatures. At one point, while passing out petitions in the subway, a man wearing the beard of a Muslim conservative attacked her, pulling the veil off her face. But other commuters then wrestled the man away in support of her.

"This strengthened me. I felt what I am doing is right," she said.

Organizers say Tamarod mushroomed across the country. Founded by five activists, its leadership is a central group of about 25, connected to a network of coordinators in Egypt's 27 provinces, each with a team of volunteers in towns and villages.

The signatures are effectively a database of the dissatisfied: Each signatory puts his or her name, province of residence and national ID number.

Collecting signatures in itself is a breakthrough, overcoming Egyptians' engrained resistance to signing onto any paper presented by a stranger, especially political, from the Mubarak days when doing so could get you a visit from state security or even arrested. Volunteers carrying the petitions brought politics into every corner ? weddings, slum alleys, buses and subways. Volunteers included strangers to political campaigning, from men selling cigarettes in kiosks to impoverished women selling in vegetable markets.

Ahmed el-Masry, one of the founders of Tamarod, calls the success "astonishing."

"I can't tell how many members out there. I can think that millions of Egyptians are members," he said.

"At one point, people gave up (on Morsi) ... it reached a point where a new class of Brothers are gaining higher status in society that to join them, you have to let your beard grow. We reached a point where no one is heard but the president and his tribe."

Brotherhood officials cast doubt on the signatures, claiming forgeries and multiple names. While Morsi says peaceful demonstrations are a legitimate form of expression, he and his allies also say Mubarak loyalists are behind the campaign and protests, trying to use the streets to topple an elected leader.

A spokesman for the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party said he sympathizes with some activists in Tamarod ? "the young revolutionaries who had great expectations out of the revolution. Due to their inexperience and age, they wanted to see change too fast and too soon and that is what I call frustration."

But Abdel-Mawgoud el-Dardery said "opportunist politicians" are exploiting them for their political agenda and that former regime elements are exploiting both the politicians and the activists.

"There is unholy alliance among these groups. They have insisted on having one enemy and that is President Morsi," he said.

Tamarod activists say it is they who are leading the politicians of the mainly liberal and secular opposition parties and factions, trying to drag them into a better connection with the public. The campaign's plan calls for Morsi to leave, the chief justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court to become a largely symbolic interim president while a technocrat Cabinet governs, a panel would write a new constitution and presidential elections would be held in six months.

Ahmed Abdu, one of the first Tamarod street campaigners, said the group will pressure the opposition to coalesce behind a candidate.

If they can't get organized "we will pick one away from all the top leaders of opposition and we will be able to rally support to him."

He blamed liberal parties for running multiple candidates in last year's presidential election, which resulted in a runoff between Morsi and a former Mubarak prime minister, forcing people to choose between an Islamist and a loyalist of the regime just ousted.

"I hope they don't let us down again," Abdu said.

Tamarod's nationwide network and pavement-pounding methods contrast with many of the political parties, which have struggled to establish a nationwide presence. That is in large part what opened the way for the Muslim Brotherhood, an 83-year-old organization that has highly disciplined cadres nationwide, and harder-line Islamist with their own organizations to dominate parliament elections in late 2011-early 2012, to ensure the constitution passed a December referendum, and to boost Morsi to victory.

Tamarod's volunteers ? some former Morsi supporters, others who disliked him from the start ? had varying stories of what brought them to the campaign. Most said they were dismayed by what they call the Brotherhood's opportunism and determination to control the system rather than reform state institutions and police. That is a frequent refrain from critics of Morsi. His allies insist they are not trying to monopolize, that opponents have refused to work with them and that old regime loyalists have sabotaged their attempts at reform.

At the Tamarod office, Doaa Mohammed, a young Justice Ministry employee, said the day after Morsi's election, a man on the street spit at her face and yelled, "Tomorrow, Morsi will get rid of you all."

Mohammed wears a stylish scarf covering her hair, less strict than the more cloaking coverings and veils that hard-liners believe women should wear.

She said managers in her ministry were replaced by Brotherhood sympathizers.

"From day one, I have been treated like a second-class citizen. The Sister enjoys higher status than me just because she belongs to the group," she said, referring to the Muslim Sisters, the women's branch of the Brotherhood.

The heart of Tamarod is its petitions. Through Facebook and Twitter, volunteers could download the form, copy it and distribute them among friends and family members or hit the streets for signatures, then get back in touch with coordinators to return the papers.

At the Tamarod office, a psychology university lecturer-turned-volunteer explained how the papers are sorted by province, counted, scanned and entered into a database to ensure there are no doubled ID numbers and that the numbers ? which have prefixes by province ? match where they're said to come from. Much of the work takes place in a room labeled "Control Room. No Entry."

Secrecy is tight. The university lecturer spoke on condition of anonymity ? he goes by the nickname "Maestro" ? so he could not be singled out for pressure by anyone trying to get to the petitions. He said only two of the founders know the whereabouts of the originals of the signed forms and are responsible for moving them every few days to new locations.

"We are working in the daylight but they don't want us to work in the daylight," he said and added, "we are holding a pen and a paper. This is our weapon. And this is how we tell them, Enough"

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypt-petition-drive-grassroot-wave-225403775.html

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Engadget Podcast 350 - 06.28.13

We've made it to the big three-five-oh! Watch out, HD Podcast, we're closing in on your 355 episode mark. Although the week in tech news wasn't terribly exciting, Brian was so pumped he ran nine blocks in the blistering heat straight to our studio. As such, this episode is relatively short -- might we suggest you check out Distro on your favorite tablet with all that extra time?

Hosts: Tim Stevens, Peter Rojas, Brian Heater

Producer: Joe Pollicino

Hear the podcast:

Filed under: Podcasts

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/28/engadget-podcast-350-06-28-13/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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New Jersey's Christie vetoes Medicaid expansion bill

(Reuters) - New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on Friday vetoed a bill that attempted to make the state's expansion of Medicaid eligibility permanent under the healthcare law known as Obamacare, his office said on Friday.

Christie's office announced he vetoed eight bills that "would add potentially hundreds of millions of dollars to state and local budgets." He also signed a $32.9 billion budget and three other bills, his office said in a statement.

Among the bills he vetoed was one dealing with Medicaid expansion under the U.S. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law known as Obamacare.

Christie, a critic of Obamacare, said in February he would accept federal money to expand Medicaid in New Jersey, and the state budget he signed on Friday included $227 million in such funds.

Democrats in the state Senate and Assembly had passed a bill seeking to make that Medicaid expansion permanent, but Christie vetoed it, a spokesman for the governor said.

The vetoed bill would have removed the flexibility to opt out of the Medicaid expansion if the federal government changed the terms of the current favorable matching rate, the spokesman said. The governor had discussed publicly his intention to maintain this flexibility when he signed onto the expansion, the spokesman said.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Eric Walsh)

(This story was corrected to show Christie vetoed bill trying to make Medicaid expansion permanent, but did not veto Medicaid expansion for this year)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jerseys-christie-vetoes-medicaid-expansion-bill-015145686.html

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Kim Kardashian's First Post-Baby Tweet!

The new mom posts cute pics of sister Khloe! Check out other cute and candid moments from the stars.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/celebrity-twitter-pictures/1-b-229669?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Acelebrity-twitter-pictures-229669

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Status of the states on same-sex marriage

Christian Olivera, of Newark, N.J., shouts toward the Statehouse Thursday, June 27, 2013, in Trenton, N.J., as he and other advocates for gay marriage in New Jersey gather, saying they'll press their case in the Legislature and the courts after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that invalidates parts of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. Gov. Chris Christie said he would again veto a same-sex marriage bill if it reaches his desk, and that Wednesday's U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down a ban on federal benefits for same-sex married couples will have no effect on New Jersey, one of a handful of states that allows civil unions. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

Christian Olivera, of Newark, N.J., shouts toward the Statehouse Thursday, June 27, 2013, in Trenton, N.J., as he and other advocates for gay marriage in New Jersey gather, saying they'll press their case in the Legislature and the courts after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that invalidates parts of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. Gov. Chris Christie said he would again veto a same-sex marriage bill if it reaches his desk, and that Wednesday's U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down a ban on federal benefits for same-sex married couples will have no effect on New Jersey, one of a handful of states that allows civil unions. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

The Supreme Court issued a pair of decisions this week with major consequences for efforts to legalize or bar same-sex marriage. One ruling opened the way for California to become the 13th state to allow gay marriage; the other struck down part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act and directed the government to recognize legally married same-sex couples.

In light of the rulings, here's a summary of the laws on same-sex marriage in all 50 states, and a look at how the Supreme Court action might affect them:

___

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE STATES:

CALIFORNIA: The Supreme Court cleared the way for gay marriages to resume in California for the first time since 2008, ruling that sponsors of the state's voter-approved same-sex marriage ban lack authority to defend it in court. A federal appeals court on Friday lifted the stay on same-sex marriages, saying the state is required to issue licenses to gay couples starting immediately.

CONNECTICUT: The state Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in October 2008; marriages started the next month.

DELAWARE: A same-sex marriage bill was signed into law in May. A Democratic state senator and her partner will be the first couple in the state to have their civil union converted to marriage when the bill takes effect July 1.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: The D.C. Council approved same-sex marriage in 2009; marriages began in March 2010.

IOWA: The state Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in 2009. Conservative lawmakers have sought to change state law to define marriage as between a man and a woman. Those efforts have failed so far because Democrats controlling the state Senate have blocked any legislation from coming up for a vote. That's unlikely to change unless the GOP takes control of both chambers in 2014.

MAINE: Voters approved same-sex marriage last November, reversing results of a 2009 referendum that quashed a gay-marriage bill.

MARYLAND: The Legislature approved same-sex marriage in February 2012; the issue then won voter approval in a referendum last November.

MASSACHUSETTS: It was the first state to allow same-sex marriage. The state's Supreme Judicial Court ordered it legalized in 2003; marriages started in May 2004.

MINNESOTA: A same-sex marriage bill was signed into law in May. It takes effect Aug. 1.

NEW HAMPSHIRE: The Legislature approved same-sex marriage June 2009.

NEW YORK: The Legislature approved same-sex marriage in June 2011.

RHODE ISLAND: A same-sex marriage bill was signed into law in May. It takes effect Aug. 1.

VERMONT: The Legislature legalized same-sex marriage in 2009. Earlier, Vermont was the first state to offer civil unions to gay and lesbian couples.

WASHINGTON: The Legislature approved same-sex marriage in February 2012. It then won voter approval in referendum on Nov. 6, 2012.

___

CIVIL UNION STATES:

COLORADO: Gay-rights advocates were pleased that Colorado lawmakers approved a civil-union law this year that extends marriage-like rights to same-sex couples. But they still plan to push for the full status of marriage. That would entail either a lawsuit or a voter initiative to overturn a gay-marriage ban approved by voters in 2006.

HAWAII: Lawmakers passed a civil union law in 2011. It's being challenged in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by two women who want to marry rather than enter into a civil union. Democratic Gov. Neil Abercrombie supports same-sex marriage and says the U.S. Supreme Court rulings bolster his argument that the Constitution requires it.

ILLNOIS: Lawmakers approved civil unions in 2011, but an effort this year to legalize gay marriage fell short despite a push from Gov. Pat Quinn and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The bill's sponsor, Democratic Rep. Greg Harris, says the Supreme Court rulings improve the chances in the next legislative session. Meanwhile, a right-to-marry lawsuit filed by more than two dozen gay couples is pending.

NEW JERSEY: Acting under an order from the state Supreme Court, the Legislature legalized civil unions in 2006. However, a pending lawsuit contends that civil unions do not fulfill the court's mandate that gay couples receive equal treatment. A hearing is scheduled for August. The Democratic-led Legislature passed a bill last to recognize gay marriage, but it was vetoed by Republican Gov. Chris Christie.

___

STATES WITH CONSTITUTIONAL BANS:

ALABAMA: Voters overwhelming approved a constitutional amendment in 2006 limiting marriage to one-man, one-woman unions. Democratic Rep. Patricia Todd, the only openly gay member of the Legislature, says she and her partner plan to file suit challenging the ban. "The state only moves forward on civil rights issues when forced by the federal courts," she says.

ALASKA: Voters approved a ban in 1998. Changing the constitution would requires that voters approve a constitutional convention ? but they opted not to do so in 2012. The Legislature also could propose a constitutional amendment, but Republicans control both chambers, and there is no apparent rush to act. Alaska's U.S. senators, Democrat Mark Begich and Republican Lisa Murkowski, support same-sex marriage. But the state's lone U.S. House member, Republican Don Young, and its GOP governor, Sean Parnell, do not.

ARIZONA: Gay-rights activists are gathering signatures in hopes of placing a measure on next year's ballot that would overturn a 2008 ban. Republican Gov. Jan Brewer predicts voters will reject any such effort. One city, Bisbee, recently legalized local-level civil unions for same-sex couples. Tempe and several other cities are considering similar ordinances.

ARKANSAS: The gay-rights group Arkansans for Equality is asking the state attorney general's office to approve language for a ballot measure next year that would repeal the 2004 ban on gay marriage. The attorney general must certify the language before the group can begin collecting the 78,133 signatures from registered voters needed to place it on the 2014 ballot.

COLORADO: As noted above, gay marriage is banned under a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2006. But Democrats now control the Legislature and passed the bill this year establishing civil unions. Gay-rights supporters are deliberating on how to challenge the ban ? it could be through a lawsuit or a voter initiative.

FLORIDA: Voters approved a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages in 2008. It would take approval from 60 percent of voters to overturn it if the issue gets on the ballot again. That would require either action by the Legislature ? which seems unlikely anytime soon ? or a petition drive that would require the signatures of more than 683,000 registered voters.

GEORGIA: A gay-marriage ban was approved in 2004 with support from 76 percent of the voters. No group has mounted a serious attempt to overturn that prohibition. Most politicians in Georgia publicly embrace positions opposing gay-rights measures, although Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed announced in December that he supports gay marriage.

IDAHO: Voters approved a ban in 2006 with 63 percent support. The Republican dominated Legislature is not expected to make any changes in the near future. GOP lawmakers have resisted appeals from gays to amend the Idaho Human Rights Act to include discrimination protections for gays and lesbians in regard to employment and housing.

KANSAS: Voters overwhelmingly approved a gay-marriage ban in 2005. With conservative Republicans in charge of both the House and Senate, no move to modify or repeal the amendment is expected.

KENTUCKY: Voters approved a ban in 2004; there's no serious talk of any imminent challenge. Chris Hartman, director of the Louisville-based Fairness Campaign, said the Supreme Court rulings may add momentum to the push for a state law protecting gays from discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations.

LOUISIANA: A ban was approved by voters in 2004 with 78 percent support. Gay rights leaders say they will study the possibility of a challenge, but none is currently foreseen. Meanwhile, they will continue to lobby the Legislature for adoption rights and job protections.

MICHIGAN: A lawsuit to overturn a 2004 ban on same-sex marriage is pending in federal court. Detroit-area nurses April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse are suing to try to win the right to jointly adopt each other's children, and a judge suggested the case be stretched to include a challenge to the ban on gay marriage. Separately, gay-rights activists say they will try to get a measure on the ballot in 2016 to overturn the ban.

MISSISSIPPI: A ban was approved in 2004 with support from 86 percent of the voters, the highest percent among all the voter-approved bans in the U.S. There's no expectation it will be repealed except under a mandate from Congress or the U.S. Supreme Court.

MISSOURI: A ban was approved in 2004 with more than 70 percent support; there's been no effort to repeal it. The state Supreme Court is currently considering a legal challenge to a law that limits survivor benefits for deceased public safety officers to spouses who were in a "marriage between a man and a woman." The case was brought by the same-sex partner of a former Highway Patrol officer killed by a vehicle while investigating an accident.

MONTANA: Voters approved a ban in 2004; it's not under immediate threat. But gay-rights advocates believe that parts of the Supreme Court rulings could bolster their arguments in a case seeking domestic partnership recognition. In that lawsuit, gay couples are seeking inheritance, joint tax and other legal benefits.

NEBRASKA: Voters approved a constitutional gay-marriage ban in 2000. In light of the Supreme Court rulings, gay-rights activists are now looking at ways to challenge it. Doing so would likely require a citizen initiative and another statewide vote, though supporters aren't ruling out a lawsuit to challenge the amendment in federal court.

NEVADA: Although Nevada is among the 29 states with a constitutional ban, it also has a domestic partnership law providing extensive rights to same-sex couples. Legislators approved a resolution this year aimed at changing the constitution to allow same-sex marriage; it will need a second round of legislative approval in two years before going to a popular vote. Meanwhile, there's a case pending in federal court challenging the constitutionality of the ban.

NORTH CAROLINA: The most recent of the nation's gay-marriage bans was approved by North Carolina voters in May 2012. Gay-rights activists are looking at whether the Supreme Court rulings provide an opening to challenge it.

NORTH DAKOTA: A ban was approved by voters in 2004 with 73 percent support. The GOP-dominated Legislature also has voted repeatedly against gay-rights measures, including a bill in the last session to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in housing, public services and the workplace.

OHIO: Voters approved a ban in November 2004 after an expensive ballot campaign that some analysts say boosted turnout among supporters of Republican President George W. Bush's re-election in the battleground state. The new Supreme Court rulings fueled the hopes of FreedomOhio, a coalition of gay marriage supporters that's working to overturn the ban in 2014.

OKLAHOMA: More than 75 percent of voters approved a gay-marriage ban in 2004. Repealing it would almost certainly have to be done through court challenges, since there appears to be little appetite in the Republican-led Legislature to embrace gay rights. Last session, the House voted 84-0 for a resolution to reaffirm marriage as a union between a man and a woman,

OREGON: Voters in this relatively liberal state approved a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in 2004 with 57 percent support. It's now viewed as perhaps the most likely state to overturn such a ban; gay-rights activists and Democratic politicians are gearing up to place a repeal measure on the 2014 ballot.

SOUTH CAROLINA: In 2006, 78 percent of voters approved a constitutional ban. Little has changed since then. There were no bills introduced in the Legislature dealing with gay rights in 2013, and legislative leaders don't expect it to be an issue any time soon.

SOUTH DAKOTA: Gay marriage has been banned since the Legislature passed a law in 1996, and the prohibition was strengthened with a constitutional ban approved by voters in 2006. Activists say there are no current plans to ask voters to overturn it.

TENNESSEE: Voters approved a ban in 2006 with 81 percent support. It appears under no immediate threat.

TEXAS: Voters overwhelmingly approved a ban in 2005; there's been no organized drive to repeal it. However, gay-rights activism has increased in Texas in recent years, and Houston last year re-elected its openly lesbian mayor.

UTAH: Three same-sex couples have filed a legal challenge against Utah's gay-marriage ban, which was approved by voters in 2004. The case had been put on hold pending the Supreme Court rulings.

VIRGINIA: Voters approved a ban in 2006; it's unlikely that the Legislature dominated by conservative Republicans would take steps to repeal the ban. Gay-rights supporters haven't ruled out a lawsuit.

WISCONSIN: Voters approved a Republican-backed ban in 2006; repealing it would require votes in two consecutive legislative sessions, followed by a statewide referendum. In 2009, with Democrats in control, lawmakers passed statutes creating a domestic partner registry for same-sex couples. That registry is now under legal attack by a conservative group which argues that it violates the gay-marriage ban.

___

OTHER STATES:

INDIANA: There's a state law prohibiting same-sex marriage but as yet no constitutional ban. Leaders of the Republican majority in the Legislature hope the Supreme Court rulings will provide motivation to get the ban passed so it can be put before voters in 2014. GOP Gov. Mike Pence says he supports a stronger ban.

PENNSYLVANIA: It's the only state in the Northeast that doesn't extend legal recognition to same-sex couples. An openly gay Democrat, state Rep. Brian Sims, plans to introduce a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage. It may not get far in the GOP-controlled Legislature, but it could be an issue in the 2014 gubernatorial campaign. Incumbent GOP Gov. Tom Corbett opposes gay marriage; the three Democratic challengers support it.

NEW MEXICO: Its statutes contain no law that specifically prohibits or legalizes same-sex marriage. Democratic Attorney General Gary King's office released a legal analysis in early June concluding that same-sex marriage is not authorized at this point. But lawyers for two gay men from Santa Fe are trying to expedite a lawsuit seeking a ruling that gay marriage is legal.

WEST VIRGINA: Under a state law passed in 2000, West Virginia defines marriage as being between a man and a woman. The state does not have a constitutional ban, though some Republicans in the Legislature say they will intensify their push for one because of the Supreme Court rulings.

WYOMING: State law defines marriage as a civil contract between a man and a woman; there is no constitutional ban. Democratic state Rep. Cathy Connolly, a lesbian, pushed legislation earlier this year that would have permitted civil unions and banned discrimination against gays. Both bills died. She expects a proposal for legalizing gay marriage to be introduced by 2015; there's also the possibility of a lawsuit seeking marriage equality.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-06-29-US-Gay-Marriage-States-Glance/id-a41bc0c68ed341df8577810b25b6926c

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UK mosques focus on anti-grooming message

LONDON (AP) ? Some 500 UK mosques are planning sermons condemning the sexual abuse of children, following the sentencing of seven men of South Asian origin convicted of a series of crimes against underage girls.

The effort organized by the group Together Against Grooming means that the message was being delivered at Friday prayers at participating mosques.

The anti-grooming group wants imams to stress that the Quran rules out all forms of sexual abuse and that Muslims have a responsibility to protect children and other vulnerable people.

Spokesman Ansar Ali says it is unprecedented for Islamic leaders throughout Britain to band together to deliver a collective message on the same day. A number of prominent Muslim groups in Britain have endorsed the new group.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uk-mosques-focus-anti-grooming-message-104712150.html

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New Relic Teams With Microsoft To Offer Performance Monitoring On Windows Azure

New Relic and Microsoft will offer performance anaytics to gain insight into the performance of native apps and websites running on Windows Azure. The company already provides app performance for the Windows Azure services and solutions. These include?Windows Azure Virtual Machines,?Windows Azure Cloud Services, Web and Worker Role Instances. They also offer integration with?Windows Azure SQL Database, which is available as a plugin to send data to the New Relic Platform.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Cv5FDOvxpis/

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5 ways students changed in the last 40 years ? Schools of Thought ...

By Jamie Gumbrecht, CNN

(CNN) ? Every couple of years, the National Assessment of Educational Progress releases a short-term snapshot of how students fare in science, civics or other subjects.

But it doesn't ?quite answer the big question: How are students really doing?

That's the job of a report released Thursday, "The Nation's Report Card: Trends in Academic Progress 2012." It's an assessment released every four years that tracks U.S. students' performance in reading and math since the 1970s. The 2012 assessment included more than 50,000 students from public and private schools. It tracks them at ages 9, 13 and 17, regardless of grade level, and compares their performance using tests that take about an hour and features mostly multiple-choice questions.

Here are five things to know about academic progress since the 1970s, according to the 2012 report.

9-year-olds and 13-year-olds outscore 1970s counterparts
Indeed, those kids scored higher in reading and math. In reading, 9-year-olds and 13-year-olds improved at every level, so even the lowest-performing kids now are ahead of the lowest-performing kids then. In fact, kids in the low and middle range showed the greatest gains.

17-year-olds? Not so much
Seventeen-year-old students aren't scoring better in reading and math, but their scores aren't falling, either. In reading, the lowest-performing 17-year-olds made gains since the 1970s, as did lower- and middle-performing 17-year-olds in math. But scores overall are about the same as in the early 1970s ? and that might not be all bad. In a conference call with reporters, Peggy Carr, associate commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics' assessment division, pointed out that there are far fewer dropouts than in the 1970s, but even with more kids in school, performance has remained steady.

Gender gaps are shrinking
Just as in the 1970s, girls perform better in reading, and boys perform better in math.

But female students are narrowing the math gap, or even eliminating it. "In 2012, there were no significant gender gaps in mathematics at age 9 and 13," the report says. "At age 17, male students scored higher in mathematics than female students. The gender gap in 2012 at age 17, however, was narrower than in 1973 due to the increase in the average score for female students."

Meanwhile, male students are squeezing the gap in reading by showing significant improvement at age 9.

Black and Hispanic students are making gains
Consider just how much students' demographics have changed: In 1978, 80% of U.S. students were white, 13% were black, 6% were Hispanic and 1% were Asian. In 2012, 56% of students were white, 15% were black, 21% were Hispanic and 6% were Asian.

White students still perform better than black and Hispanic students in reading, but the gaps between white and black and white and Hispanic are narrower for all ages. It's particularly noticeable among 9-year-olds: "The average score for black students was 36 points higher in 2012 than in 1971 ... and the score for white students was 15 points higher," the report says. "The average score for Hispanic students increased 25 points from 1975, and the score for white students increased 12 points."

In math, white students performed better overall, but black and Hispanic students made larger gains than white students since 1973.

Take another look at that summer reading list
At age 9, 53% of students say they read for fun at home almost every day. By age 13, it's 27%. At 17, it's down to 19%. The percentages for 9-year-olds have remained the same since 1984, when the question was first asked, but it has decreased over time for 13- and 17-year-olds. Why does it matter?

"At all three ages, students who reported reading for fun almost daily or once or twice a week scored higher than did students who reported reading for fun a few times a year or less," the report says.

Follow us on Twitter @CNNschools!

Source: http://schoolsofthought.blogs.cnn.com/2013/06/27/5-ways-students-changed-in-the-last-40-years/

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The US Army Is Blocking Staff Access to the Guardian Website

After getting upset about the fact that Guardian has been breaking news and leaking classified documents about the many and varied spying programs of the NSA, the US Army has decided to block access to the news site among its employees.

An Army spokesperson told the Monterey Herald "some access to press coverage and online content about the NSA leaks" was being filtered as part of routine "network hygiene". He continued, pointing out that there are "strict policies and directives in place regarding protecting and handling classified information", suggesting the block was in place to limit unauthorized disclosures of classified material.

If the block sounds familiar, that's because it is: in 2010, the Army blocked the New York Times and Guardian during the US diplomatic cables leak by Assange et al. The reasoning? Well, at the time the White House insisted that "classified information, whether or not already posted on public websites or disclosed to the media, remains classified, and must be treated as such by federal employees and contractors."

That seems slightly farcical when you consider that the classified documents released by the Guardian are now freely available online. But rules are rules, and it seems the Army is doing the only thing it can to stop its staff coming across the documents. There are no plans to block website from the general public. [Monterey Herald via Verge]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/the-us-army-is-blocking-staff-access-to-the-guardian-we-606626466

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Kat Von D and Deadmau5 Break Up Again

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Snowden's Exit Path Stirs Questions (WSJ)

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In Nod to 'House of Cards,' Kate Mara to Present Emmy Nominees With Aaron Paul

By Tim Molloy

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - "House of Cards" star Kate Mara will join Aaron Paul to announce the Emmy nominees July 18 - a sign that Emmy voters are at least acknowledging the existence of Mara's Netflix series.

Whether Netflix will crack the major categories with the political drama is one of the biggest questions this Emmy season.

Being asked to present nominations is of course no guarantee of receiving nominations. But Mara's involvement in the announcement shows that the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is taking a friendly approach to Netflix's challenge to broadcast and cable TV.

Mara, who plays reporter Zoe Barnes on "House of Cards," will present with Paul, a two-time Emmy winner for "Breaking Bad," and Academy Chairman-CEO Bruce Rosenblum. The announcements will come at 8:40 a.m. ET/5:40 a.m. PT.

Spike Jones, Jr. will return as the producers of the program. The nominations will take place at the Television Academy's Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre in North Hollywood.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nod-house-cards-kate-mara-present-emmy-nominees-002117313.html

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Paramount announces plans for 'Terminator' trilogy

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? The "Terminator" is coming back.

Paramount announced Thursday that it is rebooting the "Terminator" franchise and planning for a new trilogy of films, but it's keeping mum on whether Arnold Schwarzenegger would play a role.

Schwarzenegger starred as the title character in the original 1984 movie. It spawned a trilogy that earned more than $1 billion at the box office worldwide.

Paramount says it will release the new "Terminator" in July 2015.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/paramount-announces-plans-terminator-trilogy-000841755.html

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Educational Tech For Tots Grows Up With LeapFrog's Summer Releases

Two years after LeapFrog launched its first kid-friendly learning tablet, the educational toy company in August will release the third iteration of the LeapPad: LeapPad Ultra. Hold on to your tiny plastic seats, kids. This one has Wi-Fi. Yes, things are bigger and better than last summer’s LeapPad2: 8GB of memory instead of 4, a 7″ high res screen rather than a measly 5″, a “Pet Chat” app that enables kids to chat between tablets with pre-programmed phrases, and access to web pages and images approved by LeapFrog. It is sweet to be a six-year-old in 2013. LeapFrog prides itself on mixing fun with education. My theory is that the LeapPad Ultra is mixing education with gadget one-upmanship for the preschool set. Just kidding. This is all about fun! There is also a price bump, from $99 to $149.99. LeapFrog is also parlaying the success of its popular Tag Reading System into the July release of its new LeapReader, a pen tricked out with touch technology to help kids sound out words, practice writing letters, and play games. At $49.99, the LeapReader puts Tag to shame with its library of 150 books and audio storage for 40 books ? or 175 songs. Good news for Kidz Bop! And finally for the littlest of LeapFroggers (ages 2-5): purple and green plushie dogs named Violet and Scout that read books to their wee friends. The point is to encourage active reading, by asking kids questions along the way. You can deactivate the pups’ voice boxes at bedtime, because they’re meant to transition from learning friends to stuffed animal friends, aka formative childhood memories of LeapFrog products. But this is education, so it’s all good.

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

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Mary Bonauto, Gay Marriage Hero

After a hearing at the U.S. Court of Appeals on the Defense of Marriage Act, Mary Bonauto addresses the media in 2012.

Photo by Boston Globe/Getty Images

On Wednesday morning, the Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Windsor, voting 5?4 to strike down the federal Defense of Marriage Act. Tonight, as proponents of same-sex marriage celebrate the decision, they should be sure to raise a glass to an attorney and activist named Mary Bonauto, who has been called the mastermind of the legal strategy that eventually led to DOMA?s collapse. Bonauto works for a Massachusetts-based gay rights organization called Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, or GLAD. She has had a hand in pretty much every major gay marriage legal victory over the past 20 years. As Roberta Kaplan, the lawyer who argued United States v. Windsor, put it in a March New York Times piece, ?No gay person in this country would be married without Mary Bonauto.?

In 2001, Bonauto and GLAD filed Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, a lawsuit that challenged Massachusetts? decision to deny marriage licenses to several same-sex couples. In 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled in Goodridge?s favor, and Massachusetts became the first state to legalize gay marriage. Though it might seem now as if the victory was inevitable, it was actually the result of a deliberate legal strategy. As Richard Thompson Ford put it in Slate in 2004, Bonauto and her colleagues ?identified a sympathetic court and political climate, carefully selected a compelling plaintiff, litigated the constitutional issue in court, and secured a judicial victory.?

Bonauto followed a similar template in 2009, when she filed Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, a case that sought to challenge Section 3 of DOMA. Passed in 1996, DOMA defined marriage, for federal purposes, as the union of a man and a woman. As Kenji Yoshino wrote in Slate, Gill v. Office of Personnel Management was filed ?on behalf of eight married same-sex couples and three people who survived their same-sex spouses.? The most compelling plaintiff, perhaps, was Dean Hara, who had married former congressman Gerry Studds in 2004. Here?s Yoshino:

After 13 years together as a couple, Studds and Hara married in Boston in 2004, when Massachusetts allowed them to do so. Two years later, Studds did not come home from his morning walk with their dog, because he had passed out from a blood clot in his lung. He died in the hospital. Massachusetts treated Hara as a surviving spouse, by, for instance, releasing Studds' remains to him. The federal government, in contrast, treated Hara as if he and Studds had never married.? Hara was denied the lump-sum benefit to which the Social Security Act entitles surviving spouses and was denied the annuity he would have received as the spouse of a federal employee.

But despite these moving personal stories, many wondered whether the lawsuit was the right move. As a Washington Post article put it in 2009, ?Activists and legal strategists historically have avoided taking the issue to a narrowly divided Supreme Court, fearing a major setback.? The dominant strategy, up until Gill, had been to pursue the same-sex marriage issue at the state level. And that hadn?t been going so well?less than a year earlier, California voters had passed Proposition 8, a ballot initiative that adopted DOMA?s definition of marriage. There was no great reason to think the Supreme Court would decide differently.

These worries were unfounded. In 2010, district court Judge Joseph Tauro ruled in Bonauto?s favor and invalidated a key section of DOMA. As Linda Hirshman wrote in Slate at the time, Tauro?s decision ?decimated the Obama Justice Department's rationale for DoMA as a legitimate effort to preserve the existing social order to buy time for society to digest the controversial idea of same-sex marriage. ? Tauro concluded that DoMA was driven only by animus against gay people. And animus alone is not a legitimate basis for the government to act.?

Bonauto must have had every expectation that Gill would eventually make it to the Supreme Court. Those hopes were dashed when Elena Kagan was confirmed as a justice in 2010. As solicitor general of the United States, Kagan had apparently discussed legal strategies for Gill with Department of Justice colleagues; as a Supreme Court justice, she would have had to recuse herself if Gill was taken up.

Thus, the Supreme Court heard United States v. Windsor instead. ?You?d have to be an inanimate object not to be disappointed,? Bonauto said?but she put her disappointment aside and coordinated the amicus briefs filed in support of Windsor. The rest is history. And history shouldn?t forget the contributions of Mary Bonauto.

Source: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2013/06/mary_bonauto_doma_repeal_why_every_gay_marriage_supporter_should_be_thanking.html

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With $38M To Play With, NumberFour Could Become A Global Business Platform

The emergence of NumberFour in Berlin - which has today announced a $38m series A round - throws up a few interesting points worth briefly dwelling on. It may be the case that we are looking at a tipping point in the European tech startup scene, which will play out over the next few years. Indeed, this business platform may be Europe's answer to the global consumer platform created by Google and Facebook.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/f__o4r6JEh4/

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Huff Your Medicine With the Inhaler-Shaped PuFFiT Vaporizer

Yeah, no, fumbling with a small wooden box and exposed electrical connections is real subtle. If you really want want to get high on the down low, you need to conceal your vaporizer as something that doesn't look like a vaporizer but also doesn't look like an IED. Something like an asthma inhaler, for instance.

The PuFFiT by Discreet Vape is just that?a vaporizer in an inhaler's footprint. Finely ground herb is loaded into the upper chamber, under the removable aluminum cap, where it's heated to between 250 and 430 degrees F in a gold-plated convection chamber using a seven-step temperature wheel. The device reportedly heats in 20-30 seconds and indicates its state of readiness through an LED (red means stop, green means toke). The system also reportedly lasts about 30 sessions per 3-hour USB charge.

Interestingly, the PuFFiT incorporates an internal stirring tool which allows you to mix the herb mid-session without opening the heating chamber and losing precious hot air. The PuFFiT is available for $140 at VapeWorld and Discreet Vapes.

Source: http://gizmodo.com/huff-your-medicine-with-the-inhaler-shaped-puffit-vapor-578649337

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Supreme Court ruling sets up new wave of gay marriage battles (reuters)

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Obama hit by Snowden setbacks with China, Russia

WASHINGTON (AP) ? For President Barack Obama, National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden's globe-trotting evasion of U.S. authorities has dealt a startling setback to efforts to strengthen ties with China and raised the prospect of worsening tensions with Russia.

Indeed, Russia's foreign minister on Tuesday called U.S. demands for Snowden's extradition "ungrounded and unacceptable."

Relations with both China and Russia have been at the forefront of Obama's foreign policy agenda this month, underscoring the intertwined interests among these uneasy partners. Obama met just last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Group of Eight summit in Northern Ireland and held an unusual two-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in California earlier this month.

Obama has made no known phone calls to Xi since Snowden surfaced in Hong Kong earlier this month, nor has he talked to Putin since Snowden arrived in Russia.

Former Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., said it wasn't clear that Obama's "charm offensive" with Xi and Putin would matter much on this issue. The U.S. has "very little leverage," she said, given the broad array of issues on which the Obama administration needs Chinese and Russian cooperation.

"This isn't happening in a vacuum, and obviously China and Russia know that," said Harman, who now runs the Woodrow Wilson International Center.

Both the U.S. and China had hailed the Obama-Xi summit as a fresh start to a complex relationship, with the leaders building personal bonds during an hour-long walk through the grounds of the Sunnylands estate. But any easing of tensions appeared to vanish Monday following China's apparent flouting of U.S. demands that Snowden be returned from semi-autonomous Hong Kong to face espionage charges.

White House spokesman Jay Carney, in unusually harsh language, said China had "unquestionably" damaged its relationship with Washington.

"The Chinese have emphasized the importance of building mutual trust," Carney said. "We think that they have dealt that effort a serious setback. If we cannot count on them to honor their legal extradition obligations, then there is a problem."

A similar problem may be looming with Russia, where Snowden arrived Sunday. He had been expected to leave Moscow for a third country, but the White House said Monday it believed the former government contractor was still in Russia.

While the U.S. does not have an extradition treaty with Russia, the White House publicly prodded the Kremlin to send Snowden back to the U.S., while officials privately negotiated with their Russian counterparts.

"We are expecting the Russians to examine the options available to them to expel Mr. Snowden for his return to the United States," Carney said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday bluntly rejected the U.S. request, saying Snowden hasn't crossed the Russian border. He angrily lashed out at the U.S. for warnings of negative consequences if Moscow fails to comply.

"We consider the attempts to accuse Russia of violation of U.S. laws and even some sort of conspiracy, which on top of all that are accompanied by threats, as absolutely ungrounded and unacceptable," Lavrov said.

During a stop in Saudi Arabia, Secretary of State John Kerry responded by saying the United States is not looking for a confrontation with Russia.

Speaking at a news conference in Jiddah, Kerry said that while it's true the United States does not have an extradition treaty with Russia, Moscow should comply with common law practices between countries concerning fugitives. "I would simply appeal for calm and reasonableness," Kerry said. "We would hope that Russia would not side with someone who is 'a fugitive' from justice.' "

The U.S. has deep economic ties with China and needs the Asian power's help in persuading North Korea to end its nuclear provocations. The Obama administration also needs Russia's cooperation in ending the bloodshed in Syria and reducing nuclear stockpiles held by the former Cold War foes.

Members of Congress so far have focused their anger on China and Russia, not on Obama's inability to get either country to abide by U.S. demands. However, Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., said in an interview with CNN on Monday that he was starting to wonder why the president hasn't been "more forceful in dealing with foreign leaders."

Sen. John McCain, who lost to Obama in the 2008 presidential election, echoed that concern on Tuesday, telling CNN that "we've got to start dealing with Vladimir Putin for what he is."

The Arizona Republican called Putin "an old KGB colonel apparatchik" who disdains democracy and said that Putin "continues to stick his thumb in our eye."

"When you show the world you're leading from behind, these are the consequences," McCain said.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton echoed the White House's frustration with China. "That kind of action is not only detrimental to the U.S.-China relationship but it sets a bad precedent that could unravel the intricate international agreements about how countries respect the laws ? and particularly the extradition treaties," the possible 2016 presidential contender told an audience in Los Angeles.

Snowden fled to Hong Kong after seizing highly classified documents disclosing U.S. surveillance programs that collect vast amounts of U.S. phone and Internet records. He shared the information with The Guardian and Washington Post newspapers. He also told the South China Morning Post that "the NSA does all kinds of things like hack Chinese cellphone companies to steal all of your SMS data." SMS, or short messaging service, generally means text messaging.

Snowden still has perhaps more than 200 sensitive documents, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said over the weekend.

Hong Kong, a former British colony with a degree of autonomy from mainland China, has an extradition treaty with the U.S. Officials in Hong Kong said a formal U.S. extradition request did not fully comply with its laws, a claim the Justice Department disputes.

The White House made clear it believes the final decision to let Snowden leave for Russia was made by Chinese officials in Beijing.

Russia's ultimate response to U.S. pressure remains unclear. Putin could still agree to return Snowden to the U.S. But he may also let him stay in Russia or head elsewhere, perhaps to Ecuador or Venezuela ? both options certain to earn the ire of the White House.

Fiona Hill, a Russia expert at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, said she expected Putin to take advantage of a "golden opportunity" to publicly defy the White House.

"This is one of those opportunities to score points against the United States that I would be surprised if Russia passed up," Hill said.

___

Follow Julie Pace on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-hit-snowden-setbacks-china-russia-070516653.html

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Egyptian city on edge before anti-Mursi protests

By Tom Perry and Asma Alsharif

EL-MAHALLA EL-KUBRA, Egypt (Reuters) - Fuel is in short supply in El-Mahalla El-Kubra. So is patience.

Egyptian riot police marshal motorists who can spend much of the day in line. While some drivers blame each other and fights are common, most in the industrial city agree on the underlying cause: President Mohamed Mursi.

"The situation has been terrible since the moment Mursi took power," said Mohamed Ismail, 58, who had been waiting for seven hours to fill his truck with diesel. "May God destroy his house," chips in a passerby - a refrain heard repeatedly in chaotic scenes that have become a feature of daily life.

Long one of Egypt's most restive cities, Mahalla is tense once again. Its disgruntled residents cite energy shortages, economic stagnation, broken promises and lax security as reasons why the Muslim Brotherhood president must be removed from power by demonstrations which are to build up from Friday to the main day of protest on Sunday.

One year into Mursi's term, some of the complaints might sound familiar to democratically elected leaders elsewhere. But this is Egypt, and Mursi faces an additional challenge: the revolutionary spirit still simmering nearly two and half years after Hosni Mubarak was ousted.

That is putting Mursi, his Islamist backers and the influential military on edge. The army, trying stay neutral, has called for the rival political camps to reach a consensus, warning it will intervene if conflict ensues.

Outsiders, including the United States which helps fund the military in this pivotal Arab state, are looking on warily.

In Mahalla, where protesters defied Mubarak repeatedly in the years leading to the 2011 uprising, workers and activists appear confident that these are Mursi's last days in office.

"We will go out every day until we remove him," said Jihan Melawi, 29, one of several hundred workers who streamed out of the city's biggest textile factory on Tuesday to march against Mursi. "Out! Out! Out!" they chanted.

VIOLENCE

Anger has spilled into violence. The entrance to the Muslim Brotherhood's local party office was firebombed this week.

The grievances go beyond the economy. Mursi's decision to appoint a member of his group as the provincial governor set off clashes in which a dozen people were injured. The complaint was that this was part of a Brotherhood grab for permanent power.

The Brotherhood, a banned group at the time of the 2011 uprising, derides talk of a looming revolution. Calls for a mass rally to unseat Mursi have a familiar ring. "This will be the 25th, and it will not be the last," said Mamdouh al-Muneir, a spokesman for the movement's Freedom and Justice Party.

The fuel station queue of 100 vehicles that snakes past his office is caused by corruption, he says. The state allocates more than enough fuel to the city, but heavily subsidized diesel and gasoline are being diverted and sold into the black market.

"It is all a conspiracy to create a crisis," he said, blaming the racket on "feloul", a pejorative word for Mubarak loyalists. Feeling ever more embattled, the Brotherhood has started applying the term widely to its opponents.

Muneir listed other problems too: inaction by a police force unwilling to help restore law and order, and what he described as sabotage by some state officials: "Most citizens understand that the challenges need time," he said.

PROBLEMS

Mahalla, which lies in the Nile Delta north of Cairo, had long been a stronghold of Brotherhood support. Mursi launched his presidential election campaign from the city's sports stadium last year. But afterwards more local residents voted for Mubarak's last prime minister, Ahmed Shafik, than for Mursi, pointing to the group's faltering political fortunes.

Many of the problems afflicting Egyptians - fuel shortages and lax policing, for example - were a feature of the 18 months of army-led rule before Mursi's election. But today, the focus is on the Brotherhood's failure to fix them.

"We had hope, but now I regret voting for them because of the promises that were not met," said Ahmed Helmi, 38, a worker at a Mahalla textile factory. "We will go out on June 30 to find a solution for this farce. The first priorities are income and security: we can't go out without fear of getting mugged."

The factory where he works, which makes towels for export, is suffering from the energy shortages that are hitting the economy more widely. Its owner, Ezzat al-Qalini, grumbles that he can't get enough diesel to run his dyeing machines, while power cuts are hitting output and undoing any good that might have come from the Egyptian pound's collapse to a record low.

He proudly showed off a stairwell covered with anti-Brotherhood graffiti. He is planning to give his 150 employees paid leave to take part in the protests come Sunday.

"We are going out and we will remove Mursi," said Qalini, who voted for Shafik, a retired general, in last year's election.

Textile firms are among Egypt's biggest industrial employers, yet more than 50 percent of their capacity is idle, said Ahmed al-Sharawi, an industry leader from Mahalla, where around half a million people work in the sector.

Output has suffered because of uncontrolled smuggling from Libya, he said, faulting the Mursi government's failure to confront the problem or produce any cogent policies to revive the sector: "They are amateurs, busy with things other than the economy," he said. "They're busy securing themselves in power."

(In fourth paragraph makes clear protests due to start on Friday)

(Editing by Alastair Macdonald and David Stamp)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egyptian-city-edge-anti-mursi-protests-182649743.html

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This Old House

Emily Yoffe

Photo by Teresa Castracane.

Emily Yoffe, aka Dear Prudence, is on Washingtonpost.com weekly to chat live with readers. An edited?transcript of the chat is below. (Sign up here?to get Dear Prudence delivered to your inbox each week. Read Prudie?s?Slate columns?here. Send questions to Prudence at prudence@slate.com.)

Emily Yoffe: Good afternoon, everyone. I look forward to your questions.

Q. Enabling the Elderly?: My grandma is in her early 80s and lives alone in a huge, dilapidated house that she grew up in. The home is not safe. It has very steep stairs, rickety railings?she has fallen and broken bones a few times in the past few years?there is mold, and she cannot keep it clean. Yet she refuses to move elsewhere. The family responds by traveling great distances, several times a week, to help her?these are people with jobs, special-needs kids, spouses who are terminally ill. In short, they are getting run down and exhausted, and it is a huge burden on multiple families. I also worry that she will more seriously injure herself or even die because of this house and her refusal to move. I can't think of another situation where family would go to such great lengths to help someone stay in a situation that is literally harming and is likely to kill her. Do you think this is enabling? Would it be cruel to tell her that some of the assistance/the visits/etc. won't happen unless she downsizes to something safer, goes into assisted living, or moves in with a relative (at least one of her children has offered this)? We are at the end of our rope.

A: I love going to real estate open houses, but occasionally I see a once-valuable property that is in a state of decay and disrepair. I always wonder where the other family members were while the home?and presumably the owner?was falling apart. But as your case shows, it can sometimes be very difficult to help a recalcitrant old person and people back away out of misplaced love. Your grandmother may not have dementia, but clearly she is incapable of making good decisions for herself, so her loved ones have to make them for her. This could require getting power of attorney and taking over her living situation. Perhaps the house needs to be sold to help pay for her to go to a facility where she will be safe and cared for. I know many old people and their loved ones think going to a nursing home is the cruelest kind of abandonment, but a clean, well-run place is so much better than a dangerous, mold-filled wreck. You're not actually independent if you're falling down and requiring overtaxed family members to attend to your every need. It is a kindness to make sure your grandmother is being well taken care of. And I hope her lesson is learned by the generation behind her as they face their own old age.

Dear Prudence: Errant Dildo

Q. Friend's Estranged Father: I have been close friends with ?Jessica? for about four years. We met in college, and I have also traveled to stay with her family for vacation. Her parents separated when she was young, and she basically considers her stepfather her ?dad.? I think she has had some, but very little, sporadic contact with her real father over the years, but I don't know very much about that, and I am not entirely sure what their history is. She hasn't volunteered a whole lot of information, and I am afraid to ask. But last week, I received a Facebook message from someone who says he is her father, asking me if I am close friends with Jessica and saying that he wants to come for a surprise visit but that he needs someone to help him plan it. Prudie, I don't know what to do! I am not even sure that she wants him to visit at all, but what if she does, and I ruin a wonderful opportunity for them to be reunited because I don't help?

A: Creep alert! Who knows who this guy is, but if he's Jessica's father, this approach confirms that she's been better off having him out of her life. Let's assume he is the dad. If so, this is a bizarre and disturbing way to try to resume contact with his daughter. You should immediately forward this message to Jessica and get confirmation that he is her father. If he is, you should tell her that you are very uncomfortable having been contacted by him and you are leaving it up to her and her family to handle this. Don't respond to his request, and block him so you don't get any more. Think about this?you have gotten an invitation from a middle-aged stranger to get together with him and help him plan a surprise party for his estranged daughter. This guy is the definition of someone you never want to meet.

Q. Need Help: I lost my wife due to cancer on Jan. 1, 2012. I understand my in-laws' situation and the loss of their daughter. Even before my wife got sick, they weren't very supportive to my family because we are an interracial couple. Her parents are still old-school, even though in public they accepted our marriage. After I lost my wife, they asked my son (21 years old) to take some stuff from my house, some of which belonged to my wife and other things to her aunt. I did not know about this until my son informed me three months later. I haven't had any communication with my in-laws since my wife passed away. I am not interested in seeing them anymore. I have a 12-year-old daughter, and I'm not interested in exposing her to them and the way they have treated us in past. Sometimes I feel it's wrong, but mostly I want to just avoid them and move on with my life. Any suggestions on how to handle this?

A: They sound like lousy people who manipulated your son to violate your trust. I understand your wanting to cut off ties, but you have to look at this from the perspective of your daughter: What is her relationship with your in-laws, and what would it mean to her to be estranged from them? You don't elaborate on the poor ways they have treated your family. It could be they are totally irredeemable people, and your daughter will be better off having them out of her life. But it could be that as lousy as they are, your daughter has a better relationship with them than you, and she would feel a grave loss at being cut off from this side of her family. Your daughter is still young, but she is old enough for you to talk about this with her. You can tell her you've had your problems with her grandparents, but you know they love her very much and you want to make it possible for her to see them if that's what she wants. If she does, use all your maturity to facilitate this while keeping a wide berth from them yourself.

Q. Re: Enabling the Elderly: You can't "get" a power of attorney?it must be given by the person willing to give authority to another?and that person retains the ability to withdraw the power of attorney at any time. The only way to use the law to force someone to take such action would be a declaration of incompetency by the court, which is not easy to obtain.

A: It could be that in this case the family could hire a social worker to help explain to grandmother that the current situation is unsustainable and that her family loves her wants to help her make decisions to keep her comfortable and safe. If grandmother would prefer to break her bones in a moldy wreck of a house, then it might be time to escalate and have the incompetency declaration made. She certainly can be told that the current situation cannot be sustained, and the family will order Meals on Wheels and other social services to do the feeding and checking in on her, because they can only show up occasionally.

Source: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/dear_prudence/2013/06/dear_prudence_elderly_grandmother_can_no_longer_care_for_herself_but_won.html

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