The Mideast peace process may not be at the top of Obama's agenda, but analysts say Secretary Kerry, who is accompanying the president in Israel, is eager to tackle the challenge.
Palestinian activists throw shoes at a poster of US President Barack Obama in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Monday. Obama?s trip to Jerusalem and the West Bank is scheduled for March 20th to the 22nd, and it is the US leader?s first trip to the region as president.
Nasser Shiyoukhi/AP
EnlargePresident Obama is not expected to announce any major initiative to relaunch the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process when he visits the region beginning Wednesday. But his top diplomat, Secretary of State John Kerry, is known to be anxious to tackle an issue that some say has become almost a third rail in the president?s second term.
Skip to next paragraph' +
google_ads[0].line2 + '
' +
google_ads[0].line3 + '
Subscribe Today to the Monitor
The question now is whether Mr. Obama, who is considered by many Washington policy experts to be the most controlling president of the nation?s foreign policy since perhaps Richard Nixon, will be willing to loosen the reins enough to give Secretary Kerry, and peace, a chance.
Tackling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ?does not appear to be a priority for the second [Obama] term, [but] it is a priority for John Kerry,? says Martin Indyk, a former US ambassador to Israel who is now director of the foreign policy program at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
Ambassador Indyk, who was an adviser to President Clinton on the Middle East peace process, says Obama ?would rather turn away from this region,? but he adds that it is clear Kerry feels ?the opposite,? and in particular is anxious ?to take on the Israeli-Palestinian challenge.?
Obama set out as a new president launching an ambitious Mideast peace bid, and tried again in May 2011 when he used a major speech on the peace process to declare that the 1967 borders should serve as the starting point for negotiating land issues. But neither attempt got the president ? or the peace process ? very far.?
A clue as to whether Kerry is going to be allowed to do that should come this week ? as Obama visits Israel and the occupied West Bank with his secretary of state at his side ? if it is going to happen at all.
?It?s important that the president publicly empower Secretary Kerry on this visit,? Indyk says, noting that leaders in the region ? Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the top of the list ? see that Kerry has the president?s full backing.
They need to know that ?Kerry is empowered,? he says, ?and that the president will be behind him in every way.?
Speculation about a Kerry stab at reviving the peace process has risen in the context of Obama?s trip despite the mixed signals coming from the conflict?s key players.
Both the Israelis and the Palestinians insist they are ready to return to negotiations, even as many regional analysts list the reasons why neither side is really ready.
Prime Minister Netanyahu went so far as to declare Israel ready to reach a ?historic compromise? with Palestinians as he introduced his new coalition government to the Knesset, the national parliament.
litter marinol flight attendant pau gasol trade michael madsen spring forward day light savings
Microsoft has been busy on the Windows Azure front. Earlier this week, the division announced it had acquired the startup company MetricsHub. This week, Microsoft VP Scott Guthrie posted up word of a number of new additions and features for users of the cloud server service.
Guthrie's blog post states that the Mobile Services portion of Windows Azure has added support for Android apps, after previously supporting iOS, Windows Phone and Windows 8. He states:
To create a new Android app or connect an existing Android app to your Windows Azure Mobile Service, simply select the ?Android? tab within the Quick Start view of a Mobile Service, and then follow either the ?Create a new Android app? or ?Connect to an existing Android app? link below it
Windows Azure customers in the East Asia region can now access the Mobile Services support with this new update. Microsoft has also added SQL Reporting Services inside the Windows Azure management portal. The company has also launched a preview version that will let customers monitor their web applications. Guthrie states, "Web availability monitoring helps you understand the response time and availability of your web application from different locations around the world."
Source: Scott Guthrie's blog | Image via Microsoft
Source: http://www.neowin.net/news/windows-azure-mobile-services-adds-android-app-support
Clackamas Town Center 12 12 12 Anne Hathaway Wardrobe Malfunction man of steel man of steel Adrienne Maloof Telemundo
What is troubling is that while this happens in the US on a daily basis, at least the NSA has to dig through data illegally, and can't use what it finds against citizens in court.
In Greece, however, any trace of personal privacy in the insolvent state is now gone, and in a way that is made very public and clear to all citizens. The result will be an even greater hit to all forms of electronic spending (remember that all bulk cash transactions are prohibited), and a collapse in all economic transactions, leading to an even more acute depression, and an even greater need to yet another "bailout" from Europe (this one will be the last surely, as it will be after this it will be different).
From Greek Reporter:
Until now, the law did not allow even investigators to check bank records, but Greece is under intense pressure from international lenders putting up $325 billion in two bailouts to find tax cheats and up tax revenues.
?
The system is ready and some virtual checks on accounts have already been conducted successfully, also helping with the training of the employees who will handle and store all bank data in the ministry?s server, the newspaper Kathimerini reported.
?
The bill that will allow monitoring mechanisms, police and anti-money-laundering authorities to use the data will be tabled in Parliament next month and the System of Bank Account Registers will be in full operation as of September.
?
The aim is to reduce the time needed to investigate significant cases with a direct benefit for the state budget and public coffers, officials said. Those using the system will be able to search through accounts and loan transactions simply using the tax registration number of the person being investigated.
All this, of course, is coming to America soon.
(10 votes)
space shuttle Torrey Smith Brother fiona apple awkward awkward CJ Spiller tracy morgan
APThe Chiefs did a lot of business in the hours before the franchise tag deadline, signing wide receiver Dwayne Bowe and punter Dustin Colquitt to long-term deals, and tagging left tackle Branden Albert.
Now they have something even more valuable than good players ? they have options.
While many will immediately assume this takes them out of the market for a left tackle (specifically Luke Joeckel) with the first pick in a quarterback-less draft, that doesn?t seem wise.
First, they should create the full impression that it?s still a possibility, if only to create a trade market that might not otherwise exist.
But the realities of their line wouldn?t preclude drafting him anyway.
Even though they just tagged Albert (keeping him there for a year, at $9.828 million), there?s no reason they can?t draft Joeckel, and have one of them play right tackle. While Eric Winson has been solid, he?s also entering his 30-year-old season, and isn?t so good that you?d bypass a potential left tackle because of him.
And Albert?s back injury, which coach Andy Reid referred to as a ?fairly significant injury? at the Combine, might also give them pause. At the very least, the uncertainty over Albert?s long-term health or contract status would make it wise to keep Joeckel as an option. Many also thought Albert was better suited to play guard when he entered the league, which creates another layer of possibility.
With the chance at a solid offensive line in front of an average quarterback (the recently acquired Alex Smith), along with a good run game, a solid receiving threat in Bowe and a coaching staff that knows how to move the ball, it gives the Chiefs the chance at a new look on offense.
And it gives them more options for the first pick, which makes it more valuable by definition.
news channel 9 insanity workout mass effect 3 launch trailer yelp huntsville al channel 2 news adrienne bailon
By Raf Casert, The Associated Press
(Editor's note: An earlier version of this article led to a correction)
Eight armed and masked men made a hole in a security fence at the international airport in Brussels, Belgium, drove onto the tarmac and snatched millions of dollars' worth of diamonds from the hold of a Swiss-bound plane without firing a shot, authorities said Tuesday.
The gang used two vehicles in their daring raid Monday, dragged the cache of stones and sped off into the darkness, said Anja Bijnens, spokeswoman for the Brussels prosecutor's office.
Police found a burnt-out vehicle close to the airport later Monday night and said they were still looking for clues.
The heist was estimated at some $50 million in diamonds, said Caroline De Wolf of the Antwerp World Diamond Centre.
"What we are talking about is obviously a gigantic sum," De Wolf told VRT network.
An airport spokesman said the robbers made a hole in the perimeter fence and drove up to the Swiss passenger plane, which was ready to leave.
The robbers got out of the car, flashed their weapons and took the loot from the hold, said airport spokesman Jan Van Der Crujsse. Without firing a shot they drove off through the same hole in the fence, completing the spectacular theft within minutes, he said.
Van Der Crujsse could not explain how the area could be so vulnerable to theft. "We abide by the most stringent rules," he said.
The Swiss flight, bound for Zurich and operated by Helvetic Airways, was canceled. Swiss, an affiliate of Germany's Deutsche Lufthansa AG, declined to comment on the heist, citing the ongoing judicial investigation.
The insurance for air transport ? handled sometimes by airlines themselves or external insurance companies ? is usually relatively cheap because it's considered to be the safest way of transporting small high value items, logistics experts say.
Unlike a car or a truck, an airplane cannot be attacked by robbers once it's on its way, and it is considered to be very safe before the departure and after the plane's arrival because the aircraft is always within the confines of an airport ? which are normally highly secured.
Philip Baum, an aviation security consultant in Britain, said the robbery was worrying ? not because the fence was breached, but because the response did not appear to have been immediate. That, he said, raised questions as to whether alarms were ringing in the right places.
"It does seem very worrying that someone can actually have the time to drive two vehicles onto the airport, effect the robbery, and drive out without being intercepted," Baum said.
That amount of time would also allow someone to board the plane, he said.
A decade ago the Belgian city of Antwerp, the world capital of diamond-cutting, was the scene of what was probably one of the biggest diamond heists in history, when robbers took precious stones, jewels, gold and securities from the high-security vaults at Antwerp's Diamond Center, yielding loot that police in 2003 estimated to be worth about $100 million.
Antwerp's Diamond Center stands in the heart of the high-surveillance diamond district where police and dozens of cameras work around the clock, and security has been beefed up further since the spectacular 2003 robbery.
This story was originally published on Tue Feb 19, 2013 4:13 AM EST
? 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
squirrel appreciation day billy beane road conditions newt gingrich wives at last al green gina carano
A new pen that allows doodlers to doodle in the air aims to open the door of 3-D printing to anyone old enough to handle a pen with a scorching hot tip. No software or computers required. Even messy scribbles take on new dimensions.
The 3Doodler was launched today on the crowd-funding site Kickstarter by toy company WobbleWorks. As of this writing, $75 buys a pen and two bags of plastic ?ink.? For the sake of comparison, the MakerBot Replicator 2, a popular model among 3-D-printing hobbyists, retails for $2,199.
The new pen looks like a blackened cucumber and has the heft of an apple. It extrudes heated plastic that cools quickly and solidifies in the air. So, for example, draw a box on a piece of paper and then lift then pen upwards from the corners to make a 3-D cube.
Users can also doodle on paper then lift their designs off the page and keep adding to it. For those who need a guide, the company is releasing print-out stencil kits that allow users to trace designs such as an Eiffel Tower and then join the pieces together with the pen.
One word of caution: The pen?s tip can get as hot as 518 degrees Fahrenheit. The plastic is safe to touch once it leaves the pen, but WobbleWorks recommends the pen be kept out of reach of children under the age of 12.
To learn more, visit the Kickstarter page and check out the promotional video below.
? via The Next Web
John Roach is a contributing writer for NBC News. To learn more about him, check out his website. For more of our Future of Technology series, watch the featured video below.
Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/doodle-air-3-d-printing-pen-1C8422852
ncaa bracket 2012 2012 ncaa bracket john carlson greg smith catamount mike dantoni bulls heat
